Holy Stone HS550 – entry-level drone with 2K camera
The Holy Stone HS550 is an excellent entry-level drone with 2K camera and FPV live image transmission. For about 200 dollars, you get a foldable camera drone with GPS, high range, about 20 minutes of flight and various smart flight or recording modes.
Design, weight and equipment
The design of the Holy Stone HS550 clearly differs from most foldable drones due to its rectangular fuselage. Except for a few red accents, black is clearly the predominant color.
With its arms folded, the Holy Stone HS550 comes in at dimensions of 19 x 13 x 7.5 cm, making it easy to transport. When unfolded, the drone comes to 45 x 45 x 7.5 cm. The take-off weight is 640 grams.
The workmanship of the Holy Stone HS550 is of high quality throughout, and the remote control also makes a good impression. The motors used are brushless motors, which are quieter and more durable than cheaper brushed motors.
In addition to the built-in GPS module, the Holy Stone HS550 also features a Vison Positioning System with ultrasonic sensors on the underside of the drone. The sensors help the drone determine its position near the ground and provide additional stability as well as a pinpoint landing.
Thanks to Return-to-Home, the Holy Stone HS550 returns to the launch position or drone landing pad at the push of a button. The drone also starts the independent return flight when the battery level is low and in case of a loss of signal to the remote control. This is a great safety feature that should prevent the drone from being lost.
For good visibility of the Holy Stone HS550 in the sky, colored LEDs under the rotors provide. Several spotlight LEDs are also installed on the underside, which have a relatively strong luminosity.
The remote control has a smartphone mount as well as a small LCD display, for displaying important flight parameters. For operation, 2 AA batteries or rechargeable batteries are still needed.
Flight Time & Range of Holy Stone HS550
The maximum flight time of the Holy Stone HS550 is stated by the manufacturer at 22 minutes. In practice, however, values between 18 and 20 minutes are more realistic, which still corresponds to a relatively long flight time.
The long flight time is made possible by a 7.4 V, 2800 mAh battery, which is recharged within about 240 minutes using the included charger. For an even longer flight time, we recommend purchasing a second battery. Very convenient is that in the charger space is also equal to the simultaneous charging of two batteries.
The maximum range is 1 mile (1600 meters). At altitude, up to 492 feet (150 meters) are possible. Thanks to GPS and the powerful brushless motors, the Holy Stone HS550 is stable in the air even in moderate winds and can generally be controlled very precisely.
The camera
The 2K camera of the Holy Stone HS550 records videos in 2048 x 1152 pixels. The camera recordings are stabilized with the help of a single-axis gimbal. The recorded videos are much smoother than if no gimbal was installed, but the videos do not reach the quality of recordings with a 2-axis or 3-axis gimbal. So if you want to create high-quality drone videos above all else, you’d better buy an even better-equipped camera drone.
The camera can be panned vertically by up to 90° during flight. For this, you simply use a small wheel on the remote control. The camera’s field of view (FOV) is 110°, making it wide-angle.
The live image is transmitted to the smartphone in the 5 GHz frequency range. Therefore, make sure that your smartphone is compatible for this. The range of the image transmission works at a distance of about 550 to 875 yards (500 to 800 meters).
Photos and videos are stored on a microSD card of up to 32 GB (not included).
Intelligent flight & recording modes
The Holy Stone HS550 is capable of several intelligent flight or recording modes. In Follow Me mode, the drone follows the signal from the remote control and records a video of you while doing so.
In Point of Interest mode, the drone independently circles an object or person while simultaneously creating a video.
In Waypoint mode, you can set a route in the app before the flight, which is then flown independently by the drone.
Scope of delivery
- 1 x HS550 drone
- 1 x remote control
- 1 x 7.4V, 2800mAh battery
- 1 x charger
- 1 x charging cable
- 4 x spare propellers
- 1 x screwdriver
- 1 x instruction manual
Conclusion
The Holy Stone HS550 is an affordable GPS drone with a 2K camera, live FPV transmission and very solid features for this price range. A flight time of about 20 minutes, a range of up to 1 mile (1600 meters) and several intelligent flight or recording modes make the drone an extremely interesting model for beginners and advanced users.
Only the single-axis gimbal does not stabilize the camera shots quite as well as a 2- or 3-axis gimbal would have done. Nevertheless, the videos are very respectable and show a decent quality for this price range.
All in all, the Holy Stone HS550 is a excellent camera drone at a fair price and is best suited for beginners as well as advanced users!