Description
Holy Stone HS720 Foldable GPS Drone with 2K FHD Camera for Adults, Quadcopter with Brushless Motor, Auto Return Home, Follow Me, 26 Minutes Flight Time, Long Control Range, Includes Carrying Bag
Holy Stone HS720 Foldable GPS Drone with 4K UHD Camera for Adults, Quadcopter with Brushless Motor, Auto Return Home, Follow Me,
$511.87
Additional information
| Weight | 460 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 8.2 × 4 cm |
| Brand | Holy Stone |
| Model | HS720 |
| Product Dimensions | 12.2 x 8.2 x 4 cm; 460 Grams |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included) |
| Item model number | 946227 |
| Manufacturer Part Number | US-HS720 |
| Mirror Adjustment | Remote Control |
| Material | Plastic |
| Size | Large |
| Colour | Black |
| Assembly Required | No |
| Item Weight | 460 g |
| ASIN | B07V3CLLCV |
| Date First Available | 4 September 2019 |
| Manufacturer | Holy Stone |
daisy Lister –
This drone is not what I expected.When uploading images/videos onto phone they’re not 4K resolution at all.The Camera is not fixed and therefore will wobble during flying. This will result in terrible image quality.The GPS signal is absolutely terrible and barely worked.I wouldn’t recommend!!!
Busyparent –
Slick, economical hobby drone!
With a special offer, I got this as a replacement for another Holy Stone, HS120D, which is also a nice drone. But for not much more $$, the HS720 4K is a HUGE upgrade! Part of that is the 4K itself, but in general it’s a great UAV. It handles very smoothly, has pretty long flight times on a single charge (an actual 30 minutes, as opposed to a “theoretical” 30 minutes), and maintains a strong, reasonable distance range connection to the controller and phone app (my prior economy drones did not). Though not connected via a gimbal, the camera has nice, smooth range of motion with all but if not complete 0-90 degree adjustment angle. The “least convenient” aspect is that the drone rests flat on the ground (as many folding drones do, of course), not ideal for anything other than flat pavement or a landing pad; however, for little expense, you can add bottom clip-on landing gear to compensate for that. Lastly, the controller, relatively simple and compact yet very functional and easy to use, has an added feature (again, different from the previous economy drones I’ve had) of a LCD display of the drone’s status: height and distance, # of gps satellites in range, battery level, and more.All around, a nice, reliable and fun device for those not ready yet to invest in a DJI!!
Sghera –
5 Star Customer Service
[Background] I bought this quad-copter drone to be able to visually inspect hard to reach places like my gutters and the back-side of my chimney. My house’s height challenges my 35-foot extension ladder in some spots and the trees around here have grown so tall over 20 years that leaves in gutter is a problem.[Features / Performance] I’m new to drones and the aerial inspections I want to do require some skill. So, I watched a lot of YouTube videos and realize some drones are very good at making up for inexperience. HS720 appeared to be one of those for a fraction of the cost. I started out practicing in open fields and parks to develop the reflex and hand coordination to make multi-axial maneuvers. When this drone locks on to at least 7 GPS satellites, it is amazing how stable it is even in mild winds (4-10 MPH). The flying modes of Point-to-Point Tap Fly, Follow-me and hover & rotate over Point of Interest, are very impressive. The return to home feature works quite well and is very intelligent as it accounts for remaining battery energy. I found one YouTube video demonstrating a Return-To-Home landing (Holystone HS720 GPS Camera Drone) where the drone literally landed exactly where it took off (see 9:20 minutes into the video). I tried this several times and the closest it came to the mat for me was within 3 feet (so I’m not complaining at all). But it was a jaw dropping demo when I watched it.[Customer Service] The best part: I did have one issue with the drone after flying it 9-10 times (erratic behavior). It resulted in some physical problems with the craft. So, I picked up the phone right away and called Holy Stone US. BEST CUSTOMER CARE service ever! The rep. on the phone asked me some basic questions, verified my purchase. This was a non-routine problem and she had to defer to someone else in-house a couple of times while we were on the phone. She asked that I take and email to her photos of the craft and she waited for them to arrive in her email box (while we were on the phone). The “experts” looked at the photos and gave me an immediate resolution; all in the same 15-minute phone call. This completely satisfied me (wowed my spouse in the process). Who does that anymore?[NOTE: Before Use] Do be sure to remove all the surface protective plastic “stickers”. They are on the hand-held control screen, the frontal camera lens, one on each of the bottom LED lights and a donut shaped one lens on the imaging positioning camera on the bottom. This last one is important because this lens utilizes color contrast beneath the drone to gauge its horizontal stability/position when near the ground (I guess that means less than 2 meters above ground). Lastly, there is a foam pad that goes around the battery which comes inserted in the drone. You must remove this before the battery will insert fully into the drone. I did not find that step anywhere in the manual. If you manage to get the battery to connect with the foam insert in place. It will slip out (killing power if in flight).[Performance Against Purpose] I did get videos of my roof and gutters (See attached photo taken from video). I inserted a SanDisk 32GB HC I SD card. I doubt this is a Class 10 SD card which is what Holy Stone recommends. I don’t know what “class” my memory card is, but looking at the video and video freeze frames, I was able to determine where along my gutters I do need to place the ladder to remove leaves. The drone took very clear video images from maybe 10-20 feet above the gutter line. A Class 10 SD card might be even better quality. However, this made me very happy. No attempt to inspect the back-side of chimney as I will have to fly “blind” and rely on the altimeter and camera only. I suspect I will need to prove myself in a lot more flight tests before ready to try that.[Battery Life / Recharging] can drone on and on (pun) about how nice this craft is, but I am really not qualified enough to give a good technical critique yet. I will leave that to the YouTube demonstrators. I will say that what they claim about this vehicle has been true in my limited 5 days (about 9 flights) of use. I know the biggest complaint is the 5-7 hrs of charge time on the battery. Yup, its true. It is about 5-7 Hrs. I don’t know about actual maximum flight time as I’ve not pushed it. As I’m learning, I generally develop a flight plan consisting of a 4-6 maneuvers (wind stability, elevation stability when flying over objects, targeted video capture, etc) and then call it quits. I’ve flown this up to about 15 minutes. Those recharges required about 3-4 Hrs to complete.[Instruction Manual] These are more important that many people know. This one is written is clear English and there is a downloadable .pdf one available too. Read the manual several times. There are some nice fail-safe features, some behaviors that I would not have anticipated (like cruise altitudes for Return-To-Home), and cautions that make reading the manual valuable. Example: the drone will not avoid obstacles in its path when in Return-to-Home mode. I do highly recommend watching others on YouTube use this drone before flying it if you are new to drones. You have to be smart when flying and think ahead.
Isaac –
First impressions of HS720 Drone
I have had the HS 720 for 3 weeks now and I am truly impressed with both it and HS tech support. I don’t claim to be experienced in Drones but I have been flying RC airplanes for many years. So, with that said let me make a few observations about this HS 720 drone.Pros: It comes with instruction pamphlets that are written in plain English unlike my other drone’s instructions which were obviously written by a 6 year old Chinese lad. Trying to decipher its meaning was/is nearly impossible. These instructions are clear and you can follow them with no trouble. The drone comes well packed and has a nice carrying case. Wish it was a little bigger to carry things like a spare battery. The drone is much heavier than my other one and that makes it possible to fly it in stronger winds. I would say that anything up to 10mph winds is doable. Anything over 6mph needs to be done in HI speed. Controls are good but I wish it had a “slower reaction” setting. When doing a video, the slightest touch of either the left or right controls causes the drone to “pitch”. You see that in the video as a jerk. Course it may be me not being easy enough on the levers. It has a slot for a 32gig max memory card. This is a lifesaver. When a card is present, and you have selected video record, the video goes straight to the card. Not saved on the phone by the app. The other drone I have has a tendency for the App to die and since the video that was being shot is stored on the phone and app, the video is lost. This single factor of having a card slot for saving video/photo’s is worth its weight in gold. The HS app that is used is “Ophelia GPS” and it seems to be rock solid. It has yet to fail and for some reason, it simply feels good to use. Maybe its because my other drone’s app failed 3 out of 5 flights. This one has performed flawlessly. The video you see on the phone has a very short lag from what the drone sees and what is displayed on the phone. It’s only about a second and thats not bad. I think it increases a tiny bit as the drone is farther away but I’m assuming it’s simply transmission time from drone to phone. Thats to be expected. Getting the 720 up and recording is a breeze. I have tried several of its functions and they have all worked. Return to Home is excellent. I’ve landed within 2 or 3 feet from where it took off from. Just be aware that it does not have collision avoidance technology so if you need to take care when using RTH. The Point of Interest is fascinating to watch and gives a nice video record of where your flying and the surrounding area. That setting can be increased to give you a wider circle while you are flying. The “Follow Me” function is good but there are hazards to using it. It uses you GPS from your phone to follow you. It does not follow you like its on rails. Example. You start out a position A. Drone is behind you. You go straight ahead 100 feet to point B. Drone is behind you. You make a 90degree turn left and go straight to point C. The drone will NOT proceed directly to point B and make a left turn just like you did to follow you. It will see that you have made a turn and it will cut the corner to catch up with you at point C. So be aware of that quirk and you won’t end up with your drone in a tree or worse after you have made a turn. It’s a fun feature but it has its drawbacks. Cons. It only comes with 1 battery and its supposed to give up to 28 minutes of flight time. The re-charge time for the battery is 5 to 7 hours and it does take that long. A 11 minute flight took 2:45 minutes to re-charge. Now when I got my 720, and flew it for the first time, I did about a 7 minute flight. I put the battery on charge and 8 hours later it still indicated that it was not charged fully. I UN-plugged the charger hub and waited 20 minutes and reconnected the battery and it showed fully charged. NOT GOOD. At what point during that 8 hours did the battery become fully charged? I did several short flights to verify that there was a problem and they all failed . I did not want to overcharge the LiPo but I couldn’t tell when it was fully charged. I contacted Holy Stone Support and it took some doing but they did send me a new Charging Hub with cables and it fixed the problem. The Support Team is excellent and easy to contact and they will work with you if you have a problem. You need to have at least 2 batteries for a good day of shooting videos. These batteries are EXPENSIVE but worse than that, they are not available right now. I hope they get these in stock soon. I have no other complaints and I really like the HS720. I think that anyone who buys one will be happy with the drone and know that Customer Service is TOPS. I give it Two Thumbs Up…
Tony P. –
Outstanding little entry level drone, easy on the wallet too.
I’ve been eyeing several DJI drones for a while but haven’t been willing to shell out $500-$800 yet. This drone for $225 (on sale) has a lot of the same features.Range = It’s advertised as 3000 feet. That is for radio frequency control. For video transmission back to your phone it’s about half that. I think it maxes out at 400 feet high, and I had it over 1300 feet away before the video signal began to get flakey.It keeps fairly steady in the wind but still drift a little and return while hovering.WARNING: This drone does not have obstacle avoidance; AND the low battery return to home feature (RTH) CANNOT be aborted. If you are in an open area, as recommended, no big issue. If you have any trees or other tall obstacles and the RTH initiates you may lose or brake the drone.Additionally the low battery RTH initiated at 50% battery remaining indicator on the controller which was a surprise to me, but I still got more than 15 minutes flight time.
Bill Michaelson –
Easy to use for beginner and fun.
After a false start with the HS700 model (it did not work) I got this instead. I liked the packaging with included box but came to realize that it is not convenient because it is only large enough for the included accessories and nothing else. I’ve purchased an extra charger because the included one is so slow and I’ve also acquired three additional batteries for the same reason.Also, the shape and construction of the charger is awful. There is no way to lay the battery flat on a surface and attach it securely to the charger. The only option is to line the parts up delicately and place it in a location where it won’t be disturbed because the slightest disturbance will disconnect the charger from the battery. I am 3D-printing cradles to solve this problem.As a beginner with no experience (with UAVs – I am a Part 61 pilot of “real” aircraft) – I cannot compare this to other drones. I can report that it is easy enough to learn to fly but there are plenty of gotchas that can creep up on the inexperienced operator and the included manual is spartan, only covering basic operation.My biggest concern and warning to users would be to check the propeller screws for tightness after about each hour of flight time. They work themselves loose, something I learned the hard way and was fortunate enough to discover during a takeoff when a propeller separated from the drone. Given my experience with airplanes, I should have thought of this myself, but I didn’t. This should be in the instruction/maintenance manual. I would put Loctite on the screws but I plan to replace the blades regularly as they get worn from occasional mishaps.Beyond that, beware the return-to-home feature, how it works, how its parameters can be set and under what circumstances it is initiated and how/when it can be disabled. Think through the implications carefully. Failing that, never fly the drone when the battery indicator is below 3 bars, or if you do, only fly it near the ground within a very short distance with no tree canopy. Google around on this. ‘Nuff said.The Ophelia Go app does not run on my main phone. It gives no clue why and there is no good reason for it. I suspect the SW has code to do a rooted check and they don’t disclose this but I have not investigated further. This is annoying, but the positive side is I can leave my main phone connected to the Internet while the dedicated flight phone is using the drone as a WAP and is thus offline.I’ve tried the orbit mode and the snap to path mode and they seem to work but I haven’t use them extensively enough to comment further.Also, I purchased a pair of Firehouse Arc 2 strobes to velcro to the front (white) and rear (red). This is extremely helpful in assuring I have visual confirmation of the craft’s location and orientation at all times. Prior to installation, I would sometimes momentarily lose sight of the drone or become unsure of its orientation amongst visual background clutter. The strobes eliminate this problem. This also increases visibility for others, airborne and otherwise. I think all drones of this weight should have such strobes integrated. It’s annoying to spend $60 for a pair of blinkin’ lights but necessary in my opinion.Finally, I attached reflective tape – red on the left side and green on the right for additional safety. It is only slightly helpful at close range, but not really necessary.As to competition, I’ve found a seemingly comparable drone at a slightly lower price that actually includes a 3-gimbal mounted camera. Nevertheless, I’m happy with this purchase and the photos and video I’ve gotten are OK with the simple shock absorber/dampening system of this device. This is only a toy and a learning experience for me.And my cats are only slightly wary of the craft. A neighborhood dog lost its mind and I had to land it so he would calm down.UPDATE: The Ophelia Go app does run on my rooted main phone. I apparently missed a warning prompt about not having Internet connectivity in earlier attempts to use it. AOS warns the user about this after connecting to the drone WAP and the user must explicitly accept the condition before completing the connection. I think I missed this because the prompt times out.Also, I took off yesterday by using the throttle only with no pause to a fast ascent. The craft started drifting off position dramatically and my attempts to control it led to amplified oscillations leading to a crash. I suspect that sensor calibration – possibly compass – was somehow knocked off by my method of operation but I really don’t know why it happened and it is very concerning. I await a spare part to replace a broken propeller arm.I also ordered a XIMI X8 SE 2020 because I’m hooked and I want to get some stable video. I tried image stabilization in post-processing but the results were unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, the HS720 has produced some interesting and useful videos for me.
G. Human –
A really “Great” product from Holy Stone.
Starting off, I would like to say that this is the first drone or flying devise I have ever had (not counting the one I returned to Amazon previously) or tried to fly. I really am your basic beginner with this. My reason for purchasing was twofold; 1 – something to do while staying at home during this whole COVID thing, and 2 – we have an RV and camp a lot. I thought it would be handy and fun to take pictures and video of the campgrounds we stay at as well as interesting and scenic things we stop to look at.Some of the things I will talk about relate to the drone I ordered before this one and returned due to several issues.From the moment I opened up the box and saw the case, I knew this was a much, much better product than my previously returned (had it for about 2 weeks) drone. The case is small (since this drone is foldable) and sturdy. Has a nice handle on one side and easily fits in my hiking backpack with room to spare. When I took it out of the case it felt solid and was easy to handle. My previous drone I had a terrible time with the compass calibration but this was easy and was completed without incident the very first time. The GPS came up with 5 or 6 satellites almost as soon as I turned it on and then went on to as many as 16 or 17. The one I returned took a minute or two to start to connect. Connecting the drone WIFI with my Iphone X was also no problem, connected very quickly the first time and connected automatically each time after that. Downloading the software was also very simple. I was ready for some setup problems, but there really were none in the whole procedure. Very smooth and simple startup the very first time. I was pretty happy and ready to fly.The controller is also pretty nice. Much more comfortable than the returned one. It has two handle kind of things that fold out at the bottom making it pretty easy to hold. It takes 2 AA batteries and the phone sits at the top of the controller, easy to see. It fits the holder very nicely. The other one had the holder at the bottom which for me was harder to watch. The controller has an unlock button for the props. Just press it and they wind up for 3 – 4 seconds. No having to move the joysticks a certain way at the same time. Just press the button. The controls are very responsive and easy to use. It has a button for takeoff and landing if you want to use it. The RTH (return to home) button also works really nice. I have had it out probably a 1/4 mile or so and pressed the RTH button. It comes back all on its own and lands within 12 inches or so of where it took off from .You don’t have to do anything. When it gets close you can press the button again to disengage it and do the landing yourself. The point of interest feature works great. I haven’t tried the follow me feature yet.Flight time after flying 6 or 7 times seems to be around 25 minutes. I haven’t taken any video yet but I have taken several pictures and that doesn’t seem to impact flight time much. Maybe taking video will. In the straight ahead location you do get the tips of the props on the edges but you can adjust it down a bit and get rid of them. A couple of times there was a light breeze (5 – 7 mph I guess) and the drone seemed to handle it well. If you let it hover, it would pretty much hold its place without drifting around.The camera takes really nice pictures in my opinion. They as very clear and sharp with no vibration. It will look straight ahead or straight down or anyplace in between. The adjuster is a bit touchy but you get used to it.A word about Holy Stone Customer Service. It’s great, both email and phone. I had occasion to use both. The email was answered with 24 hours and the phone call completely answered my question. They even called me back a few days later to make sure everything was still ok. Great service.Overall, I think this is a terrific drone for a beginner like me or an experienced person. If I could change one thing, it would be the battery charge time. It does take 5 – 7 hours for a full charge. A faster charger and/or a second battery would be great. That being said, I am still very happy with this drone so far and would definitely buy another Holy Stone product and recommend them to my friends. Hope this helps you decide.
JT –
Could be an outstanding quadcopter except for – – –
I have used this aircraft since November of 2019 and I now have enough experience with it to provide a comprehensive review.This quadcopter has the potential to be a fantastic machine. If it was not for its occasional un-commanded and destructive “flights of fancy” I would have given it fully 5-stars with no exceptions or reservations. Sadly, it has a very bad flaw somewhere in its software that can, and did, result in uncontrolled flight ending in violent and destructive crashes.First the good parts.I purchased this aircraft primarily because I needed to inspect my roof after some very bad weather events. I had previously been playing with an inexpensive quadcopter from a well known manufacturer so I had a pretty good idea about how to fly these things. However this inexpensive quadcopter was not stable enough to perform close up inspections and photography in even mildly turbulent wind conditions. Reviewing on-line reviews of better quality quadcopters I discovered that this HS720 quadcopter was very highly regarded. Its performance did in fact live up to the best description and comments of various reviewers. In a high and very turbulent wind it is tremendously stable and as a photo platform it is outstanding. I was able to maneuver it closely, within a few feet, around objects in winds gusting to 25kts according to the NWS at my local airport. Its station keeping performance is outstanding. It required minimal control inputs form the remote controller to get the HS720 positioned and keep it there.For general flying I have taken it out to a large undeveloped open site to see what it could do. It will do, and do well, everything (almost) it is advertized to do. Its ability to “follow me” is spooky good. It will orbit in its assigned point maintaining the assigned elevation until commanded to be brought back or the battery limit are exceeded. It always goes back to its launch point or as commanded by me. I flew it well out of visual range and tested its ability to “return to home” by pressing the RTH button or with the controller shut off indicating loss of signal and after being airborne until its battery was exhausted. It always returned to within three feet of its launch point. The Ophelia app for the smart phone is very good, The only down side of the Ophelia app is that it runs out of WiFi signal way before the controller signal runs outIn almost every respect it is an outstanding flying machine. Furthermore, the Holy Stone customer support is fast, responsive and generally excellent.Now the not so good part.If the HS720 is flown in the “TapFly” mode, pre-programmed to fly a path, it will do so, and quite nicely too. The problem is that some times, and unpredictably, the next flight immediately after the “TapFly” flight will be totally uncontrolled – what I noted above as its “flight of fancy”.I have two HS720 quadcopters and both have been destroyed in uncontrolled flight.The first time this happened it was after I brought the HS720 back from a “TapFly” flight. I shut it down and removed the photo SD card. I restarted the quadcopter and attempted to launch for a manual flight. As soon as the “take off/landing” button was pushed the quadcopter immediately climbed to no more than two feet and made a hard right turn and flew into the tire of a nearby car. The quadcopter seemed to be unresponsive to control commands but the flight lasted well less than 10 seconds. There was no damage other than some scrapes on the fuselage and dings on one of the props. I powered down the quadcopter and again performed a complete restart procedure. I flew the quadcopter many time after that incident, including some “TapFly” flights and all went well. On its final flight, again after a “TapFly” flight, I launched the quadcopter for a manual flight. As soon as the “take off/landing” button was pushed the quadcopter immediately made a 180 degree climbing right turn to about two feet and accelerated hard for about 75 feet when it collided at full speed with a steel bollard. Parts went flying. The quadcopter was destroyed. The quadcopter seemed unresponsive to any control command but the flight lasted less than 15 seconds.I contacted Holy Stone customer support to enquire into repairing the quadcopter. I told my sad tail was informed that repairs are not possible but I was offered a fair discount on a replacement HS720. I took the offer. I was also provided with instructions about the correct practices for operating the quadcopter to avoid the same issue in the future. As it happened I was already carefully following these procedures.I flew my second HS720 for a few months in all modes of flight, including the “TapFly” pre-programmed flight mode. On a couple of occasions after a “TapFly” flight it started to enter an uncontrolled flight but I was able to ground the quadcopter without incident. On the final flight of my second HS720, again, after a “TapFly” flight, I restarted the quadcopter, following all the procedures, for a manual flight. As soon as the “take off/landing” button was pushed the quadcopter immediately climbed and went into a left turn heading into trees and a fence. The quadcopter was not responsive to directional controls but I managed to get it to climb so I could avoid objects and see it. It did not respond to the “return to home” command and continued to fly erratically away from the launch point. When it was over open ground I used the descend command on the joystick to try to bring it down but lost sight of it. When I finally found it the quadcopter was on the ground about 500 feet from the launch point with a broken left rear arm. It was close to a fence and it may have collided with the fence.My suspicion is that this is due to a software bug somewhere.So my review of the HS720 performance is as follows. As a camera platform it is very good. It is very stable in the air even in heavy gusts turbulence and its station keeping ability is excellent even in heavy wind. The quadcopter performs very well in all flight modes. The battery life is good, I was getting well over 20 minuets. The protection function for loss of signal and low battery perform exactly as advertized, it will always come home. The Ophelia app is very useable.Unfortunately, the “TapFly” function appears to leave the flight control computer in an unstable condition under unpredictable circumstances which can result in later uncontrolled flight.Other than that, this is a really nice quadcopter and if all I wanted to do is take photos under direct manual control I would get another one.
ARO –
Far more trouble than expected
My expectations were not particularly high, this was purchased as a personal toy to have a little fun with photographing my gardens from above. Mistake. To begin with, the directions are vague, without much information on which buttons were indicated by names. It could have used one of those photos with the lines pointing to the parts with labels. It sort of doubles the frustration of learning something new when you have to resort to trial and error to figure out what the buttons and knobs are supposed to do. Labels would be so useful.Then getting the software and hardware to sync up was frustrating. It is far from automatic, with many more parts to the sync up than expected. One must first get the actual drone to sync with the remote. That went pretty smoothly. Then there is the need to sync the wireless settings in your phone to the Holy Stone WiFi. Not so smooth. Before the snyc is complete, the drone shuts itself off. This happens with annoying swiftness and frequency. Just when you just about have all the syncing done, the drone shuts itself off and the app makes nasty constant beeping. Then you get to start over again.The app is another cause for exasperation. As near as I can tell, there is no real documentation for it. Online videos all show what must be an earlier version of the app that has “Start” on it. The version that actually comes with the QR code does not. There is a small box labeled “Enter Device” which does get you to another screen. At this point there are more instructions for continuing the snycing process. It does not work well, with no indication of whether any individual step succeeded or failed. Again, the drone keeps dying and the process needs to be started over again.After about an hour of this nonsense I got the drone into the air. It flies well, though far from intuitively. Some actual instructions about how the thing is supposed to work would be useful. I discovered that the with the right control stick, pushing up moves the drone in the direction the head was pointed on takeoff. It does not matter how the drone is rotated the directions remain the same. It is useful to point the drone toward the north on takeoff and think of the directions as compass directions. The yaw (turning the drone more or less in place) and the altitude control of the left controller is much more intuituve: up is up, down is down, right turns the drone clockwise, left turns it counter-clockwise.The camera works pretty much as expected except that you do need to go into the settings and select the 4K option each time or low resolution photos are stored in the phone rather than they high resolution photos stored to the card in the drone. Again, there is a fair amount of confusion as you need to figure out that the onscreen white button takes a photo and the onscreen red button begins a video recording. I was very interested in this part because the photos were the entire purpose of buying the drone.Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell what the photos looked like because there is no apparent way to download the photos. The interface in the app lists only social media apps. There seems to be no way to download the photos into the gallery on the phone or onto a computer. The bluetooth option simply does not work. I can download photos taken by my phone from my phone to my computer via either bluetooth or usb cable, but not from the app that runs the drone. I don’t know where the app hides the photos. I can access them only through the app–and the app will not allow any of the usual means for download. My choice is an array of social apps which I do not use. Another choice would be to attach a photo to a text message. However, my phone would then condense the attachment to a low res version–and I would have to send it to someone else. It will not take an email address. When I attempt to find the files by connecting the phone to my computer, they do not show up on any folder in the Intermal storage.Next time I fly it I will take care to select the 4K option each time I get it going rather than assume that it will store that option at least until I turn off the app. It may be possible to get the photos off the card by removing it from the drone and putting it in a card reader. I hope so. At this point it seems as though I may have bought an expensive piece of junk that is only good if you want to post photos on Facebook.I do realize that this is a sort of low end drone, but I would really expect that even if it was only a $100 drone I should be able to download the photos to use as I want. The $30 toy camera that I bought my grandson for Christmas does a better job. I should be able to do absolutely anything I want with my photos. I should be able to directly access them via the file system or bluetooth and do anything I want with them. I really can’t say that I could recommend it to anyone unless you just want to have fun flying it around like a remote-controlled plane. But, you can buy those for much less.
Ryan S. Jones –
Updated review Oct 2020, Drone was good while it lasted.
Here is my updated review as of October 5, 2020.I purchased this drone on Amazon after losing the 220 drone I had earlier this. The 720 drone was fine while it lasted and was definitely an upgrade from the first drone I jad (holy stone 720). Did have some hiccups with the tap fly function (crashed it twice when trying tap flu, though luckily the drone didn’t break either time). Fast forward to October, I have been flying the drone every so often for.a while, even took it with me to various places, including Dogwood Park near Eatonville Wa (good views of Mt Rainier in the distance), Meadowbrook Farm Park in North Bend, and even took it ot various locations in the Bemd area in Oregon backnin August (was definitely getting better as a drone pilot and took advantage of someone the features, such as orbit mode and follow me mode).Anyways on Thursday October 1st, sadly my drone had an early retirement. I was flying itnaround in my backyard like I normally would and it’ll was working fine for a whole there. However long story short, it crashed by itself unexpectedly during the rth sequence. Normally when the drone batteries get down to 2 bars left in battery life, rth kickks in and the drone starts to land itself. However, at 2 bars, normally, the rth can be overridden and you can usually fly it about 5 more minutes as long as the drone is within 98 feet high and the range is shorter at that point befor the rth initiates again and the drone automatically lands itself for real. On Thursday, during the 2 bar left return to home sequence, i had to manuver it to keep it from getting too close to a tree in my yard as it was getting pretty close to it during rth (yeah rth can be off sometimes where it lands in a different spotfrom where it takes off, so beware of that) and was going to fly it for aboutn5 more minutes like I usually do, when all of the sudden, the drone started stuttering and for some reason it just literally dropped to the ground from the sky (lost oower and fell outnof the sky). Unfortunately the drone broke too when it fell. Not really sure what caused the drone to fall out of the sky like it did. Not sure ifnthe battery died earlier than expected, if there was a bug in the hardware or if it had something to do with the ophelia go app (yeah i did upgrade my phone a few days before that to a 5g Samsung galaxy phone, though the newer phone still supports the ophelia go app, thougj I did notice that there was more lag in the camera than normal when I was flying the drone). My guess is that there was some kind of bug that caused the drone to fall outnofnthe sky unexpectedly. I sent an emails today reaching out to Holy Stone support to report the crash and see about the feasibility to either get the drone repaired or replaced at a lower price. Didn’t expect the drone to crash when it did and I don’t think it was pilot error either (unless if the batteries were lower than the app showed them to be).Not sure if I will be able to get the drone replaced with another 720 drone or not (probably SOL if nit). In the mean time, I have replaced the Holy Stone hs720 drone with a DJI Mavic Mini instead. Yeah i had been considering a mavic mini for a while there, but i was resisting the temptation to actually buy one ar least until sometime next year (was content to sticking wit the holy stone hs720 drone instead). But after the drone crashed unexpectedly, I decided to go ahead and bu a mavic mini to replace it. Seems like there may be a bug in at least some hs720 drones that causes them to crash unexpectedly (not sure if all of them are affected, but i know the one I had crashed unexpectedly possibly due to a bug in the system), so beware of that.