Dromida keeps things fresh and new with the introduction of the Verso, the drone you can fly upside down. I have had my share of Dromida’s and know them to be a quality product, designed with the beginner mind, but never forgetting the expert.
They have introduced drones that flip with the push of the button, but I have not flown one designed to fly inverted with the push of a button.
What’s immediately interesting is whether Dromida has actually taken something usually reserved for experienced pilot’s, and made it accessible to a beginner.
The Verso includes everything you need to fly immediately after opening the box and charging the battery; it is RTF (Ready-To-Fly). It seems RTF is different across companies, however Dromida means it. You will not need to buy anything else to fly the Dromida, even the transmitter 4 “AA” batteries are included. It truly is Ready-To-Fly.
Included are the USB charger and 1S 350mAh LiPo battery, along with an extra set of blades and optional joystick thumb pads. The transmitter is simple and easy to use, has three selectable flight modes: 20%, 60%, 100% to allow different flight characteristic’s for everyone from beginner to expert.
F L Y I N G
It never gets old, opening the package of a new r/c product and flying it for the first time; the anticipation of how it’s suppose to fly, versus the reality of how it actually flies. It’s been a little while since I’ve had anything that truly is an indoor flyer, so the excitement was palpable. Waiting for the initial charge took about ~30 minutes and I occupied my and my son’s time in other ways. Reading the instructions, is a good place to spend a few minutes.
Now familiar with the instructions, and with a fully charged battery, initial flight testing began. First thing required at every start up is to bind the transmitter and Verso. I really like this procedure as it’s super simple and provides a little safety net against accidentally engaging the propellors.
Turn on the transmitter > plug in the receiver battery > wait for the Verso lights to slowly blink > bring the transmitter throttle to 100% and back down to 0%. The transmitter is now bound to the Verso and it’s ready to fly.
Set to 100%, I cautiously flew around the family room as the Verso showed me how stable it was in flight; predictable is a good word. The Verso is responsive at 100% and very easily controlled. For the true beginner, one who’s never flown a quadcopter, 20% will be a great choice. It calms everything down on the Verso to the point it’s still maneuverable, yet docile during those big stick movement’s new pilot’s love.
The Verso has some giddy-up-and-go when you push the elevator stick forward. At 100%, it comes back to hover responsively, but in small indoor spaces it’s easy to let the Verso get away from you; it’s pretty quick. The rudder is a little slower than I would prefer, especially in tight spaces, but it’s not slow. It’s responsive enough to keep you flying around that table lamp or whatever obstacles you have inside your home or office.
Flipping the Verso upside down is as simple has pushing a button and selecting which way you want it to flip (left, right, forward, reverse). The Verso’s programming will do the rest and bring you right back into a hover.
It also features 360 degree flips. With a long press of the flip button, followed by a short press and direction input, the Verso will flip all the way around in your choice of directions. It doesn’t get any easier.
The Verso has the same multi-colored blades as the other Dromida quadcopter’s to help differentiate between front and rear, but it’s not as much of a queue for me as the body. It also has lights, but they are essentially ineffective for flight orientation as they are tucked a little too far under the body to be seen well.
I did experience a peculiar programming discrepancy. If I flip the Verso left or right upside down, then forward or back right side up, the controls are now reversed. I have to land the Verso and let the blades stop rotating so it will reset the orientation correctly. I can then assume normal flight. This caused several crashes until I retraced the steps causing the concern.
That brings us to durability. The Verso will bounce off the ceiling, and even cling to it like a spider. It will also bounce off the carpet like a basketball if you want it to. And for good measure, I’ve also figured out how to suction it up to the walls briefly. With that said, you can easily see the Verso is very strong, very durable.
The only issue I had in terms of durability was with the propeller blades, and I can’t really say it’s a durability issue. After several run-in’s with immovable objects, one of the propeller blades ended up with a little too much play and would fly off with every attempt of inverted flight. This isn’t as much a fault of the Verso as it is the pilot. Fortunately, Dromida covers my recklessness by including additional props. With the installation of a new prop, the Verso was good as new and flying like the champ it is.
F I N A L F L I G H T
The Dromida Verso is perfectly sized for indoor flight and at 100% is easy to fly around the house or office. It’s also controllable to the point where landing with precision is no problem. It comes with a 1S 350mAh LiPo battery which pushes flight times past 5 minutes with short charge times.
The inverted flight, with the one exception, is brilliant. I love being able to push a button and select the direction while the Verso does the rest. It’s a no-brainer interaction that adds a new dimension of fun when flying.
And finally, is this thing really just $40? Sure, value is a personal decision, but in this case most people will have to really look hard to not find the value here. I realize there’s not much to the Verso, but at the same time it’s a complete RTF setup with a LiPo. How can that only be $40? Without a doubt, Dromida has a winner here. And let it be known… I will be getting more so I don’t have to share mine.