In this in-depth Skydio 2 Plus review, we break down every critical aspect of this autonomous drone - from its six-camera obstacle avoidance system and battery life, to how it stacks up against the DJI Air 2S in camera quality and tracking performance. Whether you're a hobbyist, an action sports athlete, an aerial photographer, or a solo operator who wants hands-free intelligent flight, read on for the most honest community-driven take on the Skydio 2 Plus you'll find online.
What Is the Skydio 2 Plus?
Overview of Skydio as a Brand and Its Autonomous Flight Mission
Skydio is a Redwood City, California-based drone company with a singular obsession: autonomous flight. Skydio started building drones with the goal of accessible autonomous flight for any operator, and when they built the Skydio R1, its goal was to eliminate crashes using collision avoidance sensors - at the time, one of the most advanced obstacle avoidance drones on the market. Unlike DJI, which offers autonomous features as a supplement to manual flight, DJI seems to put autonomous functions - including avoidance and tracking - as an additional feature, while Skydio defines its drone as an autonomous flying machine.
That philosophy runs deep. Every hardware and software decision at Skydio points toward one goal: making intelligent autonomous flight available to everyone, from weekend adventurers to enterprise inspection teams. The Skydio 2 is your personal camera crew - built to get everyone into drones, it uses the same advanced flight capabilities to keep new operators in the air that allows professionals to pull off impressive shots with ease.
How the Skydio 2 Plus Differs from the Original Skydio 2
The Skydio 2+ is an update arriving three years after its predecessor, the Skydio 2, was introduced in late 2019 - this time around, the manufacturer focused on improving battery life and increasing range, and also released a new handheld tracking Beacon. The changes are meaningful, though evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
The introduction of Skydio 2+ builds upon the 360° obstacle avoidance system and adds two omnidirectional external antennas to extend the range of the drone from 3.5 km to 6 km. On the battery side, the Skydio 2+ has a new battery, but uses the same design as the original model, making them interchangeable - the difference is a 20% increase in flight time, up to 27 minutes in ideal conditions. The 2+ also introduced the Keyframe cinematic flight path feature, a new Skydio Care protection program, and upgraded Beacon with doubled range compared to the original.
Who Is the Skydio 2 Plus Designed For?
The Skydio 2+ is a well-thought-out drone with an excellent build and nifty features such as a magnetic battery pack - the unit does leave something to be desired if you are a pilot-focused drone flier, yet if you like pre-programmed flight patterns, autonomous takeoffs and landings, and hassle-free follow mode, then this drone will be quite impressive and worth the cost. In short, it's built for action sports athletes, solo filmmakers, and any pilot who wants the drone to do the heavy lifting.
Skydio 2 Plus Key Specs and Technical Breakdown
Camera Specs: 4K60, HDR, and Image Quality Details
The Skydio 2+ carries a professional camera with Sony's IMX577 1/2.3 inch CMOS sensor and Qualcomm's RedDragon QCS605, delivering 12 MP photos and 4K60 HDR video perfected by meticulous color tuning. Specifically, there are three sensors driven at 3840 x 2160 at 60, 48, 30, or 24 FPS, and one at 1920 x 1080 at 120, 60, or 30 FPS - this allows you to shoot slow-motion video at 1080p resolution at 120 fps. Images are saved in raw file size at 4056 x 3040 12MP with JPEG or DNG. Moreover, with a 13-stop range of dynamic exposure value, images will be evenly balanced and not over or underexposed. The built-in lens is a 20mm (35mm equivalent) with an f/2.8 aperture.
Battery Life and Extended Range Improvements
Key specs for the Skydio 2+ include a 6.0 km extended range using the Skydio Beacon or Controller, a 4K60 HDR/12.3 MP Camera, a 27-minute flight time, and low noise propellers for less disruptive low altitude flight. The Beacon extends phone range to 3 km, while the dedicated Controller pushes it out to a full 6 km - a substantial real-world improvement for pilots who want to get further from the subject. Anyone upgrading from a Skydio 2 will be able to use their 4280mAh (49Wh) batteries, which will power the drone up to 23 minutes - however, you'll probably want the extra 4 minutes from the 5410mAh (62Wh) battery designed for the 2+.
6-Camera 360-Degree Obstacle Avoidance System Explained
The Skydio 2+ sees in every direction using six 4K 200-degree navigation cameras, understands the world around it using onboard AI, and makes smart decisions to fly autonomously with 360-degree obstacle avoidance, even in GPS-denied environments. The processing muscle behind all of this is formidable. The Skydio 2 uses the NVIDIA Jetson TX2, which is the fastest, most power-efficient embedded AI computing device available - with 256 GPU cores, it is capable of 1.3 trillion operations a second. Utilizing 45 megapixels of visual data from six 200-degree color cameras, the Skydio 2+ can see in every direction with unprecedented resolution and clarity.
Max Speed, Wind Resistance, and Flight Ceiling
- Max Speed: In ideal conditions, it can fly up to 27 minutes at a maximum speed of 56 kph (36 mph).
- Wind Resistance: The Skydio 2+ offers superior stability with max wind speed resistance of 25 mph.
- Flight Ceiling: The max service ceiling above sea level is 15,000 feet density altitude.
- Operating Temperature: The Skydio 2 can operate in -5°C to 40°C (23°F to 104°F), which is fairly typical for quadcopter drones.
Controller Options: Skydio 2 Plus Controller vs. Beacon vs. App
The Skydio 2+ gives pilots three ways to connect and control. The smartphone app alone provides basic functionality but limited range. The oblong-shaped Beacon has its own GPS signal and can extend the range between your phone and the drone by a manufacturer-rated 3 km (1.85 mi). The Beacon's square screen with a monochrome text display takes up the top section, while a power button plus a few customizable dials allow you to position the drone to follow you from the front, back or sides, angle the gimbal, and switch to an autonomous flight mode. For full manual control and maximum range, the dedicated Skydio Controller provides connectivity up to 6 km and is the recommended choice for pilots who want both autonomous and manual capability in one package.
Autonomous Tracking Performance: The Core Selling Point
How Skydio's AI Obstacle Avoidance Actually Works
The intelligence inside the Skydio 2 Plus is unlike anything else in consumer drones. The Skydio Autonomy Engine comprehends what's happening around the Skydio 2, predicts what will happen next, and makes intelligent decisions multiple times a second - it uses 6 x 4K cameras to build a 3D map of its surroundings, which includes trees, people, buildings and more. By understanding what you're doing, what obstacles to avoid and what will happen next, the Skydio 2 will never lose track of its subject.
What separates Skydio from the competition is that its obstacle avoidance isn't just reactive - it's predictive. Skydio drones can dodge obstacles that even their cameras can't detect. Their context-aware AI algorithms can draw conclusions about what they see - for example, concluding that a cable the cameras show floating in mid-air is likely to extend in both directions - letting them dodge obstacles that their human pilots miss, which is critical to avoiding entire categories of drone crashes.
Many manual drones, like the Mavic series, claim "omnidirectional obstacle avoidance" but lack full 360° sensor coverage, so without their pilots, they are prone to crash into obstacles in their blind spots. The six navigation cameras on Skydio drones have no blind spots, enabling their drones to deftly bob and weave around obstacles when flying autonomously.
Subject Tracking Modes: Action Sport, Orbit, Cable Cam, and More
The Skydio 2+ offers a rich library of autonomous tracking "Skills." These skills include: Motion Track - basically just following you from any relative angle of your choice; Fixed Track - also follows you but stays at a given perspective; Orbit - which will endlessly rotate around you either clockwise or counterclockwise; and Cable Cam - where you mark two ends of a path and the camera keeps on that path while visually tracking you.
There are also four specific "One-Shots": Dronie (flies away from you while keeping you in frame), Rocket (goes straight up), Boomerang (like an orbit but more oblong in shape), and Vortex (a blend of an orbit and a rocket - flying upwards and orbiting concurrently). These one-shots work best when the subject is relatively still or walking slowly. The 2+ also introduces Keyframe, a feature that allows users to create predetermined flight paths using keyframes along with waypoints - a game-changer for cinematographers who want repeatable, cinematic shots.
Real-World Tracking Performance in Trees, Urban Environments, and Open Fields
The Skydio 2 easily tracks slower moving subjects, even through the trees - if the main thing you want your drone to do is follow you or other subjects autonomously, this is the drone for you, as it does this better than any other model on the market. In dense forest environments and urban settings with complex obstacle fields, the Skydio's AI outperforms every competing platform at this price point without question.
That said, there are real-world limits. While the autonomous follow modes are impressive, they're not perfect - quick changes in direction may find the subject drifting to the edge or even out of the frame, and high speeds and/or dense obstacles can still cause the drone to lose the subject. Tracking is most reliable when the subject is in open view and moving at moderate speed. At top cycling or motocross pace, performance can vary depending on the density of the environment.
How It Compares to DJI ActiveTrack and Other Smart Tracking Systems
The contrast between Skydio's tracking and DJI's ActiveTrack is stark in complex environments. The Skydio 2 has a tremendous reputation for its tracking abilities - its six 4K visual sensors pack together a 360° view of the world around it, the drone is constantly assessing its environment and making decisions about where to go next, and it even has predictive algorithms that can figure out where a tracked object is likely to move next.
In open fields or simple environments, DJI ActiveTrack performs admirably. But push either drone into a wooded trail or a technical urban environment, and the performance gap opens dramatically in Skydio's favor. If it's for long-range flight, low-latency transmission, and a ton of non-tracking automated features, choose the Air 2S. But if you're planning to bike along a canal or down a mountain trail, you might be happier with the Skydio 2.
Flight Experience and Handling
Manual Flight Feel vs. Autonomous Mode
This is where the Skydio 2 Plus shows its one significant compromise. Manual flight feels a bit clunky compared to other leading models on the market. The drone is optimized for autonomous operation, and it shows in the manual control response. If you are lukewarm on fancy drone stunt flying but want a reliable, easy-to-program flying platform, then the Skydio 2+ will greatly appeal to you - this drone wowed testers with its superb programming and easy-to-navigate user interface.
FPV and racing pilots should be warned: the Skydio 2 Plus is not designed for freestyle or precision manual flight. It's a tool built around removing the need for manual skill altogether. If you fly a freestyle rig or want tight, responsive manual control for cinematic shots, DJI or a purpose-built FPV quad will serve you
