A couple of drones on Amazon have caught my eye lately, the Holy Stone HS100 (~$250) and HS100G (~$280). It wasn’t the specs of these drones that caught my eye. Instead, what caught my eye were the excellent Amazon reviews (4.6 stars) and the number of Amazon reviews (over 1,300). The question is, “Can you trust these reviews?”
Spoiler alert, you should check with us first. Here’s a list of our favorite drones, which we update monthly.
A quick look at Holy Stone’s products will show that all of their products have 4 stars or higher reviews. So what’s going on? Is the HS100 and other drones from Holy Stone truly amazing products? Or is there something else going on? I’m going to take a closer look at the Holy Stone HS100 to see if it deserves its 5-star reviews. I’m also going to take a look at some of the biased and fake reviews on Amazon.
If you want to see this drone in action, check out the YouTube video I made. You’ll see that it does fly well, but it also has some important drawbacks. Who is Holy Stone?Holy Stone HS100 Drone Battery
Holy Stone is an Amazon seller that specializes in rebadging other manufacturers’ products. Unlike the big brands (DJI, Parrot, and Yuneec), as far as we can tell, Holy Stone doesn’t actually make any of their products. Instead, they contract with low-cost Chinese manufacturers to provide custom logos on existing drones. Holy Stone then puts the drones on Amazon at a significant markup. We have inside sources that the markup on some of their products is close to 300% of the manufacturer’s wholesale price. More on that later. Holy Stone HS100 or SJRC S70W?
The Holy Stone HS100 and HS100G are both rebadged versions of the SJRC S70W. The only places you can buy the Holy Stone versions of the drones are Amazon and Holy Stone’s website. SJRC (also known as SJ R/C) is the brand of the original manufacturer. According to my sources, the manufacturer is a Chinese factory called Apex. Great Amazon Reviews, Terrible Drone?
You might think I’d completely disparage the HS100 as a terrible drone. I won’t do that. I have tested hundreds of drones and many of them are pretty terrible. For the most part, the HS100 (SJRC S70W) does what it is supposed to do. It is much better than many of the cheap toys you can find on Amazon and elsewhere online.
The Holy Stone HS100 and HS100G are basically the same drone. The newer HS100G has a higher resolution 1080 camera, while the original HS100 only records 720. These two drones were the first low-cost drones on the market to come with GPS stabilization and other GPS features. While I may not disparage the HS100, there is a similar model that is really garbage. The Syma X8 Pro is the same size as the SJRC S70W and does the same thing. The SJRC/Holy Stone drone can be controlled well in flight and has pretty good GPS stabilization. In comparison, the Syma X8 is a threat to anyone and anything nearby. The GPS feature on the Syma seems to be constantly malfunctioning, resulting in random behavior. It’s a shame that the X8 Pro is so terrible. The original X8 model was one of our favorites for beginner pilots.
So the Holy Stone drones aren’t garbage, but that doesn’t mean they’re worth the money. Let’s take a closer look.
Forget Amazon reviews, here’s a DroneDJ review
I don’t trust Amazon reviews anymore. I’ve been eyeing this drone with curiosity, wondering if I was missing out on something. Is this drone really as good as the reviews say it is? So when Bangood said they would send us one to test, I was happy. Let’s see how it performs. The camera on the S70W is nothing to brag about, but I’ve seen worse. I have the 1080 version, and the drone does record onboard 1080 video at 25 frames per second. Somehow, this camera avoids the excessive shake and judder that’s common with cheap drones. But that doesn’t mean this camera can compete with the 1080 video shot by drones like the DJI Spark ($399). The camera on the S70W is wide-angle, and there’s a ton of distortion. The horizon may be very round, and that’s not the curvature of the earth you’re seeing. The field of view is also wide enough that you can see the bottom of the engine in the camera’s field of view. The SJRC’s color and clarity also don’t match the Spark’s. The best part about the S70W camera is the remote-controlled single-axis gimbal. The gimbal allows the pilot to adjust the camera from a horizontal to a vertical view. The gimbal uses servo motors, but they do nothing to stabilize the footage.
The biggest downside to this camera is the lack of stabilization. Unlike other single-axis drones, like Yuneec’s Breeze and Mantis Q, the footage captured by the S70W is shaky. The footage follows the drone’s movement, and even the smoothest pilots will be affected by the wind. Even if the camera is top-notch, most pilots will still find the footage a far cry from the stabilized video offered by better drones. Even the $100 Tello has more pleasing electronically stabilized video. Should you buy the highest-rated drone on Amazon?
Holy Stone’s HS100 and HS100G are two of the highest-rated drones on Amazon. As we’ve pointed out, the reviews aren’t to be trusted. Besides, the lower-rated Bebop 2 is a better drone based on the specs, my testing, and what thousands of enthusiasts say.
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