Force1 F111 Phoenix Quadcopter
In this article, you will have the chance to see a toy grade quad, with great abilities. Being a toy drone it’s understandable that it’s not as good as a camera drone like the Parrot Anafi. Force1 is a well-known drone manufacturer which is present on the market for some time. They are not for their quality copters at an affordable price for beginners. In this Force1 F111 Phoenix Quadcopter Review, we will go through all the important parts of a drone-like design, build, performance, camera, and remote controller. In the end, you will have a clear view of how well this drone performs and who should buy it.
What’s in the box?
- F111 Phoenix Wi-Fi FPV Folding Drone
- HD 720p Camera
- 2.4 GHz Controller
- USB Charger Cable
- 2x 3.7v 850mAh Li-Po BatteryÂ
- 4x Propeller GuardsÂ
- 4x Extra PropellersÂ
- Screwdriver
- User Manual
Design and build
The drone has a nice black coating with orange details. The power button is placed on the top in the middle, so it’s easy to access. The coating on the end of each arm is transparent so you can see the gears inside, and the motor as well. Near the motors, there is an LED light that is essential for each quadcopter out there. This way you can identify the front and the rear of the quad (red in the back, green of the front), and it helps you in the orientation in the dark. But with the camera you get on this drone it’s worthless flying in the dark. But I will talk about the camera later in this article.
The arms are foldable, but to unfold them you have to press a button on the bottom. So if they don’t unfold at the first try don’t force it, just press the little grey button underneath each of the arms. The drone works with brushed motors, which has some disadvantages towards a brushed motor. But a toy drone is just fine. On the bottom, there is an altitude hold sensor that will help you to keep the drone at the same height.
Battery
The package comes with two batteries. In order to insert the batteries, you have to open the little part from the batteries and to insert them carefully into their place. The batteries are 3.7V ones with 800mAh, and they give you around 5 to 7 minutes of flight time depending on the environment and your flight style. But you have two batteries, this means you will be able to fly them for at least 10 minutes, and a max of 14 minutes.
Controller
The Remote controller provided to this quad has a quite simple design. It is a bulky controller, with only two joysticks and a big button in the center. However, there are more buttons on the side. With these buttons, you can make the drone perform flips, to switch between the speeds, to enter in headless more, turn off/on the LED lights, etc. The Controller has a phone holder as well, so if you want to record something with your phone you can place your smartphone there, and this way you can follow the camera’s live feed more easily.
You can control the drone with the app as well. But it’s easier to do that from the controller, this way you can feel the throttles and there’s no need to always keep an eye on the screen. So my advice is to use your smartphone only for the FPV. Also, the app has a tendency to froze or to crash sometimes, and you don’t want that during a flight. So even if you’re remote controller is out of battery I don’t recommend controlling the drone with the App.
Camera
The drone comes with a 720p HD camera. The camera on the Force F11 Phoenix is a detachable camera that works pretty much separately from the drone. If you uninstall it from the drone you will be able to access the memory card slot so you could record with the device. Also, the camera has an individual antenna which can be accessed via your smartphone. Only this way you can get an FPV and to control the camera at the same time.
Features
As you saw in the previous paragraphs the drone can do Flips and you can fly it in headless mode. But in my opinion, the most useful feature is the different speed modes. This is useful for beginners and first-time fliers. But it’s just as useful when you fly it in an environment full of obstacles like trees, cables, buildings, etc.
Besides the features you can access from the controller, there are some that are kicking in automatically or passively. One of them is the low battery alert, this feature lands your drone smoothly as soon as the battery runs low.
Conclusion
To be honest you won’t be able to start your filmmaker career with this drone. But if you have some spare time and you want to try out what it feels like to use a drone you should consider getting this one. The drone has good parts and bad parts in it. The drone is well designed and you get a lot of built-in stuff for this money. The camera is decent, and the remote controller works pretty well. You even have two batteries in the package to maximize the performance of the drone. The app might freeze sometimes, but this can affect only the footage. Overall you get a pretty good deal for the price you can get this drone.
If you’re interested in purchasing the Force1 F111 Phoenix Quadcopter check out the Force1 Official Store and Amazon.
