Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter Review

Last Updated on September 18, 2018

Our family friend, Tyler, described the Q500 4K as a flying tripod for your camera before we borrowed it to shot our kid’s high school ball game last month. Tyler couldn’t have described it better – the Typhoon Q500 captures high resolution 4K images and impressive slow motion video as we flew it along the sideline at our kid’s ball-game.

The Typhoon Q500 4K RTF consists of an integrated 3-axis anti-vibration CGO3 gimbal 4K camera and a 10-channel ST10+ personal ground station. This is a professional grade and high-performance quadcopter with super stable gimbal controlled rig. It is ideal to shoot action events such as high-school ball games, construction projects or vacation imageries. (Note: we know Yuneec as the manufacturer for aerial video quadcopters, i.e. Typhoon Q500. Yuneec is an aviation company who makes RTF fixed wing RC airplanes and electric aircraft. The Yuneec engineers are constantly improving this professional grade quadcopter, the Typhoon Q500 series.)

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Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter with CGO3-GB Camera

The Typhoon Q500 4K arrives factory-assembled, test-flown, ready to fly and film out...
The 3-axis anti-vibration CGO3 gimbal camera and the optimized fixed focus lens...
The ST10+ personal ground station is a 10-channel 2.4GHz RC transmitter that supports...

Model: Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter with CGO3-GB Camera
Price: In the $700 range

What you get with Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter:

Q500 (RTF) and that a pre-bound transmitter/ground station unit (radio controller) is included.
CG03 4k Camera
Hard-shell Aluminum
Handheld CGO Steady Grip
2x YUNEEC 5400mAh 3S LiPo Flight Batteries
ST10+ Personal Ground Station
YUNA100 USB Interface / Programmer
4 CW and CCW Propeller Pairs
SC 3500-3 DC LiPo Balancing Charger
AC Adapter for Charger
Balancing Connector Lead
SanDisk Extreme PRO 32GB micro SDHC Memory Card with Adapter
Quick-Release Snap On/Off Prop Guards (Set of 4) (Black)
SSE Transmitter Lanyard Propeller Blades for Yuneec Q500 (Black, White and Red)
Carbon Fiber Propeller Blades for Yuneec Q500
Quick Snap Prop Guards For Yuneec (Black, White and Red)
Dual Voltage Tester for Yuneec Q500
Carbon Fiber Camera Gimbal Guard for Yuneec
Parallel 4X Charger Plate for Yuneec Q500
5PC Filter Kit for Yuneec
Microfiber Cleaning Cloth

Camera included: Yes
Has gimbal mount: Yes
Gimbal range: -90 to 0
ISO range: up to 6400
Lens FOV: 115 degrees
Max memory 128G micro sd chip
Still – MP size: 12mp
Burst mode: Yes
Time lapse mode: Yes
Video – HD: 1080p
Video picture size: 1440×1080
Max video bit rate: 60 fps
Video monitor is: on controller
Video Viewer Range: 800 Meters
VR goggles enabled: No
VR goggles included/available: No/No

Across (center to center): 20 inches (510 mm)
Prop size: 13 inches
Frame: 16.5 x 16.5 x 8.3 inches
Weight (with battery and camera payload) = 3.75 lbs.
Ceiling: 400 Meters above take off

Battery:

Battery model/type: LiPo
Flight time of: 25 Min
Battery recharge time: 2 hrs.
Battery specs: 5400 mAh 11.1 Vdc
Additional batteries can be purchased so you can fly more missions (but not a longer mission)

Motor:

Ascent speed: 3 M/s
Decent speed: 2/s

On Board Flight Control:

RC mode available (joy stick and direction control): Yes
MAVLink enabled. a flight plan can be entered for autonomous flying: Yes
Software: see CG03 app
Headless mode: Yes (called smart mode.)
Has altitude hold, and position hold: Yes
Has follow me mode: Yes (called watch me mode)
Has automatic landing: Yes
Has orbit mode: No
Has selfie mode: Yes (Part of watch me mode)

Features:

Has on board GPS: Yes
Collision Avoidance: No
Return to home control: Yes
Battery low automatic return to home: No

Ground Controller (ST10):

Range: 1500 feet (450 Meters) Officially 800 meters, but please follow FAA rule and don’t try 800 meters.
Std: Yes
Included: Yes
Has video Viewer included: Yes (5.5 inch touch screen)
Battery: LiPo
Battery Specs: 5200 mAh 3.6 Vdc

Smart device:

Can control: No
Can View: Yes
Smart Device app: CG03 app

What you don’t get with Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter:

This is an almost complete bundle we have reviewed – there is no sensor for collision avoidance.

What Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter can do?

Autonomous flight (programmed flight path)
Selfie Mode (watch me mode)
Follow me mode (watch me mode)
HD video. UHD 4K recording at 30fps, 3840 x 2160. 1080p recording at 120 fps.
Still photographs at 12 mega pixels.
Headless mode
Altitude hold, and position hold
Automatic landing

What Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter cannot do?

It does not have Automatic return to home when battery is low.
It does not have ‘collision avoidance’.

Scorecard – Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K Quadcopter

Design	Features	Battery Life/Flight Time	Ease of Use
9/10	9/10	8/10	9/10

Overall Rating: 9/10 for camera drones in the $700 range.

PROS

A lot of features for the price. Yuneec is a sponsor of the “Dronecode” project, and they are deeply involved in the Flight Planning Project. This involvement means that flight programming on Yuneec craft will have features before many other manufacturers.
Smart mode makes it really easy to use.
The Steady grip for hand hold is a significant advantage giving you the advantage shooting some scenes from the ground level, then quickly switching to using the quadcopter as your shooting platform – all from the same camera.
The aluminum case makes transporting the quadcopter easier and it is less likely that the quadcopter will get damaged in transit.

CONS

No collision avoidance.
Its larger size means that it has more inertia and pilots who are accustomed to flying indoor quadcopters will find that it is a bit slower to respond.

Summary

The Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K RTF Quadcopter (View on Amazon)is one of our top picks for high-performance camera drone under $800. The Q500 is a professional grade quadcopter with an integrated 3-axis anti-vibration CGO3 gimbal. The Typhoon Q500 comes factory-assembled, already test-flown, it is ready to fly and shoot videography out of the box. We believe this is one of the most complete bundle you can get for the money. We also like the ST10+ personal ground station – a 10-channel 2.4GHz RC transmitter that supports a 5.8GHz video downlink delivering streaming video to the built-in screen. Another great feature of the Q500 is the modularity of the SteadyGrip handheld device – it extends the perspective from the sky to the ground with CGO3 mobile app. The Q500 comes packaged in its own rugged lightweight-aluminum transport case. This is one of the best buys to capture 4K from aerial and ground for your professional projects or personal vacation shoots.

Check out our review series on camera drones.