HiSky HMX280 Quadcopter
In today’s review, I will present you with the HiSky HMX280 Quadcopter. This is not a general-purpose camera or a hovering drone. Rather, they are very active “sport” models that appeal to those who want to hone their piloting skills. Beginners, as well as those who don’t care for manual piloting, will not get the most out of this quad. However, if you want to become a true pilot and fly circuits around your local park or open space, this could be a good option for you.
What’s in the box?
- 2 x CCW Motor 1818 kv1300
- 1 x HMX280 Frame Kit
- 1 x Black CW CCW Propeller Pair
- 1x Orange CW CCW Propeller Pair
- 1 x CC3D Flight Controller
- 1x 3S Balance Charger
- 1 x 11.1V 1350mAh Battery
Specs
- Features: Radio Control
- Motor Type: Brushless Motor
- Functions: Speed up, Sideward flight,360 degrees spin
- Built-in Gyro
- Material: Plastic
- Kit Types: BNF
- Level: Advanced Level
- Age: Above 8 years old
- Flying Time: 7-8 mins
- Product weight: 0.416 kg
- Product size 13.76 x 11.79 x 4.72 inches
Design and build
The HM280 is a Ready to Fly mid-sized quadcopter with powerful brushless motors. It comes complete with the Remote, the quadcopter, a battery, and a battery charger. All you have to do is to attach the battery and then after you start the motor you’re good to go.
The overall look of this drone is definitely different from other multi-rotors but in a good way. Every part of the drone tells you that this is a fast drone. Even the black and orange color, which is often used in sports cars. The airframe is made from plastic, which is a bit heavier. A carbon fiber case would be more lightweight, resistant and it’s way cooler. In the front of the canopy, there are two bright LED lights that look awesome during night flight. There are two red LED lights in the rear of the aircraft and another 4 LED lights (one on each end of the arms) will help to detect the position of the quad-copter.
Also, there are 4 ports on the bottom in order to attach it to different hardware
- A micro USB port for firmware upgrade, configuration and fine-tune;
- DSMX satellite receiver port;
- 11.1v power out (JST socket);
- Gimbal port.
The drone doesn’t have any built-in camera but it has enough space and power to handle one if you attach it on the drone. You can attach basically any sports camera on the drone, like a GoPro. And if you download the manufacturer’s app then you will get an FPV too, so you will be able to follow the live transmission from the camera.
Remote controller
The RC is quite bulky, it looks like a racing drone’s universal transmitter, but this one isn’t a universal one. The controller works with 3x AA batteries, which are not included in the package. However, it’s still very useful. You can access a lot of flight modes with the transmitter. The RC has a lot of switches and buttons, and an LCD screen as well. In the user manual, you can find out the meaning of every button on the controller. Don’t think that you already know everything, take your time and read it carefully, we talk about a really powerful drone which needs a lot of accuracy and attention.
Flight experience
Regarding the specs, this quadcopter has a 400 meters range, which is not bad at all. But of course, it can’t be compared with a DJI drone, some of them have a 2km+ range. But that 400 meters are good enough too. If you need more range, you can increase that by adding a 2.4GHz range extender through the antenna’s SMA connector which will extend the distance. The drone comes with a 1350mAh Battery battery which is enough for 7-8 minutes of flight time, and it takes up to 5 hours to recharge it. So if you’re not a patient person don’t buy it.
The drone is equipped with a 1300kv Brushless Motors, these brushless motors are extremely powerful and they are more reliable than a brushed motor. The maximum horizontal flight speed of this HiSKY model is around 100Km/h, which is an amazing speed that comes with great responsibility too. Flying at a speed like this needs a lot of attention because if you somehow hit something or someone can sauce serious damage to the drone and the object as well.
PROS
- + Great flyer
- + Beautiful design
- + CC3D OpenPilot compatible
- + 3S powered
- + Night flyer
- + Nice RTF radio
- + SMA connector for the RTF radio
- + Power and servo plugs
- + Good RTF and PNF deals
CONS
- – 5-6min of flight time
- – JST connector with rather thin gauge wires
- – 4cm of ground clearance incompatible with any gimbal
- – Too flexible landing gears
- – Potentially breakable canopy
- – New Hisky protocol
- – 1306 motors instead of 1806 type
- – BNF package (since it’s a new protocol)
Conclusion
Let’s summarize what we saw in this review about the HiSky HMX280 Quadcopter. First of all with this done everything is about speed and power. It’s not a camera drone, but you can upgrade it to be one. Unless you can’t handle speed and can’t do tricks with a drone this isn’t for you. But if you think you are a pretty good pilot who is bored with slow and cheap drones you may upgrade your toy to this one. The flight time is quite small, especially when you consider the 5 hour charge time, but the flight range is quite good because 400 meters should be enough for you to perform various tricks or to take nice pictures or videos if you attach a sports camera to the drone.
If you’re still interested in the drone and you think you two might be a good couple you can check out the prices and order it from Geekbuying and Gearbest.
