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The topic of Drones in the field of toys or entertainment has now been cleared through customs, but every time we have one in our hands it is always a good thing: it is no exception Parrot's Mambo, a brand that is now a prominent name in the mini drone sector and that we have already covered several times here at Cyber Layman (including the presentation a few months ago). However, this Mambo is different from its brothers present in the Parrot catalog: it is always a propeller drone, suitable for flight and substantially equipped with the same characteristics, for example, of Airborne Night (which we have reviewed here) while presenting some innovations that make it particularly intriguing.
Mambo and Airborne Night, different twins
From a constructive point of view, Mambo is very similar to its brother Airborne Night: it shares its external appearance (although equipped with a lower light compartment) and the guide system, based on an App for iOS and Android and a connection via Bluetooth.
For those who have never read our reviews of the other drones in practice this is an App that offers different types of driving, from a simpler system to a more advanced one, with different ways to move the drone in the three spatial axes some automation to manage the most common maneuvers.
Inside the Mambo different if nsori help the guidance system, otherwise much more complex: certainly a stabilizer and a gyroscope, which allow both to corodare moments of pause in flight and to be able to start by itself when the drone “feels” the momentum.
To do this, simply activate the action on the display, pick up the drone and launch it in the air: this will immediately start the motor and the drone stabilizes in flight.
In addition to this, the camera placed in the belly of the drone maps the ground below to obtain greater readiness and stability: in fact, we have noticed that not only the drone is more malleable to movements when the underlying surface is regular or proposes traceable geometries, but also that tends to follow the geometry if it moves, as happens for example by approaching the drone with one hand, and then moving, observing how the Mambo follows the hand that moves.
For the rest the ability to fly runs ttly with the Mambo it derives from half an hour of practice with the App, even at home, some crashes (nothing special, the drone seems to hold up to everything) and a little good will: no knowledge or flight is needed nor robotics to make it fly correctly, it is basically a toy, not a professional drone.
The weapons of the Mambo
Once you have become familiar with the Mambo, you move on to the use of accessories, which in the package are two (but others could arrive even later).
The first is basically a plastic gripper, suitable for supporting a light weight, such as a sheet or a paper cup, a LEGO brick, a pencil: from the App it is possible to open and close the clamp to take or release the grip.
The operation is as obvious when the drone is stationary as it is difficult in flight, but leans towards a series of games funny ones, such as taking an object from one point and leaving it in another, or even just correctly catching an object in flight.
To tell the truth, however, we really liked the second accessory, a kind of shotgun which, loaded on the back, allows you to shoot colored pellets (included in the package). a distance of a few meters.
Mothers are not damned, the rifle cannot do any harm, even if fired at a distance of a few centimeters the shot is perceived but does not cause any damage (if not to the dignity).
Here the type of games is very varied, from trying to hit the house cat (which, however, tends to run away from the drone as soon as it hears it) to hitting a fixed target and prepared before. A wicked revenge towards friends and family cannot be ruled out.
Both of these objects connect to the Drone at the top, where there is a compatible LEGO socket: this also means that, once removed, we can use the drone inside a LEGO building, an operation that was enthusiastically received by the family.
Considerations
Considering the possibilities of the Mambo, in our humble opinion far superior to the other brothers, the price at which it is proposed seems absolutely consistent and suitable both to children and to adults. All this also taking into account that the accessories are already included inside and that the driving system is also suitable for a 7-year-old child (with parents present).
The same problem remains as the others. Parrot minidrones, namely that the battery life, theoretically twenty minutes but in practice something less, limits the playing time: it can be remedied by purchasing a second battery, so that the first one charges while we use the second , a factor that we consider necessary during the Christmas holidays.
Parrot Mambo is available for purchase directly from the Amazon site in various colors, starting from 119,90 Euro (but other drones are also available , also by Parrot). You can find it in the most well-stocked Apple stores with Italian distribution by Attiva.
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