Holy Stone HS175D GPS Drone with 4K Camera: A Comprehensive Review

We needed to get a better look at some problems on an inaccessible roof, and inspection companies quoted high numbers just to look. Buying a quality, entry-level drone which could do the job was an easy decision. After reading reviews of a number of under-$200 drones, we chose the HS175D, and are very satisfied with our decision. Amazon delivered in less than a day, and the drone was flying, well controlled by a novice operator, within an hour. After a bit of practice, the drone took high-definition photos of the roof in question, and the phots were of exceptional quality and fully met our needs. In the following days, we flew the drone just for the fun of it, and found it more than met our expectations gained from reading the specifications. This drone does exactly what the manufacturer says it does, nothing more, and nothing less. It is very easy to learn to fly it. Best to steer clear of trees and other high structures of course. One important learning--if you think you are losing control, let go of the control sticks. The drone will simply stop moving and hover where it is, while the operator regains his composure. While we are totally satisfied, there are a few comments which we will pass along to other new operators. This assumes you have downloaded the software for the drone according to the instructions provided, and have initiated that software on your phone. 1) For best photographic results, a separately purchased SD card is recommended. After taking photos or videos, it is best to remove the SD card and insert it directly into a computer (using an adapter that comes with the SD cards). Download the files into the computer, but do not delete them from the SD card. Then reinsert the SD card into the drone, and use the drone software to delete the files. 2) And there is a bug. SD cards formatted by the drone itself have some problem that prevents a Mac computer from reading them (although a PC will read them). The fix is simple: Format the SD card with the computer, not with the drone. If using a Mac, choose the MS-DOS (FAT) option. 3) While taking video with the drone, if you attempt to take a still picture, the video will stop. You'll need to restart it. Not surprisingly, you cannot take video and still pics at the same time. Further, we found while using an iPhone along with the manual controller, as recommended, that the "Take Video" button on the controller will start video, but it will stop on its own about a second later. So, you should use the "Take Video" button on the phone screen instead, which works as you would expect: Press once to start video, press again to stop. 4). If the top-right Botton on the phone screen (marked with a circular star) is pressed , a small screen with Chinese characters appears on the phone screen. I have no idea what these characters mean. But pressing this icon on the screen does bring up the controls for the maximum height and distance you wish to allow, and includes a "novice" mode switch, which keeps the drone quite close to the operator. While this fairly inexpensive drone does not have the 2- or 3-axis gimbals or automatic obstacle avoidance of pricier drones, it certainly is a solid performer. Battery life has been about 20 minutes, and the automatic return home on a low battery is a very good included feature. We must also comment on Holy Stone's service personnel. We've had several questions for them, and found them to be available, exceptionally accommodating, and willing to take the time to answer a newby's questions (probably for the N-th time). Well done, Holy Stone! So, if you are seeking a solid-performing drone for a reasonable cost, the HS175D is worth considering.

It’s easy to learn and fly it . Once you get used to it it’s pretty smooth and some what easy to control . The gps , and return to home future work pretty good. It comes with 2 batteries which is nice , But what I dislike is that both batteries give about 30 mins flight time more or less . That might be ok , but you can go through both in a short amount of time and then you have to charge them for a few hours . The drone is very durable , I’ve crashed it into a wall , tree branches , and a tire . It’s still solid and flying great . The propellers are tough , and it comes with extras . Which is also great . Overall I recommend this drone. It’s a good drone to start and begin with. I didn’t give it 5 stars just because of the battery life.

We recently bought a drone on impulse. It was less than an ideal experience, but it taught me a few lessons. What do I really want? A decent flight experience starts with GPS and stability controls, or “gravity” sensors. Good cameras and image stabilization is great too for those fun arial photographs. It’s not a necessity, but if you get a lower quality camera and try to take video or photos the pictures are going to be grainy. Also, for photos I wanted a sd/tf card slot on the drone. Without the onboard storage the images must be transmitted back to the phone, which reduces quality (generally). Brushless motors are a huge plus. They seem a little quieter but most important they are speed controlled and allow more precise control of the motor. Previous drones, I had tended to have a lot of issues with motors differing in power. Anyway, after reading reviews and articles for days I bought the HS 175D and it does what it says it does. The drone comes set to beginner mode. This limits you to 98 ft height and radius. This is a good thing. It gives you some time to figure the thing out. From the first takeoff the drone was rock solid. It’s pretty amazing really, the controls are simple and the video screen offers an HD real time video that is crisp and fluid. After a short experiment I let my 11yo fly and he had no difficulty maneuvering the drone around buildings in the yard. The camera only has one adjustment for angle, but you don’t need more. It’s really easy to acquire a great photo. After a couple of days, we took off beginner mode and flew the drone up to 260 ft. I’m sure it would go higher. But it’s barely visible at that distance, I was nervous since there was a slight breeze, it held its position and responded quickly to the controls. We pivoted the camera took photos and loved the experience. We then brought it back down perfectly to where we started. After a week of use we learned an important lesson. Follow the calibration steps and if you are flying outdoors and do NOT fly without gps lock. The return home feature depends on the gps lock before flight. Otherwise if get gps lock after you take off no telling where “home” will be. This bit us twice. Once we used return home and the drone headed into the woods where it crashed. No harm done though. The second was when the “low battery return to home” feature engaged. We had launched before gps lock, and the drone headed off toward the street. I was able to bring it down, but it didn’t follow commands to land. I strongly suggest never flying without gps lock unless you force the drone into optical mode. There is a warning that pops up on the screen so kudos for the designer reminding me about gps. But it’s not clear what dismissing the warning will do. With no “home” properly set it creates unpredictable behaviors. It’s my mistake, in wanting to get flying right away I ignored the warning. So learn from my mistake and save yourself a crash. All that said, we have had a few crashes, well 3. The two caused by failing to set home and one from flying into the roof of a shed. The propellors are scratched up a bit but it still works flawlessly. We are super happy with the drone and would recommend it. It’s a little spendy for a beginner drone but packed with great features, the company has been around for a while and parts are readily available. Sooner or later may need to buy parts, so knowing you can get them is a big plus. <edit> We have had a bit of time to learn more about this drone and still love it. We have still usually keep it on 50% speed which is quite fast for us. I flew it around some on 100% and it’s fast. Close to 20mph at best guess. So, for the novice or intermediate I recommend staying at 50%. I will say we did encounter some learnings on the way. ALSO, I reiterate, make sure you have that gps lock before takeoff. Otherwise, if you encounter a return to home situation from low battery or whatever you don’t get a nasty surprise with the drone heading off to who knows where. That happened to us. Fortunately, we were able to still land it safely. The app warns you that you are not in gps mode so this should never be a surprise. After the third time we finally learned our lesson. Another thing is that you really don’t want to encounter the low battery return home. If you are not in a clear area. The instructions state it can’t avoid obstacles and it’s not kidding. The drone will fly up to 50-70 feet or so then head straight home fast. If it encounters anything on the way that isn’t going to end well. I recommend a timer of about 15-17 minutes per battery. The batteries easily last 20 for us but if you limit yourself to 15 minutes you don’t get any surprises. We are still on our first set of props, and have trimmed a few tree leaves and branches along the way. The drone still files so well. One thing I’m impressed about is if one of us does fly into a tree the drone doesn’t crash. It will fall through branches and recover itself! If you are paying attention you can fly it back out of the tree. Another huge plus is that customer service chat is available right in the app. We encountered an issue with calibration once after an encounter with a tree. The customer service helped us out right away. There is a bit of a language barrier, it was obvious our agent was not a native English speaker. But to get someone to help us right away was fantastic. For that reason alone when I buy my next drone it will be from HS

This is my first drone, so no comparison. First off it came safely and securely packed in it's own case, with foam to protect it during shipment. Case is nice quality as it's made for the drone and each component specifically. Instructions are easy to read, QR code for the app, and link to video tutorials make learning to fly fairly easy. Although all I have done currently is hover and move around the yard (not great weather today) it is very responsive and easy to maneuver. I saw someone's post earlier about spare parts, but mine came with spare blades, screws and screw driver....so not sure if that's a new addition. Aside from that, I like the compact design, ease of instruction and use and look forward to some more challenging flights when the weather gets better!!! Great first drone for the cost.

Great for beginners. Partner is very happy with it. Great quality for price.

So here I am an amateur at best; learning to fly. Not even close to considering a purchase such as this at this time of year, I went through some pages here on Amazon, which ignited my interest in drones. I came across a landing pad for another type of drone. Excited and interested; I went to find out more and see if I could get this particular drone. Searching and searching I came across the holy stone, 175 RC remote control, drone. This peaked my interest, so I purchased this product. Now; pros, an all-around good drone for those who are looking to start out flying great flight time and great features. After sometime watching listening waiting and flying have come up with these conclusions.at its price point it does well. Its lightweight form factor makes it a little difficult to fly in my area. Stability at its price point it does well. It’s lightweight form factor makes it a little difficult to fly in my area. Stability cannot be achieved when buffed by wins greater than 35 km an hour. Drones in and around this price points are fairly good but don’t come close to the performance level seen by this so far. As someone who enjoys the outdoors, but cannot see that well I purchased a drone to experience things that well I wouldn’t be able to see you without Assistance otherwise. Getting a drone such as this could give me better views of the nature around my home environment. I look forward to Summers outside with this, but also fear the fact that at a lower price point, this may break down more frequently and with the rotation generated by the motors Friction may occur. I know if purchasing this drone I will not be able to put forth another investment of this size out-of-pocket for quite some time so the next purchase will be a drone with motors; these brushless motors are meant to reduce the impact and heat generated by these turning Blades and therefore prolonging the life of the drone for someone who is not totally blind, but limited with their eyesight. I also may consider my next drone having crash avoidance. Beginner budget. I don’t care what you call it. I want them to work for quite some time before having to retire . So enclosing, and after many typos, that I am not going to fix due to dictation issues I come up with this. I am happy with this of the holy stone 175 RC drone. I will enjoy the product and its features today, but keep in mind the following at its price point, and without the brushless motors, it’s may breakdown a lot quicker than some of the other higher end. Models, reception may be poor at times and return to home sometimes can send the unit of course by several feet. For this, I will put a tag on it , if it lands in deep grass. Only regret is not getting something with breathless motors. I am afraid of heat stress.

For $260 it's worth the price. The drones very easy to use, the apps also easy and fun. Over all, it's a great beginner drone.