The Quadcopter Holy Stone HS170 Review

Introduction

This mini drone is a perfect gift for children, or for those interested in getting into remote control quadcopters. We wrote this Holy Stone HS170 review to give you a better idea of the features and performance of this amazing little quadcopter. This drone is of a surprisingly good quality considering the price point. It has 3 different modes for beginners to more advanced modes and really is a lot of fun to fly Included are a set of replacement blades in case you lose or break one with intensive flying. Each of the blades has a different angle to it, so be sure to install the replacement properly, otherwise the drone will not fly properly, and may even flip over. This drone has flexible landing feet to provide some cushioning when the quadcopter lands on purpose or accidentally. The feet are springy, so on landing don’t be surprised if the drone flips over. It also has curved propeller guards to soften impacts on the wall, and on the ceiling. These features increase the robustness of this little drone.

Battery and Flight Time

This drone comes with a removable battery which makes it easy to recharge. Over time the battery will degrade, but a new one can be ordered. Just look in the manual for the part number. There is a wire that connects the battery to the drone, which hangs off to the side and looks a bit odd, but this does not affect the flight performance of the drone. It takes about 30 minutes to charge the battery, and you get about 8 minutes of actual flight time. We do suggest that you get extra batteries so you do not have to wait to recharge the battery before flying again.

Controller

The controller is slightly cumbersome and takes 6AA batteries which are not included. The drone controller has your typical throttle for up and down motions, and a lever for left and right controls which actually rotates the quadcopter. It also has controls for a left and right tilt. There is also a headless mode option that can be activated by pushing and holding the button. However, there is an annoying beeping sound to remind you that headless mode is active. There is a fun trick button which when pressed will cause the drone to do a front or a back flip. This option is a lot of fun for kids. The trimming buttons allow for making any necessary adjustments for stable flight. You can turn the drone lights on and off at a press of a button which for make in the dark flying possible. The return to home button works reasonably well, but sometimes the drone just sits there and crashes into something. The high and low options increase the response of the drone, so we suggest operating in high mode to get better performance. The controller is quite comfortable to use, but the lack of labels can be a bit annoying.

Flight Performance

There are three speed settings that also affect the yaw rate with each level. In the low setting, the drone has slow response, but this is perfect for beginners. The fun is to be found in the mid and high rate settings. The yaw is still a bit on the slow side, but the pitch rate more than compensates for this.

You will have a lot of fun indoors or outdoors, since you will have precise control of your drone because this drone is so responsive and very durable in case of crashes. The gyroscope works flawlessly, causing the drone to hover in place with no problem after trimming it, and it is very quick and maneuverable.

It does have the feature of headless mode, which means that the drone orients itself to the remote control rather than on any heading. This feature is very useful, especially outside where you can’t exactly know the orientation of the drone.

Holy Stone HS170 Review Summary

This drone has amazing performance and is great value for the price. It has a few drawbacks, as mentioned in this review, but overall it comes out ahead. This drone flies well, is easy to control and kids can use this without any problems. It looks small, but has decent responsive performance and is rather robust. It can handle bumps, crashes and falls quite well. Most importantly, this drone is very fun to fly.

Thank you for reading our Holy Stone HS170 review. Below you will see two other quadcopters that we feel are comparable to the Holy Stone HS170. Have a look.