The Syma X500 is a GPS drone with a 4K camera that has some solid extras. It comes with a really nice carrying case and has two extra batteries. The X500 has an optical flow camera to help with stability and boasts a 26 minute flight time. There is a $20 discount code at the bottom of the article for our subscribers!
This drone was sent to us by Syma to test and review. They have told us they are working to make it a better product in the future.
Syma X500 GPS Drone
The Syma X500 is a coreless or brushed motor drone. Brush motors are often less expensive but lack the efficiency and durability of a brushed motor. The X500 claims a flight time of 26-28 minutes but my flights were often less than 20 minutes. That isn’t uncommon for drones not to fly to the maximum flight time but this one seems a little more overstated than most. Syma also claims a range of 1000 meters however you will lose video at a range of about half that. This is a brushed motor drone and you should never fly it out of sight or it will be likely lost.
X500 4K Camera
The camera on this drone is actually fairly nice. It isn’t stabilized so you will get shaky footage. Flying slow and on low wind days will help you to get better pictures and videos. The camera on the Syma X500 isn’t on par with the Mavic Mini or even the ZLRC Beast Pro but is as good or better than most drones in the $200 price range. I like it much more for pictures than videos. It is a 4K camera but that may be a bit misleading as the videos are 2K and the pictures are 4K. A good 1080p camera with a high-quality sensor would have been a better choice for this drone.
Flight Modes of the Syma X500
The Syma X500 does have some GPS flight modes. It has circle, tap to fly, follow me and return to home. The circle mode works quite well. I could not get the follow me to engage. It certainly does return to home, but I was unable to fly the drone once it entered the RTH. There should be a more clear way to cancel and manually land the drone.
Syma Drones
I am a huge fan of Syma drones. The Syma X8 model line up is one of the best inexpensive drone models out there. The X5 drones were also a lot of fun to fly. Both of these drones could really take a beating and flew like nothing ever happened. That wasn’t my experience with the X500. After any crash, I had to calibrate it or it would not fly properly. I crashed it a few times and after one that I didn’t think was particularly hard it never flew right again.
Should you buy the Syma X500?
The Syma X500 is a solid drone. It is small and lightweight and doesn’t have to be registered with the FAA. It comes in a convenient package and you can get it up in the air quickly. You can use a 5G or an older 2.4G cell phone, although 5G is recommended. It can even be ordered and shipped from trusted Amazon sellers. There are a lot of good reasons to order the X500. Here is one more. Use this discount code to save $20 if you use the Amazon link below. Discount code: YLRH-WZ8KQL-VU7LAT
| Order the Syma X500 from Amazon |
However, this probably isn’t the drone I’d recommend if you have a $200 budget. I really like the Beast Pro. It has a 2-axis gimbal and brushless motors. It however is heavier and must be registered with the FAA. Of course, if you want really good pictures and videos the DJI Mavic Mini is a much better option, but that will cost you almost $400.
| Learn more about the Beast Pro | Learn more about the Mavic Mini |
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