Holy Stone GPS Drone with 4K Camera for Adults, HS175D RC Quadcopter with Auto Return, Follow Me, Brushless Motor, Circle Fly, Waypoint Fly, Altitude Hold, Headless Mode, 46 Mins Long Flight

My favorite drone
I own about 6 drones now. Some are just toys for playing with indoors, but I do have another more expensive drone that is GPS enabled and that I have a lot of fun with outside. However, that drone only has a flight time of about 10 minutes, I believe due to the weight, it’s very heavy for a drone. If you’re just getting into drones, I think this is a great budget beginner drone. You won’t have the range of a DJI Mini, which this drone is very similar to, but you can have the same experience up to a limited range for more than 1/3 of the price.First, when you open the package, you’ll notice a great carrying case that fits everything, including the drone, controller, two batteries, chargers and spare props. All my other drones are in the original boxes they came in or lying around loose. This case is just another great feature of this drone.The batteries on this drone last about 20 minutes each. They’re lightweight and have a much better-charging cable than previous drones. Unlike most that use the troublesome micro USB port, these use a usb cable that attaches to the battery solidly and easily. I personally hate micro USBs, as they seem to fit poorly and wear out over time. The Controller still uses the micro USB, but this isn’t charged near as often as the batteries.One thing to note on the batteries. There is a red cap that covers the battery connection on the drone. You should keep this. This piece allows you to store a battery in the drone without the electrical connection being made. Electronic equipment should never be stored with batteries connected, as it can damage both the battery and the equipment.This HS175D isn’t near as heavy as my HS270. This drone is very compact and only weighs about 216 grams. I’ve also noticed this drone obtains GPS signal faster than my other drones and with 20+ minutes of flight time, I’m completely happy with that. The app that you use on the phone will walk you thru setup and preparation for flight making it quick and easy.The drone’s camera has a single axis gimble, allowing you to rotate it 90 degrees, from straight ahead to straight down. So, while you lose some ability to move in 3 directions like you would with a drone like the DJI Mini 2, you gain rigidity that protects the camera in the event of a crash. The app doesn’t have a lot of camera control for things like exposure, but it does work well for pictures and video.Other than the camera, the other difference between a high-end drone like the DJI Mini 2 is the connection between the camera and drone. Not to get too technical because both use Wi-Fi signals, but the DJI Mini 2 uses Occusync, which gives you a range of up to 11k yards (6+ miles), whereas this drone uses Wi-Fi on a 5Ghz channel, which has a longer range than say a 2.4Ghz signal, but it is limited and doesn’t like interference from solid objects. If you were operating in maximum conditions (no interference at all from other Wi-Fi signals and no physical interference, you might expect a range of about 650 yards at best. I think a more practical limit would be about 350 yards.When operating outdoors, you should keep a clear line of sight with your drone, or you may lose connection, and you won’t be able to navigate with the camera. The range of the controller is better and not subject to the same limitations, so you’ll still be able to control the drone, you just won’t have the camera.

Really wanted it to be great but …
I was very excited to receive this drone. It had an above average number of positive reviews and there are several in depth videos on you tube showcasing it’s features. I was looking forward to using it as both a backyard flyer to film family events and the occasional fishing kayak companion. Sadly this was not to be. The drone I received was packaged in the factory box shrink wrapped with plastic although once I opened it several of the items inside were contained in sealed bags that had been opened previously. Not a good sign for a “new” item. On functionality the drone failed on 4 critical fronts:1. The remote would frequently disconnect from the drone even at close range. I took the drone to an isolated field fearing background wifi interference was messing with it but it would still disconnect randomly without warning and would not respond to any commands.2. When the connection between the drone and remote was functional it was frequently plagued by input lag. When this happened commanding the drone to go up, down, left or right and would take upwards of 4 or 5 seconds for it to react. Avoiding obstacles or the ground becomes pretty tough when the drone won’t respond instantly. Some lag I could understand if you were pushing max range but at 20 or 30 feet with both a fully charged drone and remote battery it should not be happening.3. Without the GPS activated and set to manual flight mode the drone would constantly pull to the left. Despite trying to correct this with trim control adjustments this leftward pull was always present. The GPS stabilization when active would correct it but at the cost of constant motor revving lowering battery life and when the GPS signal faded due to cloud cover or trees the drone would zoom off to the left leaving me scrambling to compensate manually. (Tough to do if you are lagging or disconnected at the time) May be a rotor alignment or blade wear issue I do not know but on a new drone it should not be.4. One of the two included battery packs would occasionally trigger a low battery alert even with a full charge. The only way to correct this was to land, remove the battery, re-calibrate and start the flight over. On one occasion the battery alert popped up on the screen and within 3 seconds the drone just shut off completely. Fortunately I was able to catch it.Given all of these issues there is no way I could trust this drone to safely fly around my yard for fear it would crash into the neighbors place and absolutely I could not trust it out over open water for photo stills. The drone’s instability and unreliable function would make the dreaded splash and sink scenario only a matter of time. There were some positives. I loved the size of the drone and the carry case was really great. The noise from the brushless motors was tolerable and the included dual chargers and battery packs were a nice bonus. If it had delivered on it’s promised specs I would have been happy to keep it. I believe this is hit or miss prospect. Some of these drones do seem to work as they are designed to and some do not as there are other reviewers reporting the same issues I encountered. I suspect my drone was not new but packaged to appear that way as in my RC experience these types of problems are often seen in used / refurbished quads. No accusations here just an observation on my part. Either way I have had to return it. At this price point it’s not a pro model but it is also not a disposable toy and should work correctly.

I bought this drone to replace an older DJI for which the manufacturer had disabled, with Apple, the ability to get photo feed from drone to phone, and to avoid having to register the drone with government. The main purpose of having it was to document the development of a rural property in the Cariboo region of BC and construction of a new home. I have had it since October 2022.There seemed to be an insurmountable hurdle in getting live view from the drone camera on my Android phone, but a phone call to Holly Stone did help in clearing that up. After not using it through the dead of winter I was able to figure out the tricks again this year, but still share somewhat the frustration that others have expressed, with the several steps required to get everything up and working. But I now always can get it all working, and so can others. I suspect that much of the problem in getting everything working is me, not the drone.Picture quality and operational capability is excellent for the price, I have no hesitance in recommending this drone to others. It has similar capability to the DJI Phantom 3 it replaced, for a fraction of the price and no registration required. I’m not afraid of registering something for flight as I own an aircraft, but felt I should not have to register a small drone. Careless/malfeasant operators are to blame here.The included photo of the house construction was taken this morning in typical close-to-noon summer wind conditions of the Cariboo, with gusts over 20 km/hr. I did have to get the drone above treetop level to gain any semblance of stability due to its light weight, but I felt it did an amazing job for the conditions. When this morning’s photo collection was complete, the return-to-home worked just fine; I pluck drones out of the air at eye level rather than having them drop onto potential prop-damaging ground beside the 2 for square piece of plywood it took off from. This drone reacts to being grabbed by hand just fine, shutting motors down within seconds of the interruption of vertical drop.In all, a fine drone for the money, nothing so far has not worked. I always get my desired set of photos each time I use it, and on one battery. Compared to the weight, bulk and battery costs of the old DJI this is a great step forward in everything but wind stability, but even there I’m impressed for something weighing half a pound.

I took it out for a small flight to check my roof for damage. I did the calibration of the unit and got green light to use it. Flew up. Worked well for a while, I was testing its flight operations while going around the house. All of a sudden, my phone says, unit needs calibration. Drone started going circles in the air until it crashed on neighbour’s roof and crashed on the ground. I try to see if the unit still operates but i’ll be asking a refund.Returning this unit as it is unsafe to use if it randomly goes berserk.I’m also reading some people had the unit simply fly off and never come back.. I don’t want that to happen for me.

Product arrived promptly as describedGood quality product and good value for money