Holy Stone
Holy Stone HS360S
Two hundred dollars, GPS, optical-flow hold for indoor flying, a modular battery and 249 grams on the scale. Read the camera spec twice, though: the 1/3-inch GalaxyCore sensor records 4K at 20 frames per second, which is below the 24fps floor most people consider watchable and well below the 30fps everything else here manages. Stills at 4K resolution are fine. There is no gimbal and no obstacle sensing, and return-to-home fires automatically on low battery or lost link, which is the feature that keeps a first drone out of a tree line. As an aircraft to learn on in an open field before spending real money, it does the job; as a camera, it is the weakest in this catalog.
The 250-gram line
Under 250 g: recreational flight needs no FAA registration, and Remote ID does not apply.
Every recreational flyer must also take TRUST and carry proof of it, at any weight. Rules checked against faa.gov on 2026-09-24. Not legal advice — how this is worked out.
What that 20-minute claim is measured at
Holy Stone quotes about 20 minutes per modular battery, measured without specifying camera or wind conditions.
That works out to 8.4 claimed minutes per $100 of the multi-battery bundle. Compared with the rest of the catalog.
Buying one in the US: sold
Checked 24 Sep 2026. Still sold new in the US through the maker's store and general retailers.
Specifications
True first-year cost: ~$239 — the multi-battery bundle at ~$239; no crash-plan price has been verified for this model, so nothing is added for it.
What it has
- GPS plus optical-flow positioning for indoor flight
- Automatic return-to-home on low battery or lost link
- Modular swappable battery
- Brushless motors
- Under 249 g takeoff weight
In its favour
- One of the cheapest GPS drones in the catalog with real return-to-home
- Optical flow lets it hold position indoors where GPS cannot
- Sits at exactly 249 g, so nothing may be added to it — not a prop guard, not a heavier pack
- Modular battery design makes spares straightforward
Against it
- 4K records at only 20fps, below the frame rate anything else here manages
- 1/3-inch sensor and no gimbal at all
- Optical flow holds it steady indoors but sees nothing ahead of it, which is the usual way an indoor flight ends
- About 20 minutes per battery, the shortest endurance of any GPS drone here
The two lists above are drawn from the manufacturer’s published specifications and from the cited reviews, not from owner reports.
What owners report
No owner discussion has been collected for the Holy Stone HS360S yet. Rather than fill the gap with something plausible, this section stays empty until there is a real body of owner reports to read. The specs above come from the maker’s published documentation.
Holy Stone HS360S, head-to-head
Shopped alongside it
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Holy Stone HS175D
Worth including mainly as a warning about how the word "4K" gets used at the bottom of this market. Holy Stone's listings put 4K on the box, and the aircraft will indeed produce a 4096x3072 still image — but video tops out at 2,688 by 1,512 at 25 frames per second, which is 2.7K, not 4K, and below 30fps. Everything else is what $170 buys in 2026: brushless motors, GPS hold, return-to-home, a 90-degree manually adjustable lens with no gimbal at all, and about a kilometre of range. Two batteries come in the box, which is where the advertised 46 minutes comes from. At 215 grams it stays under the registration line, and as a genuinely cheap way to learn stick control outdoors, it still works.
- Sensor
- 17.3 mm²
- Claimed
- 23 min
- Base kit
- ~$170
Best for: The cheapest way to learn stick control outdoors
Full spec sheetHoly Stone
Holy Stone HS720G
A two-axis motorised gimbal plus electronic stabilisation, brushless motors, GPS return-to-home and built-in Remote ID — for a drone that has been on shelves since 2022, the feature list holds up better than the numbers behind it. Range is the giveaway: the controller is rated at roughly a kilometre, a fraction of what the newer sub-250 gram models claim, and there is no obstacle sensing. At 380 grams it also crosses the registration line, which means $5 to the FAA, a TRUST certificate and Remote ID that this aircraft at least provides itself. Two batteries come in the box, which is where the "52 minute" figure on the packaging comes from; a single flight is 26.
- Sensor
- 28.1 mm²
- Claimed
- 26 min
- Base kit
- ~$300
Best for: A first drone where two batteries matter more than range
Full spec sheet
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Holy Stone HS600
Sitting a step below the sub-250-gram HS900 in Holy Stone's range and a step above it in weight, this is the brand's answer for people who want reach rather than a registration exemption. Two-axis gimbal plus electronic stabilisation on the roll axis, a 48MP 1/2.3-inch sensor, integrated Remote ID, Level 6 wind resistance and roughly 6 km of transmission. Two batteries come in the box, which is the source of the 56-minute figure in the listings — a single flight is about 28. At 541 grams the registration, TRUST certificate and Remote ID obligations all apply, and the aircraft at least handles the last of those itself. There is no obstacle sensing, which at this weight and speed is the specification most worth noticing.
- Sensor
- 28.1 mm²
- Claimed
- 28 min
- Base kit
- ~$370
Best for: Range and wind resistance under $400
Full spec sheet