1808 Falcon Drone Review – A Fun Foldable Drone For Less Than $50

Hi and welcome to my review of the 1808 Falcon drone, this is a small foldable drone that comes with some nice features and is suitable for most people.

I am constantly surprised by the sheer range of drones that are on the market now, there are so many good drones for beginners, many of which come with some pretty advanced features.

The best part about this huge range of choice we have is that many of these drones are very cheap.

This includes the 1808 Falcon drone, this is an inexpensive drone that is suitable for beginners and as you shall see from this review, it’s fun to fly.

Now, before I carry on with this review, I should mention that in the product page it says the drone is a 4K drone, this is not true, even the image quality is not in the 16 MP it claims. That being said, it is a toy drone and so the camera features are not an issue and you should just ignore the overhyped description of it.

1808 Falcon Drone Review

So, when you first lay eyes on the drone, you will notice how small and lightweight it is, the 1808 Falcon is also a foldable drone, which is my favourite type of drone. This makes the drone more compact and easier to carry around, you could use it as a travel drone if you do not care about the quality of its camera.

As you would expect from a toy drone, it’s built from plastic and does feel fragile, it will not fall apart but I would not advise anyone to fly it in any kind of windy conditions. The drone weighs 120g, this includes the battery, its weight means that you will not need to register the drone if you live the USA, Canada or the UK.

If you live anywhere else, you will most likely not have to register the drone if you are just going to be flying for fun, regardless of its weight. However, I still advise you to check what the rules and regulations are wherever you live just to be safe.

The drone isn’t very big in its expanded form, it measures just 28*23*5 cm, the drone comes with propeller guards which will extend the size of the drone if you install them, which I highly recommend you do, especially if you are a beginner.

The drone has a nice overall design, it comes in two colours, I prefer the all-black version as it looks stealthier and more futuristic. There is a nice logo on top along with the power button and the camera is situated on its nose.

There is also a small camera on its belly that is used as an optical flow sensor, along with its altitude hold feature, it will allow the drone to fly and hover more smoothly.

It comes with brushed motors, which is to be expected as this is a cheap drone, brushed motors are not as efficient as their brushless counterparts and hence you will need to maintain them on a more regular basis so that they are kept in optimal conditions.

The drone has a decent flight time of around 12 minutes, although the official time is 15 minutes, however, this is only if you fly in optimal conditions and flight times can be exaggerated.

The 1808 Falcon drone is powered by a 3.7v 1100 mAh LiPo battery, this is a small battery that fits in the back of the drone. It takes around 90 minutes to fully recharge, so if you want to extend the flight time without having to wait for the battery to recharge, I highly recommend that you purchase a couple of extra batteries along with the drone.

The remote controller looks decent, it doesn’t have the best design but it is comfortable to hold, it’s powered by 3 1.5v AA batteries, unfortunately, these batteries are not included with the drone package, so remember to purchase some if you do decide to buy the drone.

There is a smartphone holder that pulls out from the middle and most of the buttons are easily identified by their icons. As it is a toy drone, it doesn’t have a huge range, for a normal flight the transmission range is around 60 meters, however, for FPV its around 35 meters.

To make use of the drones FPV features, you will need to down the HFun app which is available on both Google and the Apple App Store. It’s a decent app and seems to work most of the time, although the FPV feed sometimes crashes and some of the smart flight modes do not always work as they should.

You can also control the drone just with your smartphone via the app, however, the range will be a lot less and there will more interference with the FPV feed.

1808 Falcon Drone Features

Despite being a very cheap drone (it costs less than $50 on Banggood), the drone does come with some fun features which includes a decent HD camera and smart flight modes.

HD Camera – I mentioned this at the beginning of this review and I will mention it again, this is not a 4K camera drone despite what you may see on its product page. I don’t know why they advertise it as such because no one would expect to purchase a professional camera drone for less than $50!! Having said that, it is a decent camera and you can take some decent videos and photos with it. Obviously, it has no stabilisation feature so you will notice distortion like shakiness and jello effect.

Smart Flight Modes – Even though this drone costs less than $50, it comes with a couple of smart flight modes. One is called follow me, in this mode, the drone will lock on to your smartphone and follow you. The other is called waypoint, this where you can draw a flight path on the app and the drone will fly along the route automatically. Now, these are nice features to have, but the problem is that they do not always work, I have noticed that these flight modes are more reliable if you have a newer smartphone.

Gesture Control Mode – Another fun feature, with it you can take videos and photos through the mere gesture of your hand. This feature will definitely impress your family and friends.

The drone also comes with one-button takeoff/landing feature and is compatible with VR headsets which allow for a more immersive flying experience. It has a few speed modes and even in its default mode the drone is quite fast. It comes with a headless mode which makes the drone easier to fly and also altitude hold which allows the drone to maintain a steady altitude when it is hovering.

Flight Performance

Do not fly this drone in windy conditions, it’s very light and there is a risk you may damage it, however, other than that, the1808 Falcon drone fly’s well. It’s easy to control, especially with its headless mode and is fairly stable when it is hovering, with its optical flow sensor, it is also a suitable drone for indoor flight. The drone is quite fast and so if you are a complete beginner, I would only recommend you fly in its default speed and not in one of the faster modes.

Final Thoughts

This is a good drone for beginners, it’s cheap, easy to fly and comes with some nice features. It comes with a decent camera and will allow you to stream live video footage to your smartphone. It costs less than $50 if you purchase it from Banggood, although it is also available on Amazon, but is a little more expensive.