Holy Stone HS270 Short Review

The Holy Stone HS270 is a foldable drone that comes with an HD camera that is capable of recording in 2.7k. It’s a bulky drone that can be flown in windy conditions and comes with GPS for better flight and hovering capability. The drone comes with a few intelligent flight modes and also come with an automatic return to home feature. It has a flight time of around 18 minutes and is suitable for most people.

Key Features

  • 2.7k camera
  • Smart flight modes
  • Automatic return home
  • 600m transmission range
  • 18 minutes of flight time

Hi and welcome to my review of the Holy Stone HS270 GPS drone.

This is one of the latest drones from Holy Stone and it is one of their most advanced drones to date.

Holy Stone are well-known for their low-cost budget-friendly drones, some of my favourite drones for beginners are from the Holy Stone brand.

As you shall see from this review, the HS270 is another good drone from Holy Stone and is suitable for beginners. It comes with some advanced features, including an HD camera, GPS and smart flight modes.

If you are looking for an advanced drone at an affordable price, the Holy Stone HS270 is a drone worth checking out.

Holy Stone HS270 Review

Now, when you first set eyes on the Holy Stone HS270, it may look a bit familiar and that is because there are a few drones like the MJX Bugs 4 that look almost identical to the HS270 but go under different names.

The drone has a foldable design and has a solid overall build, you can fly this drone in windy conditions and not have to worry about it being blown away.

Holy stone hs270 review

However, only fly in any type of windy conditions if you are an experienced flyer, otherwise, I recommend you only fly when there is no wind. This will make it easier to control the drone and make it more enjoyable plus if you decide to take any videos or photos, they will be clearer.

Foldable drones are my favourite types of drones, they are lightweight and usually, their design is aesthetically pleasing, however, I am not a huge fan of the overall design of the Holy Stone HS270 mainly because of the body, which is a bit too bulky for my tastes.

However, that is just my personal preference, you may actually like the way it has been built. It is very compact in its folded form and this allows it to be easily carried around, it would make a good drone to travel with.

For a foldable drone, it is quite a large drone in its expanded form, it measures 16.85*11.61*3.15 inches. Its also weighs just under 600g, which isn’t that heavy but as it weighs over 250g, you will need to register the drone if you live in the UK, Canada or the USA.

For most other countries, you are not required to register a drone if you are just going to be flying for fun. However, I still advise you to check what the rules and regulations are where you love just to make sure you are complying with the law.

One, disappointing aspect of this drone is that it comes with brushed motors, this is true for most Holy Stone drones, but I have seen similarly, prices drones come with the more powerful and efficient brushless motors.

With brushed motors, you will have to be a bit more aware with regards to their maintenance and make sure that they are working at optimal conditions at all times.

holy stone hs270 review

The Holy Stone HS270 is powered by 7.4v 3500 mAh LiPo battery, these are one the newer modular batteries that keep their charge for longer and thus results in a good flight time. In the case of this drone, the battery will give you a flight time of around 18 minutes, although this is only if you fly in optimal conditions.

You probably will get something more in the range of around 15 minutes, which is still decent but not nearly long enough to fully enjoy flying a drone.

It is, for this reason, I always advise people to purchase a couple of extra batteries to extend the flight time and not have to wait for the 6 hours it takes for the battery to fully recharge.

There is a micro SD card slot that will allow you to record your videos and photos on a TF memory card. The maximum capacity it can take is 32gb, unfortunately, you are not provided one with the drone package, so remember to purchase one if you decide to buy this drone.

Although you do not need a memory card, however, if you want to record videos and images in the best resolution the camera allows, you will need to record it on a memory card.

One final feature I want to mention before I get to the camera is regarding the remote controller.

This is a nice-looking controller, although many other Holy Stone drones also come with the same controller.

It has a very simple design and is powered by an internal LiPo battery, so you will not need to purchase any extra batteries which is always a bonus.

holy stone hs270 review

There is a smartphone holder that pulls out from the middle and a pair of handles that folds out from the bottom.

It has a transmission range of around 600 meters and for FPV, it’s around 400 meters, however, these are the official times. You will most likely be able to fly the drone around to 500 meters with little trouble and use the FPV feature for around 30 meters with little interference.

To make use of the FPV and smart flight modes, you will need to download the official app for this drone which is called the HS GPS V1. It’s available on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store and it actually has a pretty good rating on both platforms.

It’s very easy to use but if you have trouble getting used to some of the controls, there is a helpful guide within the app that will show you the basic functions. It is one of the better drone apps from low-cost drone manufacturers like Holy Stone, but you may still face some issues like video feed breaking up or sometimes the smart flight modes not working.

Holy Stone HS270 Camera

holy stone hs270 review

One of the main reasons I like flying drones is because of the cameras that come with them, viewing the world from above is always a fantastic experience.

The camera on the Holy Stone HS270 is a 2.7k camera that has a wide-angle view, it can be adjusted 90° for better viewing angles.

The camera can record video footage in 2.7k and it is of decent quality, however, since it does not have any kind of stabilisation features, you will notice some distortion like jello effect and shakiness.

However, since you will not be using this drone in any sort of professional capacity, these effects will not be a huge deal and overall, the quality of the video footage is decent enough for this type of drone.

I would like to add one more thing though and that is, if you are looking for an affordable drone that shoots professional-level video footage and takes high-quality images, I highly recommend you check out the DJI Mavic Mini or the Hubsan Zino Pro.

Both come with high-quality cameras with advanced 3-axis gimbal and cost less than $500.

Intelligent Flight Modes

Like a lot of these new low-cost drones, the HS270 comes with a few smart flight modes that will allow you to fly the drone hands-free, thus giving you a better opportunity to take better videos and photos.

Just be aware that for these smart flight modes to work properly, you will need to be in an area with a strong GPS signal.

Waypoint – In this mode, you will be able to draw a flight path on the drone app and it will fly along that route automatically.

Orbit – The drone will lock on to a point of interest of your choosing and orbit that position.

Follow me – Pretty self-explanatory, the drone will lock-on to your phone and follow you from behind.

The HS270 also comes with an automatic return to home feature, this feature can be activated manually by pressing the return to home button on the controller or app.

It will be activated automatically if you lose connection with the drone or if the drone battery gets low on charge. This is a really useful feature that will minimise the risk of losing the drone in mid-flight.

Flight Performance

As you would expect from a Holt Stone drone, the HS270 is easy to fly, it holds up well in the air and has a good hovering capability thanks to its GPS module. The live video feed is transmitted in 720p, although you can record 2.7k video footage on the micro SD card. The FPV quality is good but you will see some distortion, the drone also has a couple of speed modes and is fast on its highest level.

Final Thoughts

Apart from my dislike over its bulky body, this is a pretty good drone, it flys well comes with some really good features and has a decent flight time. Its large body is actually a positive because it allows you to fly the drone in windy conditions (not strong winds though). Overall, I am impressed by this drone, click on the button below to find out more about it.