Hello, drone enthusiasts! Welcome to my Holy Stone HS270 review.
Buying your first drone can be intimidating, especially for drone enthusiasts new to unmanned aerial vehicles. There are loads of cheap drones from China to choose from, which might make you hesitate to purchase that drone you heard about.
Holy Stone is a Chinese drone manufacturer that gained popularity for retailing consumer drones at an affordable price to the public. They released the Holy Stone HS270 in 2019 with a 2K camera and other exciting features that can be found in premium drones on the market.
The Holy Stone HS270 is an entry-level drone that promises both beginner and experienced drone pilots an affordable drone with a ton of exciting features that would blow its competitors out of the water and launch your start to the world of unmanned aerial vehicles with style.
In this Holy Stone HS270 review, I will go over the features and benefits of this beginner drone to show you if the drone is the right choice for you before you go ahead to purchase it.
Quick Overview of the Holy Stone HS270
The Holy Stone HS270 is a foldable drone that comes with an HD camera that can capture your precious memories and favorite scenes in both photos and videos in 2.7K resolution.
Not only that, but it also has a flight time of 18 minutes for a more fun time.
The Holy Stone HS270 comes with intelligent flight features like Tap to Fly, Point of Interest, Follow Me Mode, and GPS Auto Return that makes it easy to fly and provide you with an awesome flight experience.
What’s Inside The Box of the Holy Stone HS270
- Holy Stone HS270 Drone
- Remote Controller
- Battery
- USB Charging cable
- (4) Propellers
- (4) Screws
- Screwdriver
- User Manual
Holy Stone HS270 Specifications
- Weight: 595 grams
- Dimension: 195*104*80mm(Folded);428*295*80mm(Unfolded)
- Flight Time: 18 minutes
- Charging Time: 6 hours
- FPV Distance: 1312 feet
- Flight Distance: 1968 feet
- Camera Frequency: 5Ghz
- Camera Angle: 0° to -90°
- Video/photo Resolution:
- HD: 3840×2160P (stored in TF card) HD: 2976×1680P (stored on a mobile phone)
- Max Expansion: 32GB TF Card (Not Included)
- Motor: Brush Motor
- In The Box: 1*Drone and Transmitter; 1*Drone Batteries; 4*Extra Propellers; 4*Spare Screw; 1*USB Charging Cable; 1*Screwdriver; 1*Instructions for Use
Features and Benefits of the Holy Stone HS270
Let’s go over the features and benefits of the Holy Stone HS270 to see whether it lives up to its hype.
Design and Build
The Holy Stone HS270 is a foldable drone that comes in a compact rectangular case made of plastic (high-quality polycarbonate) that protects it from crashes. It’s painted grey which gives it a professional metallic look instead of bright color that could make you pass it off as a toy drone.
The Holy Stone HS270 is also portable, which makes it fit easily inside your backpack or travel luggage. It is medium-sized and measures 16.9 by 11.6 by 3.2 inches when it is unfolded.
It measures 7.9 by 4.1 by 3.2 inches when folded, which reduces the space it would take when packing it inside your backpack. Plus, the propellers are also folded, making them the perfect traveling companion.
The drone might feel a little bit heavy for some users due to its weight of 595 grams. However, ensure you register the drone with the relevant government aviation authority in your country if you reside in the UK, USA, or Canada because it weighs above of 250 grams.
There’s an LED light attached to the front of each arm of the HS270 to improve visibility during flight.
The Holy Stone HS270 also comes with brushless motors that produce less noise than drones with brushed. The major benefits of brushless motors are that consume less power, are more powerful, and do not overheat. The detachable Li-Po battery is located at the top of the drone.
The 2.7K HD camera is attached to the front of the drone and can also be adjusted for up to 90 degrees to provide wide-angle footage that is clear and sharp.
The HS270 includes a micro SD card slot that can accommodate cards up to 32 GB in size.
However, no TF memory card is included when you buy the drone. Although the quality will be lesser than on a micro SD card, you can choose to record images and movies directly to your phone’s memory.
Holy Stone offers a well-made drone controller with user-friendly controls that is powered by a rechargeable LiPo battery. In order to fly this drone, you’ll also need to download the HS GPS V1 app, which is available for both iOS and Android.
Camera
The Holy Stone HS270 comes with a 2.7K Full HD camera, and a 120-degree wide-angle lens, that can be adjustable up to 90 degrees, which gives you the freedom to capture from different angles.
The camera is built around a shock-absorbing holder that absorbs shocks and vibrations when flying. This feature prevents blurry images and shaky videos when shooting in windy conditions.
I think Holy Stone should have added more stabilization features like an advanced gimbal to reduce jello effects. However, at its current price, its current features are good enough for beginners that want to test the water with a beginner drone.
Even professional drone pilots can use the Holy Stone HS270 for both professional photography and videography due to the quality of its photos and videos.
Another feature that attracted me to the HS270 is its instant shareability feature of the Holy Stone App. You can share your drone footage on social media or store them in the cloud via the app. This makes it convenient for you to share your footage from anywhere you go without carrying your laptop.
You will enjoy a fantastic first-person view experience because this is a 5G camera. Just connect the Wi-Fi on your phone to the drone’s Wi-Fi to use FPV. It sends footage smoothly and without pauses.
Battery Flight Time
The Holy Stone HS270 comes with a Lithium-polymer battery that gives you a flight time of 18 minutes. This would put a smile on the faces of drone enthusiasts used to beginner drones with a flight time of fewer than 10 minutes.
It is a safe modular battery that is easy to insert and remove, and also comes with LED lights that indicate its battery and charge level. The Holy Stone HS270 consumes less power thanks to its brushless motors that give you a relatively quiet flight.
The major issue I have with the Holy Stone HS270 is the battery would take anywhere between five to seven hours of charging to get to a full charge after its energy has been completely used up.
I think Holy Stone should have put in more effort to reduce the charging time because it can turn off some drone enthusiasts. This situation can be remedied by buying extra batteries to increase your flying time after one battery runs out of power.
Remote Control
The Holy Stone remote control has an ergonomic and minimalistic design that makes it easy and comfortable to handle. It comes with an inbuilt-rechargeable Li-Po battery that uses the same cable and adapter as the drone battery.
The side of the remote control features a speed switch, an indicator panel with a one-key return, a headless mode, and photo/video indicator lights.
The top face of the Holy Stone HS270 features a power switch, a right joystick for direction control, a left joystick for throttle/ rudder control, a power indicator light, a 1-key takeoff/landing, a headless mode/ GPS mode activation button, and a return to the home button.
The remote control also features a retractable phone holder on the front side that fits standard-sized phones. The front side also features a camera angle adjustment knob, a speed switch knob, a photo/ trimmer button, and a video recording button.
The Holy Stone HS270 remote control handles are also foldable for your convenience and comfort.
Control Range
The Holy Stone HS270 has a maximum range of 1968 feet before it loses connection with your smartphone and remote control.
But the good thing with this drone is that it will keep on recording the footage even after it has lost its connection and saves your media in the SD card attached to the camera.
Another positive factor about the Holy Stone HS270 is that it saves you money from repairs or replacing it.
The Holy Stone HS270 automatically activates its Return to Home function during low battery, weak signal, or when flying out of range, and returns back to its initial launch position so you don’t lose it to crashes and damages.
Holy Stone HS270 Performance and Usability:
The Holy Stone HS270 comes with awesome performance and intelligent flight features that make it easy to fly and also provide you with an overall pleasurable flight experience.
It also has an excellent 1-key flight feature coupled with an inbuilt GPS module which grants you stability in windy conditions.
Below are some intelligent flight features of the Holy Stone HS270 drone:
- Tap Fly: This allows you to customize a flight path for the drone and watch it fly and record footage along the defined path hand-free without touching the remote control
- Point of Interest: The drone locks onto a selected point and orbits or hovers around it.
- Follow Me: Just as the name says, the drone will lock on your phone and follow you around from behind.
- Record Voice: The HS270 drone app allows you to record audio along with images and videos.
- GPS Auto Return: This feature enables your drone to return to its starting position under emergency conditions like low battery or lost signal; or when you activate the feature with a one-key click.
- Altitude Hold: This feature helps the drone maintain a vertical height when flying forward. This feature is very useful for beginner drone pilots until they become good at flying.
Speed and Power
The Holy Stone HS270 comes with a 3-speed mode which can be adjusted from the left-hand side of the controller to vary your speed during flight.
Holy Stone doesn’t give a direct specification of the speed in the sales but many people who purchased the drone on Amazon testified on how far it can go.
You should be careful about going on full-speed mode because it doesn’t have an obstacle avoidance mode. Plus, you’re more likely to collide with obstacles if you’re a beginner drone pilot.
Holy Stone HS270 Pros and Cons
Let’s go over what I like and don’t like about the Holy Stone HS270.
Pros: What I Like About The Holy Stone HS270
- Has a solid heft to it despite being quite small
- Foldable and portable design that makes it ideal for traveling
- Sturdy frame that keeps the drone stable even in windy conditions
- Well-laid-out controls should help novice drone pilots
- Long range of the transmitter and FPV connectivity
- Intelligent battery so you can see the current battery life in real time
- Relatively quiet and responsive flight
- A high-quality camera that can be adjusted to various angles
- High-quality photo and video resolution
- Intelligent flight features that make it fun and easy to fly
Cons: What I Don’t Like About The Holy Stone HS270
- Doesn’t come with a carrying case
- Long charging time
Holy Stone HS270 Set Up
I’ll go over some basic setups of the Holy Stone HS270 if you’re a beginner drone pilots who don’t know how to set up the drone. However, you’ll have to exercise patience so you don’t screw things up.
1. Charging the Holy Stone HS270
The first step is to charge the Holy Stone HS270 remote control and the drone battery with the USB cord. Unfortunately, only one USB cable is provided in the package, so you’ll either have to wait for one of them to get full before charging the other or simply buy another USB cable.
2. Assembling the Holy Stone HS270
Putting on the propellers: This shouldn’t be too difficult. Holy Stone provided a magnetic screwdriver to help in attaching the screws to prevent them from falling off. They also provided extra screws in case you misplaced some while attaching the propellers to the body of the drone.
Install the propeller guards if you want
Insert the charged battery in the battery slot of the drone
The landing gear comes pre-assembled just like the SD card.
3. Pairing the Holy Stone HS270 With Your Smartphone
The next step is to pair the Holy Stone HS270 drone with your smartphone
1) Download the Holy Stone app on your phone – free
2) Turn on the controller
3) Switch on the drone’s battery. The battery’s lights will show the charge level; four lights indicate a full charge. Before successful pairing and calibration, the drone’s lights will flash white and pink/red.
4) Go to the WiFi section of your phone’s settings and choose the Holy Stone WIFI signal.
5) Click the “Enter Device” button in the app’s first page’s center after launching the Holy Stone app.
4. Calibrating the GPS of the Holy Stone HS270
This is the final step you have to take before you can begin flying the drone.
Step #1: Rotate the drone counterclockwise while it is on the ground by standing above it, looking down at it from above, and rotating it while it is on the ground as if you were turning off a faucet. When this is successful, two of the drone’s lights ought to cease flashing and go blue.
Step #2: Turn the drone 90 degrees so that it is on its side, then spin it so that the propeller guards are perpendicular to the ground and rotating in a plane that is parallel to the ground. The second time you correctly spin the drone, the second pair of lights will cease flashing and turn white. So, the drone’s four lights—two of which are white and two of which are blue—are all solid and not flashing.
NOTE: The GPS button (the one with the image of a compass on it on the controller’s left side) must be turned off if you are inside because you cannot get GPS inside (unless it is a very large space, which I don’t recommend doing).
Simply step outdoors and choose a space free of obstructions like telephone or power wires.
Best Alternative to the Holy Stone HS270
In this section, I’ll share with you three alternatives to the Holy Stone HS270 to give you more options:
1. Holy Stone HS440 (Best Budget Alternatives)
The Holy Stone HS440 is my best budget alternative to the Holy Stone HS270. It comes with a 1080P FPV camera that can capture your important moments. It comes with a special function that makes flying fun. Plus, it weighs below 250 grams, unlike the HS270 which saves you from FAA registration.
2. DJI Mavic Mini (Best DJI Alternatives)
The DJI Mavic Mini is my best DJI alternative to the Holy Stone HS270. What I like about the Mavic Mini is that it has a long flight time of 30 minutes. Not just that, it comes with a triple battery for triple the fun and a 2.7K HD camera attached to a 3-axis gimbal that provides camera stability and smooth footage.
3. Holy Stone HS720G (Best Advanced Alternatives)
The Holy Stone HS720G is my best budget alternative to the Holy Stone HS270. What attracted me to the HS720G is the 4K EIS (Electric Image Stabilization) camera that’s stabilized by a 2-axis motorized gimbal, which provides stunning aerial photography without any blurry or shaky footage.
Holy Stone HS270 Safety Tips
Below are some safety tips you should be aware of before flying your Holy Stone HS270 to ensure a fun and safe flight for you and everyone around you:
- For your safety and that of the drone, avoid flying near or over obstacles, such as high-voltage power lines, crowds, trees, water bodies, and airports.
- The minimum recommended flying age for the HS270 is 16 years.
- You’re advised to fly in open areas, where you can maintain a line of sight, preferably below heights of 120 meters.
- Be careful with rotating motors and propellers, and keep a distance to avoid ear damage from the drone’s nose.
- Avoid flying in extreme weather conditions such as rain, fog, snow, and strong winds.
- Avoid flying the drone when tired, under the influence of alcohol or medication, or in any physical discomfort.
- Keep the drone clean and well-maintained.
- Read the user manual thoroughly before flying the HS270.
- Follow the battery safety rules as outlined in the user manual.
- Fly the drone with a fully charged battery and perform all the recommended pre-flight procedures before takeoff.
- Follow your local laws on drone flying and avoid flying in No-Fly zones.
- Always check the drone, controller, and battery for damages and correct installation before a flight.
- The onboard compass can be affected by electromagnetic fields near base stations or power lines.
Final Thoughts: Is The Holy Stone HS270 Drone Worth It?
Overall, the Holy Stone HS270 is a good-budget drone for both beginner and recreational drone pilots. It’s equipped with an advanced GPS that will give you the perfect start to the world of UAVs.
It combines several amazing characteristics, including a high-definition camera, a lengthy flight time, and thrilling intelligent flight modes, so that both beginning and experienced pilots may enjoy flying it.
Although it is marketed as a beginner’s drone by the manufacturer, I think intermediate and professional drone pilots seeking an upgrade will find it amazing.
The best part of the Holy Stone HS270 is that it won’t cost you a fortune to own one of them. It retails for less than $200 at the time of writing this article and gives you great value for your money.
You can also check out the best Holy Stone drones to see the reviews of various drones from the Holy Stone series and the benefits they have in store for you.
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