Holy Stone HS720E GPS Drone with 4K EIS UHD 130°FOV Camera for Adults Beginner, FPV Quadcopter with Brushless Motor, 2 Batteries 46 Min Flight…
$300
- 4K EIS Anti-Shake Camera with Sony Sensor: The EIS (Electric Image Stabilization) technology reduces video blurring; Sony Sensor is equipped with advanced image-capture technologies for superior image quality than others; 4k(3840 x 2160) camera catches much more details; Videos can be recorded with 1080p@60fps or 4K@30fps; The remote controlled 90°adjustable angle broadens your view; besides, 5GHz FPV transmission guarantees longer (1640 Feet) and smooth image transmission.
- Easy to Use: With air optical flow & air pressure altitude control system, the drone can hover stably both indoor and outdoor. GPS location and Auto Return to Home free of losing the drone.
- Advanced Flight Modes: The intelligent flight modes enable the drone to fly automatically and free your hands and minds to do video or picture creation, including Follow Me, Tap Fly, and Point of Interest.
- Brushless Motors: Brushless motors run more powerful with much less noise compared to brushed motors, which can enable stable and fast drone flights. Besides, they have a longer lifetime and spare you from motor maintenance.
- Fly More Kit (46 Mins of Flight): Each intelligent battery support23 minutes of flight; 2 batteries included prolong your sky trip to 46 minutes. Less charging, more flying. The Carrying Bag included makes it easy to take the drone out and keep it when you don’t need it.
Specification: Holy Stone HS720E GPS Drone with 4K EIS UHD 130°FOV Camera for Adults Beginner, FPV Quadcopter with Brushless Motor, 2 Batteries 46 Min Flight…
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2 reviews for Holy Stone HS720E GPS Drone with 4K EIS UHD 130°FOV Camera for Adults Beginner, FPV Quadcopter with Brushless Motor, 2 Batteries 46 Min Flight…
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bk246 –
I wanted a folding quadcopter camera drone that was compact enough to fit in a backpack. It had to take great photos and video, not just good. The market leader in the segment of compact folding quadcopter drone cameras is the DJI Mini2, but for my purposes, given what I wanted to be able to do with it, not having a ‘follow-me’ feature was a deal-breaker, especially considering the near $500 price after taxes. That’s when I found that there were actually quite a few drones available in the “under $300” category. Of these, several received favorable reviews, but here’s what sets the HS720E apart from the rest for me:
The HS720E has a 4K UHD camera. There are plenty of those available in this price range. Many of them take 4K photos, but only 2K or 1080p video. The HS720E does video at 4K(UHD) with 30 frames per second, or 1080p(HD) at 60fps, which will allow you to produce HD slow motion video if that’s what you want.
Better camera drones mount the lens on a 2 or 3-axis gimbal to stabilize the image when the drone gets gets buffeted by wind. The HS720E camera uses Sony image sensors and has Electronic Image Stabilization. I’ve seen video recorded with cameras without Image Stabilization, and the difference in quality is night and day – the nominal cost difference to get this feature is definately worth it, and in my view, makes a mechanical gimbal assembly unnecessary, which eliminates a possible point of mechanical failure. I’ve read more than a few reviews of drone cameras with 2 and 3-way gimbal systems complaining that the gimbal is stuck at an odd angle, or that the entire assembly broke following a hard landing… no thank you!
To get that great resolution, you need the drone to save its’ camera output to an onboard class 10 micro-SD card. Yes, the photos and video feed are also transmitted by wi-fi to the smartphone, but that’s going to be at a reduced resolution. HolyStone has increased the microSD card capacity from 32Gb on their HS720 to 128Gb on the 720E. You would think that 32Gb is a ton of storage space, but those 4K video files get very large, very fast… another worthwhile improvement, and the additional cost to buy a 128Gb card instead of a 32 or 64Gb card is negligible.
Talking about the product’s features is meaningless unless the features translate into real benefits. With the HS720E, the benefits – aside from how much fun it is to fly – are the absolutely stunning videos and still photos that I’ve been able to take with each flight. Are they as good as what you would get with a professional quality drone that would cost at least $1,500? Maybe not to an expert’s eye – but they come pretty close, and are damned impressive considering the price of the HS720E.
As this is my first drone, I can’t personally compare the flying experience with other drones. But – I’ve had the HS720E for almost a month now, and I’ve been really happy with its performance. I’ve tested each of the available features (follow-me, waypoints/tap-to-fly, etc.) and they all work perfectly. I’ve tested the transmission range and found it to be just as documented on the website and in the manual. The flying time on a fully charged battery is just as advertised. When the drone detects that the power level has dropped below 20%, it automatically enters return to home mode (RTH), climbing to a pre-set altitude to avoid any potential obstacles, returning to a point above where it took off from, and then descending to a smooth controlled landing, within a few feet of the take-off point, if not right on the spot. The same thing will happen if the drone loses its wi-fi connection with the remote control unit… but the drone can, and will resume the connection if, for instance, the operating range is exceeded and then reduced as the drone makes its way back to you – you can cancel the RTH function and resume flying with the remote conrol.
Finally, while there are several drones on the market with similar feature sets at around the same price point, HolyStone’s customer service performance sets them apart. I read reviews for other drones where the users were grateful to receive an answer to their email within 24 hours… and that was the extent of their interaction with those companies. HolyStone has a toll free customer service / tech support phone line, a website with a chat function, and of course, email. They answer their emails within a couple of hours max – usually less, and if you just really need to have a back and forth conversation with a live human, well – I’ve made a couple of calls to their help line and have never even had to wait on hold before a live rep answers. This is important, because flying a drone can be tricky. Questions will come up… Hopefully problems won’t occur… But in either case good customer service is priceless, and HolyStone definately checks that box. There’s a bewildering number of choice out there, but after almost a month of experience with the HS720E, I am satisfied that I made the right choice.
CW –
SEE MY UPDATE AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW -SCROLL TO THE END OF MY REVIEW
The Holy Stone 720e is the first drone I’ve ever owned or flown. As other reviewers have stated, it’s an easy drone to fly. It’s stable, GPS works well, the return to home function almost always returns it to within a couple of feet of the launch spot. The Learning Mode should be disregarded. Instead, in the menu, set the parameters of distance and height that you want to start out with. Unlike some other users, I found the distance before the return video feed dropped out to be only a few hundred feet. Fortunately, the controller reaches much farther and the Return to Home function will bring the drone back if you lose sight of it. Just be sure to set your Return to Home altitude high enough to clear any obstacles around or on the path.
VIDEO
Video is one area where I have some expertise. I’ve worked in broadcast television, produced BluRays, including 4K BlurRays and before retirement I worked for a major audio/video manufacturer.
The 720e frequently receives high marks for video. But there are many caveats. If you expect to create professional quality video with this drone you are likely to be disappointed unless you’re prepared to spend lots of time in post production trying to clean up the files. Even using DaVinci Resolve, I’m unable to get a decent, realistic color balance.
CAMERA CONTROLS
Limited, with no manual adjustment of shutter speed or aperture. Rudimentary Brightness and Contrast controls provided in the Ophelia GO app are almost useless. Using the auto ISO setting results in constant changes in levels, particularly if you are shooting in high contrast situations. There is no real exposure control and White or near white elements in the scene are often overexposed or blown out. The dynamic range of the very small sensor is limited and because the files are highly compressed, there is little you can do to recover in post. Shooting in fixed ISO100 results in washed out images.
LENS
The fixed, wide angle lens borders on a fisheye perspective unless aimed perfectly level. Depending on swivel up or down, horizon lines will be distorted.
The internal processing skews the image towards the blue/magenta end of the spectrum, which can be corrected in post. Unfortunately, the lens suffers from severe chromatic aberrations with colored fringes around high contrast areas such as dark tree limbs against the sky. The lens on my drone was decentered with acceptably sharpness in the middle and right side of the frame, but decidedly soft on the left side.
Shooting towards the sun or a sky with bright clouds results in loss of contrast, typical of inexpensive lenses. I devised a lens hood using sticky foam tape attached on the top edge of the camera. This reduced loss of contrast dramatically, although the magenta cast in the center of the image still remains when shooting towards the sun early morning or late afternoon.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
If you want to record 4K, you will need the appropriate Micro SD card inserted in the slot of the 720e. Otherwise, the return video the Ophelia app will record to your phone or pad will be 1080P.
Once you’ve mastered flying to a point of reasonable skill and confidence, you’ll be thinking about a drone with a larger sensor and better optics.
All said, it’s an acceptable first machine and I’m enjoying the learning experience but at this point it’s an interim drone that will be passed on to a friend or grandson. If only the video and still images were as good as my iPhone or any number of other smart phones.
UPDATE: After approximately a dozen flights over a four month period, the micro SD card socket failed. It refuses to seat the card, rejecting the card. Unfortunately, being one month out of warranty, Holy Stone told me the unit was not repairable but offered to sell me a new drone replacement for 15% off retail. Knowing that dealer margins are higher than 15%, I would have expected a replacement at dealer cost.
Additionally, video reception from the drone is poor with limited range, likely due to the antenna design and location. It is a straight wire protruding horizontally from the left rear about 1/2″. In as much as it is likely vertically polarized it should be located vertically. I bent the wire down and it improved reception distance dramatically when flying away from the launch point. However on the return the signal is blocked by the battery, resulting in loss of signal.
So now I have a drone with very limited video range and because of the failed micro SD card socket, I’m unable to record to the card.
I have also experienced a couple of out of control crashes, one resulted in having to replace a broken motor arm.
This is not a product I could recommend with any degree of confidence.
ADDITIONAL UPDATE:
Reviewing the video files recorded on my micro SD card, I found several with the corruption suffix that I noticed before the card mechanism in the drone completely failed. This indicated to me evidence of a pending failure within a week of receipt of the 720e. I documented this and forwarded to Holy Stone. Fiona and Becky in their customer service department reviewed the data and I now have a replacement drone on the way. Thank you.
Lesson learned. If you have any indication of failures early on with any purchase, contact the suppliers customer service. Keep all your warranty and purchase information.
FOLLOW UP. The replacement 720e arrived and functions as expected. Because of the great customer service I am pleased to recommend the unit and change my review to five stars.