Best Eachine E511 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

After having released an E58 resembling a miniature Mavic Pro , Eachine tackles the Mavic Air with its E511 which takes up the look of the famous DJI drone, but is displayed at a price 6 to 7 times lower. Only, the habit does not make the monk

Presentation

A 1,080p wide-angle camera, 200 m range with its remote control, real-time video feedback on smartphone and up to 17 minutes of autonomy thanks to its 1200 mAh battery, these are the main promises of Eachine E511. Above all, this drone obviously puts on its compact and foldable design, very strongly inspired by that of the famous Mavic Air of DJI, but for a significantly lower price: when the first is displayed at 849 € (public price), the second does is only 119.99 €, with three batteries! There is obviously eel under rock, which does not mean that the Eachine E511 is devoid of interest, but that it must be taken for what it is: a fun drone designed to have fun above all, but far from being able to claim the title of “king of the skies”, as we will explain to you.

Note, before getting to the heart of the matter, that the manufacturer offers until September 31 a reduction code to be used for the purchase of an Eachine E511 at Amazon.fr : “CT5LRF6A”. Just enter it into the basket before confirming the order.

Best Eachine E511 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. EACHINE E520S GPS Drone with 4K Camera for Adults,5G WiFi FPV Live Video Foldable Drone. GPS Return Home 1200Mah 16mins Flight Time Follow Me RC Drone Quadcopter for Beginners

2. EACHINE E520 Drone with 4K Camera Live Video,WiFi FPV Drone for Adults with 4K HD 120° Wide Angle Camera. 1200Mah Long Flight time Auto Hover Foldable RC Drone Quadcopter

3. Drones with 1080P HD Camera for Beginners,JJRC H71 Foldable Drone with Optical Flow Positioning. FPV WiFi Live Video Quadcopter for Adults,22mins Long Flight Time Rc Drone with 2 Batteries(Black)

4. Quadcopter Drone with Camera Live Video, EACHINE E58 WiFi FPV Quadcopter with 120° Wide. Angle 720P HD Camera Foldable Drone RTF – Altitude Hold, One Key Take Off/Landing, 3D Flip, APP Control

Getting started

At first glance, it’s difficult not to notice the strong aesthetic resemblance of the Eachine E511 with the DJI Mavic Air, as we already mentioned in the preamble. It must be said that Eachine did not hesitate to use the design codes of the number one device in the drone market: white shell on top, small touches of metallic gray plastic and of course foldable arms for simplified transport. The drone thus occupies only a volume of 185 x 108 x 64 mm (it enters a square of 33 x 34 cm once unfolded, from one end of a wing to another), however greater than that of its model (168 x 83 x 49 mm) – which is quite surprising besides, insofar as the on-board technology is much less sophisticated.

Even the remote control is modeled on that of the Mavic Air. However, like a small car for children taking over the lines of its adult model, the E511 stops at aesthetic codes when it comes to copying the Mavic Air.

You just have to take the drone in hand to see that the quality of the plastics and the finish have nothing to do with those of the DJI device: traces of plastic injection, rough deburring, visible screws. Although there is some effort made to the surface quality of plastics (soft-touch). The E511 retains the appearance of a toy and does not reach the ankle of a Mavic Air. The price range is certainly not the same, so this is not surprising. But we could not avoid the comparison between the two devices.

Flight

Pressing the take-off button and the E511 takes off to stabilize at a height of 1 m above its starting point. If it maintains approximately this height until we decide otherwise, it unfortunately does not remain very stable horizontally, for lack of camera or ultrasonic sensor provided for this purpose. A light breeze and the device deviates, so you have to be constantly ready to correct its trajectory and even to correct any drifts with the trims of the radio control. Nothing to do there again with a Mavic Air, therefore, which is very stable and remains much more easily above a fixed point.

The drone being stabilized vertically, the left stick of the radio control is not used to regulate the gases, but to make it go up or down. The stick automatically returns to the central position as soon as it is released. Convenient for beginners who will not need any particular driving skills and can quickly take control of the device. Especially in its first speed mode where the movements are smoothed. 

For a little more speed and nervousness, we will not hesitate to switch to mode 2 or 3 by pressing the top button on the right of the upper edge. Even in this mode, there is nothing to transform the E511 into a racing drone, its 1020 coreless engines do not have the power necessary for this and the size of the drone preventing it from performing aerobatic prowess. . 

Image quality

Despite its entry-level positioning, the Eachine E511 highlights on its technical sheet a 1080p video capture at an angle of 120 °. The result is unfortunately not much more exciting than with the 720p camera of the E58. Admittedly, the gain in definition is manifested by a slightly less blurred image and a little more sharpness. But the camera is still not stabilized and the final result is not frankly more usable in. 1080p than in 720p.

Can we just be satisfied with capturing an original point of view to show it to those around us. We have properly adjusted the angle of the camera before takeoff, it is not powered . In any case, we should not hope to capture beautiful photos and videos of holidays and landscapes on the microSD card that we will have inserted under the device; the quality remains too modest and even an entry-level smartphone does better today.

Once again, we cannot recommend the purchase of such a drone for any purpose other than having fun flying. Better to save a little and invest in real quadrotors dedicated to shooting, such as those we test in our other comparison of drones.

Autonomy

Thanks to its 1200 mAh LiPo battery, the Eachine. E511 is capable of flying for around fifteen minutes if you pilot calmly. The promised 17 minutes will in reality only be achieved by hovering and with new batteries. A flight duration rather correct therefore, knowing that one will not fly very far anyway with such a device.

Charging takes 1 h 30 min with the supplied mini USB charger.

STRONG POINTS

  • Simple to fly, fairly healthy behavior.
  • Radio control ensuring low latency control.
  • Video return on smartphone.
  • Good autonomy for this category of drones.

WEAK POINTS

  • The look of a Mavic Air, but that’s it.
  • The manufacturing quality of the radio control leaves something to be desired.
  • Still poor image quality due to lack of any optical or electronic stabilization.
  • No hold in automatic position.
  • Delicate immersion control (FPV) due to the too unstable and slow Wi-Fi video transmission.
  • Finally quite big considering its equipment.

CONCLUSION

Like the E58 before him, the Eachine E511 only copies the look of a prestigious device by suggesting. That it would be able to approach its qualities. It is not so. The Mavic Air which serves as its model remains infinitely better and ultimately has nothing comparable. Still a nice drone to fly for fun outdoors, but which unfortunately can not count on good image quality. To really have fun, it is probably better to turn to mini-drones which, at an equivalent price – even at Eachine -, provide much higher flight pleasure if you decide to learn the basics of piloting.

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