The Ameta Morpho is marketed as a kid friendly drone that offers eye-catching RGB lighting and programmable functions to allow kids or adults to have fun with a drone on a budget. It’s best described as a cute mini drone with an almost UFO like appearance thanks to the LED light arrangement. It’s also one of Ameta’s most affordable drones with a retail price of $79.99 which includes a fabric case along with two batteries. Despite the small size, the Morpho has a 1080P front camera along with 32 color changing RGB LEDs embedded into the outer edge of the drone. Ameta has also utilized a shrouded blade design and soft plastic exterior for additional safety for indoor flying.
The Ameta Morpho combines a compact form factor with bright RGB LEDs and shrouded blade design for indoor flying.
| Retail Price | $79.99 |
| Rating | 8.5 / 10 |
| Measured Weight (in g) | 134 (remote w/ batteries), 73 (drone w/ battery) |
| Likes | + Bright RGB LEDs and creative animated light modes + Compact and fun to fly indoors with covered blades or safety + Ergonomic and easy to use remote |
| Dislikes | – Camera angle has to be manually adjusted – Creating programming instructions can be confusing – Lightweight makes it difficult to fly outdoors or in any type of wind |
| Where to Buy (US) | Ameta |
UNBOXING
TThe Ameta Morpho drone comes in a compact cardboard box with bright graphics printed directly onto it. Inside the box you’ll find:
- Ameta Morpho drone
- 2x Batteries
- Remote w/ phone attachment
- Fabric carrying bag
- Replacement blades w/ Allen key
- USB-C charging cable
- User manual
- Quickstart guide
Ameta does not include a carrying case as they do with more expensive drones like the Ameta S20 drone. Note, you will also need 3xAAA batteries to use the remote which are not included with the drone.
FIT & FINISH
Visually, the Ameta Morpho has a standard quadcopter design with four propeller blades arranged around in a square body. To make this drone more kid friendly and safe for indoor use, the drone has a fully shrouded design with plastic covers over the blades and a full plastic construction. It’s a very lightweight and surprisingly attractive design with the all white exterior and Ameta logo on the top. In fact, the 134g remote is actually almost twice as heavy as the 73 g drone. At first glance it can be difficult to tell which way is forward as the body is almost fully symmetrical, but there is a forward facing camera.
As you would expect at this price, the camera has no stabilization and has to have the camera angle manually adjusted. It’s a 1080P camera that can be adjusted to be horizontal or vertical, but don’t expect cinematic shots as there is no mechanical or software image stabilization. On the bottom of the drone you’ll see the Optical Flow downward facing camera which helps the drone stay stable as well as the battery which is held in place with two tabs. Ameta also includes replacement propellers which can be replaced by removing the blade shrouds using the bottom screws and prying up the blades with the provided tools.
One of the main features of the Morpho is the eye-catching RGB LEDs embedded in the body of the drone. There are 32 RGB LEDs with 8 LEDs around each of the four propellers which illuminates the transparent body of the drone. Ameta has programmed six fun modes with clever animations to take full advantage of the LED setup. Even the names are unique with modes called “Comet Radiance” and “Gradient Harmony” which each have unique animations. You can cycle through the modes using the remote until you find the one you prefer, and they are all different enough that it’s easy to tell them apart. The startup / shutdown process even has animations which either fill up or empty out depending on what you are doing as you hold the power button down. While all modes are quite cool, it’s hard to tell which part of the drone is forward for anything but the “Comet Radiance” mode which has yellow lights on the front and purple on the rear.
REMOTE
The remote for the Morpho Mini Drone looks like a blend between an XBOX and PS5 controller with a futuristic white and black color scheme. The body bulges out slightly on each side to make the controller feel more ergonomic along with two spring loaded joysticks. Unlike other budget drones, the controller also feels premium with a smooth plastic body and well placed buttons and battery indicator right on the center. There are two buttons on the left, a one button take on/off as well as the orbit button. On the right side there is a slider for slow or fast speed as well as the power button. Between the joysticks you have a nice Ameta logo and four blue LEDs which indicate the battery status.
On the backside there are also two additional buttons, one to cycle through modes and a customizable “function button”. Holding both of the rear buttons activates a find your drone mode that will cause the drone to beep every few seconds to help you locate it. Note, the remote even supports inverted joystick modes with either mode 1 (default) or a mode 2 setup. To switch between the modes you have to power the remove off and then hold the function button while holding the power button. That will flip the joy stick functions for people who prefer to control altitude with the right joy stick.
AMETA APP
To unlock all the features of the Morpho drone, there is also a free cell phone app. It is specific to the Morpho and connects to the drone via Wifi to stream the real-time camera image. Once you’ve connected to the drone the app switches to the camera view with a simple user interface. The battery status and signal strength for the remote and drone are shown on the top right corner while menu options, camera recording and photos are on the right side. There are only a few configuration options such as firmware updates, switching joystick mode and a calibration option that are worthwhile. You can also activate additional features such as headless mode, gesture photo / recording and the emergency stop feature. Unlike other drones, such as the Snaptain E20, you cannot fly the drone entirely from the app as the joystick controls are not duplicated.
The other feature of the app is a coding interface that lets you combine multiple steps into a program to fly the drone. It is marketed as a kid-friendly stem feature. It’s a feature that is still in development but offers multiple options such as: flight, speed, camera, logical operations, variables and mathematics. The drag and drop feature is easy to use and lets you stack steps such as take off, move in a direction, take photos and land again. Some of the options such as logical operations and variables are a bit confusing to use but we expect the software will be improved over time. Each program can be saved and named which should provide some fun for more engineering oriented users.
FLYING IMPRESSIONS
Flying the drone is straight forward with simple controls and the adjustable speed to help new users get used to the drone. The Ameta Morpho is something we’d call an indoor drone as the shrouded blades and 76g weight make it nearly impossible to fly in any sort of breeze and wind. It is simply not powerful enough to fly against wind so it is easy to have it drift away. Instead, the soft plastic construction and protected design make it fun to fly indoors and through hallways. The symmetric design makes it challenging to keep track of the direction of the drone and can cause some confusion. You should expect to crash the drone as it is easy to get disoriented, but unless you fall on an expensive vase the drone doesn’t damage anything.
The manual 720p camera and lack of image stabilization mean the raw camera feed is very jerky as you do maneuvers. We found it hard to fly it using a POV mode and instead think the camera is helpful to orient the drone direction and for taking static images or short video clips. It isn’t a great camera, but it works well enough for the price point and can be used to get interesting angles. The additional features like “find my drone” are also really helpful as the drone and remote emit a beeping sound to help you find the drone quickly.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Ameta Morpho to be fun to fly with creative lightning modes. Ameta has designed the drone as beginner friendly and affordable which means the drone lacks image stabilization or a great camera. Instead, the drone is very lightweight with shrouded blades that make it fun to fly indoors with low risk and a durable soft plastic body. The drone is so light it struggles in any wind so we’d recommend keeping it indoors or in very protected outdoor locations. While we liked the idea of the programmable flight feature, it’s still a bit clunky to use. The party trick for the Ameta Morpho are the bright RGB LEDs embedded in the body that can light up a room and create some eye-catching animations.
Disclaimer: The product for this review was provided by Ameta. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.