Holy Stone HS720 Short Review
If you are looking for an affordable high-quality HD camera done with advanced features like GPS, intelligent flight modes and a good flight time, the Holy Stone HS720 will be a good choice. Its an exceptionally well-designed drone that looks stunning, has a really good 2K camera and three intelligent flight modes that makes it suitable for everyone to fly.
Key Features
- 2K Camera
- Shock Absorption Camera Holder
- Intelligent Flight Modes
- Dual GPS
- Intelligent flight modes
- Low Battery Automatic Home Return
- 26 Minute Flight Time
Hi and welcome to my review of the Holy Stone HS720 2K camera drone.
This is one of Holy Stone’s advanced drones which was released a couple of years back and still remains a very popular drone on Amazon. There is an updated version of this drone that comes with an actual 4K camera with electronic image stabilisation, It is a little more expensive but it is an overall better drone, if you are interested, you can read my review here.
We all know that when it comes to high-end sophisticated drones with tons of advanced features, DJI are the king, however, their drones are very expensive, and many people just do not need the features these drones come with.
However, smaller drone companies like Holy Stone have started to release drones with great features at affordable prices. The Holy Stone HS720 is one of their most advanced drones to date and it comes with many great features including an HD camera and GPS-enabled autonomous flight modes.
So, if you are looking for an HD camera drone at an affordable price, keep reading this review because the Holy Stone HS720 may be the drone for you.
Holy Stone HS720 Review
One of the first things you will notice about the Holy Stone HS720 is that it is a foldable drone. These types of drones have become very popular over the years since the release of the DJI Mavic, they are compact and lightweight which makes them easy to carry around and makes them great to travel around with.
The Holy Stone HS720 looks very much like the DJI Mavic and this isn’t by accident, the Mavic is an extremely popular drone and its foldable design is one of the reasons for its popularity. This is why you see so many drones that have a foldable design but not a huge price tag, the Holy Stone HS720 is one of these drones.
It is a small and lightweight drone that measures 36*33*7 cm when the arms are expanded and weighs less than 500g. In its folded form it measures 17*10.5*6 cm which makes it small enough to fit in a large trouser pocket, although the package does come with a cool carry case which is a better way to travel around with this drone.
Something you will have to be aware of in regards to the weight of the Holy Stone HS720 (or any drone for that matter) is that if you live in the USA and the drone comes with a camera and weighs over 250g, you will need to register the drone with the FAA. A similar rule applies in the UK as well, if you live anywhere else, please make sure to familiarise yourself with local rules and regulations and comply with them.
I really like the colour scheme of this drone, it’s a metallic grey colour and looks really futuristic. The drone is built from ABS plastic which is highly durable and means that it can withstand the occasional crashes without damaging it too much. It looks and feels like a premium drone and comes with the features that back that up.
It has four powerful brushless motors which are more efficient than brushed motors and provide the drone with extra thrust and more speed. It’s a pretty fast drone even on its lowest speed mode, so if you are a beginner be extra careful when you first start flying this drone.
There are some nice LED lights underneath each rotor arm, but they are not that bright and are only there to indicate when the drone compass is fully calibrated. They are not bright enough to fly during the night, however, there are two bright lights on the belly of the drone, that can be activated via the remote control and these are bright enough to fly the drone at night.
One of the best features of this drone is its flight time which is around 26 minutes, this is especially long flight time for a drone that costs less than $300. The long flight time is because of the 2800 mAh lipo battery, this is one of those new modular batteries that can keep the charge for longer and hence the longer than usual flight time of this drone.
One of the downsides of this battery is that it takes a long time to charge, like several hours, this is one of the reasons its best to purchase extra batteries, you will not have to wait several hours just start flying again.
The last thing I want to mention before I get to the main features of the Holy Stone HS720 is the remote controller.
This is a really well-designed controller that looks very similar to that of the DII Mavic controller. It’s small and feels comfortable in your hands, it has an LCD screen in the middle that displays necessary drone data like how far away the drone is, battery level for both the drone and controller, speed and how GPS data.
There is a smartphone attachment that pulls out from the top, it can hold a large phone but not a tablet. The controller is powered by 2 AA batteries which are not included with the package.
To use all of the features of this drone, it is best to fly using the Holy Stone app which is called Ophelia GPS and can be downloaded from both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The app uses a lot of memory so make sure you are using a smartphone with a lot of memory space or delete apps that you never use. Using the app is the best way to fly the drone as you get access to FPV and the intelligent flight modes this drone comes with.
Holy Stone HS720 Camera
Now, one of the main reasons I enjoy flying drones is because many of them come with awesome HD cameras and with the Holy Stone HS720, you get a good 2K camera that will capture decent aerial images and allow you to take HD video footage.
The camera lens has a 110° wide-angle FOV that will allow you to capture more detail and a 1/3 CMOS sensor for better image clarity.
The camera can be rotated 90° up or down via the remote controller and although it does not come with any kind of gimbal or stabilisation software the camera is supported by a shock absorption holder that will minimise any distortion in your videos and images.
You can live stream video footage from a maximum distance of 800m, however, this range is only if you are flying in optimal conditions, expect the FPV range to be somewhere around 600-700 meters, which is still a decent range.
Overall despite a little jello effect when using the FPV feature, it’s a solid HD camera and you will be able to capture some stunning aerial images and video footage.
Recently, DJI released the DJI Mini drone, It is a little more expensive but the camera is much better and it is stabilised by a 3-axis gimbal. If your budget for a drone is around $300, I would definitely recommend the DJI Mini drone over any other drone in this price range.
Intelligent Flight Modes
Like all modern drones that comes with advanced technology the Holy Stone HS720 has several intelligent flight modes that makes it easier to fly and also easier to take better videos and images as you will not be concentrating fully on controlling the drone.
The flight modes include;
Custom Flight Path – Draw a route on the app and the drone will follow that path and return to where it started from.
Follow Me – You can lock the drone on to yourself and it will follow you, you will have to be in close proximity to the drone for this mode to work. This is a great way to record yourself if you are going a hike or riding your bicycle.
Orbit Mode – In this mode you can lock the drone on a point of interest and it will orbit that position from a height and distance you set on the app. This is a actually a cool way to take hands-free selfies when you are on holiday.
One-key return home – A really cool safety feature that most drones now comes with, you can bring back the drone to where it flew from at the click of a button. This is a useful feature especially if you think you are losing control of the drone. Also, this feature is automatically activated when your battery charge is low or when you lose connection to the drone, so the risk of losing your drone during flight is minimised.
Flight Performance
The drone fly’s very well, it has very good hovering capability and It can maintain a steady altitude because of its dual GPS feature. The default setting is the headless mode which makes it easier to fly and the controls are easier to understand in this mode. The drone comes with optical flow positioning sensors, these are useful if you want to fly indoors where GPS signal will be weak or in areas where it is hard to lock onto strong GPS signals.
The 26 minutes flight time is pretty good for a drone that costs less than $300, however, its still not enough time to fully enjoy flying a drone, hence, its always good to purchase some extra batteries when you buy a drone.
Final Thoughts
This is a good drone, especially for its price, it comes with some fun features and is easy to operate, however, Holy Stone has released an upgrade to this drone called the HS720E. The main difference between the two drones is their camera, the newer model has electronic image stabilisation and can record video footage in 4k. However, I still believe the DJI Mini drone is the better option s it comes with a longer flight time, advanced features such as Quickshot mode and a very good 2.7k camera stabilised by a 3-axis gimbal.