Snap Pixy may be the first drone with a C0 classification
Recently, Snap, the company behind Snapchat, announced the Pixy, a mini drone with a possible C0 classification that should be seen as a kind of flying selfie stick rather than a ‘real' camera drone.
The drone is mainly intended for taking photos and video clips for social media, and for this purpose, it has a 12-megapixel camera and various flight modes such as Hover, Reveal, Follow, and Orbit. It now seems that Pixy is the first drone with a C0 rating.
Snap Pixy selfie drone with possible C0 classification
A few years ago, the announcements of selfie drones flew around your ears, peaking around 2015 and 2016. Yet the genre never really caught on, partly due to the often disappointing products that appeared on the market (with the ZANO being the ultimate failure). Ultimately, DJI dominated the small drone market with the Spark and later the Mavic Mini. But those were more full-fledged camera drones than pure selfie drones.
Snap is now going to try again with the Pixy drone. It is a tiny quadcopter with a weight of just over 100 grams, including the battery. The propellers are fully shielded. The drone has a 12-megapixel camera for recording. The drone does not have a gimbal; the images are stabilized by software. Movies are recorded in 2.7K at 30 fps. Thanks to the internal memory of 16 GB, the drone can store 100 short videos or 1,000 photos.
Snap makes drones
The drone is delivered without a controller. Instead, the user places the drone on the palm of their hand and the drone performs one of the flight functions selected by means of a rotary knob: Hover, Reveal, Follow, or Orbit. Afterward, the drone returns to the user. The built-in battery would be good for 5-8 dronies and can be charged via USB-C.
The drone is fully tailored to use in combination with the popular Snapchat app. For example, the recordings can be viewed directly in the Memories tab and edited and shared from there. Snap has developed new Filters, especially for the Pixy.
C0 classification for the Snap Pixy
Interestingly, the Pixy may be the first drone to have a CE class designation, something noted by former DJI policy advisor Brendan Schulman. The C0 logo is visible in the battery compartment.
Drones in the C0 class weigh less than 250 grams (including camera and battery), have a maximum speed of 68 km/h, and can fly up to 120 meters high. The user does not need to obtain a pilot's license but must register if the drone has a camera.
Earlier, a Chinese drone with a Cx label appeared on the market, but that label turned out to be fake. The European aviation agency, EASA, subsequently warned drone pilots that the presence of such a label does not guarantee that a drone meets the new product requirements.
We are now waiting for confirmation that Snap's Pixy is indeed the first drone with a C0 label. After that, the question is immediately why, for example, DJI's new Mini 3 Pro does not yet have such a label.
This article first appeared on Dronewatch and is written by Wiebe de Jager who is also a DroneXL contributor.
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