Potensic T25 – Cheap entry-level drone with HD camera
The Potensic T25 is an affordable GPS drone with Full HD camera. The lightweight quadcopter can be controlled very precisely and can stream the live image of the drone to your smartphone in real time. Find out what else the Potensic T25 can do in our detailed article.
Design, weight & features
With its white housing and the two landing skids, the Potensic T25 looks a lot like the DJI Phantom 4, but its inner values are in a completely different price range.
At just 185 grams, the Potensic T25 is also significantly lighter than its larger role model. And the dimensions of approx. 20 x 20 x 10 cm also differ from the dimensions of the Phantom series.
So that you can always keep a good eye on the drone, there are colored status LEDs below the rotors, which are also useful for calibrating the drone.
Prop guards (propeller protectors) can be mounted if needed to protect the four rotors as well as bystanders. Once in the air, the Potensic T25 shows stable flight characteristics. However, the lightweight quadcopter does not tolerate high winds very well, even though it always tries to keep its position thanks to GPS and GLOSNASS.
The Potensic T25 can be conveniently launched and landed at the touch of a button on the remote control. There is also a Return-to-Home function, which allows the copter to return to the drone landing site independently. By the way, this function is triggered automatically if the signal to the remote control is lost during the flight or if the battery level is too low.
Depending on your preference, you can choose between three different speed modes during the flight, so you can gradually get used to the controls.
Also extremely practical for beginners is the so-called Headless mode. In this mode, it doesn’t matter how the drone is instantly oriented in the sky when you give a control command to the left, right, front or back. The drone will always fly in the direction you want it to, regardless of whether the front or rear is facing you at the moment.
However, we recommend that you do not fly in Headless mode for too long, but gradually get to grips with classic drone control.
Flight duration and range of the Potensic T25
The Potensic T25 can be controlled precisely and generally has very good flight characteristics. This is mainly due to the built-in 9-axis gyroscope, which is responsible for stabilizing the flight attitude. With most drones, you only find a 6-axis gyroscope. When you release the control joysticks of the remote control during flight, the Potensic automatically stops and independently holds its current position (Altitude Hold). This is especially handy for taking photos.
Thanks to a built-in 1000 mAh battery, about 8 minutes of flight time are possible with the Potensic T25. Unfortunately, this is a bit low compared to other drones in this price range, such as the Holy Stone H550. Therefore, we strongly recommend ordering a second battery right away to extend the flight time.
On the other hand, we find the four blue LEDs on the drone’s battery very practical. These provide information about the current charge status of the battery.
The maximum range of the Potensic T25 is about 328 yards (300 meters). Unfortunately, the FPV image can only be transmitted up to a distance of about 109 yards (100 meters), and the first image jitters and dropouts can occur a bit earlier.
The camera of the Potensic drone
The 1080p camera of the Potensic T25 has a field of view of 120° and is thus extremely wide-angled. You can therefore capture very large image sections, even if the edges of the images are somewhat distorted in perspective. However, this can be easily corrected with an editing program in post-processing.
Unfortunately, the Potensic T25 does not have a gimbal to compensate for the drone’s own movements. However, this is not common in this price range. Instead, the camera can be tilted vertically downward by up to 75° during flight.
For taking photos and videos, a simple press of a button on one of the controller’s two right shoulder buttons is enough. A short press takes a photo, a long press (> 2 s) starts a video recording.
The quality of the photos and videos is okay, but not comparable with camera drones of higher price ranges due to the missing gimbal. So, if you want to create professional aerial photos, you should definitely buy a drone that has a 2-axis or even better a 3-axis gimbal.
The photos and videos of the Potensic T25 are stored on a microSD card (maximum 64 GB), which still has to be purchased separately.
Owners of FPV goggles also have the option of using them together with the Potensic T25. The corresponding function can be selected in the app.
Potensic T25 remote control, app and flight modes
The remote control of the Potensic T25 is ergonomically designed and has an on/off button as well as a button for Return-to-Home (RTH) and for automatic take-off and landing.
The two left shoulder buttons let you adjust the tilt of the camera. The two right shoulder buttons let you take photos and videos as well as start Follow Me mode.
To view the live image of the drone, you first need to install the “Potensic-G” app on your smartphone. The app is available for free download in the Google Play Store as well as the Apple App Store. After that, you still need to attach the included smartphone mount to the remote control.
The app offers all sorts of setting options. For example, you can set the desired altitude at which the drone should return to the launch position in RTH mode.
During the flight, the app continuously show you data on important flight parameters. This way, you always get information about the maximum flight altitude, distance and speed.
Since the remote control has a permanently installed battery, no additional batteries are needed. The controller can be charged via USB cable.
The Follow Me mode, which is available on more and more multicopters, is also available on the Potensic T25. In this mode, the drone follows the signal of the smartphone, while the camera is always pointed at the pilot and records a video. With the Potensic T25, this works best at short distances. However, the results are nowhere near as good as with a DJI Mavic Air 2 or DJI Mavic 2.
Scope of delivery
- 1 x Potensic T25 GPS RC Drone
- 1 x remote control
- 1 x battery (1000 mAh)
- 4 x screw (for propeller)
- 1 x smartphone holder
- 1 x screwdriver
- 2 x landing skids
- 4 x propeller guards
- 4 x propeller
- 1 x instruction manual
Conclusion
The Potensic T25 is an affordable entry-level drone with HD camera and good flight characteristics. The drone can be controlled safely and precisely even by beginners. It has a Return-to-Home mode and returns independently to the launch position even when the battery level is too low or the signal to the remote control is lost.
While the flight range of up to 328 yards (300 meters) is very decent, the flight time of about 8 minutes is not fully convincing. A second battery is therefore definitely recommended.
The quality of the photo and video recordings is rather modest due to the lack of a gimbal, but this is hardly to be expected otherwise in the price range around 200 dollars. Overall, Potensic’s T25 is a solid drone for beginners that is ideally suited for first experiences with camera drones.