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Flying the Micro Drone 2.0

_DSC2143I’ve heard that several other people also have gotten confused over flying their Extreme Fliers’ Micro Drone 2.0. Either the assembly line has messed up everyone’s wiring, or the horrendous manual has proven to be absolutely deplorable. At any rate, assuming your Micro Drone 2.0 is just like what I have, let me share my flight experience. Hopefully this will help you get your Micro Drone off the ground.

The first thing you need to decide on is what flying mode you want to use. You can choose between Mode 2 and Mode 4. The modes determine what the two control sticks on the remote control do. On the left stick, pushing forward or pulling backward always controls throttle (increase or decrease, respectively). On the right stick, pushing forward always flies forward and pulling backward always flies backward.

The mess is with what pushing left and right means for the left and right sticks. So, take a look at the following graphic.

Micro Drone Modes v1

This is exactly how my Micro Drone behaves.

Once the modes are sorted out, now let’s work on the trimming functions. The forward trimming functions are correctly described by the manual. The trim button for forward/backward control is the right-side one between the two control sticks. If your drone drifts forward, click this button downward; if your drone drifts backward, click this button upward.

There are two more trim buttons: one under the left stick, and another under the right stick. The trim under the left stick controls drift of whatever the left/right action does on the left stick; and similarly the trim under the right stick controls drift of whatever the left/right action does on the right stick. What the left/right action is on the left and right stick, of course, depends on the Mode.

So, let’s look at the following table.

Trim under left stick Trim under right stick
Mode 2 If drone drifts left: Click this button to the right.
If drone drifts right: Click this button to the left.
If drone turns counter-clockwise: Click this button to the right.
If drone turns clockwise: Click this button to the left.
Mode 4 If drone drifts left: Click this button to the right.
If drone drifts right: Click this button to the left.
If drone turns counter-clockwise: Click this button to the right.
If drone turns clockwise: Click this button to the left.

There, the trim should now be properly sorted out.

Another bit of oddness is about the USB charger’s indicator light. The light is ON when either:

  • There’s no battery connected to it.
  • If there’s a battery connected to it, then it is fully charged.

The light is OFF when it is still charging a connected battery.

Once you’ve these things sorted out, the Micro Drone 2.0 isn’t too difficult to fly. Sure there is definitely some learning curve. Also, unlike a flight simulator you could experiments for hours at once, this drone flies only for about 6 minutes before your training session needs to take a mandatory break (to recharge the batteries). But it’s not too difficult. Just find a nice big space, with little or no wind if you’re going outside.

I hope this page helps you out. Again, this is how it works for my Micro Drone 2.0. It’s possible that I may somehow have a Micro Drone 2.0 that has been incorrectly assembled, but it seems that there are others reporting the same problems. If you have trouble making sense out of your manual with your Micro Drone 2.0, perhaps this page will be helpful.

(This is written in Jan 2014, with the manual I received in Dec 2013. Hopefully Extreme Fliers correct their manual in future shipments.)

5 thoughts on “Flying the Micro Drone 2.0

  1. Great write up, I also received mine on Dec 2013, but unfortunately mine does not Record. When I connect the Camera, and press the Function button, it only Flips. I’ve tried it in Mode 2 and 4, and Standard and Stunt, same thing. have you seen any issues like this? ExtremeFliers have not responded to me emails.

    1. Mine is exactly the same, pressing the function button just flips the drone even with the camera plugged in and showing a green light. Iv also emailed extreme fliers and gotten no response. Pretty irritating considering they seem a relatively small company, customer service should be better

  2. I just received my micro drone 2.0 on January 25th, 2014. My manual seems to have been fixed. Mode 4 shows the left/right movements of the right stick causing “roll left” and “roll right”

  3. Thank you so much! I thought I had bought a dud, especially when I wasted many, many hours trying to make sense of the manual. I bought mine in September 2014, so it appears that all of the issues you’ve described are still major problems.

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