Holy Stone HS720E Review – A Cheap GPS Drone With 4K Camera

Welcome to my review of the Holy Stone HS720E drone. The Holy Stone HS720E is popular among drone enthusiasts thanks to its advanced features and sleek design. In this review, I’ll be taking an in-depth look at this drone’s capabilities, including its camera quality, flight performance, and ease of use. If you’re considering purchasing the Holy Stone HS720E, this review will provide you with all the details to help you can make an informed decision. So, without further ado, let’s dive into my Holy Stone HS720E review!

Do You Need To Register The HS720E?

The need to register a drone like the Holy Stone HS720E depends on the specific regulations in your country or region.

In the United States, for example, the FAA requires registration of all drones weighing over 250 grams before they can be flown for recreational or commercial purposes. The Holy Stone HS720E weighs 495 grams, which means it would need to be registered with the FAA before you are able to legally fly the drone.

In the UK, the drone will have to be registered with the CAA, users will need to obtain a Flyer and Operator ID before they are legally allowed to fly the drone.

It’s important to check the regulations in your specific location to determine if registration is necessary for your Holy Stone HS720E or any other drone you may own.

Holy Stone HS720E Drone Review

The Holy Stone HS720E is a beautifully designed drone that boasts a sleek and stylish appearance. With its compact and foldable design, this drone is incredibly portable and easy to transport. When folded, the drone measures just 177 x 104 x 58mm, making it small enough to fit in a backpack or carry-on bag.

The HS720E is a lightweight drone that weighs less than 500g. The drone’s black and silver colour scheme gives it a futuristic and professional look, while the LED lights on the arms add a touch of flair and visibility during low-light flying conditions.

It is a GPS-enabled drone, which provides it with a lot more features, including the ability to track it accurately on the drone app, which will minimise the risks of losing the drone and the GPS system also allows you to fly the drone autonomously through its smart (or intelligent) flight modes.

The drone also has an optical flow sensor on its belly that will allow you to operate it in areas where the GPS signal may not be very strong. So, you can fly this drone indoors, although, as it is a medium-sized drone, the area would have to be quite large and spacious for you to fly it properly.

Like most Holy Stone drones, the hs720E has some cool LED lights underneath each rotor arm, these make for a nice spectacle if you fly the drone at night. However, they also serve a couple of other purposes, and that is to help you troubleshoot any problems that may occur and also indicate when the drone compass has been fully calibrated.

If you do operate the drone at night, you will need to attach an anti-collision beacon as recommended by the FAA, this beacon needs to be flashing visible from 3 miles.

The drone is powered by a 7.4v 2800 mAh lithium polymer intelligent battery which provides it with a flight time of 23 minutes (officially), although you usually get around 18-20 minutes which is decent for a drone in its price range. As an added bonus, you get an extra battery with the drone package which will extend your flight time without having to wait for the battery to fully recharge.

The drone also comes with brushless motors, which are more powerful and efficient than brushed motors. Brushless motors allow the drone to fly more smoothly and provide the drone with more speed, they also last longer and require less maintenance. Although I would advise you to clean them on a regular basis to keep them in optimal condition.

Remote Controller

The Holy Stone HS720E comes with a well-designed remote controller that makes flying the drone both intuitive and enjoyable. The controller has a pair of handles that fold out from the bottom for a better grip and has an LCD screen that displays vital flight information such as battery life, flight mode, and GPS signal strength. The remote also has dedicated buttons for takeoff, landing, and returning the drone to its home position, making these functions quick and easy to execute. Additionally, the remote is equipped with a smartphone holder that allows you to mount your device and use it as a display screen for the drone’s camera.

To access the drone’s advanced features, you will need to download the Ophelia Go App. This app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. One thing to note is that only mobile devices that support 5G WiFi are compatible with the HS720E.

The Ophelia Go App is a decent drone app and is easy to navigate, but it is very basic when compared to the DJI Fly App.

However, it does what it’s supposed to, so you can ask for more.

Holy Stone HS720E 4K Camera

Now, as many of you may be aware, the main reason I like drones is because of the cameras they come with. They allow you to view the world from above and see places you may not have otherwise seen.

The HS720E drone comes with a good camera, especially for its price, however, let me just say that it is not a camera that is suitable for professional drone photography.

The camera can record 4K video footage at 25fps, and the quality is pretty good, although you may notice some distortion, especially around the edges. It is a fixed camera. However, the angle can be adjusted to 90° via the remote controller, and although it has no gimbal, it does have an electronic image system that will reduce shakiness and jello effect.

There is a micro SD card slot on the bottom of the drone that will allow you to record your videos and images locally instead of over WiFi. If you want to record video footage in 4K resolution, you will have to record it on a memory card. You can install a memory card of class 10 or above with a maximum capacity of 128 GB. If you don’t have a memory card, the footage will be recorded on your phone at 1080p HD resolution.

Intelligent Features

As I mentioned earlier, the drone comes with a few intelligent flight modes, these are fun to play around with, and they will help you take better videos and photos.

The drone comes with the following intelligent flight modes:

Follow me – In this flight mode, the drone will lock onto your smartphone and follow you from behind.

Orbit mode – Lock the drone on a target, and it will orbit that position automatically.

Waypoint (or trajectory) – This is probably one of the most enjoyable flight modes to play around with. You draw a flight path on the drone app, and the drone fly’s along that route on autopilot and comes back home.

In addition to the above flight modes, the drone also comes with an automatic return-to-home feature. This feature is activated if you lose connection with the drone or if the drone gets low on battery. This is a useful feature that will minimise the risks of losing the drone in mid-flight.

Flight Performance

As you would expect from a Holy Stone drone, the HS720E EIS 4K drone fly’s very well, it hovers pretty well, and is relatively easy to operate. The drone comes with multiple speed modes, so you can test out your flying skills as you get more experienced, and it can stream live video footage in HD. Use However, as I mentioned earlier, to use the FPV feature, you will need a smartphone that comes with 5G WiFi technology.

DJI Mini SE vs Holy Stone HS720E

One of the main competitors of the HS720E is the DJI Mini SE, which comes in at around a similar price range. I would personally choose the DJI Mini SE over the HS720E. The Mini SE may not come with a 4k camera, but its 2.7k camera that is stabilised by a 3-axis gimbal produces smoother video footage and more detailed images with its 12MP image sensor. The Mini SE also comes with the intelligent Quickshot feature that allows users to capture short cinematic videos from different angles at the push of a button.

The Mini SE has a longer flight time and transmission range, and the DJI Fly App is far superior to the Ophelia App.

Having said that, the Holy Stone is a very good drone and fun to fly, it also has follow-me mode, a feature that is not available with the DJI Mini SE. 

Some would say that the Holy Stone HS720E also looks better with its sleek all-black colour scheme and the LED lights on its arms.

Final Thoughts

I am impressed by this drone, especially the fact that it does actually record video footage in 4K. It comes with some cool features, it has a good flight time, GPS automatic return home, and an electronic image stabilisation feature. However, I personally prefer the DJI Mini SE , which is around the same price range but comes with superior flight time, a better quality camera, and better overall flight performance.