If you’re looking to purchase an intermediate drone in the US$100 to US$200 price range, you need to be pretty clear on what it is that you want to get out of it. If significant speed, an outstanding flight time, and a good flight range is what you’re searching for, then the Altair Aerial Blackhawk could be the perfect drone for you.
With the Blackhawk, you can expect to get a transmission range of about 300 meters (we got ours to fly a little more than that) and a flight time of around 15-17 minutes on one battery (we got a little less, although we were flying fast!) – both results depending on the conditions you’re flying in.
Among the numerous standout features of this drone is ironically it’s durable metal frame. You see, this is a heavy duty drone and weighs in the region of 485g… And a sturdy drone like this offers considerable stability when you’re flying, especially at the high speeds actively encouraged by the manufacturers themselves.
Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, right in the heart of the US, family owned business Altair Aerial have designed the Blackhawk for anyone who wishes to move up from being a beginner pilot to the intermediate level.
What’s In The Blackhawk Box?
When you open the Altair Aerial Blackhawk box, you’ll find all of the contents safely and securely wrapped in styrofoam, to help protect the product from damage while in transit. There are several spare parts included, plus replacements are also convenient and affordable to order, if at some point you do need more.
| 1x Blackhawk Drone 1x Remote Controller 1x Action Camera Mount 1x Battery (7.4V 1800mAh Lipo) 1x Battery Charger 4x 1806 1800KV Brushless Motors | 2x Sets of Propellers 1x Set of Propeller Guards 1x Propeller Wrench 1x Set of Landing Gear 1x Screwdriver with Screws 1x Instruction Manual |
Blackhawk Design + Build
As you’ve probably already gathered, the Altair Aerial Blackhawk looks like something designed for the military!
It comes in green and is built from a strong metal frame, which accounts for much of its 485g weight. The arms, landing gear, propellers, propeller guards and camera mount all come in black and are constructed mostly from durable ABS plastics.
In bigger drones, it’s common to use brushless motors as they are more powerful for their weight than brushed motors, plus they are quieter thanks to their reduced operational and mechanical noise, and typically last much longer as they are less susceptible to mechanical wear and tear. Altair Aerial would have been aware of this during their design process and so choose to use brushless motors, which was the right thing to do.
Blackhawk Flight Controller
When you purchase the Altair Aerial Blackhawk you also get a good quality, simple-to-use remote controller included in your box.
We found the drone to be very responsive to the controller, which enhanced our flying experience and is exactly what you’d be looking for and expect from an intermediate drone at this level.
When unboxing, you’ll notice that the joysticks for the controller are in a small separate bag, and these can be attached easily by screwing them onto the stick bases using the screws and screwdriver which are also included.
On the controller you will find three buttons that help the drone pilot to manage the Blackhawk’s trim functions. Two of those buttons are below the two joysticks and one of them is to the left of the right joystick.
Before you start operating the drone, you will also need to pair it to the controller. You can only do that once your battery has been installed and connected in the drone.
Once you have established that the drone is on, you then need to make sure that the left joystick is all the way down. At the same time, you will have your finger on the controller’s red button. Make sure you are holding that down too.
Straight after that you will then turn the controller on. Confirmation that the pairing has been completed will be a green light that should appear in the middle of your controller. There will also be a double beep.
You will then confirm that the pairing has been completed by pressing the red button once, and the propellers should then start spinning.
Blackhawk Propellers + Guards
We mentioned earlier that you do get two full sets of propellers when you purchase the Altair Aerial Blackhawk drone. None of them will be attached when you open the box.
You will find that two of those propellers have the letter “A” marked on them and two of the propellers will have the letter “B” marked on them. The two propellers marked “A” will need to be placed diagonally opposite each other and the same applies for the propellers that are clearly marked “B”.
It’s important that when you screw the “A” propellers on, you need to have them screwed on clockwise… And when you screw the “B” propellers on, you’ll need to have them screwed on anti-clockwise.
Then there’s the propeller guards. When you flip the Blackhawk over, you will encounter two sets of screws under each of those motors. Simply remove those two screws and place the propeller guards in line with the resultant holes, then re-insert the screws back in.
Blackhawk Battery + Charging
Installing and changing the Blackhawk battery is fast and easy. Simply flip the drone over, slide the battery into the battery box, keeping the yellow and white cable plugs exposed at the back, then connect the yellow cable plug (positive) to the drone. You should hear a short confirmation tone which will signal that the battery has been installed correctly.
Blackhawk Camera Mount
As highlighted earlier, the Blackhawk does come with an action camera mount, but not the camera itself. Some would argue this is an error by Altair Aerial, but in this instance, we actually think it’s very smart.
You see, there are four things that most intermediate level pilots are typically looking for – transmission range, speed, battery life, and camera quality. And, since Altair Aerial have already checked the first three boxes to a more than satisfactory level, they have left the pilot to choose just how good the camera should be depending on the quality they are looking for… or simply leave the camera off the drone altogether, to reduce the weight and increase the speed!
An issue that pilots sometimes have when buying a RTF (Ready To Fly) drone is that the parts are often fixed, or proprietary (owned by the manufacturer), and so changing them out to something that performs better isn’t always easy, or even an option. In fact, the camera on almost every intermediate level RTF drone is already pre-installed and so as if the quality isn’t to the standard you’re looking for, or technological enhancements mean you want to upgrade, this is often not possible.
But with a drone that includes a camera mount whereby you choose the quality of the camera to attach, it’s a win-win-win, especially when you consider the costs to buy the actual drone itself are low enough to leave you with some dollars to do this… which is what Altair Aerial have managed to achieve.
The Blackhawk Camera Mount is compatible with some of the leading action cameras, including the SJCAM, GoPro, Xiaomi, as well as many others.
Blackhawk Trimming
Altair Aerial have included the option to ‘trim’ the drone’s hovering stability in three ways… forward / backward, left, and right… so that the pilot can make any necessary adjustments should the drone be drifting forwards or backwards whilst hovering, or rotating to the left or right whilst hovering.
This is a pretty cool feature to have and it’s a nice touch by Altair Aerial to include this, especially when you consider that most intermediate drones don’t offer this.
However, it’s probably a feature you’ll only use a couple of times on initial set up, or perhaps if you’re flying in rougher weather conditions which might affect the drone’s flight performance.
Blackhawk Pros:
- The drone is affordable, yet has high-end features
- The tough metal construction improves durability
- The drone has brushless motors, which make less noise
- The drone is stable in most conditions
- The drone allows 360° flips
- The controller is simple to use
- The propellers are well protected with robust prop guards
- The battery life and flight time is excellent
- Additional parts are easily available and affordable
Blackhawk Cons
- No way to control the photography or videography from the controller
- Purchasing a seperate camera is not ideal, as it presents additional costs. That is not an issue if you already have a camera though.
Blackhawk Price + Where To Buy
At the time of writing, the Altair Aerial Blackhawk has just been discounted from an RRP of US$150 to a new price of US$120, making it one of the cheapest and best value intermediate drones on the market.
Final Thoughts
Whilst we do like the Altair Aerial Blackhawk a lot, it is a competitive field and there are other options you might consider, including the Holy Stone HS165, the Potensic D80, and the Altair Aerial AA300. You’ll initially pay more for each of these drones, but then again with the Blackhawk you’ve still got the costs of a camera to be added. That being said, it would be your choice what camera you mount to the drone, and the quality would almost definitely be better than the other three alternatives.
In closing, the Altair Aerial Blackhawk is a very popular drone, and for good reason… it’s a fast and furious machine. Most significantly though, it is a fun drone to own and fly, and the best bit is you don’t need to break the bank to buy one.