Gadget review: Propel's Star Wars Battle Drone

One of Propel's Star Wars Battle Drones gets airborne.

What is it? Probably the best gift you could give the Star Wars obsessive in your life this Christmas. Propel, a United States drones company, has released three models based on Star Wars Tie Fighters, Speeder Bikes and X-Wing Starfighters, then proceeded to get them airborne. That's not all: if you've got a buddy with one of these, you can pair up and make your drones have laser battles with each other. That's pretty cool.

How do they work? If you've never flown a drone before, there's a bit of a training session involved. Hand-eye co-ordination is key. Thankfully, these models come with an intensive training booklet, a training mode and a simulation app. I tried to skip all that before realising I couldn't even achieve liftoff. But my flying abilities quickly stablised once I went through the courses. Unless you're a drone expert, I'd thoroughly advise reading everything and undertaking at least some of the training. And stick to your lounge first, otherwise you'll be pulling your drone out of the neighbour's trees.

Propel's Star Wars T-65 X-Wing Starfighter.

What's in the box? A lot. If you get a collector's edition, there's a display case, charger, the drone itself, an instruction manual, and plenty of extra parts should you lose something.

What do their creators say? Bishop says practising tricks with the drones can become addictive. "The drones are actually extremely easy to fly. They have a barometric air pressure sensor that maintains the drones altitude so the user can concentrate solely on their flying and not have to worry about keeping the drone in the air," he says. "When you fly between that tight gap below your table, you get a real sense of achievement." Bishop has even taught his 84-year-old grandma how to fly using the app.

What's the best thing about it? How immersive the experience of flying these drones is. From the unboxing experience to getting airborne, Propel's drones deliver the full Star Wars experience. They've been built with Disney's blessing, so you'll have Darth Vader and Han Solo yelling catch phrases at you while you're out flying your drone around. Even the ship's laser blasts sound authentic.

Propel's flight simulator in action.

And the worst? The batteries don't last that long, around six to eight minutes, so you'll need to keep recharging them. That takes around half an hour. I was also surprised by just how noisy flying drones were. The cats definitely weren't sticking around through that racket.

Okay, how much are they? A limited edition run of 1000 collector's editions of each model is available now for $329, while the standard edition is $219. There are going to be a lot of Star Wars gifts on the market this Christmas, but these have to be near the top of the list.