We've got an AppleInsider staffer inside Amazon's new drone delivery range. After trying it out on Thursday, we can tell you that it's effective, and we're going to use it again.

Earlier this week, Amazon greatly expanded the service area of its drone delivery service. A little napkin math suggests that the airborne delivery service now covers about 3500 square miles more than it did a few days ago.

And, as part of this expansion, one of our staffers is now inside the footprint of that service.

Partly out of curiosity, and partly out of need, he ordered something to be delivered by drone. It wasn't an iPhone or AirPods, as Amazon suggested, no, but that didn't seem prudent to try first.

Cardboard Amazon Prime Air shipping box showing printed slogan

The box the package shipped in

An initial delivery time was given, and Amazon was close enough to that estimate. Delivery was only about 10 minutes later than expected. The drone approached from the north of his location, and buzzed into place.

It hovered for a moment. With a light click, and continued mad hornet buzzing, it dropped the package about four feet, accurately, onto the selected front yard landing zone.

We did see, though, that the package rolled a bit before it settled into place. Your mileage may vary on this, of course, depending on the slope of your yard, the surface it lands on, and the angle of impact of the box.

Large blue-and-white cargo drone with multiple rotors flying in a clear blue sky, viewed from below, with a few fluffy white clouds in the background

The drone, leaving, after having dropped its payload.

You get to fine-tune the drop zone on your property when you order, some, but don't expect it to be precise enough to drop it on a second-floor balcony. It's probably not wise to bombard your driveway or your roof with your Amazon box.

Time and costs for Amazon Drone delivery

All told, from order to delivery took about an hour and a quarter, with it launching about a half an hour after the order was placed. The box was better packed than most of Amazon's packages these days, which you'd probably expect since they know they're dropping it from a bit of a height.

Open cardboard box on a wooden table with long packaged items inside, crumpled brown packing paper beside it, and a small glass vase holding green leafy stems in the background

Amazon drone delivery packaging for a very small and light item

Amazon deliveries by vehicle within an hour cost $9.99 in some metro areas. If you can accept delivery within three hours, it's generally $3.99. This incurred no additional cost, for now, at least.

Limits on shipped items are about five pounds, and the package has to fit in a box about the size of a shoebox, as seen above. Our package contents weigh about the same as an AirPods 4 box.

So far, we're pretty impressed with this service. We're also sure there's going to be incidents of packages rolling under cars and the like.

Plus, you probably want to be home, since the box will be in your yard somewhere.

For now, though, so far, so good. We'll do it again. Just maybe not with a $1000 iPhone.