SANROCK U52 – Cheap camera drone for beginners & kids
The Sanrock U52 is an affordable camera drone that can record HD videos in 720p. The quadcopter is great for beginners and kids from about 6 years old (under parental supervision). who are looking for a solid first drone.
Design and weight
The Sanrock U52 has a modern and sleek design. The chassis is all white, while the arms and propellers are black. The dimensions are 32 x 28 x 6 cm, and the weight is about 178 grams.
The quadcopter is made of sturdy ABS plastic. Together with the optionally attachable propeller guards, the drone thus survives most collisions completely unscathed and ensures long-lasting flying fun.
Below the four rotors are colorful LEDs that help you distinguish the front (green) and rear (red) of the drone in the sky.
The 2.4 GHz remote control features a pluggable smartphone mount and only has an on/off switch on the front in addition to the two control sticks. The rest of the drone’s functions are selected via the shoulder buttons or the app.
Equipment and flight characteristics
For launch preparation, you first need to connect the drone to the remote control and then calibrate the drone. Both works quite easily and is explained in the instruction manual.
For takeoff and landing, a simple push of a button is all that is needed in each case. Once in the air, the Sanrock U52 independently maintains the current flight altitude thanks to the Altitude-Hold function, without you having to permanently operate the thrust controller.
Two different speeds are available for control. By the way, you can fly both indoors and outdoors. However, outdoors you should only fly in dry weather and not too much wind.
Very handy is the acoustic warning in case of a low battery level or a weak signal. This way, you don’t run any risk of the drone crashing uncontrollably or you flying too far away with it.
By the way, if you want, you can control the Sanrock U52 without a controller, just with your smartphone. However, we recommend beginners to control it by remote control, because you have more control over the drone.
In general, the copter responds promptly to control commands and flies very directly and agilely.
Flight time and range
The flight time of the Sanrock U52 is about 10 to 13 minutes. This is quite a good value for an inexpensive camera drone. The necessary power is provided by a 3.7 V, 1500 mAh LiPo battery, which can be recharged within about three to four hours using the included USB charging cable. To extend the flying fun, we recommend purchasing one or more additional batteries.
The control range is about 110 yards (100 meters), which is a very solid value for this price range. The range at which you can receive the drone’s video signal on your smartphone is about the same.
The camera of the Sanrock U52
The Full HD camera of the Sanrock U52 records videos in 720p and photos in 1280 x 720 pixels. That does not sound like much, but the quality of the recordings is very convincing for this price segment.
The camera’s lens has a field of view (FOV) of 90°, making it wide-angle. The camera can be tilted vertically by up to 90° from horizontally forward to vertically downward before flying. This allows you to capture different perspectives.
In general, you always have to realize with cameras of inexpensive drones that they do not come close to the recording quality of expensive camera drones. Only with a mechanical 2-axis or 3-axis gimbal will videos be really well stabilized and offer stunning footage.
Flight Modes
If you want, you can perform flips with the Sanrock U52 at the touch of a button. To do this, simply press the 360° flip button and then in any direction.
Beginners in particular will also be pleased with the so-called headless mode. In this mode, a simplified control is available to you. Normally, you always have to pay close attention to the direction in which the front of the drone is currently pointing when giving commands to change direction – this is not necessary in headless mode. The drone will always fly in the direction you press in this mode, no matter how it is currently oriented.
However, we recommend that you do not fly in headless mode for too long and also learn the normal drone controls, as not all copters have headless mode by far.
Scope of delivery
- 1 x Sanrock U52 drone
- 1 x remote control
- 1 x 3,7 V, 1500 mAh battery
- 4 x spare propellers
- 4 x propeller guards
- 1 x USB charging cable
- 1 x instruction manual
- 1 x screwdriver
Conclusion
The Sanrock U52 is an excellent drone for beginners looking for a solid first camera drone. Thanks to the propeller protection, the model is also recommended for children from about 6 years old (under parental supervision).
The HD camera takes decent photos and videos, which can also be transferred to your smartphone’s display in real time, and the flight time of about 10 to 13 minutes and the range of about 110 yards (100 meters) are also good values for this price range.
All in all, the Sanrock U52 is a well designed camera drone at a fair price. We wish you a lot of fun flying and filming already now!