Hubsan x4 Pro
Finally! The Phantom 2 has a contender! Will the Hubsan x4 Pro be the quadcopter to knock it off the
throne as the fan favorite for camera drones? Only time will tell. It has just been released, but this is a beast of
a quadcopter and quite smooth looking, if I say so myself. I love my little Hubsan x4 as start I out quad so I’m
very excited about this Pro model. It comes with, of course, a 1080p HD camera and comes with either a 1, 2
or 3 axis gimbal. Fortunately, any of the gimbals fit the GoPro. You know how we all like our GoPros. Now all
models have their own camera equipped. There has been quite a bit of interest of a model without a camera,
which makes sense seeing as several people will just take the standard camera off and put on their own. So it
has been said by Hubsan that we may be seeing a version without a camera! Fingers crossed on that! You
already know to grab an extra battery for extended flying time, but with that being said, this battery is a 7000
mAh lipo packed in the size of a 5000 mAh. That makes it a very dense battery with a 2 hour charge time for a
complete charge, and claims to have 30 min. of fly time. That’s while recording the whole time – so pretty good
for a drone in this class.
The transmitter is nice and more like a command center containing a built in 7 inch android LCD touch screen.
The snap back throttle is released to put the drone in a hover. Adjustable FOV (field of view) can be found on
the top of the transmitter. Add the fact that you can do some straight down shooting, and you are going to get
some good shots. The screen also has the ability to go split screen and is resizable. One screen for FPV and
the other for your waypoint map. How do you set your waypoint? Yeah, just slide your finger on the touch
screen to set your waypoints. Pretty standard stuff for waypoints for quads in this class. You deviate from the
waypoint to go shoot another area then automatically return to your last waypoint. This thing basically flies
itself if you want to leave it to just mess with the camera, if you prefer. A neat feature about this transmitter,
which I almost forgot to mention, is that it is a dual band frequency transmitter. The FPV is on 5.8 ghz and the
controls are on 2.4 ghz so as not to interfere with each other. Reliable controls and FPV is out to 1000 meters
or over ½ a mile, so not too shabby.
OH NO! I just flipped my quad by hitting something! My baby is about to crash to the ground! Not to worry. It’s
all good because the parachute deployed to safely bring it back down to the ground. Yes you heard me right-
a parachute. As an additional accessory, you can get a parachute as a safety feature so if the quad wrecks or
get past the point of no return, then it will pop out and the motor will shut off to keep it from crashing. The
parachute can be reused. You just pack it pack in yourself. With removable prop guards and parachute, you
are ready for battle and should come out pretty well off and free from too much damage.