Narrowed it Down to Two-and-a-Half Drones

[Gene_Drone]

I think I have narrowed my purchase choice to 2 drones. But there is a third recommended by “UAV Coach” website Force 1 F100. Does anyone have experience that can put this back in the running. I don’t like it as it does not have FPV screen.


First- Holy Stone HS1000. I like it because it has similar features to the Husban 501S but it has a long charging time (3 to 6 hours). 12-15 minute flight time. Camera is 720. $280


Hubsan 501S- Claims a longer flight time (20 minutes) much shorter charge time (2.5 hours). It also has a 1080 camera instead of the 720 that the HS does. This drone is $220


Looks like the Husband wins. But being very much a newbie, I could easily be missing something.


All feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[Spork]

I don't know enough about the quads you mentioned to guide you. But to help you out with the flight-time vs charging time decision, I think a lot of people get multiple batteries so the re-charge time is less important. I have four batteries - I use all of them when I go out to fly and come home when the last one's empty. Then I stick all four of them on a 4-1 charger and go again later that day if I can or I'm ready for tomorrow.

 

[Gyro Doctor]

... I'm not that familiar with these two drones either, but also worth noting is the Hubsan uses generic batteries,
while the Holy Stone has proprietary ones. You generally don't want proprietary batteries.

All other considerations being equal (not saying they are, just saying IF they were) being able to purchase higher quality batteries
and possibly ones with higher mAH ratings (if they'd still fit) would give you even longer flight times still, even though the Hubsan
already wins in that category.

The charging time is a function of the battery charger's current output (in conjunction with the battery's ratings) and you're presumably
going to be purchasing a good balancing charger too at some point (very much recommended) instead of using the one that comes with it.
This will likely even further reduce the time it takes to recharge your batteries, as well as keeping them in better health more than just using
some cheap "wall wart" battery charger.

My advise would be to watch several You Tube videos reviewing each of these quads before making your final decision but, as far as I can tell
without delving into it any further, the Hubsan would be MY choice

 

[Jackson]

Holy Stone HS1000

If this is the one look elsewhere, it has cheap, limited life brushed motors. Find something that uses brushless motors.

 

[Rob Wilson]

I have the Hubsan H501s ...Trust me this is an amazing drone...2.5hr charge for 20mins flight time alone made me put this on my list. The controller also came with a rechargeable battery which lasted around 4 flights. Altitude hold is great and the GPS and return to home make this perfect especially for the price.

Parts are very easy to get. This was my first drone and after breaking propellers in first couple of flights i decided to get the guards off of amazon and its been even better.

I flew the drone over a 1000ft away and got it 450ft high..Weather has been rough here recently so didnt wanna push it more.

The FPV ob the controller works very well and is always clear depending on the weather and how many sats etc.

any other questions about it just let me know

 

[Rick M]

The Hubsan is a clear winner there. The Force 1 is a re-branded Bugs 3. Great quad, but not a GPS bird. The HS100 is a brushed motor quad. At that price point, brushed motors just don't make sense. You will want to buy a hobby grade charger and maybe a parallel charge board. With a hobby grade charger you will get any battery charged in an hour, and with the charging board multiple batteries in the same time.

 

[LHazleton]

I'd recommend the MJX Bugs2C. GPS , rth, headless, 1080p, 1000m range ,etc.. Great quadcopter for under 200 bucks .

 

[Rick M]

I'd recommend the MJX Bugs2C. GPS , rth, headless, 1080p, 1000m range ,etc.. Great quadcopter for under 200 bucks .

Also a good choice, but from what I've seen the camera (and possibly range) may be a bit better on the H501S. Also the Hubsan has integrated 5.8Ghz FPV. However, it's also a chunk more money.

If you shop hard, you can find the B2C around $130-140.

 

[Jackson]

Also a good choice, but from what I've seen the camera

The weird part is this.


That's a massive bitrate and card hog for the results you get.

Here's my old Dazzne which produces far better video.



FWIW.

A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 gigabytes of data, while a dual-layer disc can hold 50 GB. Blu-ray is capable of a maximum video bit rate of 40 Mbps. These factors mean that less compression is needed to deliver the content within the available specs. My OPPO BDP-93 Blu-ray player allows me to view the bit rate of Blu-ray and DVD movies that I play, and a sampling of Blu-rays in my collection showed films that are encoded at an average megabit-per-second (Mbps) A/V bit rate in the high 20s to the mid 30s. (DVDs generally offer, at best, from 6 to 8 Mbps.)

 

[Rick M]

The weird part is this.

That's a massive bitrate and card hog for the results you get.

Wow, you're right. I'm not saying the B2C video is terrible but it's not great, either. And this is coming from a big MJX fan.

 

[Gyro Doctor]

... The AVI format runs with less compression, hence the requirement for higher bit rates and being a card hog.
The MP4 format has higher compression AND a superior Codec.
Think of AVI and MP4 formats as the "containers" that "hold" the data blocks. The codec is what compresses and decompresses the data blocks.
Better codec (MP4's AAC) = smaller files AND better video too

 

[Rick M]

... The AVI format runs with less compression, hence the requirement for higher bit rates and being a card hog.
The MP4 format has higher compression AND a superior Codec.
Think of AVI and MP4 formats as the "containers" that "hold" the data blocks. The codec is what compresses and decompresses the data blocks.
Better codec (MP4's AAC) = smaller files AND better video too

That makes a lot of sense. I knew the .avi format wasn't nearly as space-efficient, but I never stopped to think about how that affected the big picture.

 

[Steven Campbell]

If you haven't purchased one yet, I just snagged another toy drone primarily to have the camera it came with.

The F100, got a discount code to get it for only $54...