Parrot Unveils Bebop Drone 2 With Twice The Battery Life

Parrot on Tuesday unveiled its Bebop Drone 2, a smaller version of its popular consumer model that has a 25-minute battery life — twice that of its predecessor. 

The Bebop 2 will hit stores and the skies on December 14 and retail at $550. 

Like the first Bebop drone, this model will be able to stream 1080p video to a tablet, phone or virtual reality headset. Its 14-megapixel camera is largely the same as its predecessor, but it sports a new lens. 

In a demo Tuesday morning, Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux said the model can reach speeds up to 36 kilometers per hour. 

“The more you can downsize a drone, the better performance you can have,” Seydoux told reporters.  

Unlike other drones on the market, the Parrot models can be flown indoors. At the Metreon in San Francisco, Seydoux demonstrated how easy it was to control the device, flying it through a throng of reporters. If any of the drones’ flexible, six-inch propellers hit something or someone, they all stop immediately. 

Like the first Bebop, the second iteration has 8GB of onboard flash storage.