TEST: HUBSAN H507A, smart and cheap but good enought ?

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

The Hubsan H507A is nothing else than the successor of the H502S, a compact brushed quadcopter with a GPS module and a 720p camera able to offer stabilized and assisted flights and shoot basic videos without EIS. With the H507A powerstar X4, no more 2.4G controller but an advanced app (iOS & Android) with new advanced flight modes: Orbit, follow me and a waypoint planner. The other electronic ingredients are more or less the same, i.e. a brushed machine with a builtin GPS and 720p camera and the EIS is still missing.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x Hubsan H507A (with a 2S 550mAh LiPo)
+ 1 x USB charging cable
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 4 x Prop guards
+ 1 x Screwdriver

OVERVIEW

Visually, the changed the design but the general dimensions remain tje same, a 250mm machine with 8520 coreless brushed motors.

Same props, same brushed motors, same gear system. Notice as for many hubsan products, the motor’s rotation layout is inverted versus the standard choice. Probably not too boost stability but more to reduce potential dust projection on the lens.

No more rounded front shape but a more peaky one… maybe 1cm more front.

-FRONT VIEW

-SIDE VIEW

The right side welcomes the microUSB port to update the firmware. Via the App, you can identify the version installed on your machine.

-REAR VIEW
The battery tray have changed. No more JST connector but now at the background, a 3 pins connector.

-BOTTOM VIEW
Now the microSD card is insalled more in the central part. Still no click during the microSD card insertion.

Notice than only class10 and more can be used.

-WEIGHT

More than 160g so basically 8g more heavier than H502E & H502S. It will impact even more durability of the motors already known to be weak.

Motors and props

Basically, exactly the same motors ….and it’s strongly advise to stock some spare ones

To boost flight duration, super long props are given … if their efficiency is great, they are stressing a lot motors. I also strongly advice to add drop of silicon oïl on ballbearings. Check also that no extra friction are present for each motors.

LiPo

Hubsan is now introducing a proprietary battery…. No more the 610mAh 2S LiPo with JST connector, but a 550mAh only and more heavy…

Probably they want to sell more spare battery. This choice of battery impacts negatively the flight duration, now minored of 2-3min versus the former model. At least, there is a good news, the battery is easy to insert/remove.

Camera module

The lens have been upgraded and less blurring can be observed. That’s a good news. The sensor remain the same with a lbasic ight sensitivy.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS AND TESTINGS

In term of video, without stabilization, no miracle, videos are most of the time shacky. The frame rate IMHO is not truly 30fps and the light sensitivy can be better. At least, videos are not blurred. Clearly, a better camera could be expected and more a 1080p model than a 720p. Bad news, unlike the H501A, the H507A can’t be controlled with any Hubsan 2.4G radio. The control is 100% app based.
The app is just great …. no bug or crash for android have been reported. I really like the GUI. The waypoints defintion is super easy, very beginner friendly. The orbit mode requires a distance of 3m minimum between your position and the drone. The FPV link is relatively stable up to 100-120m. As soon as you loose the link, the machine engages a RTH (except is a mission is actually played). If you need more range, you can use the Hubsan Range extender for a 300-400m connexion. But since in practice, you have around 10-11min of flight duration, such long distances is not strongly advised. In the first attempt, as you can see in this video, the position of the quadcopter (blue Arrow in the app) was shifted by at least several hundreds of meter and all mission plannings were receiving logically a warning saying that I was exceeding the max allowed distance. In practice, there is is a way to calibrate the GPS position given by yhe H507A. You need to long press the map to the true’s position.

As you can see, all the three Advanced flight modes work fine …. except the follow-me lacking of heading ajustement to target the pilot. We can also regret the absence of a selfie-flight mode as included in the Zerotech Dobby. But this option can be added in a futur APP/firmware release.

CONCLUSIONS

For a 100USD machine, you have probably the smarter drone in the market with three Advanced flight modes. The H507A is a machine super stable with a lot of flight assistance so ideal for being more concentrated on the current scene to shoot. The application is great and intuitive. The FPV feedback is ok up to 100-120m. We can regret maybe the absence of a 2.4G control and of course by the basic 720p camera without EIS. Flight duration have been reduced by the introduction of a proprietary battery module, it’s a pity. You can expect 10-11min maximum. Don’t expect miracle and super stabilized videos in general, but in calm wind conditions and after a post-stabilization process, results can be pretty good.

PROS

+ Efficient new features added
+ Great app
+ Super easy machine
+ Great beginner machine
+ Slightly improved 720p videos
+ Cheap

CONS

– Proprietary battery
– Shorter flight time vs the H502E
– Not stabilized videos
– Poor durability of brushed motors
– No selfie mode
– Not compatible with H501, H502 2.4G radios

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude.
You can find it actually for 100USD at http://www.banggood.com/Hubsan-X4-STAR-H507A-App-Compatible-Wifi-FPV-With-1080P-HD-Camera-GPS-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1115752.html

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