Easy to use, but poor flight control
589774
1000% better than the traditional way of using a kite sting.

Only downside is it doesn't give total control of the kite itself and makes flying sort of difficult.
254015
I'm not an expert flyer, but do not consider myself a beginner. This helecopter was very uncontrollable for me to fly. I have less then 45 minutes fly time and have broken two swashplates. The instruction manual did not provide much instruction regarding the remote. Maybe my issues are not knowing how to properly use the remote. I have read many positive reviews and wish I could give a positive review. I have watched many U Tube videos and was impressed with what I saw. Maybe I received a defective unit, I did notice it was missing a screw from the tail rotor. Often when I try to increase the throttle it has lag time before the powerful motor increases RPM. I have a WL Toys V911 and enjoy flying it. For the price the V911 is a great buy, can't say the same for MY V931.
685316
After getting one of the 30 dollar micro-copters from my girlfriend and enjoying flying it, I wanted something I could control a bit more, so I ratcheted up a notch on the helicopter scale and got the venom ozone.  It's a lot of fun, you get great control (forwards, backwards, rotate left and right, and moving up and down), and overall it crashed pretty well.  This lasted for about two weeks, but as I got better with the controls, I flew closer to obstacles, and I ultimately hit a wall in such a way that the copter crashed upside down and snapped a piece near the upper main rotor blades.
  The parts aren't terribly expensive, but they come from texas, so getting a few 3 or 4 dollar parts added on almost 10 dollars in shipping.  I couldn't finds parts locally so I had to go this route.  I then couldn't find any instructions anywhere online for taking the copter apart and putting it back together.  I have a bit of technical savvy, so I actually was able to fix it and it now flies again, but it's not the same.  There's a bit of wobble in the hover now, and I just crashed again last night to find a screw I'd tightened as much as I could had come loose.  I'm left feeling like I need to buy another one if I want to get back to the flying I was doing before that first bad crash.
  The jury's still out for me.  I think I'll keep trying to fix this copter and get if flying.  Like I said, it is a blast, and you do get decent control.  Overall I'd recommend.
  One last downside is battery life.  You get about 6 or 7 good minutes for over half an hour of charge, which isn't spectacular at all.
4667081
I bought the X-star Premium from and ebay seller a little over a week in a half ago and received the unit on July  2016. The package and construction is great on the drone. The orange makes it much easier to keep line of sight in bright conditions and I love the physical button layout on the controller. However. In flight is where I am running into problems. The 360 rotation controls on my unit are sluggish and jerky, and the video signal on my devices is terrible (samsung note 5, ipad mini 2), I get video glitching and drop out with in 400 feet distance and 100- 200 feet of altitude every time I fly no matter where I am. I have called and emailed customer support and I did get responses relatively fast. They want me to return the unit so they can either repair it or send a new one under the warranty. So unlike other reviews they are not sending me a new one before I have to send mine back which is what I was hoping. Right now I'm a mixed bag on the drone. I really want to love Autel but this first experience is not leaving me with a good feeling. Trying to decide if I should just return and try a different drone or get the warranty service done.  I'll update with whatever happens.
661315
Updated:

This is a fun and friggin' fast little drone!  It's one of the few that I don't allow inexperienced pilots to fly, because it is heavy for its size which makes it a bit fragile, and it's fast even in low speed.

The X4 seems to be intended as sort of a pilot's transition from auto-level to acro with its tricks in "expert mode".  The adjustments at any speed are quick and jerky, making its video mode less dramatic, but flying a lot of fun.  A nice experience nonetheless for a quad at this price point, and it uses a popular battery.

This drone is a bit loud once the prop guards are equipped (not an easy task, they should come installed out of the box IMO), but it trims well, is strong enough to fight mild wind, and is a pretty good quad for intermediate pilots.

Notes:
1. Once you pair the X4 with its transmitter, do not power off the remote.  If you do, you will have to power off the drone (unplug the X4 from its battery) to use it again.  This was kind of an upset for me, since I disable transmitters regularly to avoid injury while helping kids with other quads, but I've gotten used to it and it's not a deal-breaker.
2. The "pulldown" tab to insert the battery broke off very easily, almost like it was supposed to do so.  There is nothing in the instruction manual indicating that this is the case, but the battery sits well in the drone and it flies just fine, so don't panic if this happens to you.
4118074
Cool lil bird for the $. I can't get the controls dialed in though. They will not adjust to get rid of constant drift.
4460323
I can't recommend this since it doesn't fly very well no matter what the fan boys and paid reviewers say.  It is easier to control than the Hubson X4 that can't be controlled at all but that seems to be because it's bigger and slower so it can't get away as fast. The best I can do with it is to barely keep it in my yard but I have to stay on the sticks all the time since it tends to dart to the left or right or zoom way up into the air or dive to the ground by itself.  The camera takes good videos but they will be pretty jerky since the quad can't hover or stay still enough.  It does stay level by itself, something the Pixhawk can't do, but that's about all.  A lot of reviews say it can hover and one on YouTube even says it can hover hands free but don't believe it, they are just making that up and were probably paid to say it since the craft doesn't have that capability.  The Parrot can sort of hover since it has an altimeter and downward facing camera to find it's position but the X5C doesn't have anything like that.  It wasn't a total loss though because I figured out how to take the camera off and use it by itself.
3109429
I was really surprised by the flying ease of this quadcopter. It was really fun to fly and I had a good time with it. However, the range of the remote seems really low. Unfortunately I was flying it high in the air and apparently it lost signal during a spin and it just continued to fly away in the spin. I tried running after it but it just kept going and disappeared behind some houses. I would probably buy another one though for inside use.
12044
We loved this plane, while it lasted.

Out of the box, charging took about half an hour, which is pretty good. We took the plane to an open field, and within ten minutes we were able to fly it in where we wanted and achieve a soft landing. Unfortunately, one landing was on a patch of hard dirt, and one propellor broke.

No problem, replacement propellors are included. After charging, we flew again. We got caught in one tree, but you can't blame the plane for that! The controls are simple and with practice the plane flies easily.

So we recharged again and went out for our third session. After a couple of flights, we smacked into another dirt patch, and broke the same propellor. Major disappointment all around, because only one spare was included in the box, and none are available for order anywhere including Amazon or the Estes site. We went to the local hobby store (over 300 propellors in stock!!!) but nothing fit.

This plane is so easy to fly, and so fun, that I would have given it four stars if replacement props were easily available.

Three recommendations:
1. Visit your local hobby store and take their recommendations! They've seen hundreds of unhappy customers who bought something cheap online, only to have it break and not be able to fix it. My store has lots of good planes at every price point.

2. Try the&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Sea-Gull-WL801-2-Channel-Radio-Controlled-Airplane/dp/B004ECG4IC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Sea Gull WL801 2 Channel Radio Controlled Airplane</a>. Recommended by our store, tiny but flies really well outdoors.

3. Whatever you do, find an open field with no trees or power lines, and fly on a calm day. Any wind at all will take these tiny planes right into the next county.
4012742
This is a fun and affordable RC ornithopter. I would suggest this RC bird for someone who has some experience with remote control airplanes; you can still enjoy it otherwise, though.  Just follow these tips:

To get this to work well:
1) Fly it on no wind to little wind days.
2) Tape the antenna to the body-- along its length to the beak and then back towards the tail keeping the weight even left to right.
3) Launch it into the wind (if there is any). Keep it pointed in the wind to gain altitude quickly.
4) Make sure that the tail hinge is lined up and swings freely before flying.
5) Fly it over grass.
6) When turning, keep a keen eye on the bird, and don't hold a turn too long. It will lose altitude if you hold the turn. Use this to your advantage to drop the RC bird quickly if you need to.
7)The turn is all left or all right, so just apply the left right stick from neutral to full turn a few times quickly to make variable turn lengths. Again, observe the motion of the bird carefully.
8) The torque from the motor appears to make it want to favor one turn over the other and not fly straight. Fix this by adjusting the tail fins-- one down and one up on the left and right. Experiment with the tail trim until it flies straight. Try to avoid adding weight to trim flight direction.

It's fun to watch other birds try and figure this thing out. Sparrows and others will flock around it.

(Read the directions.)

Have fun.
759029
I now have close to 10 flight hours on my H501S and I am very pleased with my purchase. The quadcopter is easy to fly, has more features I would expect in this price class and takes great footage. The remote feels good and displays not only the video feed from the quad but also telemetry data, such as speed, altitude, heading and more. The return to home feature would very reliable for me and I routinely rely on it to return the quad to me.

The Good:
- Easy to fly! The GPS-hold feature works great, assuming the quad was properly calibrated (plug in battery, place on flat ground, wait for compass calib 1, turn clockwise until compass calib 2, then point the nose down and turn the aircraft *counterclockwise*)
- Great range! Out of the box I was over 300m; now with upgraded controller antennas I get close to 1km before video drops out
- Telemetry data on screen - the unit shows altitude, speed, heading, pitch, yaw and gps coordinate of the quad
- Reliable return-to-home. Just make sure you have full 12 satellites GPS before turning on the motors!
- Follow-me - place the quad at the distance and altitude you want, it will then maintain this position relative to the remote controller and keeps the camera pointed towards it.
- Real-world flight time: 18+ minutes before the auto-landing feature kicks in (at which point you can still activate return to home, but it may kill your battery and/or may not make it)
- Cheap replacement batteries - since the quad only uses 7.4V 2700mAh batteries, replacements are available for much cheaper than the "smart batteries" of the more expensive quads

The Bad:
- The Included Charger is cheap and slow
- No video recording on the controller and the video out does not have the telemetry data
- Limited to 400ft max height from take-off point - there are structures and bridges that are taller than that, making taking footage of them difficult.
- Controller eats batteries and needs AAs. Get some rechargeable NiMh AAs.
- The installed rubber feet are lost within like 3 flights. Had to get replacements. No idea how I lost them, but seems to be a common issue
- Screen is almost unusable without a shade around it in the sun. 3D printed a sun shade, but they sell one on here as well.
- Low battery triggers a slow decent, not a return to home. Return can be manually triggered at that point tho (and hope the batteries make it back!)

The Wishlist:
- I wish the controller could record the telemetry data or at least output it on the video feed.
- Way-Points or at least a return-to-controller feature would be nice, but it only returns to the initial take-off point
1883643
This drone is quite easy to fly and operate. It offers several different combinations of flight setups, which make make the flight controls vary from easy to moderately difficult (and faster). It takes a little while (at least several flights) before you become familiar with the controls and how it reacts to the inputs. In flight mode 1, you can reach altitudes quite quickly, so be cautious of the throttle at first. Try low altitudes at first, using just enough throttle to maintain a 10-15 foot altitude. The LED running lights make it easy to track for night flights. The camera takes decent enough photos, I can't wait to be able to steer it well enough to point it to take photos of what I want!

There are only a few negatives: The instruction manual is not particularly well translated, so it doesn't make much sense prior to your first flight. The batteries last less than 10 minutes each, and the bonus remote USB charger takes a long time to re-charge the batteries. The camera's resolution is fairly low (think a cell phone camera from 2006), so don't expect HD pictures. But it's better than Google Earth at it's closest resolution!

Otherwise, this is a fantastic quadcopter to start with. I have only ever flown the micro-copters in the past, and this blows those away.
4915072
This little machine looked like the perfect gift for a 12-year old but now that I've tried to master flying it, I doubt it would be anymore  controllable.  It is tiny, and the blinking lights are appealing, but trying the achieve stable flight is like trying to harness a drunken mad bumblebee.  I'm suspicious of so many blowing reviews by people who are verified purchasers and thosexsalted by discounts or free donations of this item.  Trying to achieve stable flight is a chore and if it can be controlled, it will take many more hours than I'm willing to devote.  The effort alone will deplete the tiny battery very quickly..very quickly.  Now, I think the device in later reiterations and version upgrades might be wonderful as the designers were enlightened when they came up with this concept of a very affordable but small quadcopter.  The lights are neat, and the propeller guard is a must as this thing flips over many times when launching it.  More practice might prevent that, but I'm not confident.  And, boy, is it fast.  The controller is too small and the smallest inputs send this quadcopter all over the place.  Caution:  don't be anywhere near houses, trees because if you think you are crazy enough with these little controls with little "play" or traversing latitude, then you are exceptionable.  For me, by the time I got it airborne, I feared it would lose sync control and fly away because it is so fast it doesn't leave anytime to use the tiny rocker-switch trim controls to keep it in trim.  Instead, it would drift to the right, quickly accelerate and fly away.  Often, I just cut power using the throttle for an uncontrolled crash.  So, I'll keep trying and hope my skill level improves and let my 12 year old grandchild try as well.  I don't hold out hope as these problems are inherent to the design.  Shame.
UPDATE:  12/15/2015
"Garrett from the distribution company of this product contacted me and ask that I contact him regarding problems I experienced to see how they can be resolved.  I did just that, and after furnishing more specific details, I heard nothing.  What am I to conclude?  Either the problems I described were accurate or in the holiday rush, Garrett calculated the cost-benefit ratio and concluded the item sells enough a few complaints are to be expected.  Too bad.  It is VERY possible I had a defective version.
Here's what I told Garrett I experienced in an email response:
*The quadcopter immediately veers to the right when elevator/rudder joystick is engaged to create transitional lift.
*The reaction to joystick inputs is so fast, it is impossible to control the craft long enough to input any trim controls.
*The trims don't seem to have much affect.
*The joysticks are very sensitive to the slightest input and have too little deflection movement or rotation.  They need to dampen to reduce the "wild-weasel" effect.
*If the operator could at least effect a low-level stationary hover from start, perhaps that would allow the operator time to input necessary trims to govern correct flight.low-level stationary.

Frustrated and out of patience, I opted to use vaunted Amazon's return policy.  Meanwhile, I hope this device improves..the price already has.  Hmmm.
910647
Love it, but Noobs be warned,
Some models have problems flying on cold weather, they just drop from the sky
sometimes if battery get lower tha 20% it ill just drop from the sky
Always do the check list ALWAYS! know why ?
 DJI won't do anything if any of this happend
 if you live close to an airport and want to fly in there the software won't let you, they have a lot of restrictions.
2344781
I've had several Hubsan X4's, this is the first with a camera.  I've enjoyed flying these around the house and yard, they are a lot of fun.  I decided to get one with a camera, just to see what it 'sees'.  The camera was fussy regarding the brand of micro-SD card it would use, I have a Kingston brand and that wouldn't work, I *had* another one and that did...but it was lost with the quadcopter on my third flight.  Getting the camera to work properly was a bit flaky I thought, it takes a very brief press of the button (don't hold it, for example, for more than 1/4 second--it messes the recording function up).  Thankfully, once a recording is successfully made, it plays directly in Windows media player (.MP4 format).

So, I took it out the day I received it, flew it around the house--it behaved like the X4's that I have that don't have a camera.  I took it outside at night and flew it around, the wind was still and the X4 worked well--the recording was interesting--just street lights and lights from houses--no details of the ground.  I flew it the next morning for a few minutes before I went to work--it was totally still outside (no wind) and everything went very well.  Be aware, this little dude will climb like a rocket--if you give it full throttle going upward I'm guessing that it's climbing at 10-20 feet/second.  In 10 seconds, it's nothing more than a dot in the sky.  Bringing it down level isn't as easy as taking it up level.  If you panic and kill the throttle, the X4's will start to tumble and, if you are lucky, giving them throttle again will level them out--I've had about 1 in 4 fail doing this--and if it lands hard, you'll be buying one of the rebuild kits...

So, I took it out again when I got home from work, in the afternoon, I wanted to take it up about 100' and do some slow rotations--just to get the birds-eye-view from above my house.  Again, the air was very still on the ground...but...as soon as it was up about 50' it began to drift to the north.  I thought I could get it to come back so let it continue to climb--big mistake #1.  Soon, I was running in the direction it was going and flying it as hard as I could back toward me...had I had my wits about me more than I did, I would have put it in to expert mode so that it had a greater angle of attack...I forgot about that in my stress to get it back again--but mistake #2.  I looked down to see where I was running and when I looked back at the sky for it again, it was gone.  Ouch.  So, IF you want to fly this little birdie really high, I recommend that you spend $1 and get a helium-filled balloon from Wal-Mart and turn it lose in your yard before going up very far.  If the balloon goes straight up and then takes off in another direction, wait for another day to fly--or be prepared for some fun trying to get your X4 back again!

So, I'm reviewing this and giving it 4 stars.  Maybe I should give it 5...  I'm also buying another one...
1882066
This is a fun little toy but i do have some issues with it.
CONS: For # one its controls are difficult to understand from what the manual reads. And # 2, everytime it barely hits something, even a pillow, it freaks out and loses control, which forces me to have to hurt my hand by the blades just to force the drone to shut off. This is extremely obnoxious. It also doesn't seem to want to hover at a specific hight and always floats back to the ground.
PROS: I have been getting the hang of it for a few days now, and the more you play with it, the more you will understand how it works and what you need to do to calibrate it. I was finally able to turn it left and right with ease, but it still trims to the left for me on its own.
BLADE TIPS: For people with long hair or long dog/cat hair- hair WILL get tangled in the blades so keep a close eye on that. If it does happen, it's an easy fix. Just pull off the blades and pull out the hair. Done! Keep playing.
CHARGING: If you have one, use a fast charger. It takes like 3-4 minutes to charge for 4-5 minutes of fun! Seems fair to me.
3415716
Nice idea - drone sat for a month, then when I went to fly it I couldn't remember which control turned right / left versus which moved right / left.  These should prevent that issue if there's a break from flying in the future.