Article from the Mundo Drone archive, published 16 March 2020 and updated 13 July 2020. Text merged on 28 October 2026 from all its 2020 versions; specifications, availability and regulations may have changed since.
Similar, but quite different
If you ask us, "What drone should I buy for our school?" Well, here are some comments for micro drones, which weigh less than 100 grams.
Micro drones are excellent for start-up schools, as they are simple and the risk profile is relatively low. We have an eight-year-old son who's been using the micro drones since he was five years old. So, we know that young students can use micro drones, but the younger they are, the more space they need to fly because their hand-eye coordination is not very advanced. And having more accidents is almost inevitable!
We discovered that from the fifth year onwards is the ideal age in a child for class activities with drones, given one or two adults per class. There is nothing wrong with incorporating them into younger grades, but we recommend greater supervision, which of course is not always feasible.
Parrot Mambo
This is/was our preferred drone, but just before Christmas 2018, they all went on sale and then were discontinued. Stock is low, but you can still find them in some stores, like in amazon.
The Mambo is a great drone for the following reasons:
- It offers a lot for its class.
- He's stable in flight;
- It has a down-facing camera that is good for mapping activities.
- Works well with Tynker for block encoding, as well as Python and other more advanced script languages;
- He's tough and he's pretty good at hitting kids.
- It has a built-in lego accessory and other accessories that you can buy.
Our recommendation is to have at least three batteries per drone, a battery charger, a set of replacement propellers and propeller protectors per drone.
DJI / Ryze Tello
The Tello came out in 2018 and launched an EDU Tello at the end of 2018. In general, it's a great drone to fly and it's our drone behind the Mambo. Here are our comments:
- It sits a step above the Mambo.
- The biggest difference between Tello and Tello EDU is that the EDU allows greater access to the Software Developer Kit (SDK), which is good for students who want to perform more advanced coding with Python. The rest of the drone is essentially the same.
- He's got a good front camera that takes pictures and videos. It does not yet have a down-facing camera that is accessible (we say "yet", as we hope in the future that the down-facing camera will be accessible. It is currently only used for stabilization).
- Both EDU Tello and Tello can be coded using Scratch or block encoding.
- Battery life is better than Mambo, with about 11 minutes of normal flight (announced at 13 minutes, but probably in perfect conditions);
- As an additional safety feature, it has an interesting cage that you can buy to completely cover the propellers.
- While it was created by Ryze brand, it is using drone technology and technology from the giant DJI and Intel respectively.
- We have discovered that Tello's EDU has some Wi-Fi interference problems when several drones fly at once, controlled by separate tablets if the Black Tello app is used. This means that connections between drones and tablets are lost and landing or controlling drones becomes problematic. This is likely to be caused by camera transmission and bandwidth. This is solved, if you are flying multiple drones in a closed site, using the Tello Edu app (orange), as it does not transmit the video.
Ryze Tello and Parrot Mambo could be the two best drones of their class. The Parrot Mambo is an excellent starter drone and probably the closest competitor to Ryze / DJI Tello. Both are extremely stable and have good cameras. That makes them an excellent option for beginners.
Let's start by comparing their cameras. The Parrot Mambo takes pretty good photos and 720p videos, but uses a rather limited 0.9 MP camera. Parrot corrects the vertical distortion but not the horizontal one. While the Tello also records 720p video, it does so with a 5 MP camera. That means that still images should be much sharper from Tello. The Tello also has electronic image stabilization that will soften the EZ video and shooting modes to help you capture the shots you want.
Both Mambo and Tello broadcast live video via WiFi. You can wait a bit late. The Mambo FPV package includes a remote control and a set of glasses. The glasses are comfortable and compact and feature an interpupilar distance adjustment. The Mambo didn't come with a support to connect my smartphone to the remote control, which meant I didn't know how to hold the screen that presents the video transmission. The image is wide enough to fly FPV at 108°, so you may need to find your own solution to hold your phone if you want to take advantage of the live view.
The FPV transmission of the Tello is also a little late. Most FPV WiFi drones have some kind of noticeable delay. The Tello doesn't come with glasses or a remote control, so you'll blow it up with your smartphone and see the image on the same screen. This is not ideal for FPV flying. What's the solution? connects a remote control and a set of FPV glasses. Recommended remote controls are GameSir for Android and the MFi driver for Apple devices. A pair of decent goggles is not a big outlay.
Only in specifications, the Tello surpasses Mambo in some of the important categories, such as camera quality and features. The longer flight time of the Tello is also a good advantage. The flight time is thanks to the great design of the propeller and the large high energy density battery.
The Tello has EZ shot flight modes, but the Mambo is still a good quadricopter and is super stable. The camera can be removed and changed with a cannon or accessory that is like a clamp that grabs objects. This gives you a chance for entertainment that the Tello doesn't offer.
One thing that distinguishes these drones is the cameras. Most drones in its class have cameras with 0.3 MP cameras. You can't take decent pictures with a 0.3 MP camera. These drones sometimes have altitude restriction, but rarely have other stabilising characteristics. Both drones use floor sensors and optical flow cameras to make them incredibly stable. A similar-sized drone would normally have a flying time of 4 to 6 minutes, but it will double it with the Mambo and nearly triple it with the Tello.
Conclusion
Both drones are excellent options, but Tello takes you to another level. If you opt for the Tello, and we suggest you do so, we also recommend adding a Bluetooth controller to make the Tello easier to control. The Mambo is not a bad drone, in fact, it is one of the best beginner drones we have flown. Tello happens to be on another level.