Holy Stone HS420 – Mini quadcopter with camera & 3 batteries
The Holy Stone HS420 is a mini drone with HD camera, which is best suited for beginners as well as children. It comes with no less than three batteries, offers the possibility to transfer the live FPV image to your smartphone and has many features that allow for easy control.
Extremely lightweight and well protected
The quadcopter, which is only 8.4 x 9.0 x 3.4 cm in size, is colored entirely in red. Only a few black markings as well as the lettering Holy Stone adorn the top of the small drone chassis.
The four propellers are each completely enclosed by a plastic cage, which serves as a propeller guard and protects the drone from damage in collisions with furniture, walls or other obstacles. Since bystanders are also protected from the rapidly spinning propellers, the Holy Stone HS420 can also be recommended without hesitation as a drone for children from about 6 years old. However, the little ones up to the age of 14 should only fly under adult supervision.
Weighing just 31 grams, the mini quadcopter is incredibly light. This makes it a perfect toy for use at home. If you want, you can of course also fly the HS420 outdoors, although you should make sure that the conditions are as windless as possible, otherwise the drone will easily drift away.
Flight functions
The Holy Stone HS420 has various functions that make it much easier for you to handle the small drone and make it especially beginner-friendly.
For example, takeoff and landing work conveniently at the touch of a button. If you want, you can even simply throw the copter out of your hand into the air for takeoff.
If the mini-drone drifts in one direction while hovering, it can simply be balanced out using the trim button and control joystick until it hovers evenly on the spot.
By the way, the Holy Stone HS420 maintains the current flight altitude all by itself (Altitude Hold). In flight, you have two different speeds to choose from, a slow and a fast level.
If you ever accidentally lose control of the drone, a simple press of the emergency stop button is enough to bring the four rotors to an instant halt. Note, however, that the drone will then immediately fall to the ground on the spot. Therefore, only use this function in an emergency.
In general, the Holy Stone HS420 is very easy to control and also very precise. This is made possible not least by the handy remote control. In addition to the two control sticks and various buttons for triggering the different functions, it also has a fold-out holder for attaching a smartphone.
By the way, you still need three AAA batteries or rechargeable batteries to use the controller, which are not included.
If you want to view the live image of the drone camera on your smartphone, you first need to download and install the “HolyStone-FPV” app. The app is available for free download from the respective app store for both iOS and Android devices.
Flight time and range
The flight time of the Holy Stone HS420 is about 6 minutes per battery. Since the mini drone comes with three batteries (3.7 V, 300 mAh) at once, you can enjoy up to 18 minutes of flight time in total before the batteries need to be recharged.
You are warned of a low battery level both visually (flashing LED on the drone) and acoustically (beep from the controller). This always gives you enough time to land safely before the battery is completely discharged.
The batteries are charged with the two USB charging cables included. You simply connect these to the power supply of your smartphone or plug them into a USB socket on your PC, laptop or powerbank. Charging time is about 60 minutes per battery and varies, depending on the equipment used.
The distance at which you can control the Holy Stone HS420 is about 110 yards (100 meters). In height, up to 100 feet (30 meters) are possible. For a mini drone, these are impressively high values, with which you will have a lot of fun, especially outdoors.
The camera of the Holy Stone HS420
The Holy Stone HS420’s HD camera captures photos and videos in 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) and can be manually tilted up to 90° before launch. This allows you to capture different perspectives, from horizontally forward to vertically down.
By the way, if you want, you can also operate the camera via a simple gesture control. To do so, simply stand in front of the camera at a short distance and form your hand into a “Victory” sign to take a photo or stretch your outstretched palm towards the drone to start or stop a video.
Since the drone doesn’t have a slot for a memory card, your footage is backed up directly to your smartphone. Videos are saved in MP4 format, photos as JPEGs.
Of course, you should not expect miracles from the quality of the recordings with such a small toy drone. However, the photos and videos are completely sufficient for first experiences with a camera drone and especially the feeling of FPV flying is conveyed well.
Those who want to create high-quality photos and videos will definitely have to buy another drone in the long run.
Flight Modes
The Holy Stone HS420 is capable of some autonomous flight maneuvers, which provide fun and variety in the air. For example, it is possible to draw a flight path on the display in the app before the flight, which the drone then flies autonomously.
If you want, you can have the drone perform circles on the spot at the touch of a button. If you activate this function, the drone rotates for about 10 seconds.
Another function is the so-called circular flight, which also lasts about 10 seconds after activation. Also possible are rollovers in all directions (3D flips). For this, however, the drone must fly at least 3 meters high.
Beginners in particular will also be pleased with the built-in headless mode. In this mode, you can choose a simplified control. Normally, you always have to pay attention to which direction the front of the drone is pointing at the moment when you want to make a directional change – in headless mode, this is not the case and the copter will always fly in the desired direction, no matter how it is currently oriented.
However, we recommend that you don’t fly in headless mode for too long and also learn the normal controls of the drone, as not all drones have headless mode by far.
Scope of delivery
- 1 x Holy Stone HS420 drone
- 1 x remote control
- 3 x battery
- 4 x spare propellers
- 2 x USB charging cable
- 1 x screwdriver
- 1 x propeller tensioner
- 1 x user manual
Conclusion
The Holy Stone HS420 is an excellent drone for beginners and kids from about 6 years old. Thanks to the four propeller guards, it is extremely sturdy and safe. It can be controlled easily and precisely, and thanks to the built-in HD camera, it allows first experiences in using a drone with a camera.
Since the mini drone comes with three batteries at once, you can enjoy a total of 18 minutes of flight time while controlling the copter within a range of up to 110 yards (100 meters). In addition to the FPV live image transmission to your smartphone, 360° flips and turns, circular flight and flight path function provide plenty of variety and make the Holy Stone HS420 a great toy for young and old.
We can therefore recommend the small drone without hesitation and wish you lots of fun flying it!