Potensic Upgraded A20 Mini Drone Easy to Fly Even to Kids and Beginners, RC Helicopter Quadcopter with Auto Hovering, Headless Mode, 3 Batteries and Remote Control, Gift Choice for Boys and Girls

The media could not be loaded. SUMMARY: Durable and has protected propellers which makes it safe to learn on. The altitude hold is a great feature for first time fliers. Perfect for younger kids and adults who are kids at heart.UPDATE: To avoid having it uncontrollably gain altitude DO NOT use the auto takeoff button. Instead pull both sticks down and in until motors start to spin. I have also purchased the UDI 46 which is the exact same item (but blue) which is sometimes less expensive.DETAILED REVIEW:Flying: With the altitude hold, this quadcopter hovers like the firefly, for which it’s named. You will need to make small corrections, but it makes it easy to learn the basics of flying. Try flying figure 8’s around obstacles and through the legs of chairs and soon you’ll be ready for something more expensive. It has 3 speeds from walking speed to jogging. It beeps to let you know. It is a bit tame for more advanced fliers and it doesn’t do flips. I’ve flown it outside up to 60 ft away and above the height of telephone poles. Understandably it can’t handle more than a light breeze. It has automatic motor shut off when it crashes (I crashed on purpose in my video).Battery: It has a non-removable battery with a tiny plug that is a little tricky. I got 5 ½ minutes indoor flying before the lights started to blink and 7 minutes before it auto-landed. The charger has a small red light on the chord which turns green after about 30-40 minutes of charging.Design: Made of a very durable rubbery plastic which seems indestructible. The propellers are well protected and they pull off if needed. The frames seem similar but is slightly shorter and wider than other mini copters (F36, H36, E010) but the body seems to have a much more premium construction (see picture). There is a nice white headlight and a red taillight which work well for orienting the front and back. It has a very small on and off switch and plug on the back. Some people may not like that the battery is not easily removable. The charging chord plug is also very small making it hard to tell which side is up and down but it is not a big deal.Controller: It is small but easy to use and quality far superior to those on other mini copters. The control pads are a bit stiff at first but great once they break in. It takes 3 AAA batteries (not included).My Tips: Periodically take off the propellers to remove dust bunnies which can build up inside. Remember to put them back in the right spot. There are 2 different props. Diagonal props are the same. Keep the box it is compact and nice quality. It can be used to transport it. Altitude hold seems to work better if it is manually launched (pull both sticks down and in) rather than using auto take off. If you have a hard crash you might want to shut it off and restart it because the gyros can get confused.The Company & Quality: Mine did not work in headless mode and it had altitude hold problems. When I opened up the controller it looked like a bad solder on the circuit board. These toy copters often share stock parts and are prone to quality glitches so I don’t hold it against them. I contacted Potensic and their customer service was great. They were helpful in customer support and were willing to stand behind their product. The new one is perfect.Other Options: The H36/F36/E010 are much harder to fly without altitude hold and they don’t seem as good in quality. There are similar models with cameras but that will drain batteries and cost more.

When I found these mini drones at such a great price I decided to get two for each of our Granddaughters and one for this never too old kid, me. Immediately upon receiving them I opened each and charged all their batteries and set each one up to test before giving two of them to our Granddaughters.Some constructive suggestions to the manufacturer or distributor would be to review the instruction sheet included as one of the instructions just seemed to be incorrect although it may have been the way I was reading it (read it over about 3 times). Also, add a link to your sales page for an instruction video that takes you thru each of the steps outlined on the instruction sheet.Although both our Granddaughters are computer/tablet or whatever electronic there is savvy and I have been working with computers for 34 years, I still found it easier to learn how to operate the drones by searching thru Youtube videos and watching several different ones before I was comfortable with how to operate it without losing control of it.I never timed the total flight timer per battery but it did seem like it was 7-10 minutes per battery, or there abouts. The drone (once I learned how to get it going) was very fast and highly maneuverable, if you use the headless option and overall, I found the drones to offer a lot of fun flying for a small amount of money.Now for the except one thing - I attempted to show our youngest granddaughter who is 10 how to operate the drone, she did have issues with the fact the left control button is not used for actually flying it in any direction but when she took it home I also showed her the youtube videos to watch. She played around with it for a couple of short flights in the house but then took it outside one day last week without adult supervision and apparently did not use the headless option of flight. The drone took off on it's own around the back of their house and has not been seen since. She and her Father searched for several hours but could not find it. So overall, I am pleased with the drones and how they operate but do suggest the extra instructions cited above plus one other possible option.Could it be possible to add a beeper of some sort that one of the controller buttons could actuate by pressing it to give off an audible sound loud enough to help you locate the drone if you loose control of it. I realize it could fly quite a distance but in the case of my Granddaughter, it most likely flew into one of the trees that surrounds their property and some type of sound might help locate the drone or yet another option that if the blades stop, have a flashing led on top that would blink so it might also help you locate the drone visually, if not in the day time, then when it begins getting darker.