Overview:
The HS430 is a class A drone i.e. under 250g. In fact it’s only 75g, about the same weight as an egg. As it has a camera it does require an Operator Licence (which is £10 per year) but not a Flyer ID. These are UK CAA rules. The camera has a resolution of 1920x1080p and will take pictures and videos (more about that later) and transmit them back to your phone on a 2.4Ghz frequency.
In the box you get a controller, 3 batteries, a charger, 2 replacement propellers, a prop guard and even a tiny screwdriver. According to the manual flight distance is about 40m (130 feet).
Advertised features include voice and gesture control, trajectory flight, headless mode, gravity control (control the drone by tilting your phone) circle fly, throw to go (make sure you do this away from your face) and 3D flip (bit pointless). Most of these features are accessed via the free HolyStone-FPV App which is available both on Apple and Android. You can also do some of them, like take a photo or video, using the controller.
The Good:
As you can see, on paper, you get a lot of drone, especially for the price. I paid £38.39 for this drone on Amazon. The RRP is £59.99 but don’t pay this. Holystone also have a system whereby if you leave a review they’ll send you a ‘gift’ of your choice which currently seems to be either, $20, a mini drone or Warranty. I chose the mini drone and got a Holyton HT02 worth £29.99! If you don’t want the mini drone it makes an excellent gift to a child of any age. So you could say the original drone only cost me £9!
For this price you get a very flyable and stable drone with 3 batteries! Holystone says the 3 batteries gives a flight time of 39 minutes but the reality is, especially outside, you’ll be doing well to get 30 minutes. That's more than enough time to get some photos or just have a bit of fun.
One of the issues when learning how to fly
a drone, especially the small ones, is stability. Basically from take off you want the drone just to sit still at the same height and not move in any direction. This gives you a chance to get use to it. If it starts moving on its own, you try and correct it, which nearly always leads to an over correction which then leads to a crash. As long as you calibrate the gyros before take off (and each time you change the battery) the drone will be fairly steady. There is of course a little movement but you can correct any drift using the trim function on the controller.
There are 2 speed settings, slow and fast
or indoor and outdoor as I like to think of them. This is accessed via the controller. Speaking of the controller it has a holder for your phone, its comfortable and does the job very nicely. You can, if you wish just use your phone which makes the drone even more portable but I wouldn’t recommend it, at least when first starting out.
So you have a very cheap stable drone that’ll fit in your pocket and is excellent to learn with. What’s the down side?
The Bad:
The main downfall for this drone is the quality of the pictures and in particular the video. Both video and pictures are transferred to your mobile device via wifi. There’s no mini SD and no image stabilisation. This means the video almost looks like a very bad stop motion film. For the photos themselves, if you do a bit of post colour correction they'll be okay but getting that shot can be tricky. Because the drone is so light it can really only be used in little or no wind conditions. Any slight gust will start pushing it around. This isn't really the fault of the drone it's just physics. The camera has a 90 degree adjustment so you can photograph pointing straight down. These adjustments need to made by hand before take off so a little planning would be required. It's a pity about the pictures and in particular the video. It's the only criticism I have. I can't imagine including a mini SD slot would have added much weight or cost and should have lead to a massive improvement.
Example of video quality.
Conclusion:
At this price it’s practically a disposable drone. Just be aware that the video is pointless and your photos will definitely not look like even the cheapest modern mobile phone, or even one from 10 years ago. They will be okay and will give you a different view point. If you’ve never flown a drone before and just want to see what it’s like or, like me, just wanted something disposable for an upcoming holiday then you can’t go wrong.
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