Holy Stone – Reviews On Drones [Est. 2014]

Finding the best drone can be a pain and take time. These days the choice is massive, with so many options on the market, and often you don’t know which will be the best for you and your needs. So today we break down the top 5 best drones on the market this year, based on price versus performance, and situations they will be used in. DJI Mavic 2 Pro First on our list is the clear market leader, the DJI Mavic 2 Pro. DJI is easily the biggest and most popular name in the drone market, quite simply because all their products are nothing short of outstanding. And if you look at Mavic 2 Pro, you’ll see yet another amazing DJI drone in front of you. While the original Mavic Pro was and still is good enough already, this is where things get really exciting. For starters, the Mavic 2 Pro has almost the same camera as its predecessor, but it does have several innovations which you’ll love. For instance, the camera is now much bigger... you have more sensors for obstacle avoidance... and the whole design is much more compact. In theory, Mavic 2 Pro is a drone that aims to deliver a perfect price to performance ratio. And in principle, DJI have pretty much nailed this, with its stability and battery life both being superb. Not everything is perfect though. Portability suffered a lot as a result of that concept, and that aspect is not so great. But due to a very streamline shape of this drone, it’s faster and much quieter than the original Mavic Pro. The drone weighs roughly 297 grams, and the basic dimensions are 91 by 84 by 214 millimeters. As a result, you can be sure that Mavic 2 Pro will still fit in any type of backpack, even a handbag. With this popular drone, you’re getting 8 gigabytes of storage, as well as a micro SD slot that can store up to 128 gigabytes of additional space. Plus, you can also transfer your photos and recordings to your computer by using the USB-C port. You can even connect your drone to a computer to update your firmware which we like a lot, as it’s a faster process that way. Alternatively, you can connect the drone to your smartphones as well. Furthermore, the controller is completely foldable, and you can bring it down to the size of an average glasses’ case. As for the general design of the controller, you’ll notice that it’s quite similar to the original Mavic Pro controller. It has an LCD panel that shows all vital information about your flights. Lastly, you do get one special feature in the form of removable thumb-sticks, so if you want your drone to be even smaller and slimmer, all you need to do is remove these, which again is great for travel. The biggest downside with the Mavic 2 Pro is the price itself. But in our opinion, it’s completely worth it if you have the money or you’re ready to get serious about your drone flying experiences. Holy Stone HS170 Second on our list is Holy Stone HS170, and it’s our choice for the best drone for kids. Yes that’s right, even children can have a wonderful time with their drones! In fact, the HS170 product has no age limit, so you have no excuse not to give your child the chance to experience flying a quality drone. Holy Stone is one of the most popular drone brands in the market, and in our opinion, the HS170 is probably the best model you can buy for your child at this point in time. This drone is suitable in both outdoor and indoor situations, plus the design is shockproof and windproof at the same time. And, as a result, if it is your child that’s flying it, they should have an amazing flight experience in virtually any condition. By using a 2.4-gigahertz remote controller, your child will have no issues controlling the drone whatsoever. It’s remote is very precise, and thanks to its proportional radio control system, the child will be able to handle the drone almost effortlessly. While HS170 may look fragile, the reality is that it’s quite a durable drone. The body is made out of first grade polycarbonate material, which gives it some pretty good resistance and aerodynamic properties. The HS170 also has four extremely functional engines. Thanks to a combination of their raw power and a strong gyro stabilization system, you can be sure that your drone will have a steady flight in almost any condition. Once you put the batteries into the remote controller, the drone lights up like a Christmas tree, which is a really powerful visual aspect, and your child will absolutely love it. Thanks to a very powerful Headless Mode, the drone is super responsive, and it moves around the environment very easily. In fact, your child will feel like they’re operating an RC vehicle, so even if they have no flying experience whatsoever, they will have no issues handling this drone. The Headless Mode technology also automatically orients the drone in the direction of the remote controller, which is certainly a very useful addition and a neat feature not made available to many other drones at this price point. If you look at the overall handling and flight performance, the HS170 is very good. It has a range of about 100-165 feet, a flying time around 6-8 minutes, and a charging time of about 60-80 minutes, so be sure to pack a couple of batteries. DJI Spark Third on our list is DJI Spark, which has more recently become one of the most popular drones on the market, and in our opinion, one of the safest purchases that you can make right now. The Spark was by far the smallest drone DJI ever made, until recently when they launched their new Mavic Mini. With the Spark, you can easily hold the entire body in the palm of your hand. This is very important, as one of the highlights here is that you can easily launch and navigate the drone directly with your palm, which is a big innovation and one of the reasons why this drone has been so popular. The DJI Spark is very light, only half the weight of the iconic Mavic Pro – and so light that you can easily pack it inside of your bag, and completely forget about it. The drone is available in several different colors, including blue, green, red, white, and yellow. While many people don’t pay a lot of attention to this, it’s nice to have the option when you’re buying one. The build itself is very solid. It’s made from very tough plastic that ensures great resistance, and even greater durability in the long run. From an internal perspective, you will find all the sensors you would expect from such an advanced drone. The Spark is equipped with GLONASS and GPS sensors that allow the drone to communicate with up to 24 satellites simultaneously. As a result, you will enjoy super accurate positioning in pretty much every situation. The drone also has a special 3D infrared camera that allows you to dodge obstacles much easier. You can find the vision positioning system right beneath the main body. The system has an IR sensor and a downward facing camera. In practice, that means that you can operate the drone in an indoor environment, even if there are no GLONASS or GPS signals available. Plus you can use the downward facing camera to record some truly exceptional HD videos. The camera has a 1/2.3-inch sensor that can capture 12 megapixel still images, as well as 1080p video at a steady 30 FPS rate. The lens is two-axis stabilized, which is a bit of a downside, as most advanced drones are three-axis stabilized instead. However, it’s not a major flaw, as Spark does have a third axis as well, but this one is stabilized digitally instead. The DJI Spark is a drone for everyone, and no matter how experienced you are, you won’t make a mistake buying this drone. Parrot Bebop 2 FPV Fourth on our list is Parrot Bebop 2 FPV. First person view drones have become increasingly more popular as of late, with more and more companies switching to this concept due to buyer demand. So with so many different first person view drones coming on to the market, you will undoubtedly struggle to find the right one. But if you’re looking at the pure price-performance ratio (which we’d recommend you do), then the Parrot Bebop 2 FPV should be exactly what you are looking for. Now, if you’ve ever had a chance to test the original Bebop, you may think that this drone doesn’t bring too many upgrades. After all, they look almost identical. Luckily, that’s not true at all though. The Bebop 2 is much superior to its predecessor, and Parrot did a really good job to improve all the downsides of the previous drone. This model has a much more robust design, and its batteries have a much bigger capacity – which were the biggest problems with the first Bebop. The body is now 100% solid plastic, with a small addition of polystyrene that you can find next to the camera. The rotor has three blades that you can easily remove whenever you’re not using the drone anymore. At the back of the unit you can see gigantic battery slots right, and you need to detach them every time you are changing the batteries. This process can be slightly annoying sometimes, but it gets the job done. What makes the design so unique? – Well Bebop 2 is not a single unit. However, it has two main elements that are attached to the body via several shock absorbing rubber balls. The main body sits right on top of these balls, and as a result, they will slightly reduce the incoming vibrations. The design does have some downsides as well though. For instance, the drone may feel quite flimsy in your hand if you’re experienced enough to have held other higher priced models. On the other hand, you’ll hardly see any shaking while recording your videos, so it’s solid enough. Bebop 2 also has a set of plastic rotors that you can remove if you want your drone to be more lightweight. However, if you decide to keep them, make sure they are properly attached before you start flying. You do also get a spare set of rotors in the box that you can replace them with if they become damaged in the future, and you can purchase new motor units for the arms as well if required. Overall, Bebop 2 is not a perfect drone, but it does its job really well. And, if it’s one of the best ready to fly first person view affordable drones on the market you are after, you’ll certainly get that from the Bebop 2. DJI Mavic Air The last drone we’re going to look at is the DJI Mavic Air – and yes, you might be right in thinking that 3 out of the 5 drones on this list being made by DJI is excessive, but we don’t believe so, because ultimately they do make the best products. Now don’t be fooled into thinking that these three drones, the Mavic 2 Pro, the Spark and the Mavic Air are all similar, because they’re not. Sure they have common features, and they are built to the highest of DJI standards, but each are unique drones, and each have their own place on the market. The start with, the Mavic Air has highly foldable arms, and when you see how they operate you could say that portability was lifted to a whole new level here. You can easily put the drone in a backpack, or even your pocket. With a weight of only 430 grams, it’s a heavier drone than the Spark, whose weight is around 300 grams. On the other hand, it’s much lighter than Mavic 2 Pro, whose weight is 743 grams. And, if you put things into perspective for most people, the overall weight feels just about right with the Mavic Air. The drone is not too heavy, nor too light, giving you a perfect middle ground scenario. Even though the drone looks like a toy, it has a very robust design. With a slightly recessed gimbal, clip-on-camera cover, and a durable layer of protection, this is one of the most flexible drones that you can buy. Another huge innovation here comes in a form of a redesigned controller. You can find the joysticks right under the foldable smartphone clips. Together, they form a very flat surface that you can slide into the pocket at the back of the drone. The controller itself doesn’t have a built-in screen for flight telemetry. However, you can easily put your smart phone right into the foldable clips, and that’s where you will get all the information that you need, on your phone display. In general, if you’ve ever used a DJI drone before, you’ll have no issues setting this one up. You will have to install the DJI GO 4 app on your phone, and connect it to your drone, which is fairly straight forward to do. Both IOS and Android are supported by DJI, so the app will function perfectly regardless of your operating system. Once the drone is fully synchronized, you can connect your controller to the app by using a Wi-Fi connection. And as soon as everything is set up, operating the drone is as easy as one two three.