Syma X8G Headless 2.4Ghz 4CH RC Quadcopter with 8MP HD Camera (Silver)

The media could not be loaded. The video I uploaded doesn't look good on the amazon player. please follow the youtube links below to see my examples of the video.https://youtu.be/rSzfIZbIQgMhttps://youtu.be/oL4OHVaSI5gI purchased this drone about a month ago and I absolutely love it. I must preface this review by saying that this is the first drone I've ever owned. I know there are a lot of suggestions out there that say to start with the smallest and least expensive drone but I really have a hard time doing that with anything. I knew that in a few weeks I would have mastered the smaller craft and would instantly want something better. My wife bought me a different drone for Christmas, that appeared to be a version of the Syma X5 packaged under a different name. I flew it a couple of times and liked it but the video quality was really not what I was looking for. I returned that drone and set off to Amazon to look for what for me would be the best option. I think I probably looked at everything listed on Amazon, and after reading hundreds of reviews and watching countless YouTube videos this is what I settled on. I am so pleased with this drone. I can't imagine making a better purchase. If you are a first-timer with some adventure in your soul, or looking for an upgrade, your really can't go wrong with this.This drone is basically a clone of the dji phantom for a fraction of the cost. From what I've read, the phatom has more features but as far as breaking into flying, I would much rather pay 150 as apposed to 500 for something I may drop from the sky from a couple hundred feet. The two products are so close that I recently upgraded my landing gear with some that are designed for the phantom. I included two videos that show the quality of the camera because that's what I was really interested in with the X8G. I am really happy with the video quality. I still may upgrade the camera to a gopro or gopro clone, but for now the camera is great.As I said, this is my first drone so I'm no expert but from what I have experienced, I absolutely love this craft. Compared to a smaller drone such as the X5, I think the increased size provides more stability. This is really a great drone for learning to fly without breaking the bank and you will get some pretty good video from it. I have two examples of video from a couple of my first flights. The flights aren't great because I'm still learning but you can get a good idea of the quality of the camera. This drone is basically the exact same as the X8C or X8W but with an upgraded camera. My recommendation is that if you care about video quality, to go with the X8G over the other two. If video is not very important, go with the XC. The video you get from the X8W is not going to be very good. You could potentially buy an X8C for about 50 bucks less and then outfit it with a go pro. But doing that is going to put your price point well over the cost of the X8G.So if you are like me and you're trying decide between one of the 5,000 options out there to break into the drone game, I would strongly recommend this unit. Your options are basically:1. Buy one of the many smaller drones that are all listed in the toy class. The X5 appears to be a good place to start but the video is going to be poor.2. Buy one of the many drones around the $100 dollar price point. There are a bunch and I bet that some of the others are good but I haven't seen any videos of anyone getting any better video than what comes with the X8G.3. Bump up to the 300 dollar range for something that may be a little better with GPS or go with a phantom for starting at $500.This was my starting point based on the fact I wanted to learn to fly and take some good video. Something else may work well for you but If you want a solid flyer to learn on and be able to get some good quality video once you do, you should strongly consider this.Pros:1. Price. Probably the best bang for your buck in the drone world2. Flying - Very solid experience. The headless mode function is great.3. Video - pretty amazing quality for such an inexpensive cameraCons:1. Landing gear will break quickly if you're learning2. Instruction manual has some definite translation problems. With some help from youtube you can overcome that.Final Verdict.If you want a drone, and you want more than just a little toy, look no further than the X8G. You will feel pretty good about taking this wherever you are going to fly and setting it loose.Last Note:The drone comes with eight propellers. Four are labeled A, and four are labeled B. You have to make sure the A's are on the A motors and the B's are on the B motors. This is not explained in the instruction manual, but after I figured it out I noticed the outside of the box mentions it for some reason. I noticed someone else was having a problem with this so I hope this helps. If you don't put the right props with the right motors you either won't take off or you will crash pretty quickly.

I am an experienced quadrotor pilot, and have flown many over the past few years, from higher-end DJI quads down to a small Hubsan. We bought the Syma X8G as a good lower-end quad, and when it came, everything seemed fine. All the parts were there, everything went together with no issue, and it paired quickly. We flew it on an evening with no wind whatsoever, to make sure it wouldn't be too squirrely, as it's extremely lightweight.We had it hovering lower down to adjust the trim, and had a bit of an issue with the headless mode (it was extremely slow to respond, and sometimes would take a second or so to respond to right stick input) so I took it out of headless mode and just flew it normally, and it seemed to be working OK. Took it up to about 50-60 feet - not that high, but just high enough to get some video of the surrounding area, and noticed it begin to drift laterally over a bunch of trees. I tried to bring it back, but it was completely unresponsive to the right stick input. I fought to bring it down, but it just drifted faster and faster away, before it disappeared over some trees and out of sight. Again, there was absolutely NO wind whatsoever, and no input I gave the right stick (left/right or forward/back) made any difference at all. We hunted for hours to find it, to no avail - it's either in a tree or in a pond that was 300 yards away.We read dozens of reviews of different quads before buying this one, so I have to imagine that some people have excellent experiences, but the fact that ours malfunctioned so quickly out of the box leads me to believe Syma has extremely poor quality control, and other reviews we have read since losing it have noted that they had similar issues, but they were able to recover the drone and found soldering problems that caused it. I would return this for a refund, but because of the malfunction, I have no product to return. I would seriously caution anyone against buying this quad unless you are willing to double check the solder points and are prepared to lose it. Extremely disappointed in this product.