Hello drone enthusiasts! Welcome to my Holy Stone HS510 review.
I know it can be nerve-racking when choosing the best beginner drones. You’re trying to balance not paying thousands of dollars for premium drones with not paying for cheap drones that would break easily and don’t have awesome features that would make your flying fun and easy.
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 HS510 in 2020 with a 4K camera, and other exciting features that can be found in premium drones on the market.
The Holy Stone HS510 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 HS510 review, I will go over the features of this beginner drone like its design and build, camera quality, battery flight time, remote control, and more. I will let you know if the drone is the right choice for you before you purchase it.
- Quick Overview of the Holy Stone HS510
- What’s Inside the Box of the Holy Stone HS510
- Holy Stone HS510 Specifications
- Features and Benefits of the Holy Stone HS510
- Holy Stone HS510 Pros and Cons
- Holy Stone HS510 Set Up
- Best Alternatives to the Holy Stone HS510
- Holy Stone HS510 Safety Tips
- Final Thoughts: Is the Holy Stone HS510 Worth It?
Quick Overview of the Holy Stone HS510
The Holy Stone HS510 is a mini drone that comes with a foldable design and a weight of 250 grams that prevents you from the hassle of registering it with the FAA. It also comes equipped with a 4K camera, intelligent flight mode, and an optical flow sensor that makes it ideal for flying indoors.
It has a flight time of 15 minutes and a transmission range of 800 meters which gives you enough time and distance to hone your flying skills and explore your environment without worrying about crashing.
The Holy Stone HS510 comes with intelligent flight features like Tap to Fly, Point of Interest, Follow Me Mode, and GPS Auto Return that make it easy to fly and provide you with an awesome flight experience.
What’s Inside the Box of the Holy Stone HS510
Inside the Holy Stone HS510 package, you should expect to get the following items:
- 1 x Holy Stone HS510 Drone
- 1 x Remote Controller
- 2 x Lithium Batteries
- 1 x Carrying Case
- 1 x USB-C Charging Cable
- 4 x Spare Propellers
- 1 x Screwdriver
- 1 x Charger Hub
- 1 x User Manual
Holy Stone HS510 Specifications
- DRONE Weight: 245g / 8.64 oz
- Package weight: 1.05KG/3.30lbs
- Product size (L x W x H): 9.44×9.25×2.16 IN
- Package size (L x W x H): 8.54*7.28*5 IN
- Color: Matt Grey
- Transmitter Operating Frequency: 2.4GHz
- Camera Frequency: 5G （Father Fast Clearer）
- FPV Distance: 656~984 feet (200~300M) (outdoor and unobstructed)
- MAX Transmission Distance: 1968~1624 feet (600~800M) (outdoors and unobstructed)
- Image Transmission: [email protected]
- Camera Adjustable Angle: 0° to -90°manually.
- Gimbal Stabilization: Single Axis
- Lens Angle: 120°
- Video / Photo Resolution: 3840x2160P (Stored in TF Card); 1920x1080P (Stored in Phone)
- Max. Expansion: 32GB TF Card (Not Included)
- Charging Time: 150 minutes
- Type: Li-Po Battery
- Flight Time: 16 minutes (Single battery)
- Charging Cable Voltage: 5V
- Rated Power: ≤10W
- Battery Voltage: 7.4V
- Capacity: 1300 mAh
- Energy: 9.62W
Features and Benefits of the Holy Stone HS510
Design and Build
The Holy Stone HS270 is a foldable drone that comes in a compact case made of ABS plastic that protects it from crashes. It’s painted in a jet-white coating that gives it the professional appearance of premium drones like the DJI Mavic Mini and the DJI Phantom 4 Pro.
Personally, I don’t like this jet-white painting. This color makes it difficult to spot in the sky during the day. I prefer the orange colors of Autel drones because they’re easy to keep track of when flying
The Holy Stone HS270 is also portable, which makes it fit easily inside your backpack or travel luggage. It is a mini-sized drone and measures 9.44 x 9.25 x 2.16 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 is lightweight and weighs 245 grams. This means you don’t have to register the drone with the relevant government aviation authority in your country if you reside in the UK, USA, or Canada because it weighs below the minimum weight of 250 grams.
The Holy Stone HS510 has dual LED lights located on the front and back of the drone. The LED light indicates the position of the drone, so you can spot it from afar.
This feature only works optimally during the night and gives the drone a lovely look from afar.
The Holy Stone HS270 also comes with brushless motors that produce less noise than drones with brushed motors. The major benefits of brushless motors are that they consume less power, are more powerful, and do not overheat.
The detachable Li-Po battery is located at the top of the drone.
The 4K UHD camera is attached to the front of the drone and can also be adjusted for an angle of up to 90 degrees to provide wide-angle footage that is clear and sharp.
The HS510 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 microSD card, you can choose to record images and videos directly to your phone’s memory.
Holy Stone offers a well-made drone controller with user-friendly controls that are powered by double AA batteries. 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 HS510 comes equipped with a 4K Ultra HD camera with a 120-degree wide field of view. It’s capable of taking crystal-clear and sharp photographs at 4K resolution and can shoot 4K videos at 16 fps when stored on the SD card or 2.7K videos at 25 fps when stored on your mobile phone.
The single-axis gimbal stabilization on the camera is less efficient than a three-axis gimbal. As a result, the videos will probably be a little bit shakier than you’d like. The camera angle may be manually changed by up to 90 degrees. Not much can be done once the HS510 is in the air.
With low-latency 5G-enabled FPV video transmission, the HS510 enables you to experience the world from a birds-eye perspective—and in real-time, as well. Up to 200–300 meters away, you can see whatever your quadcopter sees.
Overall, the Holy Stone HS510 is a good choice for beginners that want to practice their photography skills while flying in the air. It also produces a quiet and responsive flight for better video quality. Professional drone pilots can also benefit from the camera quality of the Holy Stone HS510.
Battery Flight Time
The Holy Stone HS510 comes with a 7.6V Li-Po 1500 mAh battery, which will give you an average flight time of around 15 minutes. Flight time can be influenced by some factors that can increase or decrease it, like flight speed, wind speed, temperature, weather, flight style, and many more.
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 HS510 consumes less power thanks to its brushless motors, which give you a relatively quiet flight.
The good thing about the HS510 is that the package comes with extra batteries, which means another 15 minutes of fun time to practice and explore your neighborhood with your drone.
It has an average charging time of 2 hours, which is okay for a drone with its price tag when compared to the HS270, which has an average charging time of 5 hours. You can always increase the flight time of the drone by purchasing more batteries.
Remote Control
The Holy Stone HS510 remote control has an ergonomic and minimalistic design that makes it easy and comfortable to handle. My major issue with the remote control is that it’s powered by double AA batteries, which you’d have to buy separately after the drone.
The side of the remote control features a speed switch and a 1-key takeoff and landing button.
The Holy Stone HS510 remote control has a screen with a digital display on the front face. The screen displays the battery level of both the drone and the remote control, the drone’s distance from you, its altitude above sea level, and if the GPS is connected or not.
The front face also contains the power switch, a right joystick for direction control, a left joystick for throttle or rudder control, a GPS mode activation button, and a camera button, which you can press once to take a photo or hold for long to record a video, 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 HS510 remote control handles are also foldable for your convenience and comfort.
Control Range
The Holy Stone HS510 has a maximum range of 800 meters 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 save your media on the SD card attached to the camera.
Another positive factor about the Holy Stone HS510 is that it saves you money from repairs or replacing it.
The Holy Stone HS510 automatically activates its Return to Home function during low battery, weak signal, or when flying out of range, and returning back to its initial launch position so you don’t lose it to crashes and damages
Holy Stone HS510 Performance and Usability
The Holy Stone HS510 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 HS510 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 onto your phone and follow you around from behind.
- 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 HS510 comes with a dual-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 on the sales page, but many people who purchased the drone on Amazon have attested to how far it can go.
You should be careful about going into 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 HS510 Pros and Cons
Pros
- It gives the user access to a number of flying functions. With the use of GPS, a path may also be established for the drone to follow.
- It has a decent flight time of 30 minutes, which is provided by its dual intelligent batteries. The flight time is enough when compared to other beginner planes in its category.
- It features a very good camera that can capture photos in 4K resolution and videos in 4K at 16 frames per second. In addition to having a high resolution and transmission rate, it also has very good stability.
- It uses GPS and GLONASS navigation systems coupled with dual satellite connectivity to maintain its position in the air.
- The remote control comes with an LCD digital screen that displays numerous features of the drone.
- It makes the ideal travel companion thanks to its carrying case and its portability and foldability.
Cons
- It occasionally stays still in one spot. A majority of the HS510 users have had this issue.
- It has a tiny SD card slot that can only hold 32 GB worth of photos and videos. I think Holy Stone would have done better to increase the storage capacity, which many users complained about.
Holy Stone HS510 Set Up
I’ll go over some basic setups for the Holy Stone HS510 if you’re a beginner drone pilot who doesn’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 HS510
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 HS510
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
3. Pairing the Holy Stone HS510 With Your Smartphone
The next step is to pair the Holy Stone HS510 drone with your smartphone
1) Download the Holy Stone app on your phone – free
2) Turn on the remote control.
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 green.
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 red.
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 Alternatives to the Holy Stone HS510
In this section, I’ll share with you three alternatives to the Holy Stone HS510 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 HS510. 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, like the HS510, 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 HS510. 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 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 HS510. What attracted me to the HS720G is the 4K EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) camera that’s stabilized by a 2-axis motorized gimbal, which provides stunning aerial photography without any shaky footage.
Holy Stone HS510 Safety Tips
Below are some safety tips you should be aware of before flying your Holy Stone HS510 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 HS510 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 HS510.
- 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 HS510 Worth It?
Overall, the Holy Stone HS510 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 4K full HD camera, a decent 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 HS510 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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