Holy Stone HS175D vs Holy Stone HS510 Review: Pros, Cons, and Verdict

A drone gives your photography activities an edge and this Holy Stone HS175D vs Holy Stone HS510 comparison helps you decide what kind of drone you should buy. Holy Stone is a good retailer when it comes to buying the best drones for photography.

The two drones that you see here are ultralight drones that offer a rather compact design but with features comparable with those and bigger and more professional drones. They are great for beginners but also sufficiently dependable for professionals. Let’s look into the features of each, their differences, and which one ultimately suits your needs and preferences.

Holy Stone HS175D Review

This drone is so small that it fits your palm when folded. This drone weighs only about 215 grams, making it a portable drone that is easy to transport and use. Despite its rather small body, it offers some excellent features that give you advantages in your photography sessions.

Holy Stone HS175D Features

You will love this drone’s small and compact body. Larger drones require you to get FAA’s permission before you can use them. Because this drone weighs less than 250 grams, you don’t have to register it with the Administration. Both the drone and its controller, which is also foldable, fit inside a small case that is also included in the package when you buy it.

This drone uses a brushless motor, which has a lot of advantages over a brushed motor, including better durability because the brush is susceptible to wear and tear, a higher level of efficiency, higher speed, and better acceleration. The biggest advantage of using a brushless motor is its cool and silent operation. With no brush in its motor, your drone can fly without annoying noises and the risk of overheating.

This drone includes a built-in 4k camera that shoots 110-degree wide images and rotates up to 90 degrees vertically. With the drone’s ability to rotate while mid-air, you can practically shoot everything in front of and below the drone with no problem. The camera can still shoot in 4k even if your phone’s display doesn’t support this resolution.

Thanks to its 5GHz connection band, this drone can stream live first-person capture (FPV) to your smartphone up to 300 meters, though the drone itself can still fly for another 200 meters. If you want the drone to directly store the captured image while recording, you can plug a TF card up to 64 gigabytes into its TF card slot. In terms of flight time, it can fly continuously for 23 minutes using one battery. You get two batteries (one attached) when you buy the drone.

>> See the latest pricing for Holy Stone HS175D on Amazon <<

Holy Stone HS175D Pros and Cons

Holy Stone HS510 Review

Holy Stone HS510 is also a compact foldable drone that doesn’t require you to register it with the FAA. It is a great drone to use in various photography scenarios and its portability makes it an excellent traveler’s drone. With some essential features that it offers, it can be a handy tool to enhance the quality of your photography.

Holy Stone HS510 Features

When you buy this drone, you get a spare battery besides the one already plugged into the drone. Each battery allows the drone to fly continuously for 15 minutes. You also get extra propellers, a transmitter that operates on a 2.4GHz frequency, a carrying case, and some extra small components.

While flying, the small drone receives the signal from the transmitter to a maximum distance of 800 meters. It carries a built-in 4k camera that continues to send FPV transmission as long as it is within a radius of 200 to 300 meters depending on weather conditions and obstructions. With such transmission and FPV range, you can practically capture aerial images as far as you need.

You can store the captured images either in the drone’s TF card or on your phone. This drone supports up to 32GB of TF card, which you have to buy separately, to store images in 4k resolution. If you plan to store them on your phone, the maximum resolution supported is 1080p.

The brushless motor of this drone allows it to fly silently and efficiently. You also don’t have to worry about overheating and poor durability because the motor uses sophisticated components that produce minimal friction, wear, and tear.

The drone’s built-in GPS allows accurate location tracking while flying and enables the auto-return feature, preventing the drone from being lost. You can use the accompanying apps together with the transmitter to program the drone’s FPV, follow-me flight, auto-return, and other cool aerial photography features that this drone offers.

>> See the latest pricing for Holy Stone HS510 on Amazon <<

Holy Stone HS510 Pros and Cons

Difference between Holy Stone HS175D and Holy Stone HS510

Both HS175D and HS510 are quite similar models. In terms of size, portability, and basic features, they are relatively identical. Their biggest difference lies in their look: HS175D is black whereas HS510 is white. This can be a game-changer when dealing with ambient light. HS175D will be more visible in bright daylight whereas HS510 is visible more in darker environments. Both drones come with LED lights, so visibility should not be a big problem.

There are other differences in terms of features, including the type of band that they use, their supported TF card, and a few more. Which one of them is better?

Which is Better, Holy Stone HS175D or Holy Stone HS510?

Both drones show a selection of negligible differences, but some could be significant. With HS510, you can fly further, but you have to deal with shorter battery life, so you need to decide whether to prioritize battery life or transmission distance.

The most significant difference is perhaps the type of band that they use. While HS175D already uses the 5GHz band, HS510 continues to rely on the 2.4GHz band. The 5GHz band has been becoming a standard since 2009, so in terms of bandwidth, HS510 with its more congested 2.4GHz band is rather outdated.

Nonetheless, even the most significant differences between Holy Stone HS175D vs Holy Stone HS510 are not serious enough to be dealbreakers. Both drones are great choices, especially for beginners, and none of them is significantly better than the other.