Holy Stone HS165 Review

The Holy Stone HS165 is a successful drone by the Holy Stone brand. Holy Stone is a  pretty big producer in the drone market with some very successful models especially on sites such as Amazon, in this blog, we review the HS165 a powerful high-end foldable drone. It offers 1080p video quality with a 90º FOV lens. It also comes with GPS which can help this drone hold a solid hover. With RTH functionality, the drone can fly itself back if it out of range or signal, or in low power.

The Holy Stone HS165 is a great beginner’s drone or for the more experienced users as well, it also has an affordable price and pretty good video quality. The Holy Stone HS165 also comes with various modes such as the “Follow Me” mode which is very useful, were the drone will follow you wherever you go.

Like most drones, the Holy Stone HS165 is a quadcopter drone with 4 propellers with protection. The camera of the Holy Stone HS165 is mounted on the drone, a downside to this drone is that the camera doesn’t come on any gimbal or stabilization for the video.

But before we talk about its features, what comes in the box of the Holy Stone HS165? Inside the box, we can find the HS165 drone with 2 batteries, carrying a backpack, transmitter, 2 extra landing gears, 4 propellers, USB battery charger, user manual.

Holy Stone’s controller is good, it’s comfortable and easy to use with its dual handles, above the controller you can put your smartphone of all sizes when it runs out of battery you just need to charges it with its charging cable. This model is also compatible with FPV (First Person View) drones for live transmission and has GPS.

Pros
  • 1080p Camera
  • Has a GPS connection
  • Good flight time
  • Can fly up to 300m
  • WiFi connection and FPV support
Cons
  • Can be a bit unresponsive
  • Could have better stabilization

The Specs

The Holy Stone HS165 drone uses a 1080p camera with WiFi connection and FPV and GPS connection. The HS165 can go as far as 300 meters with a video connection. It also has a powerful 880 mAH batteries.

The camera has a FOV adjustable angle lens up to 90º which gives you a nice look at your videos. It also comes with GPS connection so the drone can fly itself back if it out of range or signal, or in low power.

The HS165 is foldable and rechargeable, both the drone and controller are foldable and rechargeable, which makes it portable and the controller doesn’t need an extra battery. The drone is capable of supporting SD cards up to 32GB  (FAT 32 format).

The package also includes drone protection guards which can protect people and property and extra propellers in case the ones you have get damaged and need to be replaced.

This drone also comes with a rechargeable 880 mAh batteries. The HS165 drone allows you to fly up to 15 minutes when they’re charged, whenever the battery is low the drone will fly back home.

Any beginner can fly under control and have more fun outdoors and record all your experiences to your smartphone, and to the APP which you are able to control de drone.

If you want to check out some other drones click here

Stabilization

The Holy Stone HS165 doesn’t come with any stabilization, no gimbal or electronic video stabilization to get clearer pictures.

The stabilization isn’t the best in this drone if you want smoother videos you will have to fly slower and gently and try not to fly in windy conditions.

Battery

The Holy Stone HS165 comes with a rechargeable 7.4V 880mAh battery which you can charge with the USB Battery Charger, which can last about 15 minutes recording at 1080p.

The battery is situated at the bottom back inside, where there is a cover that gives access to the battery. The HS165 comes with 2 battery, so you can change them when the first one runs out you can put the first one to charge right away.

Design

The Holy Stone HS165 has an elegant modern design, it is well built with good quality plastics and it has a nice dark color. Its design is similar to most drones by a Holy Stone such as the HS165 its predecessor, it feels pretty durable and has the ability to replace and switch pieces such as the protectors and propellers. It can fly up to 300 meters with a video connection.

The dimensions of the Holy Stone drone are 11.61 x 8.39 x 3.46 inches and weighs 6 ounces, it’s a decent-sized drone,  all the adjustments and controls will be made from the controller and its screen with the live video, it also comes with a smartphone attachment for it to fly in FPV.

The drone has a classic quadcopter look with or without protective propellor blades, you can choose what you prefer, under the body we can see the landing legs and the 1080p camera to record your videos.

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Modes

The Holy Stone HS165 comes with many useful modes. When the battery is low, the signal is lost or you like to recover it to never lose your drone. You can enjoy your flight using the “Follow Me” or “Waypoint” mode on the control page of the Holy Stone application.

You can use the app to set up the circle around an object and plan the desired route to focus on capturing photos and videos and having fun outdoors. In addition, it also has an advanced return Home option. 

Thanks to the GPS we have 3 modes, Circle Fly which can automatically orbit around or fly along the path you set, the Auto return Home which enables precise positioning and prevents losing the drone and the Tap-fly will fly along the path you draw on the app to focus on capturing photos and videos

You can set the flight distance of the HS165, you can plan your safe flight area. The drone identifies geographic locations through the GPS systems, flight, auto land or return in areas with electronic fences.

Gesture control lets you pose for the camera to activate phone jack and video recording. Thanks to this mode you can free your hands and pose your gestures or dance with your friends.

The Holy Stone HS165 has also multiple flight modes, the headless mode allows you to fly no matter what direction the aircraft is facing, the forward stick is forward, and the back stick is backward. 

The HS165 also allows you to change between different flying speeds, high and low, which helps beginners fly slower at the start.

My opinion

The Holy Stone HS165 drone is a great option for most people who are looking for a great budget-quality drone with a great price, it’s a great option for beginners and more experienced flyers who want to upgrade to a better drone as well.

The HS165 has all basic drone features plus more, as well as good flight, battery and video support but it has a downside which is it’s stabilization since it doesn’t come with any gimbal or EIS.

The HS165 is pretty easy to learn and will get you all those great aerial shots you would want in a drone and the great features it has will help you, it also carries a 880 mAh battery which will give you plenty of time to record your videos.

The 1080p camera is situated on the front of the drone and thanks to the LED lights at the front we can see where the drone is flying and easier for night-time or low-light flying, we can also see LED in the bottom which indicates the calibration.

If you are looking for an FPV drone, this one will work well as well, it supports FPV and can go as far as 300 meters and can come back with a single button. This drone has a lot of positive reviews by many people and we recommend getting it if you are looking for a good drone, we hope this review was helpful and have fun flying.

Review Breakdown

Video support up to 1080p with GPS and FPV support. It can last 18 minutes and fly as far as 300 meters, with many more modes.

Flight
85%
Design
80%
Battery Life
80%
Camera
75%
Modes
80%