Review on 📸 ALTAIR Green Hornet 2K HD Camera Drone: Free Priority Shipping, Live Video & Long Flight Time for All Ages! Start Your RC Quadcopter Hobby: Ideal for Kids and Adults - Lincoln, NE Company by Nicholas Kanat

I'm not a drone expert, but I dabbled in RC helicopters and ATVs a few years ago before GPS and stabilization became widely available. I have a DJI Mavic Mini and DJI is probably the industry standard for drones, so that's my criteria for this review. Whether that's fair or even a comparison, probably not, but it does provide a frame of reference. Ignoring the prices for now, I think this is a good drone for those who want to get into RC drone piloting. This is well below the 250g threshold for registration with the FAA, although that doesn't mean you don't need to know FAA rules to pilot a recreational or hobbyist UAV. It has features that are almost essential these days: GPS, return home, live video streaming to a smartphone app, and a camera. It's very easy to fly and even has built-in green (front) and red (rear) marker lights so you can tell which way it's flying. The included battery is charged via the USB cable and is charged in about 45 minutes. The claimed 15 minute flight time is probably pretty close. It was windy when my son and I flew it so we only had about 10 minutes of flight time but most of the time the drone was fighting the wind to hold position. My son found flying very easy and enjoyed learning it thanks to the GPS positioning. The drone needs to be calibrated before each flight, but it's a fairly quick and painless process, just like any other drone I've seen. Even though the camera is 2K, I didn't expect to win an Oscar for cinematography any time soon. I'm using a SanDisk Ultra class 10 microSD memory card, which is more than adequate for 2K video, but I don't think the camera itself is capable. I don't know if it's a bit rate cap or something, but the video quality is reminiscent of my old Motorola RAZR clamshell phone from the early 2000's. It's still fun to see things from the sky, but don't expect sharp details or anything like that. This is a single-axis gimbal, meaning the camera can be rotated from looking straight through a 90 degree rotation to looking straight down. This means that the gimbal doesn't offer image stability, although the camera is mounted on rubber to absorb some vibrations. The video stutters quite a bit in windy conditions, but it's not that bad in light winds. The application comes from a manufacturer in China, and in fact this drone is not included in the list of supported models. However, if you just press the Go Fly button, it connects and works fine. You can adjust the drone settings through the app and get a real-time camera view. It's a good app, but nothing special. Love the fact that you can turn on the map mode which shows where the drone is on a google map if you get lost where it is. There's a lot of information on the screen, most of which is standard - altitude, distance from you, signal strength for a Wi-Fi connection, no. Satellites, battery life, GPS info - and you can access tracking and orbit modes both from here and from the remote control. The remote control is a standard dual joystick setup and is powered by 4 AA batteries (not included). We found that the phone grip on the remote does not fit my iPhone XS Max and only fits my son's iPhone X in its case. This also seems to be a fairly common problem with drone remote controls, even DJI. Modi are a mixed bag. Follow mode is supposed to follow the controller, but when we toggled follow mode on, the drone behaved like an untrained pup trying to go where it wanted, sometimes acknowledging the leash she was going the other way pulled. On the other hand, the orbital mode worked once I read and understood how it works. When Orbit mode is activated, the drone seemingly randomly chooses a direction of travel and then begins to orbit, with the camera pointed at the center. You can use the joysticks to set the altitude, direction, and rate of turn, as well as the distance from the center of the circle. It's not tracking anything or anything, so you pretty much have to move to where it decided it was in the middle if you want to be in the picture. I didn't do any distance or maximum altitude tests simply because it doesn't really matter to me and FAA rules say you have to keep an eye on the drone at all times. When the battery reaches 15%, the aircraft will automatically turn on the Return Home function, flying to the set altitude and returning to the flight start point. My son took off, made a circle around the building about 100 square feet, and his return location was about 20 to 25 feet from the launch site. This distance may have been increased due to windy conditions, but it's still close enough that you could easily bring it back if you called it home. Altair Aerial's support was very good. I emailed them that the app does not show this drone model and they contacted their supplier and gave me an answer very quickly. That's a really nice thing about this Nebraska-based company compared to a Chinese company - quicker response and the leadership was actually clear. They also sell extra batteries and props on their website but I haven't seen them here at Revain. Batteries seem a bit pricey for 1000mah LiPo, so hopefully those prices will come down. In terms of specs I would say this drone is a solid 4 star but looking at the current price I have to wonder. if it's 44% quality compared to the DJI Mavic Mini 2 and I don't think it's that. I don't think it's fair to deduct stars for this as the price can vary but I don't know if I would recommend this drone at the current price plus the cost of spare batteries. If maybe they could improve the picture quality of the video it might justify it but not as it is now.