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Skydio 2 review: The best self-flying drone is now a great all-rounder
Around a year and a half ago, Skydio blew my mind. The then-unknown company presented the R1 drone to the world, and it was quite special. Typically, follow features and obstacle avoidance aren't very effective, or only work in certain modes (i.e. with compromises). Skydio's R1 put these features front and center, and it did them incredibly well. But there were still caveats. The R1 was prohibitively expensive ($2,499 at launch), large, clunky and limited in what it could do beyond all that following and obstacle avoiding. Enter the Skydio 2, the company's second take on a drone. It's cheaper, smaller and much more versatile. The hope is that it will be the much-needed DJI rival we deserve, and I'm excited about it enough to say right here that it is. But, and yes there are some buts, it still has some edges that need smoothing out. I'll get to those in good time, but for now, let's start with the positives.
Skydio’s next self-flying drone is ready to take on DJI
When Skydio revealed the fully autonomous R1 drone, it was truly impressive. This thing could follow you like no other drone before, or since. You didn't need to wear anything (like AirDog), and its visual tracking system was smart enough to avoid almost any obstacle in its way, even at speed. But the R1 was kinda big (like a large pizza box) and at $2,500, prohibitively expensive for the majority. You also couldn't really control it yourself in a meaningful way, so it wasn't as versatile as DJI's cheaper Mavic 2 Pro.
