As we all know that Hubsan is a popular drone brand, but this mode – Hubsan H502S is becoming the most popular drone among all of its product. Let’s get to know it.
On first sight, you’ll notice it’s very similar to Hubsan H501S model. Truth is, they are similar but H502S is significantly smaller compared to H501S. We’ll get deeper in comparison of these two models bit later, now let’s do quick overview of H502S specs.
HUBSAN H502S SPECIFICATIONS:
Material: Plastic, Alloy
Battery: Li-Po 7.4V 610mAh
Remote Control Battery: 4*AA Battery (not included)
Flight Time: 12 minutes
Charging Time: 150 minutes
Frequency: 2.4GHz & 5.8GHz
Control range: > 250 meters
Camera: 720p
BEFORE WE START WITH THE ACTUAL HUBSAN H502S REVIEW, HERE ARE FEW THINGS YOU GUYS SHOULD KNOW :
This drone does not require FAA registration. It weighs only about 155 grams.
H502S has a GPS, which means you’ll have to wait for a few seconds before you launch it to the sky. It takes some time for drone and controller to catch a right GPS position. Don’t worry, it’s very simple. You can see more about this in the video included at the bottom of this review.
HUBSAN H502S VS H501S
No doubt H501S model is more professional drone. Hubsan H502S can’t be considered as a H501S model upgrade, instead, it as a cheaper version of that amazing and very capable drone.
While H501S comes with brushless motors and 1080p camera, H502S model comes with brushed motors and 720p camera. Both drones have follow me mode which works pretty good. Since both of them have a GPS, it’s natural that Hubsan implemented Return to home and “anti-signal-loss” features in both of them. Anti-signal-loss means your drone will automatically return back to the position from which he took off.
Controllers looks similar too, but that does not mean you can use the same controller to fly both drones. Since camera resolutions are different, FPV screens are also different. So you’ll have problems with display if you try to use H501S controller (1080p camera) to fly H502S (720p camera).
DESIGN AND DURABILITY
Design is modern – “flat”. It’s very minimalistic without many details. In my opinion, Hubsan has done great job with this design. t weighs only 155 grams which is…..amazing! Build quality is great, comparable to H501S. Hubsan put a lot of attention into modular design, it’s very easy to replace motors if they burn out. Changing propellers is super easy, as on most of drones that are available in the market. There are few pre-drilled holes on the top of it, this means it will be super easy to install better 2.4G & 5.8G antennas.
CAMERA
h502s-cameraHubsan H502S comes equipped with 720p camera and results are not bad at all. 720p video looks pretty good and camera stabilisation system works very well too. It’s almost jello effect free. Compared to other drone cameras in this price range. FPV quality is on satisfactory level too. Combined with Virtual Reality headset, you can enjoy real FPV experience with this drone. Remember what I mentioned before, transmitter has a pre-drilled holes so antenna mods are super easy (this is not required at all, I’m just saying it in case you’re more experienced flyer). You can see video and photo samples on the video included below.
CONTROLLER
h502s-controllerTransmitter has a large 4.3” LCD screen of 640px * 480px resolution. A lot of flight crucial information are shown on it, such a : GPS position for both drone and transmitter, battery voltage, local velocity, altitude and heading as well as the current pitch and roll.
This is great and very helpful but it has one cons. You need 4 AA batteries to “feed” this transmitter. Because of it’s large screen, it consumes pretty much power and your batteries will be empty after 3-4 flights in average. To compensate this you have one simple solution : buy some cheap rechargeable AA batteries.
FLIGHT PERFORMANCE
Altitude hold mode works very well and when activated you can completely focus on your camera activities. Return to home and follow me functions works well too. When you’re moving very slow it won’t put too much effort to keep you in the camera centre, but when you start moving bit faster (fast walk, running) it will keep you in the focus whole the time. Return to home/automatic landing/anti-signal-lost functions works great.
CONCLUSION
If Hubsan intended to offer affordable follow me drone with good camera and flight characteristics – their mission is fully completed. It’s just amazing how stable and “smart” this 155g piece of technology is. It’s great choice for many groups of flyers : first time flyers, camera guys on tight budget… or anyone who’s looking for small but capable drone that won’t make much damage in case it crashes.
