Article from the Mundo Drone archive, published 20 March 2020 and updated 30 June 2020. Text merged on 28 October 2026 from all its 2020 versions; specifications, availability and regulations may have changed since.
The Yuneec Typhoon Q500 is a well designed drone, very complete for its class, with 4K recording. The most revolutionary thing is that your camera is removable and can be used separately in a hand-held gimbal. This device is suitable for professional needs thanks to all the functions that can produce an exceptional footage in the air.
Analysis and features of the Yuneec Q500 4K
Like most other drone companies in the industry, Yuneec has been living in the shadow of DJI for the past few years, but don't let its lack of popularity or brand recognition fool you. The company has more than 15 years of experience in the manufacture of RC aircraft, and currently offers some of the most advanced multirotor drones on the market.
Early in 2015, Yuneec launched the 4K Q500 Typhoon without drawing attention, one of the first 4K drones designed for amateur drivers. This new and improved Q500 promised a lot of advanced features designed to simplify aerial video capture. So, to get a real idea of how good these "smart" features are and the 4K camera in nature, let's see what the tests tell us.
Characteristics and specifications
Approximately 42 centimeters long and just over 20 centimeters high, the Q500 weighs just under 1.8 kilos with the battery and payload connected. Outside the box, the drone comes with two sets of rotors, all the necessary add-ons and adapters, a 16GB pre-filled SD card with tutorial videos, the ST10 + Personal Ground Station controller and a built-in 4K camera. There are more complete editions that also include the transport briefcase and a practical manual gimbal where you can mount the drone camera to use it in your hand. A good idea.
Easy to use but sophisticated, the Q500 gives even amateur photographers the ability to produce professional quality images and videos. The fully controllable 3-axis gimbal camera can shoot in a straight line to capture the horizon, or pivot up to 90 degrees down to capture aerial images. Although many newer drones are starting to add this feature, it is still relatively new in the field, giving the Q500 an advantage over its competition.
In addition to its optical strength, the drone includes two unique autonomous modes to help beginners. The "Follow Me" mode essentially binds the ship to the pilot (the one holding the controller), allowing it to operate completely on its own. The "Look at me" mode fixes the camera directly on the pilot, continuously keeping the operator in the frame of vision and focused, regardless of how the drone flies. In other words, Yuneec makes life very easy for you, if you want.
The ST10 + Personal Ground Station controller, included with all versions of the Q500, contains all the joysticks, buttons and configurations needed for everything, from flying and landing the drone, to activating its functions and capturing photos or videos. Equipped with a 5.5-inch colour touch screen and excellent brightness, the ST10+ offers you a front-row seat to see exactly what the drone sees when it flies. Although much of the screen is dedicated to live video transmission, pilots also receive constant updates on the length of the ship's battery, its altitude and distance from the controller, the speed of advance and the state of the GPS, among others.
Quality of construction and durability.
One of the first things we noticed after removing the drone from its gigantic case was its superior construction and robust chassis. Equipped with a strong and resistant body and sturdy arms, even the legs of the drone prove to be incredibly stable, which is not always typical in constructions of this type.
Specifications
- Take-off weight
Technical specifications Take-off weight
- 249 g
- Dimensions
- Folded: 140 × 82 × 57 mm (length × width × height)
Spread: 160 × 202 × 55 mm (long × wide × high)
Deployed (with propellers): 245 × 290 × 55 mm (long × width × high) - diagonal distance
- 213 mm
- Max. speed. Promotion
- 4 m/s (mode S)
2 m/s (mode P)
1.5 m/s (mode C) - Max. speed. of descent
- 3 m/s (mode S)
1.8 m/s (mode P)
1 m/s (mode C) - Maximum speed (near sea level, no wind)
- 13 m/s (mode S)
8 m/s (mode P)
4 m/s (mode C) - Maximum height sea-level service
- 3000 m
- Maximum time flight
- 30 minutes (measured without wind at 14 km/h)
- Max. resistance to the wind
- 8 m/s (scale 4)
- Max angle of inclination.
- 30° (Mode S)
20° (mode P)
20° (mode C) - Max angular velocity.
- 150°/s (Mode S)
130°/s (mode P)
30°/s (mode C) - Operating temperature range
- 0 to 40 °C (32° to 104°F)
- Operating frequency
- Model MT1SS5: 5.725-5.850 GHz
Model MT1SD25: 2,400-2.4835 GHz, 5.725-5.850 GHz - Power transmission (PIRE)
- Model MT1SS5
5.8 GHz: <30 dBm (FCC); <28 dBm (SRRC)
Model MT1SD25
2.4 GHz: <19 dBm (MIC/EC)
5.8 GHz: <14 dBm (EC) - GNSS
- GPS + GLONASS
- Accuracy range in stationary flight
- Vertical: ±0.1 m (with visual positioning), ±0.5 m (with GPS positioning)
Horizontal: ±0.3 m (with visual positioning), ±1.5 m (with GPS positioning)
Stabilizer
- Mechanical range
- Inclination: from -110° to 35°
Rotation: from -35° to 35°
Turn: from -20° to 20° - Controllable interval
- Inclination: -90o to 0o (default configuration), from -90o to +20o (extended)
- Stabilization
- 3 axes (inclination, rotation and rotation)
- Maximum control speed (inclination)
- 120°/s
- Angular vibration interval
- ±0.01°
Detection system
- Lower
- Operating range: 0.5-10 m
- Operating environment
- Recognisable and non-reflective surfaces
Diffuse reflectivity (>20 %)
Suitable lighting (lux > 15)
Camera
- Sensor
- 1/2.3" CMOS
Effective pixels: 12 MP - Objective
- FOV: 83°
Format equivalent to 35 mm: 24 mm
Opening: f/2.8
Focus distance: 1 m to - ISO Range
- Video:
100 - 3200 (automatic)
Photo:
100 - 1600 (automatic)
100 - 3200 (manual) - Shutter speed
- Electronic shutter: 4-1/8000s
- Photo Size
- 4:3: 4000×3000
16:9: 4000×2250 - Photo modes
- Single shot
Range: 2/3/5/7/10/15/20/30/60 s - Video resolution
- 2.7K: 2720×1530 25/30 p
FHD: 1920×1080 25/30/50/60 p - Max bit rate.
- 40 Mbps
- Supported file systems
- FAT32 (≤32 GB)
exFAT (>32 GB) - Photo formats
- JPEG
- Video formats
- MP4 (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC)
Remote control and video transmission
- Max. distance transmission (no obstacles, no interference)
- Model MT1SS5
5.8 GHz: 4000 m (FCC); 2500 m (SRRC)
Model MT1SD25
2.4 GHz: 2000 m (MIC/EC)
5.8 GHz: 500 m (EC) - Battery capacity
- 2600 mAh
- Operating current
- 1200 mA 3.6 V (Android)
450 mA 3.6 V (iOS) - Size of compatible mobile devices
- Max. length: 160 mm
Maximum thickness: 6.5 - 8.5 mm - Supported USB ports
- Lightning, micro-USB (type B), USB Type-C
- Video transmission system
- Improved Wi-Fi
- Quality of live retransmission
- 720p at 30fps
- Max. Bit Ratio
- 4 Mbps
- Latency (depending on environment and mobile device conditions)
- 170-240 ms
Loader
- Entry
- 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.5A
- Output
- 12V 1.5A / 9 V 2 A / 5 V 3 A
- Nominal power
- 18 W
Smart Flight Battery
- Capacity
- 2400 mAh
- Voltage
- 7.2 V
- Voltage max. Load
- 8.4 V
- Battery type
- Of lithium ions 2S
- Energy
- 17.28 Wh
- Net weight
- 100 g
- Load temperature range
- From 5 to 40 °C (from 41 to 104 °F)
- Max. load power
- 24 W
Smart Flight Battery (1100 mAh)
- 1100 mAh
- 7.6 V
- 8.7 V
- LiPo 2S
- 8.36 Wh
- 50 g
Pros and cons of this Drone
- 4K Video Capture.
- Slow camera at 1080p.
- Remote control with integrated LCD.
- Includes rigid case and two batteries.
- The image can be blurred at the edges of the frame.
- Automatic white balance can be inconsistent.
- Larger than comparable drones within your segment.
- The battery charger can warm up a lot.
Conclusions
The Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K is a good drone on paper. Record in 4K, it offers a removable camera and a hand-held stabilization system, and (if you choose the most complete pack) it is shipped with an additional transport cover and battery. But it's not perfect. The quality of the video suffers when it moves away from the center of the frame, the hand grip requires that it keeps a lot of AA batteries charged, and its large fuselage makes transport difficult. On the other hand, it is possible to find in Spain establishments that sell all kinds of spare parts for this drone, and that is a very positive handicap.