Last Updated on January 13, 2019
Perhaps you’re an avid drone fan who has been playing with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for some time now and are ready to upgrade your gear. Or maybe you’ve just discovered the joys of playing with drones and want to plunge right ahead into the fray by buying the best equipment you can afford.
Either way, you’ll want to take a look at Teal, which is not yet available for retail but has already been nicknamed as the fastest production drone in the world. Teal is developed by George Matus, an 18-year-old high school graduate who started out as a professional drone racer and is now running his own company called Teal (with the help of tech mogul Peter Thiel). As a racer, Matus knows what he wants from his drones so, instead of waiting for someone to make his dreams come true, he has taken matters into his own hands and created a quick and powerful drone.
Speed
Just exactly how fast is Teal? Well, it can zip along at more than 70 miles per hour and can even reach 85mph — the speed of a race car or of an ordinary car whose owner doesn’t really care about getting ticketed for over-speeding. This is pretty impressive, considering that many drones in the market nowadays can reach only 30mph or, in rare cases, 50mph. Teal can go from zero to 60mph in just 1.1 seconds, and it can stay stable even when it battles strong winds that blow around 40mph.
Processor
This is where Teal strives to set itself from competitors: it’s built with an NVIDIA TX1 processor, which basically turns it into a flying supercomputer. Because of its powerful processor, Teal has visual recognition, autonomous flight, and machine learning capabilities — important features that are currently available only in high-end drones.
Body
Teal is made of carbon-infused plastic that’s highly durable, and it has an extremely aerodynamic design that allows it to achieve fast speeds. It’s also waterproof and can be flown even when it’s raining or snowing — something that’s not possible with the models that are currently in the market. It measures only 10 inches diagonally and weighs less than 2lbs, which makes it highly portable, and its frame is fully modular so you can easily give it an upgrade later on.
Other Specs
Owning a drone isn’t just about making it fly and zip through the air; it’s also about taking pictures and videos while your drone is airborne. Teal more than delivers in this aspect since it has a 1/2.3” sensor and can take 13MP photos as well as 4K videos. You don’t even need to worry about battery life since it has flexible options: you can opt for the high-performance battery that offers 10 minutes of flight or the high-endurance battery that allows for 20 minutes of flight. The battery can be fully recharged in just 30 minutes, so you can get back to flying ASAP.
Buying Your Own Unit
Buying Your Own Unit As mentioned above, Teal is not yet commercially available. Matus and his team are currently accepting reservations (charging $1,299 for every unit), and they’ll ship the drones to their owners in time for Christmas 2016.
