Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA decent step up from a Sub $100 Drone
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2018
Looking for a step up from a Target/Walmart $70 drone but don't want to drop over $1k on a DJI? Just starting out and want something with more features than a sub $100 drone? This is probably the drone for you.
First of all, be realistic. This is a sub $500 drone. You're not going to get 4k video or a camera on a gimbal. You're going to get an "OK" drone.
Flight: This drone handles pretty well. I spent a good hour zooming around the yard and taking it up to max FAA allowed altitude (400 ft). It handles much better than cheaper drones, which is what I expected. The dial on the left hand side of the controller adjusts your speed, which is great for beginners. You can start out slow until you get the feel for flying it and then increase the speed as your comfortable. I was able to quickly do figure 8's in a fairly quick and controlled manner. The controls are responsive enough that you can inch in and hover close to an object (as long as you keep visual line of sight, more on this in a bit). If you lose your orientation on the drone releasing both sticks halts the drone pretty quickly so you can get your bearings again. Overall, a very easy to fly drone.
You'll need to register your drone with the FAA and and put your registration number on the drone, so budget in another $5 and skip the value meal at McDonalds.
Battery life: I was getting between 10-15 minutes per battery (I have three), which is again, exactly what I expected given the specs from the manufacturer and the conditions I was flying in.
Camera: The camera is 780p. It's not going to be crisp or clean like a 1080 or a 4k. The dial on the right hand side of the controller is used to tilt the camera up or down. No side to side panning is available. However, I noticed that at times the camera wouldn't respond to the controller signal to tilt. This seemed to happen the further the drone got away from the controller, which is a shame.
The App: This is where points get lost. The app seems ok at first. If you're looking to do FPV flying, this is NOT the drone you're looking for. As I started flying the video on the app (On my iPhone 7+) was just ok. Several times I lost connection with the drone totally or the video would just freeze. At first I thought this was due to distance, but even in a small radius of under 100 feet, the app would lose connection to the drone. For the price of the drone, I would have expected the app to function better. Because of this, flying FPV is at your own risk, best to have a spotter with you.
Overall: As the title says, if you're looking to step up from sub $100 drones to something a bit more full featured, you'll be happy with this drone. Easy to fly and responsive. The lower end camera is a bit of a disappointment, but this falls in to the realm of "getting what you pay for." The app needs some serious work to make this drone ready for FPV, which is advertised.
