Ryze Tech Tello

Drones are great, but many kids and adults are unsure of using them, fearing the drone’s complex functions and flight, fearful of damaging it. However, there are many toy grade drones available in the market for beginners looking for a basic drone to fly before diving deep into the drone world. The Ryze Tech Tello is one such toy-grade drone designed for children and adults alike. In this article, we will be giving you a detailed review of the Ryze Tech Tello.

Our Verdict

The Ryze Tech Tello is a great toy grade drone for children and adults alike. It has a lot of features that take the fear of flying it out of novice flyers, such as altitude hold, headless mode, throws and go, and many more. It has a compact design and yet a sturdy body, which makes it ideal for indoor flying. The mobile application eliminates the need to use a controller and turns your smartphone or tablet into the controller. So flying the Ryze Tech Tello is as simple as playing a game on your phone. The programmable option makes the Ryze Tech Tello even more desirable. It can teach children the basics of programming with simple and fool-proof methods, allowing the drone to perform practically endless functions.

Design

The Ryze Tech Tello is a great indoor drone. It has a flight capacity of about 13 minutes and a transmission radius of about 100 meters. It has a 5-megapixel camera, which can be used to take photos and videos in 720P HD and 2592*1936. it has many features which makes it easy for beginners to fly drone such as altitude hold, headless mode, performing flips, instant cut out, low battery warning, range finder, WiFi, Throw and Go, Bounce mode, etc. It has 4 brush motors, propellers, barometers, and sensors, which help smoothen the flight and give the drone stability. It has LEDs for visibility and as indicators. It also has VR headset compatibility, which fives a First-Person view of the drone. It is a fully programmable drone with simple drag and drops stackable functions that can teach children the basics of programming. it does not have a controller but functions using a mobile application which turns your smartphones into a flight controller

The mobile application has many features, such as adjusting video quality, photo quality, a low battery warning, measurement systems, Bit rate adjustment, etc. they also have a ‘help-chat’ function in the application, so in case of any difficulties, you can chat live with a customer care executive to resolve problems.

Another issue is that the Ryze Tech Tello does not support all varieties of smartphones. If you have one of the incompatible versions, the drone and mobile application will work, but some minor issues will have to be dealt with. However, it is expected that there will be firmware updates to fix this problem.

Flight

The Ryze Tech Tello is designed to be an indoor drone. It is apparent as soon as you use it. It works flawlessly indoors, remaining still due to the high-quality propellers in place. It is also able to perform perfect flips in a confined space of 2 meters. As long as the bottom sensors are not obstructed, and the ground has a pattern, the drone will remain still in the air and maintain altitude unless prompted by the user. However, if there isn’t sufficient light, the drone tends to drift in altitude hold mode. In such cases, it is recommended to use complete manual mode. It is also one of the few inexpensive drones that send telemetry information back to your phone via the mobile application. On the application, it displays the height, speed, Wi-Fi strength, battery power, etc.

As mentioned before, the Ryze Tech Tello is designed to be an indoor drone. It works well outside but cannot withstand windy conditions. It has a transmission strength of 100 meters, but the signal is observed to be become spotty at times after about 50 meters.

Camera Quality

The Ryze Tech Tello has a 5-megapixel camera with videos in 720P HD and a 2592*1936 resolution, and an adjustable bit rate. You can change the quality of the photos and videos via the mobile application on your smartphone. However, the mobile application does not save the settings. This means that you have to reset the camera quality settings each time. The default setting is feed quality is high, and bitrate is 5 megapixel.

It has image stabilization, ensuring that there aren’t any hazy photographs. However, it doesn’t work as smoothly in video mode, and you may get some lag in your feed.

One negative with the camera is that it is non-movable, so you will never be able to fly above yourself and take photos looking straight down or any other angled direction. It also takes some time to frame a shot because of the immovability.

Build Quality

The Build quality of the Ryze Tech Tellois above average. The body of the drone, once the top is removed, is visible. The entire frame is made of some resin plastic polymer. It is solid and yet able to take some impact. Once the battery is removed, there is very little space to house the flight controller, The WiFi, the sensors, and the camera. The camera is tiny, just a miniature pinhole camera, yet the 5-megapixel photos it takes are good. Unfortunately, there is no port to insert the micro SD card in the frame to save the photos as videos, and it needs to be saved on the phone or tablet.

It has a power button on one side and a USB port to charge the other side’s battery. There are LEDs on the drone used as indicators and for visibility. One of the great things about the Ryze Tech Tello is the propeller guards. They are made of the same strong resin plastic polymer as the rest of the frame, protecting the propellers from more than a few crashes. They are also easy to attach and remove. The drone also has rubber feet, which help with smooth landing and take off.

The Ryze Tech Tello has brush motors. They work quite well with the flight controller and the sensors and keep it perfectly still in the air. They also perform flips flawlessly. Even though it is a toy grade drone, the propellers are designed for thrust and low noise. They also provide 4 spare propellers in case they need to be replaced.

The Ryze Tech Tello has a 98*92.5*41mm dimension and weighs about 80 grams. The lightweight and compact design make it highly responsive and easy to use. Due to its size, you do not need to register it with the FAA, in case you live in the USA.

Battery

The Ryze Tech Tello comes with a 1 detachable rechargeable lithium-polymer battery of 3.8V and 1 Ah capacity. The charging time is about 90 minutes, which provides for about 13 minutes of flight time—the battery powers the propellers and powers the camera, sensors, gyroscope, LEDs, etc. The battery can be charged via a USB port connected to either a computer or a wall adapter. It is important to make sure that the adapter is compatible with the drone’s battery before charging. The only disadvantage we came across in terms of the battery is that the charging port is on the Ryze Tech Tello body and not the battery pack itself. So the drone cannot be used while the battery is being charged.

Once the battery is reduced, the Ryze Tech Tello will slowly lower itself, and the LEDs will flash to indicate a low battery. The percentage of the battery at which this motion is activated can be adjusted using the mobile application.

Mobile Application and Programming

One of the things that set the Ryze Tech Tello apart from other drones in its competition is the mobile application. The mobile application turns your phone into a flight controller, so you don’t need to use a joystick controller to fly the drone. It has numerous settings that can be used to customize the drone according to user requirements. There are camera settings, flight settings, WiFi settings, VR Mode. The possibilities are numerous. You can configure many options as per your preference. You can view the live feed, take photos and videos using the application. However, the application doesn’t allow you to share these files, which is a basic feature seen in many other camera drones.

The Ryze Tech Tello is compatible with the Scratch programming language on the Tello application. The scratch programming language allows you to program the drone. It uses a simple drag and drops function with various options to program the drone to follow a specific path, light up LEDs, perform flips, hover, etc. it is a simple way to teach children about the basics of programming a fool-proof way. With so many options available, you can have a practically endless combination of functions and stunts for the drone.

Pros And Cons

Final Thoughts

The Ryze Tech Tello is a great drone with some excellent features. Whether you are buying it for kids or want to learn more about drone flying, the are numerous features in the Ryze Tech Tello all rolled into a neat package, and an affordable price makes it a desirable purchase.

We strongly advise readers to use the Ryze Tech Tello only for its intended use. We do not recommend the drone for any illicit surveillance, illegal photography or videography, or any other related activities. It is recommended to keep a ten-minute break between flight times to prolong the Ryze Tech Tello’s life and durability.