Holy Stone HS330 – Mini Drone with Obstacle Detection
The Holy Stone HS330 is an affordable mini drone with very comprehensive features. It is also offered under the name Holyton HS330, although this is one and the same model. The mini quadcopter is easy to use and suitable for both beginners and children.
Design and weight
Measuring just 82 x 90 x 27 mm and weighing 33 grams, the Holy Stone HS330 is not only extremely small, but also very light. The blue and white mini drone features a propeller guard that encloses all four propellers like a kind of cage.
Together with the emergency stop function, this makes the Holy Stone HS330 a safe drone for kids and absolute beginners. The rotor guard not only prevents damage in case of collisions with walls or objects, but also protects bystanders from the drone’s fast-spinning propellers.
Features and flight characteristics
The Holy Stone HS330 has all sorts of features that make flying as easy as possible, even for absolute drone novices. Takeoff and landing work either quite simply at the push of a button or via throw launch from the palm of your hand.
The mini quadcopter can be flown both indoors and outdoors. Outdoors, however, you should make sure that there is little wind, as the drone can easily drift due to its light weight.
In the air, the Holy Stone HS330 independently maintains the current flight altitude without you having to permanently press the thrust control. If the mini drone drifts in one direction while hovering, you should land the copter and recalibrate. If the drift persists, you can balance it by trimming it with the corresponding buttons on the controller.
There are a total of three speeds to choose from, which can be selected on the controller.
The obstacle detection of the Holy Stone HS330
As some of the very few mini drones, the Holy Stone HS330 has an obstacle avoidance mode. This can be activated by a long press on the corresponding button on the remote control.
In this mode, the drone will brake on its own should it get too close to an obstacle. Collision avoidance works at a distance of about 20 to 30 inches (50 to 80 cm) and works best with completely white surfaces, such as walls. But surfaces in other colors are also detected relatively reliably. However, the detection does not work quite as well with reflective and completely black objects.
The control of the Holyton HS330
The Holyton HS330 can be controlled either with the included remote control or simply with the bare hands. The controller still requires 3 AAA batteries or rechargeable batteries, which are not included.
For the hand control, the total of five sensors (front, rear, left, right, top, bottom) are used, which are also used for obstacle detection. Therefore, you have to be relatively close to the drone for the control to work without a controller as well. Just hold a hand near the copter and it will fly in the opposite direction.
With the help of various hand movements, the Holy Stone HS330 can also perform some tricks. For example, the small copter masters an automatic rotation around its own axis or even the independent flight of a small circle.
In addition, it can also perform flips in different directions. The 3D flips can be executed by pressing the flip button and then selecting the direction.
Beginners in particular will also be happy about the so-called headless mode. In this mode, a simplified control is available. When changing direction to the front, back, left or right, it is usually important to know how the drone is currently oriented in the air. So you always need to know where the front of the drone is pointing – in headless mode, this doesn’t matter, because the drone will always fly in the direction you pressed, no matter where it’s facing.
However, we recommend that you don’t fly in headless mode for too long and also learn the normal controls of the drone, since by far not all drones have such a mode.
Flight time and range
The flight time of the Holy Stone HS330 is about 7 minutes per battery. Since the drone comes with a total of three 3.7 V, 300 mAh batteries at once, you can thus enjoy a total of up to 21 minutes of flight time before the batteries need to be recharged. Charging works with the included USB charging cable and takes about 40 minutes. Simply plug the charging cable into a smartphone power adapter, PC, laptop or power bank to re-power the batteries.
The control range is approximately 55 to 87 yards (50 to 80 meters) outdoors. However, obstacles such as buildings and trees can negatively affect the signal transmission between copter and remote control, so the possible distance can sometimes be a bit shorter.
Scope of delivery
- 1 x drone with remote control
- 3 x LiPo battery (3.7 V,
- 2 x USB charging cable
- 4 x spare propellers
- 1 x screwdriver
- 1 x instruction manual
Conclusion
The Holy Stone HS330 is an excellent mini-drone, which is especially convincing due to its obstacle detection. In addition, the sensors installed on all sides of the drone can also be used to control the copter without a controller, using only your hands.
Thanks to the propeller protection and emergency stop function, the HS330 is also ideally suited for children, and flight times totaling over 20 minutes are possible thanks to the three included batteries.
The small copter is suitable for flying indoors as well as outdoors, is very easy to operate and is simply great fun.
We can highly recommend the Holy Stone HS330 and hope you have fun flying it!