Holy Stone HS600D Drone with 8K Camera for Adults, 3 Axis Gimbal, 4K/30fps Video, 80 Min Flight Time with 2 Batteries, 20000ft FPV Transmission Professional Drone, Auto Return, Beginner Mode, gift

An excellent beginner’s drone with plenty of the features you’ll enjoy!
Just received my HS600 and have completed my first flight! This is my first quadcopter drone, and it is very easy to fly. I read through the instruction booklet (well written and very easy to understand) and watched the intro videos provided by Holy Stone and others on YouTube. I had no problem flying it around the park and taking pictures and videos on my very first flight!What do you need to get started? No charger is included so you’ll need a USB charger capable of 5V 3.0A (15W). All the charging ports on the batteries and transmitter are USB-C. The kit comes with two short USB-A to USB-C cables. I used a two-port charger (45 W) that provided two USB-C ports and two high quality (5A capable) USB-C to USB-C cables to charge the two batteries (about 4 hours) and then the transmitter (about 2 hours). You’ll also want to get a 128 GB MicroSD card. (The documentation refers to a “TF Card” but that’s just another name for MicroSD. Be sure to get one that is rated at least U1. I’m using a U3 card which is fine. Do not get a card larger than 128 GB as the drone cannot utilize anything larger than that.I used my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra with its Torras case. This is one of the larger phones and it fits into the transmitter’s phone holder without a problem.This drone is heavy, 557 grams according to my scale, so you’ll need to register it with the FAA before flying. This is done online at faadronezone-access.faa.gov and is very easy to do. You will need the drone’s Remote ID serial number which you’ll find on a sticker on the side of the drone’s body. There’s a $5 charge. Once you have the registration number create a label and affix it to the HS600 body.The drone is very stable in the air not only because of its excellent GPS and software, but also because it is heavier than other drone “toys”. It is capable of handling wind speeds up to about 25 to 31MPH. Hopefully you’ll never need to test that! But being able to handle such winds will come in handy at the beach or in the mountains. You’ll find that the drone is very stable in the winds and gusts that you’ll typically fly in. An option within the App permits images to be captured at 4000 by 3000 pixels, an advantage as it permits you to crop the captured images afterwards to get exactly the shot you want. Video may be set to 2.7K at 30 fps or 4K at 20fps. The 5x zoom is very useful. The two-axis gimbal helps deliver very smooth and steady cinematic video.As a beginner I really liked the return-to-home and auto-land features. There are several other automatic features making this a very intelligent camera platform. All around it is a very solid performing drone, very well built, and an excellent beginner’s drone. The only drawback is that this drone does not provide any obstacle avoidance, although it does provide an altitude ceiling and a radius distance fence. Its many advanced features will enable this drone to continue to be a favorite as you advance from novice to advanced piloting.

Great Starter Drone
First drone for me and it couldn’t have been easier to get started once I charged it up.Some things I’d like to point out:1) You don’t get 56 minutes of continuous flight time. You get max 28 since the drone can only use one battery at a time. Fly it until it’s low, bring it back, change batteries, and go back out.2) The order in which you turn things on makes a difference. Power up the drone. Power up the remote. Let it connect. Then connect your phone to the drone Wi-Fi and launch the app. Works perfectly every time.3) Don’t set the drone down (while powered up) on anything large and made of iron. I set it down on my cast iron tablesaw and it mucked up the compass. Had to power it off and move it away before powering it up again. Minor inconvenience that’s easy to avoid, but just something to keep in mind.4) The Remote ID serial number for the drone is printed on a small sticker on the right side of the drone, just behind the gimbal. Easy to see, but nothing to tell you what it is. You’ll need it when you register with the FAA. If you want to be sure that your drone is broadcasting, there’s a little app you can install on your phone called Drone Scanner that finds and tracks all nearby drones and shows their serial numbers. Makes it easy to be sure you’re FAA-compliant.5) Charging – The batteries charge much more quickly with a high-speed charger and a USB-C to C cable, but I haven’t been able to get the controller to charge that way. Have to use a USB-A to C for it to begin charging.About the camera and the complaints in the reviews. For this price, you’re not going to get a cinematic experience. The images are a bit overexposed, you can’t adjust much on the camera (such as exposure time and ISO), but the footage is really good, especially when you consider the price. The video is rock steady and with a bit of cleanup in a package like DaVinci Resolve (which is free), you can make a pretty darned good video. Only complaints I have about the camera is the inability to adjust the ISO and exposure times (which make night shooting pretty much pointless) and the lack of RAW mode on the photos. But again, for the price, it’s tough to beat this little guy.Only real gripes I have about it are minor and are something I hope Holy Stone is working on:1) Improve the documentation. The “tutorial” video is more of a promo for the drone’s features. It doesn’t tell you the details about the features and how to use them. The app itself really needs to be documented since there’s nothing to tell you what each icon means.2) Give users more control over the camera. At this price I don’t expect to be able to adjust the aperture, but exposure time and ISO should be within reach with software updates. I would also think RAW mode would be possible for the photos, but I’ll take what I can get.3) Give me a way to adjust the yaw rate. The joystick is too jerky to get smooth rotation on video and I haven’t found a way to adjust it (see documentation, above).4) Camera modes – When I launch the app without connecting it to the drone, there are options for panorama and time-lapse photos. Can’t figure out how to get to them when I’m connected.I haven’t really found any show-stoppers with this little guy. It’s a solid little drone at a great price that has a lot of nice features.