What if you combined a flashlight, a camera, a portable battery, and a drone? You’d get something like the Holy Stone HS161, a small, portable drone that unites all of these tasks into a device about a small spray can. A USB connector on the rear of the cover may be used to charge your phone or another device, transferring power from the drone’s 1000 mAh battery. By flipping a switch on the rear of the drone body, the front LED glows without turning on the remainder of the drone. When you press a button, the front-facing camera begins capturing video. When the arms are folded out, it transforms into a drone.
It’s an exciting concept, but even as our Holy Stone HS161 review will show, it doesn’t perform well in any of these areas. It lacks charging power, is a bad flashlight, and has a camera that falls short of even a low-cost mobile phone. It’s not even a good drone.
What we will see here?
Design of Holy Stone HS161
When folded down, the Holy Stone HS161 is like a huge TV remote, only with drone arms neatly folded within the container. The operations are controlled by a series of buttons on the top of the casing. This includes turning on the device and shooting still and video shots. A reasonably bright LED front light is controlled via a slider switch on the case’s bottom.
The camera, which takes 1080P video and can be adjusted down by around 15 degrees, is lower. However, because there is no stability or axis, it cannot be moved separately from the drone. The rotors reach around 7.8 inches when the arms are folded out without including the clip-on rotor blade shields that come with the drone.
The remote control is almost the same size as the drone, and it includes a fold-out slot for the mobile phone which runs the Holy Stone software. The controls are designed in the style of an Xbox, with two joysticks surrounded by a slew of buttons for auto takeoff, landing, and other capabilities.
The shoulder buttons control the drone’s speed and begin the photo or video. Click once to take a picture and hold down to record the video. Amazingly, the remote control is powered by a rechargeable battery, which is charged using the same small USB cord as the drone batteries.
Price of Holy Stone HS161
The Holy Stone HS161 costs around $80 and comes in two batteries, a backup set of rotors, a remote control, and a pair of clip-on rotor blade protection. A micro SD card wasn’t involved, which is essential to record video on the drone.
Battery life of Holy Stone HS161
The Holy Stone HS161’s small 1000 mAh battery provides roughly 9 minutes of flight time, and two batteries are provided. These may be set to pay using the little USB cable that comes with them and connects straight to the battery. You may charge both at the same time using any generic small USB cord by placing the battery into the drone and attaching a wire to the full-size USB-A connector at one end of the drone body. However, it only provides 1000 mAh of power: a $20 USB battery can carry five times quite so much charge.
Performance
This Holy Stone HS161 is a slow yet easy-to-fly drone. The motors startup and a single tap on the left joystick send you flying when you hit the start button. The drone stayed smoothly on its own, allowing you to become used to flying.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much more interesting than that for a drone. It is quite good at turning and moving up and down. But it is not quick to travel forward or backward, moving only at a moderate strolling speed. Even with the speed setting set to maximum, it did not move very quickly. Also, it never surprises the user with its power or performance. It is free of any flips or other stunts.
The front-facing camera on the drone produces HD footage that is good but not outstanding. While they are somewhat more expensive, the cameras on our best drones site will provide far higher image quality. The video is rather sharp and colorful. However, it becomes unstable as the drone drifts, and you can see the two front rotor blades at the frame’s edge.
Other Features of Holy Stone HS161
Despite being a low-cost drone(Holy Stone HS161), it has a variety of capabilities, including altitude hold, which allows the drone to keep a constant height, making it simpler to capture high-quality photographs and movies. It also offers a headless mode for easier flying, especially if you are a beginner, and three-speed modes with a top speed of 23 km/h, which is fast for a low-cost drone.
Camera
Without a doubt, one of the best qualities of a drone is its camera. And the Holy Stone HS161 is everywhere, as it comes with a superb 1080p HD camera. This will allow users to create amazing films and photographs that will wow family and friends. The camera can manually adjust at 45° to achieve the angle you wish to shoot from. It comes with an 8GB TF card to store your photos and movies easily.
Another unique feature of Holy Stone HS161 is that you don’t even have to fly this drone to use its camera. You can carry it about in its folded shape and record and snap images like a regular camera. Its altitude hold and hovering capability lack any complex camera or electronic image stabilization features. But the photographs are of extremely excellent quality, especially for a drone that costs a little over $100.
However, the FPV transmission range is just 50m, which isn’t very far. So keep it in mind if you plan to buy this drone.
Conclusion
The Holy Stone HS161 drone is a tiny lightweight drone with innovative folding construction. It’s small and light, making it ideal for travel. And it’s simple to operate, making it perfect for both novice and expert drone pilots. It has an excellent HD camera as well as FPV functionality. It’s a fantastic drone, mainly because it also has a flashlight and a portable charging station. All of which you’ll surely need when you’re on the road.
