NEW Holy Stone HS720R Drone Test and Review 

Thanks! Having a drone that is harder to fly does make me a better pilot though! lol. Indeed, Holy stone jumped a bit early on this one, but the last one, the HS360S was fantastic and very nice quality, very impressed with it. If they can reproduce that drone with a decent gimbal and camera, they wouldn't need a new release for some time... I just received a message that Holy Stone is pulling this one back due to quality issues and will be releasing it at a later date once the problems are worked out. Hopefully I can give the new one a second chance test, I'm a sucker for the underdog... 🤙

Ah is that's why it's 50% off on AmazonUK? I knew it sounded too good to be true.

@@wanderer10k That would be a win if any fixes they come up with can be pushed via firmware, but if not you might have an interesting paperweight

​@wanderer10k sort of a win win,if issues can be solved with firmware updates in the next few weeks then you get a drone half price, if not return it and get a refund.

Had 2 720 es that flew off Holy Stone sent me a new one no questions asked.Pretty dam nice of them.

@@jerrycybulsky6756 Yes it is! It's terrible when you already lost a drone and the company doesn't treat you well besides...

Indeed, their customer support has historically been really good, and that's super important! The specific model that had issues in this video has been reworked based on customer feedback and I have a replacement "new and improved" model in my hands that will be reviewed as soon as the weather clears, so stay tuned! Finger crossed it is a great improvement! 🤙

Nice! Glad it works for you! I did JUST receive a replacement model but weather had not let us give it a try yet...

Thanks for sharing! The video and gimbal are decent for sure...

Thank you! Cheers!

Glad it was helpful! Was just contacted by HolyStone and they have the upgraded model available, will be reviewing it soon...

Thanks for watching! Indeed, I just received a message that Holy Stone is pulling this one back due to quality issues and will be releasing it at a later date once the problems are worked out. The gimbal and camera were decent so if they can focus on the GPS stability I think it will be a solid flier. Hopefully they will want a "redo" and I can give a new and improved model a test...

@@AlienDrones I'm sure they will. Looking forward to the new review.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks! I always try and be truthful yet tactful with reviews. This model in particular I've been through three (two new ones since this one, the most recent one only 1 week ago) and they all had the same issues. That's too bad too because the gimbal and video is pretty good.

Indeed I calibrated the gyro (down and to the left) multiple times, but in my understanding this is for the gimbal gyroscope, not the GPS position. Unfortunately it seems some people get a model that works fine, some don't. That's a problem onto itself as if you can't trust the consistency they simply need to do better quality control.

They did pull this one back from the market and made updates, and are due to release it again in the next couple of weeks. I agreed to give it another chance, hopefully they recognized the issues and addressed them, we'll see.

This was just sent to me a day or so ago? I do see it listed back on Amazon but maybe this was old stock? Not sure how to update firmware or if that is possible? thanks for writing back. @@AlienDrones

I bought one of these through Amazon and got it about a week ago. My experience was almost WORD FOR WORD what this comment said. Also the follow function DOES NOT work. Camera never centered on the controller. Drone started to drift an odd direction and I landed it to avoid it crashing into a tree. Another time it started to drift and every control directional movement only caused it to list further the direction it was drifting, entirely ignoring the actual directions input, and clipped some tree branches, before spinning wildly out of control and crashing from about 20 feet up. I'm returning it. I spent too much for a drone that doesn't work right.

Nice!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the kind words! I'll take a look at the T210 mini. At first glance, wondering why so many pictures show the back or top/side of the drone, not straight on and close up to the camera itself. What are they trying to hide? 🤔

The WiFi needs to be turned back on once airplane mode is enabled to connect to the drone, haven't had any connection issues myself...

They have not reached out to me if they had any major updates, so nothing more I can add at the moment.

Did you even watch the video? Lol He did it twice. It's a crappy drone

Yes, also did the pulling down and to the left multiple times but this is not GPS calibration it is gimbal gyro calibration (GPS is down/right) and in my understanding this has no effect on the GPS(or compass) positioning resolution or accuracy. At least it didn't improve anything for the toilet bowling in my case. Tried it about 3 more times in 2 more locations after this video. It is simply unsafe and I can't in good conscience fly it anymore as it will eventually crash into something or hurt somebody. It is quite disturbing to have a drone fly faster and faster circling out of control when there are people around, or even when there isn't... I'll buy the secret decoder ring if there is some secret action that solves these issues, but if it exists I would think it should already be included with the purchase of a new drone. 😒

He did the compass cal. twice. Gyro calibration is down and to the LEFT@@Superdupershaun

Compass calibration at least 10 times in multiple locations and 3 different 720R drones... Also calibrated the gyro (down and to the left) multiple times as well, but in my understanding this is for the gimbal gyroscope, not the GPS position.

It did seem to want to fly straight, then simply became drunk after a couple of minutes. I just received a message that Holy Stone is pulling this one back and won't release it publicly yet due to quality issues and will be releasing it at a later date once the problems are worked out. Hopefully they work out the QA issues and it will be solid going forward.

@@AlienDrones yeah that's what my Holy Stone rep told me as well yesterday which I mentioned in my comment. She said they are not releasing it until mid August while they finish further QC testing. My worry is that it could be a bad batch of compasses since mine has none of these issues so it seems hit and miss. If that's the case then no amount of programming can fix it. I also don't think it can do firmware updates anyway. I hope they don't have thousands of units of this drone already sitting in Amazon warehouses. I suppose it could be bad programming in the flight controller since the 720E and sometimes the 720G were notorious for phantom or ghost controls. The fact mine had none of these issues in 2 flights makes me suspect this is a hardware issue, likely the compass. This drone is also legally required to be RID compliant which it isn't as far as I can tell. I gotta wonder if they end up pulling this drone completely off the market but the financial loss of doing that would be devastating. I hope they get it sorted out because Holy Stone is my biggest sponsor.

Had 2 720e both had really bad toilet bowl effects Finally they just flew away never to be seen again

@@jerrycybulsky6756 that is the notorious phantom controls that plagued that model. I had that happen too though mine didn't toilet bowl. It just tilted to the side and flew off until it flew into the neighbor's garage door.

Hello! To be clear, the HS360S is below 250g so it does not need remote ID to be flown in the US, if flown for recreational purposes. Indeed, the HS720R does not have remote ID to my knowledge and according to the rule, it's actually required to have RID to be sold in the US. I can only assume that Holy Stone will follow the requirements and the RID will be enabled in firmware or something will supplied to make it compliant by 9/16/2023. Honestly, I think there will be MASS non-compliance with this rule, and most people won't know and won't care if it has remote ID or not. Just my 2 cents... 😎

@@AlienDrones Yes, I know about the "below 250g" rule and that is why I bought the HS360S. I was referring to the newer HS720R. And I agree about the Mass non-compliance 😉. Thanks for replying👽! 🦾

From your question I can assume you didn't watch the video yet? Might help with the info here... 👍

Thanks for sharing! Indeed, I just received a message that Holy Stone is pulling this one back due to quality issues and will be releasing it at a later date once the problems are worked out. The gimbal and camera were decent so if they can focus on the GPS stability I think it will be a solid flier. Hopefully they will want a "redo" and I'll be happy to give a new and improved model a test... You are correct though, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

@@AlienDrones Thanks for replying. Holy Stone does deserve a second chance. Honest review.

Thanks for sharing! Indeed I tried non-GPS mode and with any wind it was a real struggle to keep it under control as the wind pushed it around so much...

Received 3 of these and the last one I received was about 2 weeks ago (Mid November, 2023). It was the newest manufacturing date (October 2023 I think) as it had STD remote ID built in (first two did not). This one also started circling about 2 minutes into the flights (identical to the other two). I tried it 3 different times in 2 different locations. You could get a good one of the 720Rs, I've heard it happens (so some reviewers say), but I have not seen it myself. I'm always honest in the reviews but try not to be downright rude, that's just not how I roll. I was only tempted to start a product on fire once (not this one), but it didn't come to that. Lol. 😎

Maybe it identifies as a turtle? 🐢 😅

Indeed the camera and gimbal seem to be decent, just need to get that GPS tweaked up...

Hello, In that price range, try this one amzn.to/46e9v3V or this one amzn.to/3Iv7nMQ , really decent in this price range

Yes, they have some work to do on this one. I was just told that an updated replacement is on the way so I'll post it when tested...

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Thanks! What are your "must haves", what is your use case and what is your budget?

@@AlienDrones my “must haves” are range, picture/video quality, my uses would be exploration and just general fun and my budget is around $600, thank you for such a speedy reply ☺️

@@CJay-xq7dh IMO, best with those requirements is the DJI mini 3 combo pkg here: amzn.to/3OS1PyM with Prime I show on sale for $658🤙

@@AlienDrones thank you for your recommendation 💪☺️

Drift hell. Just tried unit #3, 3 MPH wind, 3rd location, spun like a bitch wider and wider circles. Glad yours worked good, count your blessings. This thing is a ridiculous, unsafe hazard. For reference tested 2 other drones at the same time, one HS one other. Both of those worked fine so not the location, not the wind, not the pilot...

@@AlienDrones I’m changing my comment on this. I just sent mine back. And wrote a not so nice review on it. For one, I’m not about to purchase a drone that I fly for 20 minutes and then takes 5-7 hours to charge. 2. They claim max distance is 1.8 miles. No, mine goes 720 ft, disconnects and comes home. 3. Last flight, went 720ft. Disconnect, DID NOT come home. Just hovered there 110 ft in the air. Even after I walked all the way to it and it reconnected. Sat hovering at 110 ft up until it ran out of battery and fell out of the sky. Ups just left with it

I'm skeptical about that, but enlighten me, happy to try it. I reached out to Holy Stone to confirm what to do and how and they replied agreeing that there's a problem and pulled the drone from the market until "the QA issues are corrected." Regardless, if a calibration procedure can be performed wrong that easily then that's a problem by itself...

@AlienDrones I have the cinemaster 2 and when I would do the geometric calibration wrong it would toilet bowl out of control. I lift the drone up, hold it "belly down" do 3 spins counter clockwise then turn it camera up and spin it counter clockwise 3 times. As soon as I saw you calibrating it a light bulb went off in my head 😆 it's important to go counterclockwise both times for some reason.

@@stevemarkovic9326 FYI, just to confirm I did go back and did the rotations in the opposite direction multiple times with the same result. They sent a replacement yesterday, and I tried multiple directions as well, just to prove the point, and the new replacement flew even worse. I was truly afraid it was going to hit a pedestrian or fly into the street, it was terrible and disturbing. Circled faster and faster and was barely responsive to controls, felt like at about 10% control. I struggled to get it on the ground in a safe place without violently crashing. I did try gyro calibration multiple times as well, no love from this model. It is simply unsafe to fly. Don't know what else to say except that Holy Stone needs to do better.

Yeah, it happens. That day there was really bad wild fire smoke in the air in the direction I was shooting. The sky actually glowed when the sun hit it, but I in retrospect could have done something different... Blame global warming. 🤷‍♂

Looks like this drone isn't available to purchase right now. That's good especially with all the problems here with this one.

Indeed, I just received a message that Holy Stone is pulling this one back due to quality issues and will be releasing it at a later date once the problems are worked out. I'll be happy to give it a second chance test if they think they worked out all the kinks...

@AlienDrones Good for them. They made the right decision. Hopefully they quickly fix the issues it has.

Not their best showing for sure. I give them credit for taking the drastic step of pulling it from the market until it's fixed, too bad they didn't check it out better before releasing it, but hey, that's where we come in, lol!

The HS360S was fantastic as far as quality and functionality....

@@AlienDrones Haha i apologize, but I basically wrote a book for this reply!.... As you refer to the HS360S, i will concede that for the target demographic it's not a bad drone. However.... I just personally think that something like 4k @ 20 FPS is ridiculous, and only exists so they can claim "4k video" in marketing. In my mind, there is no reason a camera should even try to have 4k when it doesnt even have gimbals. if the footage isnt smooth, who cares about the resolution? Its like putting a formula 1 engine in a 1995 honda accord and claiming its a race car. It just doesnt make sense. And lets be real, MOST people are still only watching videos on 1080 or 1440p monitors so the 4k aspect is completely wasted. Id rather see nice, refined, 100fps 1440p video than crappy, choppy, "4k" video at 20 FPS. But hey, thats just me! Also, releasing a drone before it's polished (the severe toilet bowling issues, or the common issue of the drone just going completely AWOL upon launch and ignoring remote control inputs by the pilot, etc) is just a bit tough to handle for me. I prefer the Fimi method. Sure, everybody is angry at them because the X8 Pro was supposed to be released in what, March or something like that? but rather than release a buggy, incomplete product and hope they can fix it remotely with updates, they simply prolonged the release date so they can smooth out the issues and release a well-polished, quality piece of hardware. Dont get me wrong, I personally like HS and am eager to see where they go in the coming years. They just (in my mind) have a bit of an identity issue and are trying too hard to cram professional photography components into a toy that has no business having those components. I like that they are trying to bring higher quality components to a more budget-oriented market, and I can only imagine how difficult that is, so i'm not trying to tear them apart for that. The 720G/R are bridging the gap between toy and tool, and i think thats great! With that being said, they have no business trying to claim 3km transmission on a drone that will only travel about 500 meters in a wide open field (hs720g) or wasting money on a 4k camera when that money should have instead gone towards a cheaper 1080 camera, but with the addition of a 2 axis gimbal (hs360s). Theres no denying that full msrp of $330 for the hs720g is absurd either, considering the DJI Mini 2 SE and Fimi x8 Mini V2 are both that same price and are much higher quality drones in every aspect, video, photo, transmission, flight time, speed, safety, intelligent flight modes, app features, etc. As soon as Holy Stone begins doing radio-drone transmission rather than relying on a phones WiFi connection, I will give them another chance. But in the meantime, I'll stick with my X8 SE 2022. Either way, good video my man. Always been a fan of your content.

@@H484R No worries. Wasn't really commenting of the viability of Holy Stones technical capability or market comparison other than to say in the chronological releases they've done, the HS360S was a noticeable improvement in quality over other models. For someone just wanting to fly and take a few pics, $175 (with discount) is all they can afford and IMO will treat beginners well if they just want to fly and take a few pics of the kids and the dog... PS. You didn't get the longest comment ever on the channel. I checked. 😎

@@AlienDrones haha yeah sorry, that kind of turned into a rant about HS as a whole, rather than simply the drone, which is the focus of the video. But thats a bummer, i'll have to up my game a bit on the next video to get longest comment😂

I'm surprised they even had it available as they pulled it from the market after having issues, you must have got old stock. Was just contacted by Holy Stone and they have the upgraded model available, will be reviewing it soon so we'll see how it goes. Depending on the price range, the Potensic ATOM 3-axis is a better value than even the cheapest DJI at the moment.

Why not?

They upgraded the 720G to the 720R with better camera, better communication and more stable gimbal from what I can tell. Those were pretty decent but the GPS or control algorithm just had issues. I just received a message that Holy Stone is pulling this one back due to quality issues and will be releasing it at a later date once the problems are worked out.

Believe it is Ophelia Fly

🚽