Home Reviews VISUO XS809HW quadcopter review: Poor man’s Mavic

VISUO XS809HW quadcopter review: Poor man’s Mavic

By
Advanced Flyer
-

The VISUO XS809HW quadcopter, as you can see right at first glance, is a copy of the Mavic Pro from the market leader DJI. It features a similar design with foldable arms.

To be honest, not everyone wants to pay 100 or even 1000 dollars for drones with fancy features that they can’t explore. Don’t mention that newbies usually destroy a couple of drones till they master some flight skills. Cheap drones like the VISUO XS809HW (aka TIANQU XS809HW) are excellent for practicing flights.

 

The XS809HW drone was announced with two types of cameras, a basic 0.3MP camera and a more versatile 2MP HD camera. The price difference between the two variants is about $3.

VISUO XS809HW review - Main features

VISUO XS809HW quadcopter highlights

  • Mavic alike design with foldable arms;
  • Altitude-hold with barometric air-pressure sensor;
  • Dedicated buttons for Landing and Take off;
  • Emergency stop button;
  • Headless flight mode;
  • Multiple control modes (Physical remote control, Virtual sticks, Smartphone Gyro);
  • 2MP, 720P, HD camera for aerial filming;
  • Wi-Fi real-time image transmission;
  • Multiple flight-speed rates;
  • Up to 10 minutes of playtime.

SILUROID VISUO XS809HW in-depth review

Disclosure: I received this VISUO XS809HW quadcopter as part of a product review collaboration with Banggood. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own, and I was in no way influenced by the sponsor.

I received this new drone just in time, as my son recently crashed his favorite toy. He became very sad, so I promised him this Mavic clone.

Inside the box, I found, besides the aircraft and its transmitter, a complete set of spare propellers, 1 set of blade protectors, a flight battery, a USB charging cable, a screwdriver and a user manual.

VISUO XS809HW  – First impression / Design and build quality

As I previously mentioned, the aircraft has similar design lines to those of the DJI Mavic Pro. Arms are foldable, but not the propellers.

The build quality is nice. It uses only plastic, but you need that to keep it light, to make it airborne. The included propeller protectors are highly recommended for first-time pilots.

Right side: VISUO XS809HW Left side: DJI Mavic Pro Image credit to Unknown Author

During night flights, you will be guided by 4 LED lights—green LEDs in the front and red ones in the rear (one under each motor). Two additional red LEDs in front will help you track the aircraft’s orientation.

The 900 mAh battery is loaded from the bottom of the quad. According to the manufacturer’s specs, with a fully charged battery, you can have up to 10 minutes of fun time. The drone is equipped with a “classical” ON/OFF power switch, so you won’t need to unplug the battery when you store the drone for a longer period. BTW the battery has a micro USB port and can be charged with almost any phone charger.

VISUO XS809HW review – Camera

The 720P camera is located in front of the drone, and it comes with a wide angle lens (120 degree FOV). Slight angle adjustment is possible.

After carefully looking at the drone’s bottom, I found a micro SD slot near the power switch. A pleasant surprise because you can record your flight’s journey without a smartphone. “On-board” recording also has better image quality than capturing from the live video feed.

Eight minutes of recorded video (1280×720@20fps) occupies about 270MB on the camera’s micro SD card.

Photo captured with the VISUO XS809HW drone (1920×1080)

The Wi-Fi FPV range is about 40 meters and has a low frame rate. I think that I will replace the stock camera with a 5.8G AIO camera (the Eachine DVR03 with integrated DVR will be just perfect for the job).

VISUO XS809HW review – Remote controller

The XS809HW drone features multiple control modes. It can be controlled with the included transmitter (RTF package) or through your smartphone – using virtual sticks or a gravity sensor.

The nice game-pad-style transmitter comes with a foldable phone holder. Adopting the alt-hold feature, both sticks are centered. The RC is powered by 3 pieces of AA batteries.

While the left shoulder button allows toggling between speed rates (30%, 60%, and 100%), the right one enables the 360-degree flip mode.

On the left side of the remote controller are two dedicated buttons (Take-off and Land), which allow to start and end your flights conveniently. On the right side, besides the Power button, there are 4 additional buttons: Photo, Video, Headless Mode, and One-key Return to home.

Although in my opinion is not the easiest and accurate way to control the aircraft through the XSW UFO APP, kids will love to pilot this way. It is similar to playing with a car simulator. Anyway, the APP is also necessary to display the camera’s live video feed on your smartphone.

VISUO XS809HW review – Test flight

Last weekend I had the perfect spring days for test flights. It’s not too hot and not too windy.

Starting your flight is very easy, you just need to push the “Take-off” button near the throttle stick, and the XS809HW will rise one meter above the ground and start to hover.

Even at 60% speed rate is surprisingly fast but not as fast as a racing quad is. The altitude hold performs very well. Although at full speed, it takes very well low wind gusts, I would not recommend flying on a strong wind.

If you fly out of control range, the drone will land automatically after a few seconds. It’s a nice feature, especially if you love to fly at big heights.

The advertised flight time is realistic, my first flight ended after about 8 minutes.

If something wrong happens, you can always instantly halt all the motors using the “Stop” button.

Pricing and availability

For those lacking summer gift ideas, this VISUO XS809HW can be found on the BG website here at $52.99 with free shipping. Note: This drone is also a cheaper version called XS809W, but it lacks the altitude-hold feature.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Price/performance ratio
Design and build quality
Transmitter
Camera / WiFi FPV
Flight performance
SUMMARY
Surely, the excellent flight time and well tuned speed rates makes the VISUO XS809HW an excellent learn to fly drone. The altitude hold performed very well. While the wide angle lens help a lot to practice FPV, due to the WiFi latency and low frame rate, it is a risky game.
Pros
+Foldable arms;
+Multiple control modes;
+Decent flight performance;
+Altitude hold is very accurate;
+Excellent flight time;
+On/Off power switch.

Cons
-Proprietary battery;
-Lack of spare parts.
3.7
OVERALL SCORE
Advanced Flyer
Senior editor and co-founder of FirstQuadcopter.com. Everything started about 4 years ago when I purchased my first drone. I still own that Syma X5C . Since then I have had the luck to review and test more than 100 drones.
visuo-xs809hw-quadcopter-reviewSurely, the excellent flight time and well tuned speed rates makes the VISUO XS809HW an excellent learn to fly drone. The altitude hold performed very well. While the wide angle lens help a lot to practice FPV, due to the WiFi latency and low frame rate, it is a risky game. <br> Pros<br> +Foldable arms;<br> +Multiple control modes;<br> +Decent flight performance;<br> +Altitude hold is very accurate;<br> +Excellent flight time;<br> +On/Off power switch.<br> <br> Cons<br> -Proprietary battery;<br> -Lack of spare parts.<br>

46 COMMENTS

    • Yes, I use mode 2 all the time.
      As I remember you can toggle between modes by holding one key while you power on the remote. don’t ask me which key because I don’t remember. Maybe there is something in the manual

  16. When I first got it I got the battery out with no problem; charged it and it went well. Today nothing I tried an release the battery. I shy away from using something to pry it out. The battery seems firmly stuck in the drone and from all the videos I see about it the operator gets the battery out with ease. What’s wrong with this one?

    • did you left the battery fully charged for longer period? may have swollen. This is often happens with LIPO type batteries.

  17. DUDE!!!!!!..I had gotten my Visuo stuck in a tree about 3 months ago. I am here in southwest Virginia and we have suffered a snow storm. Many, many rainy days.i watched this drone dangle for all this time..and pined over it..a few minutes ago my neighbor knocked on my door and asked if tis drone …..THE VISUO! was mine..i said yes and thank you so much…guess what folks…..this thing still works perfectly..i have to say that this is a superior product..i mean the camera. Everything…still working!//shout out to visuo and its products…I will be buying no other toy drone except for visual and its fine of products…AMAZING!..if anyone whos anyone reads this….please feel free to contact me and ask about the details..im in awe!

  39. I received last week a Visuo drone from Amazon. I need advice how to fly. I’m completely newbie with RC drones.
    thanks,
    Bruno

  51. It is possible that this feature has been added to the software since the review, which commented that the video stream to a phone can be a low frame rate and poor resolution. In the app., on the initial screen choose the settings cog and flip the switch for 720P Preview. This provides a higher-quality video stream. Although this is at the expense of responsiveness to the controls and increases battery drain, the difference is marginal. The manual does not specify the capabilities of the SD card slot, I found a 2GB card recorded fine when triggered using the video record feature in the software. The Visuo app even prompts you to download from the “Remote SD” to get footage straight onto your phone for sharing.

  61. Hi, could anyone please direct me to a link where i could download a copy of the VISUO XS809HW user manual or anyone kind enough to email me a pdf copy or the manual please.

  63. Make sure your drone is switched on then go to your settings on your phone, click on connections/Wi-Fi let it search for few seconds then the drone network should appear. connect to it then go to your app, presuming you have WiFi-Ufo turn that on then hit play.
    hope this helps

  64. Received one today only down side so far after a indoor test as it was raining heavy outside…… network will not work well with Samsung s7 edge :(

    • It comes without a memory card. If you want to record on micro SD card you will need to buy one. A cheap 8GB is just fine. You can also record the videos on the phones internal memory.

  73. I got this drone and I have been trying to record video from the onboard card and I have not been successful. I pressed the buttons from the control to start and stop de video but nothing is recorded.. any ideas???

  74. Got this as a gift, 2 weeks and still have not been able to get it to fly. Followed the instructions for pairing to the controller but nothing works. Guess “cheap” is not always better.

  81. I bought this drone off TT for $50 with 3 batteries! It’s a great drone, but my one issue is that it only comes with one charger cable. The cable has an indicator light that shows if it is charged, and it says not to over charge it. Can I use a normal micro USB cable?
    Thanks.

  82. Not a Mavic, but I still like it!
    It was very easy and fast to setup the equipment. BTW, the APP has VR glasses option :)

  83. Very impressed with this so far. Ordered from BG and it came in 7 days. Slight dent in the outer packaging but nothing damaged inside. The English instructions are pretty clear and it was insanely easy to get the hang of.
    My 12 year old was flying it fluently within minutes. Time will tell how durable it is but for the price you can hardly go wrong.
    My only piece of advice is to order extra batteries, as the supplied one takes 90 minutes to charge.

  84. Dear FirstQuadcopter,

    I was shown an expensive DJI Mavic Pro Quadcopter Drone in a hobby
    store. I was impressed but I knew not to try and fly one before getting
    some needed practice. I found a cheaper clone (toy) version by Visuo.
    This was to practice with, first to see if I could fly one and, second
    to see if I really wanted to get into drones.

    The only issue so far is how to remove and replace the blades on VISUO XS809HW. The instruction manual came with no information. I’ve searched for information and videos without success.

    I would be grateful if you can provide me basic information for blade
    removal and replacement.

    Thank you in advance for your time.

    Cheers,
    John Yells

    • Hi and sorry for the late replay.
      You should try to remove the silver prop cap, Under must be screw that release the blade. At least this is the usual way for such toys.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here


© Copyright 2014-2024 First Quadcopter. All Rights Reserved.
Exit mobile version