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If you’re looking for a mini quadcopter that you can fly indoors you may be interested in this review on the Holy Stone HS170 vs Hubsan x4. What we’ll be looking at is what features each of these mini quadcopters have included and we’ll be looking at the differences between them. If you know that you want one of these small flying toys but can’t decide which one will suit you best then read on.
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Contents
Holy Stone HS170 Overview
The Holy Stone HS170 is a good drone if you’ve never flown before, it has 3 speed modes so that you can start off slow while you are learning and build up to a faster speed when you have the controls mastered. There is also headless mode so you don’t have to worry about orientation of the drone to begin with.
It has a powerful quad motor so it doesn’t take much adjustment on the controls for this to move quickly so you need to make small moves with the joystick.
This is a small quadcopter, small enough to fit in your hand. It is 5.3 x 5.3 inches in size. There are blade guards to protect the propellers if it crashes into anything and the curved landing legs below the blades help it bounce of the ground if your landings aren’t smooth.
The drone has a flying range of 30 – 50 meters and a flying time of 6 – 8 minutes.
The HS170 has a small gamepad style transmitter with only a few buttons to control the speed, 360 flips and the headless mode.
There are light on the underneath so you identify the front and back from underneath and you can see it well if the light is low. The quadcopter comes with one battery and a usb charger, but with only a 6-8 minute flying time you might want to invest in some spares so that you can extend your flying time. You can buy packs of 4 batteries as spares which come with a multi charger so you can bring your flying time up to at least 30 minutes although you will need to give the motors a little bit of time to cool down in between. You can also buy spare motors, blades and body parts at a reasonable cost to keep your drone in good repair. Read a full review on theHoly Stone HS170 here.
Buy a Holy Stone HS170 at Amazon.com
Hubsan X4
Overview
The Hubsan X4
is another great drone which can be flown indoors. It is a blue colour with a white transfer on top which makes it look like a bug from above. This tiny quadcopter can definitely fit in your pocket as it is only 3 x 3 inches in size. It comes with a removable blade guard so you can protect the blades for breaking if it crashes into a wall, although there are 4 spares included in the pack. There is no separate landing gear as the shape of the drone incorporates 4 legs beneath the blades.
There are 2 flight modes, you have normal mode so that you can learn to fly at a reasonable speed and then you can advance to expert mode.
With the included battery you have a flying time of 6-8 minutes with a range of around 100 metres. It is worth picking up spare batteries if you want a longer flying time, packs are available on Amazon.com. Although this is great for flying indoors you can fly outdoors too, you just need to be aware of the wind strength as it is lightweight and can be easily picked up by the wind. You can keep track of it by the led lights on the arms of the drone although this is easier when the light is lower. These lights can be turned off if you don’t need them on and it might save a little battery power.
The speed of the Hubsan X4 quadcopter and power of the motors lets you use the controls to do flips and rolls to impress your friends.
The transmitter control has few buttons, your normal lever controls and an LED screen which shows which speed mode you’re in.
Without any complicated controls this quadcopter is good to learn to fly for a beginner.
Find out more about the Hubsan X4 at Amazon.com
Holy Stone HS170 vs Hubsan X4
Let’s look at what we have found is different and what is the same.
Size
The Hubsan X4 is smaller than the Holy Stone HS170
. They are both small enough to fly indoors but you might feel you want the smallest drone if you’re planning to do most of your flying inside.
Flying time and range
Both of these drones offer flying time of around 6-8 minutes on one battery charge with a range of up to 100 meters so you’ll get the same benefits there for both of them.
Flying features
The Holy Stone HS170 offers a bit more in flying features, it offers 3 speeds so you can step up as you improve and it offers headless mode which is very helpful for beginners while they are learning how to fly using the correct orientation of the drone. You can also do a one button 360 flip for tricks.
The Hubsan X4 offers 2 flying modes to help if you’re a beginner but that is the only feature that it offers.
Price
The Hubsan X4 price comes in a little cheaper than the Holy Stone HS170 price
but offers a little less in features.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a mini quadcopter to learn how to fly it then the Holy Stone HS170 can offer a little more in features for beginners, if you’re looking for the smallest because you have a small home or you have a couple of kids who both want one then maybe the Hubsan X4 might be the best option for you. Both of these drones offer spare parts available on Amazon.com but just for the fact it offers the headless mode we recommend the Holy Stone HS170
.