#Horizon hobby reviews series#

However, when we turned up the intensity and gave the drone a bit more throttle, the battery life showed an expected decrease in performance and lasted just 26 minutes. A simple test of the Chroma merely hovering in place - i.e., not using the onboard camera, accelerating the UAV itself, or enabling the smart features - resulted in a flight time of roughly 31 minutes. Boasting around 30 minutes of advertised flight time, our tests showed this estimation to nearly be spot on. Perhaps the bane of every UAV’s existence, the battery life and battery charge time for the Chroma are (refreshingly) a tad better than much of the competition. The foam pads glued to either end of the drone’s legs do run the risk of wearing down much quicker than other components native to the UAV, however, these could be easily replaced with spare foam picked up at a store like Michael’s. Over the course of the review, we flew the Chroma for roughly four or five hours, and aside from light wear and tear and a little dirt amassed on the landing gear, it still appeared to be in mint condition.

With sturdy, removable landing gear and a stout plastic body, the Chroma is built to last. Aside from this general characteristic, the Chroma Camera Drone impresses. Before getting too caught up on the propellers lacking unprecedented strength, it’s worth noting literally every drone comes with a set of rotors that essentially crumble if they touch anything - unless they feature some sort of rotor guard. Nearly every component of Horizon Hobby’s Chroma - save the propellers - were among some of the sturdiest we’ve seen in a drone. It’s also from the ST-10+ controller that operators have the ability to see what the drone sees, and monitor its battery levels, as well as what its ground speed and GPS locations currently are. While using the aforementioned ST-10+ controller, pilots simply move a dial up or down to adjust the camera’s pitch from looking out at the horizon or facing straight down to the ground. Capable of capturing gorgeous photos and videos, the camera proved to be the second-best part about flying the drone - after actually piloting the craft. Though Horizon Hobby offers different versions of its Chroma drone, our review model came equipped with an onboard 4K camera attached to a fully adjustable 3-axis gimbal. As if it were running into an invisible wall (without the destruction of the drone, of course), the Chroma halted its progress upon reaching this imaginary SAFE Circle during our trials. Don’t get us wrong, this doesn’t do anything to detract from the drone itself, nor does it make actually piloting the Chroma more or less difficult aside from its GPS function, it’s merely an aesthetic difference.Īnother useful feature is the Chroma’s SAFE Circle function, which essentially creates a safe zone around the controller, preventing the craft from flying too close to the operator.

#Horizon hobby reviews series#

With a body reminiscent of DJI’s Phantom series of drones, you’d have a hard time distinguishing the two if it weren’t for the Chroma’s mast-mounted GPS antenna, which essentially gives the craft a tail. Immediately after unboxing Horizon Hobby’s Chroma Camera Drone, it was apparent the craft had more in common with other big-name brands than just a simple repurposing of Yuneec’s ST-10+ controller. Similarities aside, the Chroma is a solid drone that wasn’t just a blast to fly but one that also provides an inexpensive entry point for anyone looking to get into aerial photography or videography. It is worth noting that as soon as we unsheathed the Chroma and picked up its ST-10+ touch-screen controller ( sound familiar?), it was apparent Horizon Hobby has kept a keen eye toward its competition - in particular, Yuneec. Having recently launched its Chroma line of drones, we decided to put its newest release through its paces to see how it stacked up against the industry’s elite. But what about Horizon Hobby? A global hobby company located in Illinois, Horizon Hobby is a jack-of-all-trades RC specialist that’s now trying to elbow its way into the unmanned aerial vehicle fold.

When most people think of the drone industry, companies like DJI, Yuneec, or perhaps Parrot tend to be the first to come to mind. Lacks intelligent piloting modes like Cable Cam and Orbit