In our Holy Stone F181 Chaser review, we’ll talk about its build quality, performance, and features. The Holy Stone F181 Chaser is another entry-level racing drone that beginners who are vying to become a racer can buy alongside with HS150 Bolt Bee. Holy Stone is an enterprise-class company that earned a good reputation for producing the best drones specifically for beginners.
The F181 Chaser is among one of the most popular Holy Stone drones with cameras. With more than 3,000 customer reviews and thousands of F181 Chaser, drones have found their home. I sifted through the reviews and researched this product so to provide you the best information that you need to know about this copter.
Build & Design Quality
First and foremost, the F181 Chaser drone is built with durable ABS plastic. The material that this drone uses is much stronger and durable compared to standard grade which toy drones under $50 usually use. Not only does it make the design structure of the drone stronger, but it also makes it less likely to damages which is a big advantage for beginners. Of course, the package comes with propeller guards which I highly recommend beginners to install on the drone for the first time.
The F181 Chaser racing drone is coated in jet black paint that gives out a nice design appearance. Plus with red strip and logo on the top that adds a finishing touch. Below is the image of the F181 Chaser drone. As you can see there’s a large blue part in the front, which is called LED light. It’s an important feature to have for beginners because it serves as a visual positioning assistant to help you know where it is.
This allows you to fly the drone around during daytime and especially nighttime where light motion dominates. Finally, this little blackbird comes with landing pads that protect the ground. Especially when you’re flying a drone with a camera, you want to keep particles such as dust and dirt away from touching the camera. Holy Stone has put the effort into designing a racing drone with a camera for beginners while considering all these factors so to ensure that it is the perfect pick.
Performance
One of the several key performance upgrades that the Holy Stone F181 Chaser drone has received is the 6-axis gyro stabilization. In previous drone models such as Cheerson CX-10 which they used unoptimized 6-axis stabilization that’s very hard to control for beginners. Holy Stone identifies the problem and takes the step to improve the drone’s performance by implementing upgraded 6-axis stabilization to provide a smoother and better flight experience.
The Holy Stone F181 quadcopter has a maximum flying speed of 31 miles per hour on the highest speed. Similar to the popular HS230 RC Racing drone. As many have noted, the controls are very responsive with a remote distance up to a maximum of 70 meters. The battery on average gives a flying time of 8 minutes which is decent for a drone in this price tag. And, did I forget to mention that the F181 Chaser drone comes with an extra battery?
Yep, that’s right. You’ll have a total flying time of 16 minutes. Most of the drones you’ll see on the market such as the C16W RC drone or Zomma F15 mini drone don’t have bonus batteries. I’m not sure if that is Holy Stone bribing us or not. But, I’ll take an extra battery over not being able to fly around long enough. 🙂 Below is a video of the Holy Stone F181 Chaser drone review that you can see how well it performs in real-time.
Remote Controller
It’s important to note that the F181 Chaser drone uses the same remote controller that HS170 Predator does. However, the main advantage is that the Chaser drone doesn’t require trimming which means beginners can focus more on flying the drone and less on maintaining stability. Aside from that, the remote controller does look a little professional. It isn’t something that you would see on more modern drones such as the IN 1802 Drone or HS700 Ophelia.
Functions-wise, the F181 Chaser drone is packed with some really good features. Especially the altitude hold function and headless mode. For some of you who might have never flown a drone before and is wondering what the heck Headless mode means. What it does is switch the control orientation from the drone to your remote controller. This means, if you push the right lever forward, the drone will fly forward regardless of its facing direction.
Second, the altitude hold mode lets you tell the drone to maintain its height level. You can activate or deactivate it to test your piloting skills. Along with these features, the remote controller includes a built-in LCD screen that lets you know of the drone’s battery status, height level, throttle speed, and more. Plus, this little blackbird can perform 360-degree flip to impress bystanders. Overall, I think it is quite a cool remote controller to have.
Final Verdict of Holy Stone F181 Chaser Review
Based on the research and sifting through the reviews, I’ve concluded that Holy Stone F181 Chaser is a decent quadcopter. It doesn’t have state of art features that you would normally see on more expensive drones such as Phantom 4 Pro or Mavic 2 Pro. But the real deal here is that the F181 Chaser drone is a perfect choice for kids, beginners, and even racers!
If you’re looking for a quality camera drone with FPV mode, the F181 Chaser drone doesn’t have that feature. It’s unfortunate because if this drone includes the feature, it would have become even more popular what it is right now. However, you still can capture aerial images and videos through a remote controller. At the price tag and the features that this little blackbird has to offer. I think it’s a good deal for beginners and a perfect gift for kids. You can check it out here.
