Liwin Toys for Kids

I have had the U818A for about a month now and here is my feedback.As you read my review please consider the following:-This is my first quad copter.-I have had plenty of stabilized R/C helicopters over the years so I consider myself above novice level, but not an expert flier.My first impression upon opening the box was not a good one. There were parts everywhere. After unpacking the box, I found the bag which held all the small parts was open and this allowed the parts to be tossed all over the box throughout the shipping process. I did a complete inventory of all the parts and then went through all the packing material, shook one part out of the quad itself, then double checked the inventory again. Everything was there, but I wasn’t too impressed as this point.Next is the quad-copter itself… it just felt really cheap and poorly made for something that cost over $100. (Keep in mind this is my first quad-copter so I didn’t really know what a cheap on feels like verses and expensive one.) The outer shell is really flimsy and the bottom plate was even thinner. I fully understand that these things need to be lite, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. At this point, I have to say that while it feels flimsy, it has stood up to the crashes and collisions it has endured thus far.Next were the instructions. You will have to use some common since while reading them and trial and error to try out some of the features. The instructions are poorly translated and force you to make some assumptions in certain areas and they lack needed detail in other areas. That said, they are good enough to get you started and telling you what you need to know to get the quad-copter into the air.Flying the quad is nice. It performs well and it fun to fly. I did buy extra batteries and a multi-battery charger at the same time I purchased the copter, which goes a long way in the overall enjoyment. If you are a beginner, your typical backyard isn’t enough space, but you will figure that out on you own. Thankfully we have some space and I enjoy flying the quad and trying out the various stunts and taking pictures/videos of the area with the camera.Lastly is the stability, or lack of. Having flow helicopters which once put in a hover would stay there, I would have to rate the stability at a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. I can’t get the quad-copter to stay in a hover with no input. I have spent a lot of time, both in- an outdoors, working with trim adjustments and it just won’t hover. The hovering is important because of the camera. Since I have to take my thumb off the control and look down to see the button to active the camera, I need to know the copter will be in the same place it was a second ago, which usually it is not. This makes getting a good picture very difficult to you will need to make many attempts to be sure you get it. Perhaps, with practice, I will learn where the buttons are without having to look, but I will still need to remove my thumb from the throttle/yaw control and the copter will still move when I do.PROS:- The price point seems fair for a quad-copter with the features this one has- The remote is nice and the information on the LCD is valuable.- The low battery warning is a great touch- The flexibility of choosing whether or not to use the copter in headless mode- The two stages of control sensitivity- Having a camera adds to the enjoyment in my opinion- It is toughCONS:- Despite what others have stated, I found the stability to be mediocre at best. Keep in mind this is my first quad-copter so its stability may be good by comparison- This is also opinion, but I don’t like the placement of the picture and video buttons. I would prefer them to be at the top of the remote so they can be accessed with your pointer finger without looking down and taking your thumb off the controls.- The copter will make sudden non-control input adjustments. There are times when I am trying to hover at a higher altitude when the copter will spin or just take a large dip. Other times, it just seems to start climbing for no reason- The microphone serves no purpose and there should be a way to disable it.Overall I like the quad-copter and don’t regret the purchase. It is a great first quad-copter and I like that the controls and features allow me to grow into it without have to buy a more expensive one as soon as my skill improves a notch or two.Happy flying!!

This is my first drone, and it's been a pleasure so far. Just a couple of things:I had to have a second drone shipped because the first one seemed to have an issue with one of the propellers after a couple minutes of flying. I didn't get it into any remarkable crashes, but the propeller suddenly stopped spinning altogether. Holy Stone sent me a replacement motor, since that seemed to be the root of the problem, but their instructions on how to replace it were oddly incomplete (I was told it would be easy if I was mechanically inclined, which I sort of am, but the instructions seemed to end very abruptly at what was clearly an intermediate step). When I notified Holy Stone of this, they told me they'd be shipping out a new drone entirely. I wasn't going to complain. The customer service, while obviously navigating a tough language barrier, was at the very least friendly, responsive, and eager to help.As for the drone itself, it's a lot of fun. It's very light-weight, so considerable winds will pose problems, but this is offset by its agility. It's more than capable of some pretty complex maneuvers, and even has a barrelroll function. The controls are what you'd except from a quadcopter. It also has an accessible headless mode, which ignores the orientation of the drone and keeps the controls uniform regardless of which side of it is facing "forward." This is great for novice fliers like myself, who have trouble controlling it out of headless mode once it's all turned around.I took it out on a windy day (California windy--so, in other words, not very) and it did great elevation-wise, but any sizable gust was enough to knock it off course. It was at this point that I discovered the maximum range of the RC signal, which is about 500 feet. After a while of searching I found the drone on the other side of a hill, on top of someone's roof. So yeah, don't take it somewhere that's hard to navigate if it's blustery out.The HD camera is great for the value (search YouTube for some examples of footage), but bear in mind that it's next to four very loud propellers. Turn your speakers down when you pop in that SD card. The sound is essentially unusable, but I got some great video shots of my neighborhood. And, since you can rotate the drone freely, they're all panoramic as well.All in all, while my experience with the drone has had its share of hardships, I have to give it a five-star rating because it's ultimately satisfied all my childlike desires. Customer service was effective, if awkward, and the drone itself seems to be of a sturdy quality.