Snaptain SP650 Review – Cool Littel Toy Drone With An HD Camera

Hi and welcome to my review of the Snaptain SP650 HD camera drone. This is one of the latest drones from Snaptain, who are beginning to establish themselves as one of the best brands for low-cost high-quality drones.

Consumer drones are hugely popular now and when it comes to beginner-friendly drones, you have a lot of choices. Snaptain have some of the most popular drones on Amazon all with excellent rating and this includes the Snaptain SP650, which despite costing less than $100, comes with some fun features and an HD camera.

So, if you are wondering if this drone will be suitable for you, carry on reading this review and you will see the cool features it comes with and why its such a fun drone to fly.

Snaptain SP650 Review

Ok, so one of the first things you will notice about the drone’s design is that it looks similar to the design of the DJI Phantom range of drones. A lot of smaller drone companies copy DJI’s drone design, as DJI is the leading consumer drone brand and their designs are really awesome (especially their Mavic series foldable drones).

The Snaptain SP650 is not as big or heavy as any of the Phantom range of drones and this is a good thing because it’s just a toy drone that you just want to have some fun with and not for professional use as most of the Phantom drones can be used for.

The drone is built from ABS plastic, so it is durable, although I would avoid flying the drone in any kind of windy conditions as it is very light and could be seriously damaged should you crash it.

Talking about its weight, the Snaptain SP650 weighs only 125g, this is important to note because it means you will not need to register the drone if you live in the USA, Canada or the UK. These countries require you to register a drone if it weighs over 250g, so keep that in mind for future reference.

Most other countries do not require you to register a drone if you are going to be flying just for recreational purposes. However, I still advise you to check the rules where you live as drone laws are fluid and thing may change.

Going back to the design of this drone, as it is a drone that costs less than $100, it comes equipped with brushless motors. Brushless motors are not as good as brushed motors (they are less efficient and not as [powerful) but they are not expensive to install and hence why the majority of cheap drones will have them.

Overall, it’s not really a problem, the drone still flies well, you will just need to keep an eye on the motors and maintain them on a regular basis.

There is a fixed HD camera on its belly that can be manually adjusted 90°, it would have been far more convenient, if you could do this remotely but you can only ask for so much from a budget-friendly drone.

The drone is a powered by a 3.7v 1000 mAh lipo battery, its not one of the modern-looking modular batteries and it comes with JST connector which you don’t usually see on modern drone batteries. The battery will give you a flight time of around 10-12 minutes, which is pretty much standard for drones under $100.

You also get an extra battery with the package so you can extend your flight time without having to wait for the battery to fully recharge before flying it again.

One of the best features of the Snaptain SP650 is its controller, I have seen many drones that are well-designed but have controllers that are not very pleasing to the eyes.

Fortunately, this controller compliments the aesthetics of the drone which I like very much. It looks like how a modern drone controller should look, it’s not too big and has a nice curved design that is comfortable to hold. All the button are easily identified, so you know what they do and will not have to refer to the manual to find out.

There is a separate smartphone holder that you can attach at the back, it’s a nice holder that can easily fit a medium-sized smartphone but not a tablet. The transmission range on a clear day is around 80 meters, however, for FPV purposes, it is slightly less at around 50-60 meters. It’s powered by 4 AA batteries, which are not included with the packages.

To make use of the drones FPV features, you will need to download the Snaptain Nova app. I have mentioned this app on another review of a Snaptain drone, it is definitely one of the better and more consistent drone apps on the market. It has a nice user interface and is easy to navigate and the FPV footage is decent as long as you stay well within the transmission range. The app is compatible with both Android and iOS phones and has a good overall rating on both app market places.

Snaptain SP650 Camera

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that one of the main reasons I love drones is because of their cameras. I do enjoy seeing the world from a different perspective and recording video footage from above.

Now, just to be clear, the Snaptain SP650 is a toy drone and the camera reflects this, so if you want to take stunning aerial videos and images, you will need to spend a little bit more (I recommend the Hubsan Zino 4K drone). However, it is still an HD camera that can record in 1080p at 25fps and for its price, the quality is pretty good.

As there is no stabilisation feature you may notice some distortion like jello effect and shakiness, the best way to reduce these issues is to only fly in good weather and little to no wind. The camera has a 120° lens and can be manually adjusted 90° for better viewing angles. The live streaming quality is not HD but the quality is decent.

Overall, the camera on the Snaptain SP650 is a nice feature and one you will enjoy using.

Other Features

Despite being a very cheap drone, the Snaptain SP650 comes with several advanced features that will make flying it more fun, these features include the following:

Trajectory Flight – Draw a path on the app and the drone will fly along the route it automatically. Unfortunately, this is one of the features that does not work properly. The reason is because most drones with smart flight modes are GPS enabled but the Snaptain SP650 is not. It’s a shame because this is a fun flight mode when it works.

Circle – Push a button and the drone will fly in a small circle

Speed Rotation – In this mode, the drone will hover in one place and rotate at a high speed.

3D Flips – This feature will allow you to flip the drone 360° in many directions.

Gravity Control – This mode will allow you to control the drone by moving your smartphone around.

Voice Control – Another feature that I wish had worked properly but at the moment it’s a hit and miss feature. Maybe when they update the app, it will work much better.

The drone also comes with altitude hold for better flight stability, 3-speed modes and headless mode for absolute beginners. It also has a one-button take-off and landing feature.

Flight Performance

The drone flies very well, it’s easy to control and most of the features work as they should apart from the ones I just mentioned. As it is a very light drone, I would not advise anyone to fly it in any kind of windy conditions as it would be very hard to control. Overall, it’s a fun drone to fly.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of beginner-friendly drones on the market, we really spoilt for choice in this area now. The Snaptain SP650 is another good drone for beginners, it comes with some nice features and the camera is of good quality despite the drones costing less than $100. I recommend this drone if you are looking for a cheap drone to fly for fun. Click on the button below for more information and its current price.