Holy Stone HS161 Review – A Cool Travel Drone

Welcome to my review of the Holy Stone HS161 drone, if you are in the market for a uniquely designed drone with some fantastic features and one that is suitable for everyone, the Holy Stone HS161 may be the drone you are looking for.

Holy Stone are a fantastic drone manufacturer, they have produced some wonderful drones over the years, many of which I have reviewed on this site. Their drones are beginner friendly and affordable, most of their drones cost less than $200 and the Holy Stone HS161 is one of them.

Holy Stone HS161 Review

One of the first things you will notice about the Holy Stone HS161 is that it is a foldable drone that has a unique design. When it is folded up, it kind of reminds me of a long tv remote controller, unlike other foldable drones, the arms for the HS161 is not visible when it is in its folded form.

The drone is all black and looks very futuristic it’s made out of ABS plastic which is highly durable and doesn’t feel like it will fall apart if it crashes. It also comes with a set of propeller guards that will minimise any damage that may be caused during a crash, if you are a beginner, I highly advise you to use propeller guards when you first start flying a drone.

With its arms extended, the drone measures 7*1.6*1.4 inches and weighs 129g, this is a fantastically compact drone that is lightweight and makes for travelling around with.

If you are a keen adventurer or travel around a lot, this drone can be a great asset on your adventures as not only can you take stunning videos and images with its HD camera, but it also doubles as a portable charger and a torchlight. You see, it has a USB and C-connector that will allow you to charge your mobile devices and it has a powerful LED light on its front that can be used as a torchlight.

These are really useful features especially for frequent travellers as you never know when you will need a portable charger or a torchlight.

One feature I really like is the remote controller which is well designed and looks like how a modern drone controller should look. It’s light and feels comfortable in your hands, there is a smartphone holder that springs up from the middle and all the controls are within easy reach.

You can also control the drone just through your smartphone via the HS Easy Fly app, this will also give you access to gravity control which will allow you to control the drone through hand motion, which I think is another cool feature of the Holy Stone HS161. The app is compatible with both Android and iOS.

The drone takes a 1000 mAh lithium-ion battery, these are new look modular batteries that keep the charge for longer, however, it only provides a flight time of around 10 minutes. This is normal for a drone at the price range of the Holy Stone HS161 but 10 minutes is not enough time to enjoy flying a drone, until drone manufacturers develop better technology for longer flight times, its best to purchase extra batteries for this purpose.

Holy Stone HS161 Camera

Without doubt one of the best features of a drone is its camera and this is true for the Holy Stone HS161 which comes with a fantastic 1080p HD camera that will allow you to take amazing videos and images that will impress family and friends.

The camera can be manually adjusted 45° to get the angle that you want to shoot from, and it comes with an 8GB TF card so that you can easily save your pictures and videos.

With the drones FPV capability, you can live stream videos straight to your mobile device and then share them with family and friends.

It really does amaze me how good these drone cameras are now and the fact that you don’t have shell out a ton of money to purchase one.

The other cool feature is that you don’t even have to fly this drone to make use of its camera, you can actually carry around in its folded form and record and take pictures like a normal camera.

Although it does not come with any kind of advanced gimbal or electronic image stabilisation feature with its altitude hold and hovering capability, the images are of very high quality, especially for a drone that costs just over $100.

However, the transmission range for FPV is just 50m which isn’t far, so keep that in mind if you decide to purchase this drone.

Other Features

Despite being a relatively inexpensive drone, it does come with a lot of features, they include altitude hold, this will allow the drone to maintain a steady altitude which makes for easier to take better quality images and videos. It also has a headless mode for easier flying especially if you are a beginner and three-speed modes with a maximum speed of 23 km/h, which is pretty fast for a cheap drone.

Flight Performance

The drone fly’s well in good weather conditions but it is difficult to control if the weather is slightly windy. With its altitude hold function its easy to maintain a steady height, however, unlike other drones in its price range like the DJI Tello and Eachine 511s, it does not have GPS or an automatic return home feature. This is not much of a big deal, as the transmission range for the drone is no more than 100m (50m if you are using the FPV feature), so its most likely you will never lose sight of the drone. However, the remote controller does come with a take-off and landing button, so if you need to land the drone immediately, you can.

Final Thoughts

The Holy Stone HS161 is a good beginner friendly drone that comes with some cool features and is very easy to fly. It’s not as feature-heavy as some other drones, I have reviewed that are in a similar price range like the DJI Tello and Eachine E511S but it is still a good drone and I especially recommend it if you are a frequent traveller and looking for a lightweight drone with an HD cameraa