REVIEW – Holy Stone is a prolific manufacturer of affordable drones and accessories. One of their latest models, the Holy Stone HS790 GPS 6K Camera Drone with 3 Axis Gimbal, is a budget-friendly alternative to the more expensive DJI drones (which are very hard to get at the time of this writing). This drone was quite an improvement on the drones from Holy Stone that I have previously reviewed.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $459.99 – Currently $389.99 (15% off)
Where to buy: Amazon
What is it?
The Holy Stone HS790 GPS 6K Camera Drone with 3 Axis Gimbal is a new offering from the Holy Stone company. The HS790 captures very nice 4K video and 6K pictures with its high-end SONY 1/3.2” CMOS Sensor, with enhanced nighttime flying for low-light videos and pictures. The drone is capable of very long-range flight (9 km/30,000 ft transmission range, according to Holy Stone). The drone has a built-in Remote ID (RID) that requires FAA registration, but not a drone license, unless you use it for making money. The flying package includes two long-lasting batteries and a charging hub, providing up to 60 minutes of flying time.
What’s included?
- Holy Stone HS790 Drone
- 2 Drone Batteries
- Charging Hub
- Drone Remote Control
- USB-C Charging Cable
- Phone connection cables (USB-C, Lightning)
- Extra Propeller Blades with mounting screws
- Screwdriver
- Drone Propeller Strap
- Padded carry bag
- User Manual
Tech specs
- Foldable
- 3-Axis Mechanical Gimbal
- GPS enabled
- SONY 1/3.2” CMOS Sensor, f/2.0 Aperture
- 4K video (SD Card:3840 × 2160@30fps or 2688×1512@50fps), cellphone:1280×720@30fps)
- 6K pictures (SD card:5700 × 3200, cellphone:1280×720)
- Camera FOV: 75º
- Video format: MP4
- Picture format: JPEG
- SD Card type: Class 10 or above up to 256 GB
- 9KM/30000Ft HD Transmission with Low-Latency Streaming
- Night flying features: Locator lights and enhanced low-light image processing
- Built-In Remote ID (RID) Compliance
- Brushless motors
- Built in beginner-friendly acrobatic flight maneuvers
- Single battery capacity: 3200 mAh
- Battery voltage: 7.7V
- Battery type: Lithium-ion Polymer
- Battery Charging time (empty to full): approx. 110 minutes
- Up to 60-minute flight time with two batteries (included)
- 3-battery charging hub (doubles as a power bank)
- Max flight height: 396 ft (120 m)
- Max wind resistance: 8 m/s
- Drone Weight: 377 grams (13.3 oz) (requires FAA registration)
- Drone Dimensions (unfolded) (LxWxH): 9.8 in x 8.07 in x 2.6 in (24.9 cm x 20.5 cm x 6.6 cm)
- Drone Dimensions (folded) (LxWxH): 6.65 in x 3.62 in x 2.6 in (16.9 cm x 9.2 cm x 6.6 cm)
Design and features
The Holy Stone HS790 GPS 6K Camera Drone with 3 Axis Gimbal is a bundled offering with the HS790 drone, controller, two batteries, charging hub, all the cables, and extra propellers. It comes very well packaged in a padded carry bag that holds everything very well.
After charging the batteries and controller (see below), the drone was ready to fly. The HS790 is a foldable drone, which makes it as compact as possible. Unfolding the drone reveals a quite large drone with four brushless motors at the end of each arm.
Before flying, for US owners, the drone requires FAA registration due to its weight exceeding the 250-gram limit. The HS790 tops the scales at 377 grams (with battery). This added weight is due to the larger battery and the camera gimbal mechanism. See below for that experience.
Since the HS790 needed registration, it requires a Remote ID module to broadcast its presence while flying. The HS790 comes with this Remote ID module built it. Some drones require a separate purchase for the Remote ID.
The HS790 has lights on the two rear legs. These lights are used to indicate drone status. They glow green (good – ready to fly), yellow (caution – calibrating), or red (GPS search still going on).
The package includes a very nice, ergonomic controller with the HS790. The controller is very similar to other full-featured controllers from other manufacturers. The Holy Stone controllers have a limited LCD, but require a connected phone’s screen to relay detailed information and the FPV during flight.
The controller has several buttons to take pictures and videos, select flight speed, start drone calibration, and control the camera’s tilt. Holy Stone says the controller can maintain a 30,000-foot (9 km) transmission with the drone, with no obstructions. I did not test this limit as there are no clear, obstacle-free areas in Florida where I live. Also, the FAA requires drone operators to maintain a clear line-of-sight between the pilot and the drone. I’ve lost a drone due to not having line-of-sight, and I wasn’t about to allow that to happen again!
The controller has a 3600 mAh battery and always outlasted the two batteries the drone would use on long flight tests.
The original controller I received in the package died during my review time. For some reason, it would not charge anymore. I suspected a charging circuit issue, but I don’t know for sure. Contacting Holy Stone via their official Facebook group and through email was pleasant, and I received a new controller from Holy Stone a few weeks later.
Although the controller has an LCD for minimal information, and can be used stand-alone to fly the HS790, it’s designed to be connected to a cell phone for its FPV (First Person View) capability using the Holy Stone app (HS GPS V5). The controller connects to the phone via a short USB-C (or Lightning) cable.
Holy Stone has several apps (iOS and Android) that are used for most of their drones they offer. The HS790 uses the HS GPS V5 app. There is a QR code in the instruction manual for downloading the app to the phone. Having 3 Holy Stone drones now, I often wonder why they do not have a single app to control all their drones.
The camera on the HS790 is quite a bit better than the camera on other Holy Stone drones I have, although it is not the best camera of all the Holy Stone drones. It captures 5700×3200 pictures and 3840 × 2160@30fps videos. These images are stored on an SD card inserted into the HS790, and on the connected phone (at a lower resolution). Below, there is a gallery of the best images it captured during my review time, and a compilation video.
The first power-up requires the drone’s gyroscope and compass to be calibrated. The phone app walks you through this process and is very quick. It involves spinning the drone vertically and horizontally to calibrate the internal flight sensors.
Flying the HS790 was quite a joy. It is very responsive and agile. It has two speed modes: Camera (slower), and Sport (much faster, and faster battery depletion). Camera mode is good for smooth, more gentle movement to maximize camera stabilization. Sport mode is great for frantic, very quick movement. The video below demonstrates both of these modes.
The Holy Stone flying app has all the settings and features for flying the HS790 to its potential. The app has quite a bit of flight, battery, and status information. All the flight limiting settings and several pre-programmed flying maneuvers.
Early in my review time, the app did crash a few times and lost connection with the HS790, but it has since been updated a few times, and it has never crashed again after that. The app performed great for the majority of my flight times during this review.
The app offers a few pre-programmed flights that were fun to use. These are:
-
- GPS Follow – the drone follows the phone’s GPS location
- Circle – the drone circles around a point
- TapFly – The drone flies from point to point on a path
- Zoom In/Out – the drone flies away and back to zoom
- Quickshots – Flies the drone away and up, or simply up very quickly
- Night mode – used for better nighttime photography
All of these pre-programmed features worked perfectly. They were a lot of fun. Except for the GPS follow and Night mode, I doubt I would ever use these features in the future.
The drone has Return-To-Home (RTH) pre-programmed. This allows a single button press on the app to make the drone return to its original take-off point. As with most drones, the RTH feature is not very accurate. After flying the drone for a while, RTH would bring the drone back to about 2-25 feet away from the original point. This is about the same level of accuracy as drones from other manufacturers, according to my watching many reviews on YouTube.
The drone comes with a 3-battery charging hub. This allows up to three batteries to be charged together. Although the hub does not charge the batteries simultaneously, this setup is convenient. See more below on charging.
The charging hub can also be used as a power bank, utilizing the drone batteries as a source of power for the controller, or even the phone being used for flying. The hub can also balance charge levels between drone batteries. If you have one low battery, you can “transfer” power from a fully charged battery to the low-power battery until the two are at the same level. I’m not sure why this would be desirable, but you can if you want to.
Here are a few pictures from the drone. Click on them to see the full-size, unedited pictures.
Here is a compilation video of the HS790 in flight.
Setup
The first order of business was to charge the drone batteries and the controller. Charging the drone batteries took quite a while the first time. Holy Stone has included a charging “hub” that holds three batteries at a time. It charges the batteries one at a time. It finishes charging one battery and then goes to the next one. If it charged them simultaneously, this would save quite a bit of time. After about 2 hours, they were charged up and ready to go.
The batteries can also be charged separately from the charging hub, as each has its own USB-C port.
The controller took about an hour to charge the first time. The HS790 comes with two charging cables so the batteries and the controller can be charged at the same time.
Because the drone exceeds 250g in weight, it has to be registered to fly in the US. Registering the HS790 with the FAA was painless and quick. The FAA website walked me through the process. I signed up for an account and put in my drone’s model number and serial number, which Holy Stone puts on the side of the drone with a sticker. The FAA assigns an FAA ID, which they suggest putting on the drone itself. I adorned the HS790 with a couple of printed labels, and I am now legal. The FAA provides an ID card that I printed, laminated, and stuck in the bag so I have it every time I fly.
Final thoughts
The Holy Stone HS790 GPS 6K Camera Drone with 3 Axis Gimbal is a fantastic drone for the price. Although it does require FAA registration due to its weight, this was not an issue, and it only took a few minutes to complete. The drone captures very nice pictures and videos, and the 3-axis gimbal stabilizes the videos perfectly. Holy Stone customer support was great and quickly resolved my controller issue. I highly recommend this drone, and I look forward to what Holy Stone brings us in the future.
What I like about the Holy Stone HS790 GPS 6K Camera Drone
- Images and video are excellent
- Very smooth flight
- Good wind resistance
- Very responsive drone/controller connection
- Great batteries with long flight times
- Customer support is great
What needs to be improved?
- Controller died – had to wait for a new one
- App crashed several times
- The multi-battery charging hub only charges one battery at a time
Price: $459.99 – Currently $389.99 (15% off)
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Holy Stone. Holy Stone did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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$19.98 (as of September 17, 2025 09:51 GMT -04:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
