Buying your first drone is getting easier because there are now many options available, but it’s also becoming more difficult for the same reason. In recent years, the beginner drone market has exploded, with a vast selection of drones on offer at a wide range of price points. For absolute beginners, it’s often the less expensive models that offer an attractive toe dip into drone flight, and the Ruko F11GIM2 is another model that’s fighting for your attention.
The Roku F11GIM2 sits within the mid-range of beginner drones in terms of price, coming in a kit that includes everything you need to get started, except for a smartphone and the free Roku app. Its full price is $579.99 in the U.S. and £499.90 in the U.K., which is extremely expensive for what it has to offer in terms of performance and image quality. However, the F11GIM2 is often on sale with a generous discount, and further discounts if you purchase the drone from Amazon.
Despite its beginner status, the Roku F11GIM2 is a powerful medium-sized drone that’s claimed to provide up to level 7 wind resistance – that’s up to 38 mph. GPS positioning helps to hold the drone in position when hovering, and other features include subject tracking, point of interest, waypoint flight, and gesture control.
It’s certainly not one of the best drones available, but it could be a tempting drone for beginners to get to grips with drone flight before moving on to a more advanced and expensive model.
- Folding design
- Reasonable battery life
- Rechargeable controller
The F11GIM2 drone offers a handy folding design that takes it from 175 × 105 × 80 mm folded to 450 × 405 × 80 mm when unfolded, with a weight of 19.72 oz/559 g. So, in terms of size and weight, this puts it between the DJI Mavic 3 and the DJI Mini 3 – two of the best drones available in their respective classes.
Its flight times are impressive considering the battery capacity is only 2500 mAh. Roku claims flight times of up to 28 minutes, and during testing in winter temperatures, it lasted around 20 minutes. The batteries are, unfortunately, slow to charge – like many that are directly charged via USB. Roku suggests that charging takes up to 4.5 hours. This is a long time to wait, so you have to be organized and plan your flights in advance.
- Three flight modes
- Subject tracking
- GPS positioning
The controller used to operate the drone feels more cheaply made than the drone itself, but performs well and even features what appears to be an OLED screen showing flight information and settings. Two handles fold out from the bottom of the controller for added comfort and grip. Some beginner drone controllers use AA batteries, but this one is rechargeable which is a convenient feature. The controller connects to your smartphone over Wi-Fi and the connection between the two exhibited no issues during testing.
Build quality is on par for a drone of this price, and although it’s not up to the standard of Autel, DJI, or even Potensic (which is also a budget drone company), the Roku F11GIM2 feels robust and is of reasonable quality overall. The brushless motors also deliver plenty of power without being too loud. When tested in 15 mph gusts, the F11GIM2 remained steady in the air.
So, why are you late?? Garb the product for a reasonable price.
