Holy Stone HS720G GPS Drones with Camera

I was looking for a small budget friendly drone. I own a full size drone and it is somewhat cumbersome to transport it and all the things you need if you want to take it somewhere. Came across the Holy Stone HS720G on Prime Day and couldn't pass it up for the price. Was not expecting a lot for a $200 drone. But let me say, I was blown away once it got here. One of the best parts of the design is by far its portability. Folded up it is about the size of your hand. Came in a nice carrying case which also contained the remote, a battery, a USB charging cable for the battery, and extra propellers. Upon initial inspection it definitely has a plastic feel to it. But also has a bit of weight. It is 13.3 oz / 377 g, so you will have to register it with the FAA. The remote is small. At first I thought it was going to be too small to be comfortable. But it has two palm handles that fold out from the bottom to hold on to which makes it easy to use. Controls are minimal, but there’s everything you need for flight and basic camera control. Plus, there’s a simple LCD screen that shows essential information. The controller runs on AA batteries. I was also a bit concerned about the phone cradle. But to my surprise, my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra fits into the cradle even with the case on. Though I will say if I had even a slightly larger case I would have to remove it to make the phone fit. Due to where the buttons are on my particular brand and model phone, I need to shift the phone slightly toward one end, which makes it slightly off center. But not a big deal. The drone uses a single rechargeable battery that advertises 23 minutes flight time. About average. Down side is it takes about 5 hours to charge. So if you want to spend more than 20 minutes at a time flying it would be wise to invest in a second battery. Initial setup is beyond simple. Download their Ophelia FLY app to your phone, turn the drone on, connect your phone to the drone's WiFi SSID, pair the remote to the drone (which is a single step process), calibrate the compass, and you are ready to fly! Initial flight impression is the Holy Stone HS720G seems pretty easy to fly. The controls are basically the same as more advanced drones. The connection between the controller, your smartphone, and the drone is through Wi-Fi. I was experiencing signal lost if I fly further than roughly a hundred feet at an altitude above 50 feet. I did notice that I can fly higher with no signal loss when the drone is above the controller, but a combination of altitude and distance is the issue. Definitely not the distance they advertise. Again, my phone is a Galaxy S22 Ultra. Definitely a newer phone. So I don't think it is the WiFi technology of my phone that is causing the issue. When the phone disconnects from the drone you lose the camera view. I was lucky and the controller remained fully connected. So I was able to fly back into range and reconnect. However, if control is also lost you would have to activate Return to Home to bring the drone back. So, although the Holy Stone HS720G is advertised as being able to fly at much greater distances and altitudes, it’s best to keep it reasonably close. There are a couple of features in the app, Follow Me, Tap Fly, and Point of Interest. I only tested Follow Me. With the drone at about 50 feet in altitude I activated the Follow Me option and started walking around my property. It seemed to follow me pretty well. Once or twice it when I would turn and start walking a different direction it would continue on it's current path for probably 10 to 15 feet before deciding to turn and continue following me. The gimbal and camera are a pretty basic design, with the gimbal offering 2-axis mechanical stabilization while the third axis is taken care of by electronic image stabilization. You can change the camera view in a vertical motion. But not side to side. Not a huge deal. But if you are wanting true 3 way adjustment you are going to have to spend more money on a different brand. You can store pictures and video on your phone with the app, or on the drone via microSD card. I didn't have a card laying around so the couple of pictures I took were stored on the app. You get higher resolution storing them on a SD card. Overall, I am very pleased with the HS720G for the price point. Is it a DJI Mini or Mavic? No, it's not. But it is a very fun little drone that you can play around with and take pictures and video with for a third of the cost of a DJI. One last thing I want to touch on is Holy Stone's customer service. I cannot say enough about them. This drone review is actually on my 2nd HS720G. My first one had a catastrophic electronic malfunction on the initial flight. I contacted Holy Stone tech support via the Tech Support button in the app. Took less than a minute for a live person to be chatting with me. I explained in detail what happened. The person asked me a few questions about the event, then told me he was sorry that it happened, and was going to send me a new replacement. He asked me for my Amazon order number. I provided my order number along with my personal information, and in 4 days I had a replacement sitting on my doorstep. That is something that I would have never expected from a budget drone manufacturer. I would give these guys 5 stars on their customer service alone. Bottom line.. buy one!