JJRC X9 Heron Quadcopter Review

JJRC X9 Heron Quadcopter Review

JJRC has been present on the market for some time. They have more professional and less professional drones for beginners. And this is how drone manufacturers should act. You should give something to each of the consumer types. Today I will present to you the JJRC X9 which is a beginner drone with some great features that all of us need for a drone. So in this JJRC X9 Heron Quadcopter Review, you will find out what this drone can do, its features, and how well it’s performing.

Main features

• Brand Name: JJRC
• Controller Frequency: 2.4Ghz
• Channel: 4-Channels
• Motor: Brushless Motor
• Battery: 11.4V 1000mAh Battery (Included)
• Flight time: About 14-15 mins
• Charging time: About 250mins
• Control Distance: 1000m
• Max Speed: 20km/h
• FPV Distance: 200 – 300m
• Transmitter Power: Built-in rechargeable battery (3.7V 2500mAh Battery)
• Quadcopter Size: 14.8 x 14.5 x 6cm
• Quadcopter Weight: 258g

What’s in the box?

• 1 x JJRC X9 Quadcopter
• 1 x Remote Controller
• 2 x 11.4V 1000mAh Battery
• 1 x Balance Charger
• 1 x Balance Charger Cable
• 1 x USB Charging Cable
• 2 x Spare Propeller
• 1 x Bag

Build and design

The drone has a nice and simple look. Nothing to complicated design is just a simple white wide stripe. It’s not a foldable drone but still, it occupies a very small place with his size of 14.8 x 14.5 x 6cm. The aircraft weighs 258g so with the proper carrying case it should be a problem to transport it. On the bottom, there is an optical flow sensor which will ensure a smooth flight for you even when you’re flying at a low altitude.

When you are going to purchase the drone you can choose between two colors, white and grey or black and grey. Both of them look amazing, but I personally enjoy the white and grey option more. Another great thing about this drone is that it comes with some really cool LED lights. Having LED lights will only make it look better, but they will help you identify the drone easily.

Battery

It has an 11.4V 1000mAh Battery which can give the drone a flight time of around 15 minutes of flight time. But this is the most optimal flight time. If you use some of the features you will get approximately 10 minutes of flight time. Also, the battery has an LED light indicator that tells you the level of the battery. Ont battery takes around 4 hours to recharge. But luckily as you can see in the what’s in the box section some of the providers will get you 2 batteries which will double your flight time and your fun.

Controller

The controller you get for this drone is the usual JJRC controller that you get for most of the models, for example, you get the exact same controller for the JJRC X7 as well. The RC  it’s a bit bulky but it fits just right in your hand. All the buttons and switches are easy to reach. The controller comes with a phone holder, which can support all kinds of phones. The controller has a built-in battery so you don’t have to mess with AA batteries.

You can also control the drone through your phone if you download the app called “Enjoy Fly ” which is available on both Apple and Android systems. With that, you have to connect on the drones wi-fi and you’re ready to go. Also with the app, you can access some features like follow me mode, orbit mode, etc that you can’t use with the controller.

Camera

The camera given to this drone is a 1080p camera, that can take pretty clear photos and videos. The camera angle can be adjusted through the controller. You will have a scroll on the corner of the control which gives the command for this. Overly the camera it’s not the best but not the worst either. The camera is supported with a 2 axis gimbal which can fail sometimes and your footage will be a bit tilt. The footage taken with the drone is stored on a micro SD card which has to be placed inside the drone which is way better than to store it on your phone.

Flight experience

This is a GPS drone, however, it has a bit older GPS system on it so if you fly it for the first time charge its batteries, power on and let it stay for a few minutes to let him connect to the satellites. Then you will have to charge the batteries again but in the long term, it’s worth it. And only then you will get only 7 or 8 satellites. So it will have a little less accuracy but you have an optical flow sensor so you will be able to fly it smoothly. But the return home mode might work a bit weak, so don’t give so much trust to the Return Home System because that 7-8 satellites can fail sometimes.

But when it has the right number of satellites it works pretty well. However when you try the altitude hold it might move a bit sideways. The drone has Waypoint mode, Orbit mode and Follow me mode, I bet you all know what these are so I won’t steal your time by explaining those. It’s more important to mention that they don’t work perfectly because the manufacturers didn’t really give enough for these features. So it’s not a very precise drone but you get what you pay for. However, if you’re an experienced pilot that can handle the drone well it shouldn’t be a problem for you controlling the drone.

Way point mode

It is an amazing flight mode that will be very helpful to the drone’s user. In order to use this mode you will have to draw a route on the mobile app. After you are done, the drone will follow the route by itself returning to its starting position. It is a great mode because it allows to focus better on capturing the greatest angles of view, without having to focus on controlling the drone.

Follow me mode

It is another amazing feature that is a must have on your drone. To use this mode you will have to select an object at your choice. And the drone will start following the object by itself. It will maintain a decent distance away from it and it will record it. It is perfect for outdoor sport enthusiast who want to record their activities.

Orbit mode

To activate this mode is pretty similar to the Follow me mode. You will have to select an object. After you are done, the drone will fly around the selected object orbiting and recording it. It is another very helpful flight mode that will allow you to capture stunning shots and videos.

Return home mode

This is one of the greatest safe modes of this drone is the return home command. This drone will help you to not lose your drone. By simply pushing the return home button, the drone will come back to you by itself. It will act the same when its battery is low on power. So there is no need to worry about losing this drone.

Conclusion

The JJRC X9 Heron Quadcopter from this review looks nice and has some good features. The camera, the controller, the app and motors are performing well. But the flight features like the Orbit mode, Follow me mode, etc are performing poorly. For an experienced drone user, this can be really annoying and take away the joy of the flight because you will be annoyed about the dissipating execution. But for someone who takes a drone for the first time in his hand might be enjoyable how much can a cheap quadcopter like this too. Besides the flight features, you will be able to make nice aerial footage no matter your drone piloting experience

If you’re interested in buying the JJRC X9 check out Banggood, Amazon, Aliexpress and Geekbuying to get the best deal possible.