The DJI Phantom 4 and the Yuneec Typhoon H Pro are two of the best camera drones on the market. They are ideal for professional photographers and experienced drone enthusiasts. If you’re considering purchasing either of these drones and are looking for a comparison then you’ve come to the right place! In this article we will perform a comprehensive analysis of the DJI Phantom 4 vs Typhoon H Pro, and provide a purchase guide based on our findings.
Heads up: This post contains some affiliate links that earn us a small commission if you purchase something through them, at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products that we have reviewed and think our readers will find useful
Overall specifications
  |   |
|
|---|---|---|
| Model: | DJI Phantom 4 | Yuneec Typhoon H |
| Overall Weight: | 1380g | 2060g |
| Wheelbase (Diagonal Size, excluding props) | 350mm | 480mm |
| Max. Ascent Speed: | 6 m/s | 5 m/s |
| Max. Descent Speed: | 4 m/s | 3 m/s |
| Max. Flight Time: | Approx. 28 minutes | Approx. 25 minutes |
| Operating Temperature Range: | 0 to 40°C | -10 to 40°C |
| Battery Capacity: | 5350 mAh | 5400mAh |
| Battery Type: | LiPo 4S | LiPo 4S |
| Effective Pixels: | 12.4MP | 12.4MP |
| Image/Video Resolution: | 4K | 4K |
| Type of Sensor: | 1/2.3" CMOS | 1/2.3" CMOS |
| Field of View: | 94° | 94° |
| Burst Rate (fps): | 30fps | 25fps |
Comparing the overall specifications of phantom 4 vs. typhoon h pro, we see that the DJI Phantom 4 is lighter, has a higher maximum flight time and its maximum ascent and descent speeds are higher than those of the Yuneec Typhoon H Pro.
The Typhoon H Pro can, however, operate in a broader range of temperatures (-10 to 40°C) compared to the Phantom 4 (0 to 40°C). If you live in colder climates and are considering winter photography, the Typhoon will be more resistant to extreme temperatures.
With a new Sport Mode that has satellite and Vision Positioning support, the Phantom 4 can achieve speeds of up to 20 m/s. The Typhoon H Pro does a maximum of 13.5 m/s on angle mode. Even though the Typhoon H Pro is not as fast as DJI Phantom 4, its speeds are still practical for professional photography.
General Features
Let’s take a look at what each of the two camera drones has to offer. We’ll then look at the functionalities of the phantom 4 vs typhoon h pro.
DJI Phantom 4 Features
This drone is built with top craftsmanship and is ideal for professional aerial photographers and cinematographers.
The drone uses GPS technology for auto takeoff and auto return which simplifies control. Reliability is enhanced by the drone’s dual compass module combined with the dual inertial Measurement Unit. The DJI GO 4 App is compatible with a wide range of Android and iOS devices and enables easy monitoring and operation. It’s quite easy for a beginner drone pilot to pick up flying the DJI Phantom 4.
If you are planning on using this drone to capture video you will have the ability to get stunning 4k ultra HD videos at 30 fps. The camera lens has a broad field of view enabling clear images.
The DJI Phantom 4 uses 3-axis gimbal stabilization (pitch, roll, yaw) and has a steady flight and hover that will enable you to capture high-quality footage. Even at high speeds. Since the 3-axis gimbal removes most unwanted vibration and camera shake you likely will not need alot of post editing or digital image stabilization, but DJI does offer a couple software features that are a value add for any photographer. DJI’s director software features a built-in video editor capable of adding music, text and other enhancements.
Buy on Amazon
Regular Flight Modes
Position Mode (P-Mode)
This is the standard flight mode where all the drone’s sensors are active. It enables precise flight, visual positioning, and obstacle sensing. It requires a strong GPS signal for it to function. Your drone needs to be on the P-mode to use the intelligent flight modes.
Attitude Mode (ATTI Mode)
This mode switches off GPS while keeping altitude control. Atti mode is suitable for experienced drone pilots. It allows a smooth and steady flight. With this flight mode, the ‘Return To Home’ feature is disabled.
Beginner Mode
This flight mode uses GPS and all of the drone’s vision and infrared systems to enhance your drone’s safety. With this mode, flights are limited to a maximum range of 30 meters from your preferred control point. This mode is most suitable for beginner pilots.
Sport Mode (S-mode)
The S-mode allows your drone to fly at high speeds of up to 45mph. This mode enables full satellite and vision positioning support. Obstacles sensors are however turned off in this flight mode.
Intelligent Flight Modes
ActiveTrack
This mode enables marking and tracking of a moving object in various tracking strategies. Tracking is made possible without the use of the controller or mobile device.
Trace
The Trace option allows your drone to follow the target while maintaining a pre-set distance. The drone and camera can still be moved around the subject via the remote controller.
Profile
The Profile option enables your drone to fly in front of the subject while maintaining a preset distance. You can use the remote controller to circle the target.
Spotlight
The spotlight option enables focusing the camera on the subject while allowing the pilot to move the drone as they wish.
TapFly Mode
This mode allows you to fly the drone by tapping the screen of your mobile device. With this flight mode, the drone uses Obstacle Avoidance for a safe flight. It allows the pilot to capture the most impressive shots while flying in the Forward, Backward and Free mode options.
Waypoints mode
This mode allows you to set a specified flight path for your drone. Camera and direction can then be controlled while the drone remains in the designated flight path at a specific speed. This mode is ideal for repeating shots and site surveying.
Tripod Mode
This mode allows you to fix your drone to a designated location thereby limiting its movement. It is perfect for taking smooth and steady shots. This mode requires a strong GPS signal.
Draw Mode
In the Draw mode your drone follows the path that you draw on your screen as you control the camera direction and flight speed with the settings functionality.
Terrain Follow Mode
This mode maintains the drone’s height while flying up a hill with a 20-degree incline. The mode does not work when flying downhill. It uses the Downward Vision System and it allows setting a height of 1 to 10 meters.
Home Lock
This allows you quickly return the drone back to your home point with a downward pull of the pitch stick. It is quite helpful if you are looking at your screen and may loose visual sight of the drone. Pulling the pitch stick downward will return the drone in a straight line to the home point. With this mode, you can still control the camera and drone direction.
Course Lock
With this mode, you can specify a direction for your drone and limit the flight to forward and backward in the specified direction. You retain the control of the camera direction.
Point of Interest
This mode allows you to select a target and the drone will focus on it while orbiting around it. You can set your preferred radius and drone altitude manually. You also retain control of speed and direction of the drone.
Follow Me mode
This mode enables the drone to follow the pilot that has the mobile device. The Follow Me mode requires a good GPS connection. You can vary the preferred altitude.
Yuneec Typhoon H Pro Features
The Yuneec Typhoon H is a pretty solid competitor for the Phantom 4. Any competitor to DJI will face an uphill battle, but the Typhoon seems to hold its own fairly well and provides features and functionalities a professional photographer would definitely use and appreciate. The Typhoon does not have the full intelligent flight suite and flight modes that DJI boasts. But it does include what we think are the most common and used smart flight modes. The Typhoon’s main features include:
• Android Powered ST-16 Ground Station which has a 7-inch touch screen.
• CGO3+ 4K UltraHD camera.
• Retractable landing gear.
• 6 Rotors with a 5 Rotor Fail-Safe (One rotor can fail without affecting its ability to fly)
• 8 Smart Flight modes.
• This drone has a sonar collision prevention
Buy on Amazon
Smart Flight Features
Orbit Me
This feature allows the drone to fly in a circular path around you at a fixed distance, with the camera constantly focused on the ST-16 ground station or the handheld wizard controller, even if they are in movement. The orbit’s circular flight path can be adjusted in size, speed and direction while in flight.
Point Of Interest
This feature is similar to orbit but is not centered on the ST-16 ground station or the wizard controller. This functionality allows you to select a point of interest, which the drone will orbit autonomously while capturing footage. The point of interest mode will not use the ST-16 or the wizard as a center location unless you set them as the center location.
Journey Mode
With this mode you can send your Typhoon H up and out, up to 150 ft away, in a linear path and then have it return automatically to the starting point.
Curve Cable Cam
You can easily set a predetermined flight route for your drone to fly along. The drone, while flying between the pre-programmed coordinates, will allow you to independently control camera position to ensure you can capture footage of the highest quality.
Visionary Intelligence
Both of these drones are trying to allow the operator to focus on capturing footage instead of piloting the drone. In order to facilitate this the drones have similar, but different, approaches to their visionary intelligence. We’re using the term visionary intelligence in this article instead of obstacle avoidance since drone technology has grown beyond just avoiding bumping into things.
The DJI Phantom 4 is enabled for flying intelligently over and around obstacles while automatically creating seamless tracking shots. The Phantom 4 has advanced Flight Support Systems – it features a dual satellite support system and a powerful Vision Positioning System that utilizes dual cameras and ultrasonic sensors. Whether you’re flying outdoors or indoors without GPS, this camera drone will stay steady and help you avoid crashes. The DJI promotional video below does an excellent job of highlighting the vision positioning system in action.
Typhoon H Pro uses “Intel Realsense” technology to detect and intelligently navigate around obstacles. The Follow Me mode works hand-in-hand with the sophisticated RealSense technology to avoid objects while filming. The Typhoon H Pro uses GPS technology and sonar as a compliment to its vision, to track its filming targets. This enables the Typhoon H to navigate around the biggest obstacles while staying in contact with the filming subject even when it becomes completely obscured. If you’re interested, Yuneec’s promotional video below talks through the Intel Realsense features.
Camera
If you are planning on purchasing one of these drones, its highly likely you’re an advanced hobbyist or a professional photographer. If either of these is true then the drones ability to capture photos and videos in various light conditions will be the most important factor in your decision making. On paper the two drones have similar camera specs, but, upon closer inspection and testing you begin to notice that the Phantom really stands out in its performance. The video below has great side by side comparisons of the camera video footage for both the DJI Phantom and the Typhoon H Pro.
The Phantom camera captures 4K video at 30 frames per second. If you’re looking for slow motion video, it is capable of capturing 1080p at 120 frames per second. It has a 12 MP still image capability and its 3-axis gimbal is highly effective in canceling out undesired camera movement when the drone is in flight.
The Phantom 4 camera has an ISO range 100-3200 video, and 100-1600 photo.
The Phantom 4 has a digital zoom of up to 2x.
The Phantom 4 offers on-board storage and supports Micro SD cards (Class 10 or UHS-1 rating) up to 64 GB. The SD cards can easily be inserted into the camera for use.
The Typhoon H Pro camera can rotate through an unlimited 360-degree range and the lens is protected by high-quality glass. While in flight, the drone provides manual camera settings functionality 4K UHD video . The Typhoon H Pro also features a 3-axis anti-vibration gimbal and delivers 12 MP still images.
Typhoon H Pro also has on-board storage and supports micro SD cards (Class 10) from 4 to 128 GB
One of the unique features of the Typhoon H Pro is its ability to pair two ST-16 controllers to the same drone. This allows one operator to control the camera while another can fly the drone. The Phantom does not have this functionality. This is a cool feature that can be very useful for complex shots.
The Typhoon H Pro lacks the digital zoom capability.
The Phantom 4 provides you camera features including a histogram, overexposure warning setting, and visual grids that most photographers would want and appreciate. The Yuneec Typhoon H Pro does not have this. If you’re a serious photographer you will notice the “simplicity” of the Typhoon H camera.
The general consensus among the review community is that though the Typhoon H footage is good, especially in good lighting, the Phantom 4 footage is of superior quality in most situations. We’ve included a video review of the two cameras by ‘Tom’s Tech Time’ below. Tom really dives into the technical specs of the cameras and provides a honest review of the two. In his review the DJI Phantom 4 camera far outshines the Typhoon H.
Design and Build Quality
Phantom 4 has one of the most impressive designs in the market. It is built with high-quality materials that could survive a significant crash. The inside is made with magnesium alloy. Generally, this drone is sturdy and durable. Its design is also easy to carry around. It can be picked up with one hand.
The Typhoon H Pro has a compact and user-friendly design. Removal from the motors can be done fast with the Quick disconnect props. The rotor arms easily fold from their usual flight position down to a resting position against the body of the drone. This allows easy and convenient transportation using the drone’s well-designed hard case/backpack. The Typhoon H Pro is extensively built with Carbon fiber which makes the drone lightweight while ensuring sturdiness and durability.
Both are great quality drones and though its possible to nit-pick various aspects of their design and build, the take away for anyone comparing the two is that you are purchasing well designed and high quality products with both.
Battery Usage
Phantom 4 battery has a great design, with an inbuilt charging unit for convenient charging. The drone is also installed with a battery life indicator that lets you know when you should recharge your battery. The battery is fast charging and supports flight for up to 28 minutes.
The Typhoon H Pro battery has a slightly higher capacity than the Phantom 4 battery, but it delivers flight times of up to 25 minutes. The battery is also “fast charging” but will take about double the time of the DJI at 2ish hours to fully charge. The battery however, lacks an in-built charging system and a battery life indicator. The only way to check the charge level of the battery is to fire up the controller.
Controllers
The Phantom 4 comes with a simple remote that is straightforward to use. The remote has only the essentials, with buttons for adjusting camera exposure, video recording, and taking pictures. It also has a gimbal tilting wheel that is very efficient. You will require a mobile device to operate this drone. It could either be an Android or iOS device.
The DJI Go App has a user-friendly interface, with features arranged well for consistency and ease of use. Its features are placed in a logical fashion. The app features a flight simulator that you can use to make a simulated flight before you send your expensive drone to the skies. The App is fast.
The Typhoon H Pro’s ST-16 Ground Station is a multipurpose controller that is an integrated transmitter, receiver, and Android platform. This controller enables complete control over the drone, which allows you to program autonomous flights in a straightforward manner and capture the most amazing photos and videos. With a large 7-inch integrated screen, you can watch well displayed real-time footage of the flight, without the need for any external device.
The Typhoon H’s team mode enables you to bind multiple Ground Stations to the same Typhoon H and allowing two operators to each control the drone and camera separately. With enhanced cooperation between pilot and camera, you can now capture stunning content very conveniently.
A common complaint that users have about the Typhoon H’s controller is the extremely long start up timing (`2-3 minutes). The DJI app, remote and phone setup is seamless and quite fast to get going.
Accessories
Phantom 4 accessories are readily available to ensure that you always have a great experience with the drone. Some of its most sought-after accessories include spare batteries, Neutral Density (NP) Filters, Gimbal Clamp and spare propellers. The accessories are also quite affordable.
The most popular accessories for the Typhoon H Plus include spare batteries, Dual Port Charger, Breeze Propellers, and Breeze landing gear.
Generally, DJI has a much larger and established market for drone accessories, if you’re into that, with DJI and multiple 3rd party vendors providing a large assortment of products from buoyancy landing gear to attachable LED flashlights. The Yuneec Typhoon H does not have as extensive of an accessories marketplace.
Flight Experience
Both of these drones are designed to quickly and easily get into the air with little to no pilot experience required. They are both very good at allowing the pilot to focus on their shot and less on flying the drone, with a host of sensors to keep the drones stable and airborne.
Phantom 4 is very fast, especially in its sports mode. With the Phantom 4, the landing gear can sometimes appear in your shots, which is definitely a downside. This may happen when one is taking downward facing shots while the drone is moving sides to side due to high speeds or strong winds.
Typhoon H Pro is slower than the Phantom, but is sufficiently fast for filming purposes. While the drone is in flight, the landing gear perfectly retracts to remove itself from the footage, which enables unobstructed views through the camera.
Pros and Cons for both drones
DJI Phantom 4
Pros
• Great flight time and speed
• Long flight distance / control range
• High photo and video quality in multiple light conditions
• Easy to control
• Great interface and app design
Cons
• Landing gear is not retractable
• Quite expensive
Typhoon H Pro
Pros
• Has superior 360-degree gimbal
• Retractable landing gear
• Camera and drone can be controlled separately
• Delivers high-quality shots in good lighting
• Easy to use
Cons
• Footage is not as high quality as the Phantom 4
• Takes longer to charge the battery for both the drone and controller vs the Phantom
• It is quite expensive
See what other reviews say
Conclusion
Both of these drones are great for professional photographers, but their camera capabilities are not quite on the same level. If you are a serious aerial photographer that is looking to purchase one of these drones purely for their ability to capture aerial images and video our recommendation is the DJI Phantom 4. The Yuneec Typhoon H is a great drone, it is well designed, has great features and is a high quality build. You will likely be happy with its performance overall. But since its at such a comparable price point to the DJI phantom, there just isnt enough in its corner for us to recommend it over the Phantom 4.
If you’re still on the fence about these two drones why not check out some of our other articles on camera drones. Take a look at our article on the Best Mini Drone with a Camera and The Best Camera Drone Under $300.
Come back sometime and check out some more of our product reviews and best-in-class lists.