Awesome review my brother and great recommendations at the end. Syma is trying really hard to promote this drone by sending it out to almost every reviewer on UA-cam, myself included. I wish I could say I'm looking forward to reviewing mine, but I'm not, lol!! POW!!!
Hey man nice to see you around... yep they are trying to push this one everywhere. And I can tell who just wants to help push it vs make an honest review too. I’m sure yours will be great. Actually I give syma a lot of credit though they have been really responsive via email about the problems i raised with this drone, and they said they still want to contact me when they make a new brushless drone at some point in the near future. I think they know they need to up their game in 2020 a bit more! Hope you’re well!
@@JohnCuppi Yeah, I've seen that 'one' reviewer that called it a "Great Beginner's drone" ... I'm still laughing!!! For this price, Syma knows that they should have made this drone brushless, simply to compete with companies like Eachine and Holy Stone, or even MJX for that matter. POW!!!
SOUL FORCE QUADS and if they don’t want to compete with brushless then they just need to price it right for brushed. when you can get an Eachine e520s gps for $70-$80 usd. No one really cares about a fancy carrying case for a quad like this that just inflates the price. Was a waste of money. 😆 but then we also have the new JJRC X16 is $95 on BG, looks like a brushless OF quad! I want to try that next.
Nice review John. That is a nice little beginner drone for the money. Or if you're just looking for something to play around with. Nice I had to even look it up because it looks like something that would be nice to play around with. Really enjoyed the review John.
I was hoping for better from our beloved Syma. They just can’t seem to get GPS drones right. And I agree that it is very over priced at $200. From what I’ve seen it might not be worth a $100. Nice honest review.
I have just purchased this drone and for some reason cant get it to go above height of two story building. Obviously from video it goes higher. What am i doing wrong?
Thanks so much for reviewing this. I tried reviewing mine today but didn't know or forgot about getting pictures and video from the bottom camera. Have you tried the human tracking/follow me and surrounding flight? I loved the surrounding flight option as that worked pretty good. I think the follow me option has to be from the bottom camera so that it always has to be on top of you.
Thank you for the kind words. I did try circling, it’s at 9:30 in this video. The bottom camera is for optical flow purposes, it’s supposed to scan the ground and create a digital map of the terrain and use that to hold position. which failed to work for me. But if you are able to get it to work, that way, please let me know.
@@JohnCuppi I just tested and reviewed mine if you're interested in watching my review. How do you switch to the optical mode because it somehow auto switched to GPS. I'm trying to make a separate video on using the follow me command. Were you able to get that to work?
Jay Rule optical flow is supposed to be automatically active as long as you are flying within the height specified in the manual. Optical flow isn’t really a mode - it’s supposed to work alongside GPS to create an even more accurate position hold. Unfortunately follow me mode would not work correctly for me on this one either. I’ll check your review out.
@@JohnCuppi Thanks for the clarification. I will try that function when the weather is better. Fall in Seattle is atrocious lol. I noticed today the pictures and videos recorded to my iPhone 7 which I connected to the transmitter. I don't understand why it saved to my phone when I had a 32GB microSD card that had plenty of space. Also, how do you switch from the front to the bottom camera?
@@abotsia yeah that’s lame - syma never contacted me again after this review, so I’m sure they were actually annoyed and likely had no intention of working on this at all.
Seems pretty decent for a toy grade GPS though the camera has more jello than you'd like to see even for a toy. Just a shame the optical flow doesn't seem to work.
Are you in a wide open field with no metal or anything metal in the ground? If so and it still won’t calibrate, and you’re following instructions 100%, then it’s probably defective
Im very upset with this drone. I cant get it to stay conected past 10 ft. And a if its not in my face the camera lags so bad it take a full minute to buff. The optical flow sucks, the follow me wont even face the right way, it wont circle and when i tell it to go home it just flies away
great job and video but the space of entry drones is occupied by the cheapest dji branded 100$ Tello entry drone useable in- and outdoors. And it can not compete against a Mavic Mini beast ... so might be a good beginner drone but not my choice cause far away from Mini precision and not much better than the Tello Thanks for sharing
The tello is a really strong toy for the value. Syma is just far behind with this x500. The other vendors are upping things just a bit though, I see the $100 market starting to play with brushless more and more. I’ve got my eyes on a new brushless drone from JJRC that is $95, the x16, Optical Flow. And for not much more than the price of a tello + couple batteries you can get a hold of a brushless drone + 2 axis gimbal. If DJI released a new tello with micro brushless motors it would probably be amazing. Anyway, syma saw my video and said they are working on a new brushless drone that will be out at some point so it looks like they are taking all of the bad feedback on this seriously.
Oh yeah I guess I goofed a little there, “GPS follow” would have worked most likely. With the OF sensor not working though Active Tracking can’t function on this one. 👎🏻 not like it would be great anyway...
@@JohnCuppi It's an unforgivable mistake. I think you should pay everybody back including your parents. But I'll give you a chance if you test the follow-me and active-track capabilities of each drone thoroughly in your next reviews. Because that's the feature I'm interested in. Till now I haven't found the ideal affordable follow-me drone yet. My Fimi A3 does it great. But doesn't fold. I may order a L109 Pro. One of the options a true follow-me feature should have is a return-to-controller so you don't have to walk or ride all the way back to take-off point. I hope you can test that as well. Also there are two styles of follow-me. 1. Follow-me 'on a string' like DJI. 2. When is stays in position relative to you like my Fimi. (Quadcopter101 calls it 'Hubsan style'). So hopefully you can become a drone follow-me expert and I won't have to punish you severely for the confusion you created on our flat Earth.
Good to see you on camera John! I've not been on camera in a long time.
I needed some sunglasses though! :D lol
Awesome review my brother and great recommendations at the end. Syma is trying really hard to promote this drone by sending it out to almost every reviewer on UA-cam, myself included. I wish I could say I'm looking forward to reviewing mine, but I'm not, lol!! POW!!!
Hey man nice to see you around... yep they are trying to push this one everywhere. And I can tell who just wants to help push it vs make an honest review too. I’m sure yours will be great. Actually I give syma a lot of credit though they have been really responsive via email about the problems i raised with this drone, and they said they still want to contact me when they make a new brushless drone at some point in the near future. I think they know they need to up their game in 2020 a bit more! Hope you’re well!
@@JohnCuppi Yeah, I've seen that 'one' reviewer that called it a "Great Beginner's drone" ... I'm still laughing!!! For this price, Syma knows that they should have made this drone brushless, simply to compete with companies like Eachine and Holy Stone, or even MJX for that matter. POW!!!
SOUL FORCE QUADS and if they don’t want to compete with brushless then they just need to price it right for brushed. when you can get an Eachine e520s gps for $70-$80 usd. No one really cares about a fancy carrying case for a quad like this that just inflates the price. Was a waste of money. 😆 but then we also have the new JJRC X16 is $95 on BG, looks like a brushless OF quad! I want to try that next.
Thank you John for the honest review. Well done! Yes I did enjoy the video as always.
Appreciate it Joseph thank you!
Nice little quad John! Thanks for sharing buddy! Hope all is well with you
Same here Kenny, thanks for the comment!
A classic, tried putting tape over the optical flow camera, no dice, didn't help
Yeah that was a really good idea. Glad to know that was ruled out too. I think we all tried our best with this one.
Nice review John. That is a nice little beginner drone for the money. Or if you're just looking for something to play around with. Nice I had to even look it up because it looks like something that would be nice to play around with. Really enjoyed the review John.
Thanks a lot herman! Really appreciate it.
This was a really cool review John. I really liked it. You’re very informative and relaxed in front of the camera. Awesome. 😁
Thanks for watching man! I should have worn sunglasses though I think, too much squinting, lol.
John Cuppi always man. Yeah it did look pretty bright out, and sunglasses are badass lol
Great honest review John, it’s been to hot here to review. Take care John, 😀👍🍻
Honesty is always the best policy, Hope it helps syma improve. Thank you Donnie, take care!
Thanks for always keeping it real, Cuppi!👍🏼
👍 :) Thanks man! Yep syma has some work ahead of them on this one.
Nice detailed & informative review. I will be reviewing one myself soon.
Glad it was helpful!
Great assessment John. Thanks for the tip on how to use this drone. Look forward seeing more drone videos
Thanks Patrick! I’ve got some new ones coming up better than this one, stay tuned.
John Cuppi I will I think we share similar interests pls swing my channel too and if you like what you see perhaps consider a sub
I was hoping for better from our beloved Syma. They just can’t seem to get GPS drones right. And I agree that it is very over priced at $200. From what I’ve seen it might not be worth a $100. Nice honest review.
$100 absolute maximum price really. and that is IF the flow sensor is fixed. Thanks Ron, take care!
Outstanding John, thank you.
Thanks as always for the support, take care! 👍
I have just purchased this drone and for some reason cant get it to go above height of two story building. Obviously from video it goes higher. What am i doing wrong?
Thanks so much for reviewing this. I tried reviewing mine today but didn't know or forgot about getting pictures and video from the bottom camera. Have you tried the human tracking/follow me and surrounding flight? I loved the surrounding flight option as that worked pretty good. I think the follow me option has to be from the bottom camera so that it always has to be on top of you.
Thank you for the kind words. I did try circling, it’s at 9:30 in this video. The bottom camera is for optical flow purposes, it’s supposed to scan the ground and create a digital map of the terrain and use that to hold position. which failed to work for me. But if you are able to get it to work, that way, please let me know.
@@JohnCuppi I just tested and reviewed mine if you're interested in watching my review. How do you switch to the optical mode because it somehow auto switched to GPS. I'm trying to make a separate video on using the follow me command. Were you able to get that to work?
Jay Rule optical flow is supposed to be automatically active as long as you are flying within the height specified in the manual. Optical flow isn’t really a mode - it’s supposed to work alongside GPS to create an even more accurate position hold. Unfortunately follow me mode would not work correctly for me on this one either. I’ll check your review out.
@@JohnCuppi Thanks for the clarification. I will try that function when the weather is better. Fall in Seattle is atrocious lol. I noticed today the pictures and videos recorded to my iPhone 7 which I connected to the transmitter. I don't understand why it saved to my phone when I had a 32GB microSD card that had plenty of space. Also, how do you switch from the front to the bottom camera?
Good honest review John 👍
👍🏻 I only do 100% honest ree views 🤣
💯% agree John it’s not worth what it’s been sold for.
Thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks for checking it out! Syma told me they are working on it. 👍
@@JohnCuppi lol they havent and its December 2022.
I just bought now I'm considering returning it.
@@abotsia yeah that’s lame - syma never contacted me again after this review, so I’m sure they were actually annoyed and likely had no intention of working on this at all.
Bro you are amazing
Love from India
Thank you!
Me too
Hey bro I am from India please tell me this drone range please
Around 150m maximum.
How How do I unlock the padlock?
Seems pretty decent for a toy grade GPS though the camera has more jello than you'd like to see even for a toy. Just a shame the optical flow doesn't seem to work.
I could get on board with this one for $80-$100 price range with the OF sensor fixed.
Mine isn’t calibrating! What do I do?
Are you in a wide open field with no metal or anything metal in the ground? If so and it still won’t calibrate, and you’re following instructions 100%, then it’s probably defective
Nice review 👌.. and being totally honest 👍.. i agree to high of a price.. so what did you go fly?
My DJI FPV drone! Lol. Got that review coming up at some point. :)
Nice job John... I agree, not enough bang for the buck.
👍🏻 Thank you for your input! Yep I won’t recommend something that isn’t a good value :)
My god that 200 dollar price point is devastating for this. Very honest review though
and they still haven't come down much in price... lol... better off with the eachine e520s
@@JohnCuppi Trying to get in this hobby is hard for reasons such as this.
Im very upset with this drone. I cant get it to stay conected past 10 ft. And a if its not in my face the camera lags so bad it take a full minute to buff. The optical flow sucks, the follow me wont even face the right way, it wont circle and when i tell it to go home it just flies away
Good review....Thank you sir..😎
Hey Sam thanks a lot!
Syma has the X500pro now, it has brushless motors. I think that's all they fixed on it.
If syma still doesn’t hate me, maybe they’ll send me one.
Why dont my drone connect fto my wifi???
To*
Got my drone Syma X500 new for $20 guess got a good deal for a toy is fun
For $20 that’s great, even with all of these flaws/issues.
great job and video but
the space of entry drones is occupied by the cheapest dji branded 100$ Tello entry drone useable in- and outdoors.
And it can not compete against a Mavic Mini beast ... so might be a good beginner drone but not my choice cause far away from Mini precision and not much better than the Tello
Thanks for sharing
The tello is a really strong toy for the value. Syma is just far behind with this x500. The other vendors are upping things just a bit though, I see the $100 market starting to play with brushless more and more. I’ve got my eyes on a new brushless drone from JJRC that is $95, the x16, Optical Flow. And for not much more than the price of a tello + couple batteries you can get a hold of a brushless drone + 2 axis gimbal. If DJI released a new tello with micro brushless motors it would probably be amazing. Anyway, syma saw my video and said they are working on a new brushless drone that will be out at some point so it looks like they are taking all of the bad feedback on this seriously.
Follow-me is GPS. Active-track is optical.
Oh yeah I guess I goofed a little there, “GPS follow” would have worked most likely. With the OF sensor not working though Active Tracking can’t function on this one. 👎🏻 not like it would be great anyway...
@@JohnCuppi It's an unforgivable mistake. I think you should pay everybody back including your parents.
But I'll give you a chance if you test the follow-me and active-track capabilities of each drone thoroughly in your next reviews. Because that's the feature I'm interested in. Till now I haven't found the ideal affordable follow-me drone yet. My Fimi A3 does it great. But doesn't fold. I may order a L109 Pro.
One of the options a true follow-me feature should have is a return-to-controller so you don't have to walk or ride all the way back to take-off point. I hope you can test that as well.
Also there are two styles of follow-me. 1. Follow-me 'on a string' like DJI. 2. When is stays in position relative to you like my Fimi. (Quadcopter101 calls it 'Hubsan style').
So hopefully you can become a drone follow-me expert and I won't have to punish you severely for the confusion you created on our flat Earth.