Hubsan H501S X4 Brushless Drone

I used to fly RC planes and I've had numerous 4x4 nitro buggies. I have flown a few quads, a micro and mini. This is my first FPV quad with brushless motors. With that in mind, here is my review of this Quad.
The quad itself is of an excellent quality build, easy to put together. After reviewing the manual, I put it through the tests. Every function works as promised. Follow me, GPS hold, altitude hold, and return to home all work very well and are as described. The quad has an excellent camera that gives a very clear picture even a long distances (I've only flown out to 200 meters so far). The transmitter works as promised and the switches are placed well. The LCD screen is bright but I would recommend a sun shade for it. Overall this has to be one of the best RC investments I've made. My 7 year old son can operate it while in GPS mode, but I must stress if you are a beginner, leave it in GPS hold. When you take it out of GPS hold, it will fly around at a very good pace and it's easy to get a little reckless. I would recommend this for anyone that has flown a quad before and maybe even a beginner IF they practice plenty on GPS hold and take it slow. Also, the manual may not tell you but with the proper firmware you can change the LED function to either blink every second, turn off, or have them on all the time.

Suggestion

There aren't many cons for this Quad. Every function works very well. The LED lights could be brighter for beginners daytime orientation. The transmitter feels clunky and cheap at first but it grows on you. It is built with quality but the type of plastic does feel funny. The instructions, for the most part are pretty thorough, however I had to google how to check what firmware I was running. After which I found that I could change the LED function to either blink every second, turn off, or have them on all the time. It's helpful for night flights.

Oct 26,2016

The drone is really fast. It came with a US-EU adaptor and an extra battery for the controller (that wasn't mentioned in the specs). I have made two flights until now. First at night next to the sea and second at a cloudy day at noon. The drone reacted fast even when tested at a high of 30 meters. RTH was working perfect. I even tried changing my position during the process and the drone landed in front of me. "Follow me" also worked fine. Headless mode was so and so. It needs some time to start working, which is frustrating sometimes but it's OK. All the cons have to do with the camera. Neither pictures nor video looked like HD. The quality of the colours was less than expected. I haven't tried the filter that was included in the box yet, but there wasn't too much sun so I don't think that it will do any better (it's supposed to help when the day is very bright). Also, the lack of kimbal is more important than I thought. The drone is fast and when it turns, watching the video makes you feel dizzy. On the other hand, it's something that you know when you buy it and maybe making turns with less speed will make the experience better.
Overall: A nice cheap drone, perfect for playing but not for taking pictures or video

Feb 09,2019

I will not elaborate on the product - Hubsan S501S is a decent drone for good money. In the set, I also received the power pack for the transmitter and the sunshield. I received both these items and the EU plug adapter for free along with the parcel.
The most important thing I wanted to say to GEARBEST's future customers - THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE, the purchase made on 30/07/2012 - the parcel WAS DELIVERED 01.08.2018 ... less than THREE DAYS to POLAND. Faster as a domestic shipment.
I will tell my grandchildren about this parcel. In the meantime, I received a few e-mails with tracking the progress of delivery - I really buy a lot in international trade ..... but with this transaction you killed the competition.

Full respect and congratulations for the Gearbest team. Regards. Trex.

Suggestion

Brak

Aug 01,2018

This is a great quad for the price, it even included some things not in the description. I've only flown it a few times but it's working incredibly. It's very easy to set up and learn to fly especially if you read the whole manual, which isn't that long. I received the H501S-S version of the drone which is great I assume they fixed some of the issues people have had with them. Even though it wasn't listed, It came with a rechargeable battery for the transmitter, which also seems to have a new simpler design for installing the AAA batteries if you ever want to use those instead. Also included a sunshade for the transmitter and a filter you can put on the camera lens. Definitely would make the same choice again.

Suggestion

The battery compartment has no extra room at all making it very difficult to use any other battery other than the official ones. Very small feet really limits where you can take off and land, it also keeps it very agile and fast, but it feels like there could be at least some type of legs without sacrificing too much speed.

Aug 28,2017

This is my third H501S-S version and I am satisfied. Very nice quad for the price, the package is nice and was delivered without damages. It has last firmware at drone as well as at remote control - which looks very cheap and the display is not good (compare with advance control, but the functionality is the same). Very good FPV more than 600 m without any mod. RTF works well. Strong motors allows fly in a really windy condition, Flying time is about 18 min, but with gopro camera only 8 - 10 minutes. Flying under GPS is too slow 5 m/s, so it is fun to turn GPS off and you can fly 15 m/s. Recommend this product and thaks to GearBest

Suggestion

none

Aug 05,2018

il drone a prima vista si presenta piccolo ma gia dalla prima accensione ci si rende conto della qualità costruttiva. materiali belli al tatto e di qualità buona. viene fornito con eliche di ricambio, batteria lipo e caricabatteria. inclusa nella confezione una chiave di supporto per la sostituzione delle eliche. gia dal primo volo si puo capire l'enorme stabilità. gps e barometro fanno il loro dovere. il radiocomando è molto preciso e risponde bene ai comandi. piccole difficoltà per quanto riguarda le frequenze di trasmissione video ma basta scegliere un canale non disturbato e tutto si risolve. vola che è una bellezza, docile e reattivo.
lo consiglio vivamente a chi ha poca o nulla esperienza.

Suggestion

nulla da dichiarare. l'oggetto per ora ha solo cose positive.

Feb 22,2017

For the good stuff: The Drone itself seems nicely put together. the stickers are a bit tilted, but that's a minor thing. Also, the motors arent centered, but they seem very secure and at no risk of hitting the plastic that surrounds them. Flight is alright. not bad but not super stable either. I'd give flight 4/5. The drone itself is the only thing that stands out as really good to me. Video quality is not super good, but its decent. the wide angle lens is nice. keep in mind the camera has no gimbal. the flight time is about 20 minutes, and range is good at about 200 meters or 600 feet. overall a really good drone.

Suggestion

The drone is good, the rest is bad or mediocre at best. Let's start with the controller. I got the standard controller, and I must say it feels very cheap. The plastic feels cheap, the sticks feel cheap and so do the camera buttons and the Power switch. the Flight mode and RTH Switches feel very good though. The screen is OK, but it goes black when the signal is lost instead of showing static, which is undesirable. also, you can change the receiving frequency on the controller, but not on the drone, so getting an optimal FPV video feed requires a bit of fumbling arround, especially since it cannot be done while the drone is in the air. the worst part is the batteries: it runs on 4 AA batteries. they last very little, not because the controller uses alot of power, but because it stops working after the batteries have drained just a bit. they last for 3 flights max. fortunately, its relatively easy to connect a 7.4v LiPo battery. the controller apparently detects the voltage and adjusts the on screen battery meter accordingly, so no need to worry about over discharging your LiPo battery. The drone's battery and charger are awful. the battery is only 10C, so in flight the voltage readout on the controller is very unreliable and inaccurate. the battery heats up exessively and mine is already damaged (after about 8 or 9 flights). flight time with the original battery ATM is less than 2 minutes before the drone auto lands. Fortunately the batteries you can purchase online, which claim to be OEM, are actually better(in the picture, the original battery has black tape vs the white tape on the 'knockoff' batteries). I got 2, which are still working perfectly after arround 12 flights on each. they're also higher than 10C, so the voltage readout is accurate. the charger also failed (after about 15 charges, not to mention it takes 3+ hours to charge the battery), so you might as well get a decent charger with your extra batteries.

Jul 27,2017

Rewelacyjny dron w tym przedziale cenowym. Posiada Kamerkę FHD która ma dość dobry obraz, GPS, FPV, oraz tryby Headless Mode, Follow Me Mode, One Key to Return, Circle On.
Dron przychodzi w czarnym pudełku, dodatkowo otrzymałem przejściówkę do zasilacza na gniazdko EU.
Do nadajnika jest dołączony akumulator (nie baterie), lecz można wsadzić tam baterie AA.
Po skalibrowaniu dron jest bardzo stabilny i dobrze reaguje na komendy.
W zestawie jest 8 śmigieł (4 zapasowe).
Czas lotu to ok. 20 minut

Suggestion

- brak osłon na śmigła

Jul 13,2018

This middle size dron is suitable for beginners and advandce pilots, I like Hubsan H501SS more than xiro and DJI phantom 3 standard, easy to unlock eeprom to cancel limit for speed and altitude. When you turn off GPS mode you can enjoy really fun flight but be carefull of burning esc or battery. The fpv is great of distance arround 800 metres with add. antenna set. Only the camera would be better, but for drone is not problem to carry external camera with gimbal. I recommend use two baterries. If you calibrate gyro and compas properly you can rely on it.

Suggestion

the camera is only for fpv

Jun 20,2018

I watched and read a lot about this product and I really liked it.
Has many features and functions.
Pleases bezkoklektornye engines, return home,
good video and of course the price.
It is easy to control and monitor it in flight.
Got a full set at once: screen protection,
battery in the control panel, filter camera,
everything went in the kit for the indicated price.
Friends really liked we want to buy more, we are waiting for the action.

Suggestion

There were problems with the video signal but after talking
with Heidi Support http://www.gearbest.com everything was resolved.

Jul 06,2018