KatPadi's Point

Fun Times with Hubsan X4 H107C+

When I was in El Nido, I saw this guy flying a white drone. It was very stable and I didn’t know what brand it was. Turns out, it’s a DJI Phantom quadcopter. I was very ready to buy one when I got back until I realized, I don’t want to break it just like that so I need a practice drone. I’m relatively new to drones so I researched a bit and Hubsan X4 H107C+ was often recommended by most of the pros. Some recommended Blade Nano QX and Syma X5C.

And so I bought one

When you open the H107C+ box, you will see the quad itself, with the battery equipped, a user manual, set of propellers, a USB charging cable, U-Wrench and the transmitter. That’s about it. Wait, yeah, the transmitter looks like a PS4 controller (useless info).

Tip from a noob: It’s a must to buy a crash kit. Usually crash kits have all the spare parts, such as batteries, motors, propellers (the more propellers, the better!), body itself, that you’re going to need while “training”.

One of the bummers of Hubsan X4s, is that you can’t charge the battery unless it’s inside the drone. But, you can buy an external charger such as https://www.amazon.com/HOBBYTIGER-Battery-Quadcopter-External-Charging/dp/B01DTZJN9G so the fun never stops. Trust me, it’s worth it. Imagine the frustration of not having to fly because you’re charging.

Specs in a nutshell

Flying Time: 5-7 minutes
Battery Type: Proprietary rechargeable 530 mAh 3.7V LiPo (w/ USB charging)
Charging Time: 40 minutes
Controller: 2.4GHz
Camera Resolution: 1280 x 720 (720p)
Others: microSD recording capability

Flying

It really is easy to get the quad flying. My first attempt took place indoors, of course. I didn’t break a single propeller. I thought that was good sign.

This drone hit walls, furniture, monitors and glass. It’s been weeks and it’s still alive, thank god. It’s quite durable, but I would recommend going outside to have a bit more room to fly around. I tried flying in an open field with my friends and it was so much more fun! We took photos and videos while the drone was very up high. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the microSD inserted sooooo… pfffft.

Here are some of the vids from my drone:

Some of the things that the quad can do:

  • Fly (lol)
  • Take photos
  • Take videos
  • Flip
  • Fly on headless mode
  • Hold the altitude

Headless mode

Headless mode is very interesting because it lets you forget about orientation. Uhm, how do I describe it. When you take off with the drone pointing in front, some magic happens inside the drone, and then when you make your drone point at you, it will ignore the orientation. It wil move to the left when you pull the rudder stick to left and it will move to the right when you pull the stick to the right. In a non-headless mode, when the drone is facing you, right is left and left is right. Errr. OK. The drone will go to left when you pull the left rudder stick and go to right when you pull the right all the time, regardless where your drone is pointing at.

For a noob like me, this is an underrated feature. It really is very confusing to think about the orientation, among many other things, while flying.

Altitude hold

Altitude hold means that throttle is automatically controlled using an atmospheric pressure sensor in the quadcopter– a barometer. In effect, whenever I push the throttle stick up, the drone will ascend and when I release it, it holds that altitude. Thing is, sometimes, it works, sometimes it’s a bit messed up. In some of my experiences, the altitude hold is inconsistent due to changes in the weather. I could be wrong but maybe it’s because of unstable air pressure? Or maybe I just don’t know how to really fly a drone. 😛

Things that this model cannot give you:

  • FPV – nope. You can’t see what you’re drone is seeing real-time. Sorry.
  • Gimbal – No tilting and panning of camera

Note to self: The goal is to pave way for my next big baby–DJI Phantom 3 Advanced. #RoadToDJIPhantom

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