Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsFails to meet expectations, and culd be a great product if they dealt with its glaring faults.
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2024
This review is for "Holy Stone HS210 Mini Drone RC Nano Quadcopter Best Drone for Kids and Beginners..."
First and foremost, it is an indoors only drone. Outside, it can't fly against even the gentlest of breezes, and even indoors, it gets pushed around by its own air stream as it gets close to objects. As such, gentle landing is impossible. Flying an inch or so above ground is also problematic since it is constantly trying to adjust to compensate for being buffeted by its own air stream.
The batteries last about 7 minutes on the default (slowest and least powerful) setting.
I like the fact that the blades are shrouded. This is huge help in keeping the blades from getting damaged.
I also like the small form factor. It is small enough to fly around in a small room. I carry it around in a small cooler bag, and have already taken it on my travels and flown it in a few hotel rooms.
There are also some major flaws:
1. No matter how many times I reset the gyro, it always has a drift. This drifting behavior is not consistent in the same direction all the time. This could be a bad gyro or some fault in the electronics unique to the one I received.
2. There is no tool provided to help remove the battery plug after it is plugged in. And, since there is no on/off switch, you have to plug and unplug every time. My finger nails are not long enough for this. For now, I am using a small flat head screw driver to gently persuade the plug to come out.
3. The controls don't seem to be proportional so it is impossible to get consistent results flying around.
4. There is a "+" mark on circuit board next to the negative side of the plug. It caused some confusion before I figured it out the mark next to the plug had nothing to do with how the battery is supposed to be plugged in. I put a dab of acrylic red paint on the correct, plus side, of the plug on the circuit board so I can orient the plug without using magnifying glasses.
5. The blades are about 1.5mm too short, and don't seem to be properly positioned in the shroud. This is just poor design and manufacturing IMO, to say nothing of loss of blade efficiency and blade noise that is result of huge gap between blade tip and shroud.