Holy Stone HS440 Short Review

This is a new drone from Holy Stone, the HS440 is a lightweight foldable drone that does not require registration with the FAA. The drone comes with some fun features that includes an HD camera that can capture some good videos and photos and has a one-button take-off and landing feature. The drone has an official flight time of 20 minutes and a control range of 80 meters.

Key Features

  • HD camera with adjustable lens
  • 112° FOV
  • Stream live video to your smartphone
  • One button take-off/landing
  • Circle fly mode
  • Tap-fly mode
  • 20 minutes of flight time
  • 80-meter control range

Hi and welcome to my review of the Holy Stone HS440 foldable drone with GPS and an HD camera.

Holy Stone are known for their low to mid-tier drone range and offer some of the best low-cost drones on the market.

The HS440 is their latest offering and costs under $200, its a decent cheap drone that is suitable for kids and beginners and comes with some fun features.

Before I carry on with this review I must remind you to check the local drone laws wherever you live and make sure to comply with them. As this drone weighs less than 250 grams, you will not need to register it is if you live in the USA.

However, if you live in the UK, you will need to register it by purchasing an operator ID from the CAA and have this ID clearly marked on the drone.

Holy Stone HS440 Review

The design of the HS440 looks similar to that of the Holy Stone HS720E, which is one of Holy Stones more advanced and expensive drones.

The HS440 has a foldable design, making it compact and easy to carry around and weighs around 166 grams.

It comes with brushed motors, which is to be expected for a cheap drone and does not have a GNSS receiver, which, again is not surprising for a toy drone.

The drone is powered by a modular lithium polymer battery, which is supposed to provide the HS440 with a flight time of 20 minutes, but this is exaggerated, you should get around 15 minutes, which is still pretty good for a cheap drone.

You do get an extra battery with the drone package, which will allow you to extend the flight time without having to wait for one battery to fully recharge before being able to fly again.

The remote controller requires 3 triple A batteries, however, you will need to purchase these separately as they are not provided with the drone.

The controller has a smartphone attachment on the top and small LED lights that indicate things like calibration and flight modes.

You will need to download the Holy Stone FPV app to use the drones other features like FPV, gesture control and gravity sensor control.

Holy Stone HS440 Camera

The drone comes with a decent HD camera, there is no micro SD card slot, so you will have to record your video and photos over WiFi, which isn’t ideal, but the quality is alright as long as you fly in good weather.

The camera can be remotely tilted 90° downwards to get better viewing angles and the live video feed is alright is good for a cheap drone.

Cheap drones with cameras are very popular and the HS440 is a good choice, however, there are better options at similar price points, my personal favourite is the DJI Tello drone.

Flight Features & Performance

The drone has a control range of around 80 meters in good weather and comes with an emergency landing button should you lose control or sight of the drone. It has two-speed modes, which can be accessed via the remote controller and has a one-button take-off and landing feature.

You can access a feature called gesture control that will allow you to capture photos through the gesture of your hand.

The drone also has a hands-free flight mode called tap-fly, this is also accessed via the app and allows you to fly the drone by tapping anywhere on the app.

There is also a circle fly mode that will make the drone orbit your position when it is activated, you can adjust the radius and height via the app.

The drone has a flight feature where it hovers and spins, this might have looked good if the drone had some LED lights.

As for the drone’s flight performance, overall, as you may expect from a Holy Stone drone, it does fly well. It has altitude hold mode which allows it hovers steadily in one place and headless mode which is good for beginner drone pilots.

The FPV quality is good if you fly in good weather and the camera allows you to capture some good videos and photos. The flight time is not 20 minutes, but you should get around 15 minutes and there are 2 batteries, so that is a bonus.

Final Thoughts

The HS440 drone is a good drone for its price, it comes with some decent features a is suitable for beginners. However, if you want more options at a similar price range, check out my list of the best drones under $200.