Holy Stone HS720 Review

When you’re ready to treat yourself to a well-specced drone that won’t break the bank, the Holy Stone HS720 may just fit the bill.

We’re very impressed by what’s in the box for this price and like many owners of this Holy Stone model are pleased with its performance.

Is the HS720 what you’re looking for?

What impressed us about the Holy Stone HS720?

• Compact folding drone of sturdy build with an attractive carry case.
• User-friendly app for controlling advanced features.
• Well-designed remote control with informative LED display and joystick functions that can be reversed.
• Decent 2K camera with a remotely adjustable angle.
• High capacity intelligent battery that gives a flight time of over 25 minutes.
• All the intelligent flying modes we could ask for (except for obstacle avoidance).

Flying the Holy Stone HS720 Drone

The HS720 drone comes with an elegant carry case together with the remote and other required gear. Just unzip the bag, unfold your drone, insert a charged battery and power it up to be ready for:

Take Off

One-key take-off and landing can be expected as standard for all but the cheapest drones these days, but the HS720 drone does so smoothly and steadily.
Automatic return kicks in when the battery charge drops or the control signal is lost to bring the HS720 drone back to you using GPS. Note, however, that the drone has no obstacle avoidance when flying autonomously, although the drone will rise to about 30 metres before returning.

Emergency stop can be activated with a button on the remote.

Intelligent Flight

Follow-me and Orbit mode will focus the camera on you or an object of interest to follow all the action. The Holy Stone HS720 drone has powerful motors, so it can reach a good speed making it possible to follow you running, cycling or even driving, when you carry the remote control with you.

Track a path by setting waypoints in the app for the drone to follow.

Hovering in place is possible thanks to intelligent processing of signals from optical, gravity and GPS sensors that keep the drone steady for aerial photography.

An Eye in the Sky

HD photography with a 2k camera, adjustable angle and shock absorption produces good stills and video that can be recorded onto a micro SD card.

Streaming video for first-person view is possible over 5G Wi-Fi, as long as you’re in range. Switch to split-screen view if you have a suitable 3D mask to hold your phone.

Long flight times over 25 minutes can be had, thanks to an intelligent, high-capacity battery.

Flight Control

An ergonomic remote control has additional buttons for one-key take-off and landing, return to home, emergency stop, as well as locking/unlocking of the propellers, recording photos and video, adjusting the camera angle, setting lo and hi speed, and to toggle drone lights and the GPS mode.

Left-handed controls can be enabled, which reverse the joystick functions.

An LED display on the remote shows information about the relative distance and altitude of the HS720, signal strength, GPS link, battery levels and current mode status.

A user-friendly app can be installed on your Apple or Android smartphone to control flight and advanced modes with a live camera view.

A safe flight mode keeps the HS720 drone within a pre-set range while you get the hang of the controls.

But…

We found it hard to be critical of the Holy Stone drone, but need to be realistic and remind ourselves that this isn’t a high-end drone. The lens is double the resolution found on entry-level drones and the designers attempt reasonably successfully to control video shake with brushless motors and ‘shock absorption’. However, you’ll need to spend more money if you want true professional-grade 4K photography, obstacle avoidance and true video stabilization.

Design Features of the Holy Stone HS720 Drone

Let’s take a closer look at the technological configuration of the Holy Stone HS720 drone.

What’s Included in the Package?

What you get with the drone and controller are spare parts, USB cable, a charging station and as a bonus, a smart carry case. Not included are two AA batteries for the controller and a USB wall charger.

The Holy Stone HS720 drone has a very solid build but that does push the weight up to nearly half a kilogram, without the battery inserted. We like how compact the drone is when it’s folded, making it very easy to fit in your backpack.

The motors are, of course, brushless, which accounts for reduced noise, longer flight time and better power output. The lack of prop guards call for extra care when you’re flying indoors or around obstacles.

Also in the package are a full set of spare propellers with a matching screwdriver.

How Do You Control the Holy Stone HS720 Drone?

The remote can control all the basic functions for flying and operating your HS720 drone. Your smartphone will add more functionality with the matching app, as well as the live video view.

The LED built-in display on the remote has basic telemetry, like the number of GPS satellites and their signal strength, as well as the signal strength of the remote and drone connection and their respective battery charge levels.

How Does the Camera Work?

The 2K (2048 x 1152P) camera records directly to an onboard micro SD card (not included) and also transmits video of lesser quality for live streaming in the phone app. The lens has a 110-degree field of vision. You can adjust the viewing angle from 0 to 90 degrees with a button on the remote control.

How Are the Batteries Charged?

Out of the box you get one battery and a charger that can hold up to two batteries should you get another one. That may be a good idea since charge time is 5–7 hours, which is pretty standard for high capacity batteries at this price level.

When the battery is nearly discharged, an audible alarm will sound from the remote and the drone’s lights will begin to flash slowly. When the frequency of the audible and visual signals increase, the battery is nearly completely discharged.

Product Reviews

In this Holy Stone drone review, we also looked at real user experiences. Owners of this model are generally very satisfied or even raving fans, although there have been reports of some manufacturing issues needing return. Generally, Holy Stone drones have a good reputation and we found no complaints about poor customer service. Ease of operation, good controller and long battery life of the HS720 drone are especially appreciated, as is the folding design and the carrying case.

FAQ

Can You Trim the Quadcopter?

There is no separate propeller trimming allowed for.

Is There an Emergency Stop?

Yes, press the key next to the left joystick for 3 seconds.

Does It Come With Video Stabilization?

The camera holder has shock absorption built-in.

Can You Change the Camera Angle in Flight?

There is a button on the back of the remote to adjust the camera angle.

Is There a Warranty?

Holy Stone processes warranty returns for models bought via Amazon directly on their website.

Where Can You Buy It?

You can get the Holy Stone HS720 Drone on Amazon.

Our Verdict

The result of this Holy Stone HS720 drone review is a strong recommendation and you would really need to spend a lot more money to get a better drone than this. We like the quality of the build, the implementation of the flight controls and the user-friendly app.