Syma X5SW Explorers2 2.4G 4CH 6-Axis Gyro RC Headless Quadcopter with 0.3MP Wifi Camera (FPV) BLACK

Syma continues to make some of the best low-budget RC flight products on the market. The X5c is not only easy to setup and fly, it also flies quite well, it's easy to trim, and flight times are not bad on the stock battery. The camera works well though I rarely use it. Anyone new to RC should know that brushed motors take a few runs to properly break-in and reach their maximum power, so the X5c may seem a little sluggish the first several flights. This is advantageous to a beginner anyway since the quad-copter will not launch too quickly into the air when learning how to properly control and handle this quad when it's in the air. Very stable in the air, only requires a little bit of trimming to have it hovering like it's on rails. Plenty of power for flight outdoors, though I would not recommend flying the X5c on a windy day as it would lack the power to fight the winds and stay in place. Hopefully the cost of brushless motors continues to fall so that Syma can begin going brushless as their standard while maintaining the low price point they currently have. Excellent beginner quad-copter...should be feasible for kids ages 10+ to learn how to control and fly these without breaking your budget. Edit 6/2/19 - if you're looking for inexpensive Lithium upgrade packs, the Turnigy nano-tech 750mAh 1S packs (check hobbyking.com - they are about $4 each) will give you several minutes of extra flight time as well as more power. You will need to solder new connectors onto the packs and possibly onto the quad-copter itself because the stock molex power connector is wired in reverse. Most aftermarket LiPo packs come with the red/black wires in the opposite arrangement (if you buy batts with molex connectors). I recommend using JST connectors for these packs and changing the whole setup for JST. You can find chargers for JST packs in most hobby shops. Do not cheap out on chargers as the cheaper ones often overcharge the packs which can cause them to burst and ignite.

YOU WILL CRASH THIS DRONE. Let's face it, anybody who has owned a drone before will know that they have crashed at least one. From my experience: Once I started to get better at it, I started to get riskier (i.e. seeing how high it could go). After accelerating the drone to full speed and to maximum height level, I evidently lost signal and had no control over the drone. It flew into a nearby road and a car proceeded to clip it, many of the parts still remain intact but the drone itself is totaled. Before I crashed this drone, it was a nice beginner drone. Hard to get it calibrated at first but it became easier with practice. In summary, to make your first drone last as long as possible 1) Know the range of the controller 2) Make sure you have it calibrated VERY well 3) Observe the weather, the wind can blow this thing one way or another and there is nothing you can do about it if it blows into a tree or other structure 4) An open area is the best site for flying, don't risk flying it in areas that are not wide-open Also, changing the battery can get annoying. You have to unscrew every time if you want to change the battery (put in a fully charged one and keep flying), otherwise flight time can range for a good 6-7 minutes. Good drone for beginners, will likely buy a different model, but I have no regrets buying this product.

I really wanted to love this quad, but the camera and flying capabilities are not even close to that of the Syma X5C. My first beef is with the camera. The quality is horrendous. The image is washed out and almost colorless. Taking video on a nice, overcast day I would expect the video to look clear and at least somewhat colorful. But every time I fly its the same terrible footage. It seems to be pretty smooth which is nice and the FPV is cool for a minute. The FPV is pretty much unusable due to the long delay. Overall, the camera on the Syma X5SW is just not good at all. Next is the flight capabilities. First I would like to say the headless mode is pretty neat, but lacking. What I mean by that is the quad often takes longer to respond to directions with headless mode engaged. I also found that it would sometimes just keep turning left after I tried to change direction and it would crash. Although it takes longer to learn how to fly without headless mode, I think it is much more reliable without it. Now onto the good things... I really like the legs on the Syma X5SW as compared to the Syma X5C. They seem to make the quad rebound better if it crashes. When it does crash, you never really have to worry about it breaking much because this things is a tank and replacement parts are cheap and easy to order online. The battery compartment is very easily accessible. Next, the camera can easily be removed to fly without it. This is a nice feature I do not believe the X5C has. I really love that the video is recorded directly to your phone. If you can stand the choppy, VHS like video, this perfect. If you take off the camera and don't use headless mode, this thing flies wonderfully. All in all, if you are looking for an entry-level quadcopter with camera, I would not recommend this. I would check out the X5C. That one is generally $10 cheaper too. If you do not care about the video quality and love the capabilities of FPV and headless mode, this could be good for you. Although at that point I would spend a little more dough to get something that will be more reliable.

The Syma X5SW is very similar to the X5C, but its circuit has been enhanced and the case is thicker to accomodate better the camera and the battery. It is an excellent second-step quadcopter to learn how to pilot one. First one must be comfortable using a non-FPV, then upgrade to an FPV. So often pilots make mistakes in handling and crashing them because of weak 3D visualization (where is really your quadcopter in space). I ordered it in black color, but I found the blade guards were all white, so I grabbed a can of bright black plastic paint and made it all black. A monolayer of paint is enough. It also came with the RC control identical to the X5C but with a smartphone clip holder, a small screwdriver, extended landing legs, a set of spare propellers, and of course, no memory. FPV depends on your smartphone and an app. The IOS app is at the AppStore, but the Android version must be downloaded from the Syma site (www.symatoys.com). Syma does not tell the Android version it will work -too bad-. I tried to install it in an older phone with Android 4.0.3 and the app did not unpack, not matter what you do. I tried to install it in another slightly older phone (Samsung Galaxy S4) with Android 4.4.2 and it installed and worked properly. I also tried an old tablet with Android 4.1.1 and installed it but it does not work all the time. Once the Syma FPV is installed in your smartphone, I got a clear and crisp image (720p) on my phone screen. The app has the options to take a snapshot, to save the video (there is no memory card in the camera like in the X5C), to play it back, and an icon to show the WiFi signal level. You do not control the X5SW with the smartphone, smartphone screen is only your video window; you must use the RC controller. To use the quadcopter outside, I made a shade by cutting a black plastic document folder to cover the smartphone screen (see photo, to the left of the quadcopter), that way it blocks the sun shine and you also must adjust the brightness of the phone's screen. For now, it seems like an excellent choice for next-step beginners. And remember not to operate these quadcopters on top of people, any moment a motor can fail and the plastic propeller can cause an unwanted accident (not as hard as it happened to pop singer Enrique Iglesias!). Always install the propeller guards when using it with people and pets nearby. Will post developments as we use it in real adventures.

Fun at first. Allright image while it worked. The drone was a blast, it lasted about 2 weeks, then i was flying 15-20 feet in the air and the drone did a barrel roll and crashed. I cant fly the drone anny more. I have read the other customer reveiws and they said that Syma wouldnt take my drone back! I recomand DJI phantom 1 over this drone!

For the money, this is the best camera quadcopter for under $100 dollars. For anyone trying to get into the hobby or just learning to fly, this platform is easy to learn on and durable enough to take a few "dives". I've been nothing but impressed with its quality even though it's made in China. The free app works with both the Droid and OS systems and is user friendly. All data collected from the quad is stored on the enabled device you're using, so no memory cards. The quality of video is to be expected for its size and there is no audio. Landing gear is flimsy and I've already broken one. Would recommend that if you get this quad, you also invest in extra batteries and spare parts. Flight time is longer if you're not recording with the camera.....about 5-8 minutes total. It has a high and low mode; low being best for video, high for windy days. It can also do flips. Not recommended for use in the house although if you're good enough at the controls you can fly in large rooms. Charge time on the battery is about an hour. With the included USB charger, an old cell phone charger works great....I don't think plugging it into the computer is a good idea, especially to charge. It's a great product and I recommend it highly.

My son wanted a drone...well we got his one, I wanted to get one a little larger that felt a little more substantial (and still do) but my wife said NO! Out of choice I Would get one of the parrots but soo much money....Anyway, we purchased this and it's a ton of fun. I'm still getting used to flying this but it is really stable in flight, relatively easy to fly. Video quality is ok too. I'm not going to win any academy awards with my cinematography but the image is clear and it serves the purpose for what we wanted it for. One of the dislikes is the flight time. It only lasts a few minutes on a single charge and then you have to wait until the battery recharges. So in theory this should be a negative but to be fair this is an issue with all drones. The batteries need to be small and light to make it a viable drone. So the draw back is the short flight time, since "small battery=light=short flight time". So the reason I didn't ding it a star or two was the availability of the batteries. I purchased a set of four batteries with charger for less than a pack of "bunny" AA batteries. This now gives us some considerable flight time without having to pay $$$ for it. Replacement parts are readily available, and cheap. There are sites devoted into customizing these little drones with better batteries, cameras, motors and how to increase operating range etc. So when you add all this up it's hard to not give this 5 stars for the money. Get out there and have some fun!

Easy to fly great syma product. Def seems more tougher than my x5c-1 but the cam that runs on fpv has no audio. Even though the x5c-1 you can mostly hear propellers when you record, it has it uses at times and I personally enjoy being able to hear my recordings. The real problem I have is the fpv camera runs on a really shotty wifi signal via your phone that the copter emits itself. Constant buffering makes the fpv almost useless unless your in a really open area where mistakes won't matter. The delays are about every 5-10 seconds and take about 2-3 seconds to clear up. So dont expect to fly with precision through something narrow at long range and or out of sight. 2 seconds without sight may not seem long but once again if your trying to fly without actually seeing your drone this fpv is a bit of a challenge. And unfortunately the skipping does shows up in the video recording where you'll just start getting these 2-3 second time skips throughout the saved playback. Honestly I enjoy my x5c-1 with no fpv a bit more the one advantage this does have instead of fast mode that the x5c-1 comes with it has a headless mode which is probably the best feature of this copter. As anyone will tell you the hardest part of flying high and trying to record in a non fpv plane is loss of orientation and accidentally flying farther away trying to make it come back headless solves that and makes it wayyy easier to fly back at long range. Check out my X5C-1 review for video comparison of the this X5SW footage to the X5C-1 shot footage I posted, LINK BELOW. http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/ROE7N0V7QXO0A/ref=cm_cr_pr_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00RYUASI8