Nowadays you can find in the drone market a lot of replicas. Some are well made some are poorly made. The clones or the lookalike drones are for those amateur pilots who don’t want to afford a fortune for a flying machine.
JDRC JD-20: Poor Spark drone is a good replica of the well known DJI Spark. Well, of course, it costs only a fragment of the DJI Spark, but surprisingly for the price you get a really decent quadcopter. JDRC JD-20 lacks the advanced features that the DJI Spark has, but for a toy grade flying machine it is a recognition of how well does the job. Let’s have a look in more detail, how well performs the JDRC JD-20.
Specifications
- Frequency: 2.4G
- Channel: 4ch
- Gyro: 6 axis
- Motor: 8620 Brushed Motor
- Quadcopter Battery: 3.7V 800mAh Lipo (Included)
- Transmitter Battery:3 x 1.5 AA battery (NOT Included)
- Charging time: about 90mins
- Flying time: 8-10mins
- R/C distance: 80-100m
- FPV Range: about 60m
- Color: White
- Camera: 2MP 720P wide angle, 2MP, 0.3MP (Optional)
- Quad’s Size: 15.5x11x6cm (in open position), 28x26x6cm (when the arms are folded)
- Quad’s Weight: 160g
In The Box
- 1 x JD-20 RC Quadcopter
- 1 x Transmitter
- 4 x Protection Cover
- 1 x 3.7V 800mAh Lipo Battery (Can choose the battery quantity when order)
- 1 x USB Charging Cable
- 4 x Spare Blades
- 1 x screwdriver
- 1 x User Manual
Look
JDRC JD-20 obviously looks like the DJI Spark, a cheaper version of that. It is foldable and really compact. The material that is made of looks like cheap plastic but durable. It is trained to survive many crashes.
At first glance, you will notice the 2MP camera in the front. It has no gimbal, but it’s manually tiltable. It has a wide angle sensor which is surprisingly good in this price range.
On the back, you will discover a slot, when the micro SD card goes. The battery is extensible right from the back of the drone. It is a 3.7V 800mAh Lipo battery that has a micro USB port for charging purposes. This is a really good point because you can charge the battery from any device that has a USB port. The charging time of the batteries is about 90 minutes. The rubberized landing feet are up for smooth landings.
When you push and hold the power button on the top the super bright LED lights are flashing vividly. The powerful LEDs are visible even in daylight.
The Remote Controller
Of course, you will get a DJI Spark like controller too. The antennas, unfortunately, are fake. They are only for design purposes. The controller is simple. After powering on it pairs with the drone really easily. On the left-hand side, you will find the button for speed rates that go from low, mid and high. Under that, you will get the photo and video button. On the right-hand side, you notice the stunt button and the emergency stop.
The remote controller has also a steady smartphone holder. On the top of the controller, you will find the usual two joysticks. Around the joysticks are the trimming buttons to fine-tune the flight behavior of the drone. You will discover also buttons for the one key return and the headless mode too.
Features
As mentioned above JDRC JD-20 has some advanced features. The one key return function turns the drone to the pilot. Headless mode is useful when you don’t want to orientate the quadcopter to the right position before flying.
JDRC JD-20 has built-in 6 axis gyro system which helps to stabilize the quadcopter when hovering in the air. The altitude hold function works really well. JDRC JD-20 is remarkably stable, even you can use it indoors. It comes with prop guards so you don’t have to worry about broken vases.
JDRC JD-20 carries a 2MP camera (it can be chosen with a 0.3MP too) with a wide angle lens. It has a fisheye effect, the angles are curved. It can record 720p video footages too and transmitting an FPV experience to the smartphone via WiFi signal. On the dedicated application, you will see the live video signal of the camera. With the app, you can set a variety of features.
JDRC JD-20 is also able of 360-degree flips and rolls, and with the 3 flight speeds are a really fun way to play with. The control range of the quadcopter is about 80-100m, and the video feed signal has about 60m range.
Conclusion
JDRC JD-20 is clearly a budget drone. Surprisingly you get a decent quality for the price. The camera is really good. For a minimal extra money, you can get up to three batteries in the box. Definitely worth to buy this option. The JDRC JD-20: Poor Spark drone in the air is remarkably stable. As a DJI Spark reminder and a budget quadcopter, it performs better than my expectations. Sometimes it’s better to try out any kind of replica, maybe we get something valuable.
If you are interested you can check out an another DJI reproduction to find more information about this range of quadcopters on the market.
