Finding the right mini drone can be quite confusing especially when it comes to first-time flyers. The JJRC H36 mini drone is one of the first drones that I got a couple of years ago and still have it. Even though the drone and transmitter are different, it stills perform the same as the H36 mini drone. Indeed, many mini drones look the same but when it comes to shopping for the right one.
With more than 500 positive feedback from the customers who bought this little quadcopter. It’s a serious contender against popular brands such as HS150 Bolt Bee (See Price) and CoFight IN 1802 Drone (See Price). Even to this date, this mini drone is still going strong and a popular choice among beginners. But is it a great drone? In this article, I have assembled an in-depth review to guide you through your drone shopping decisions. Let’s find out if the H36 mini drone suits you!
Design
There’s much variety of H36 Mini Drone. While the design stays the same, they can come in different colors such as red, green, blue, or even black. I received this drone from AliExpress which features chrome red color. On my first impression, the drone appears to be well-made. I especially liked how the drone is outfitted with propeller guards surroundings its blades.
The propeller guards protect the blades as well as the drone itself. However, it does comes with a minor drawback. These guards are not removable. But because of its small size and low price tag, it wouldn’t matter if it came with built-in guards or not. Since the H36 mini drone fills in the role as a “training quadcopter” for those who want to learn how to fly one as well simply to have fun.
Another noticeable design is the four-pronged blades. That style of propellers is much more effective than two-blades as it helps keep the drone stable and glide across the room with ease. The motor arms are accompanied by rubber pads that soften the impact of landing. On the bottom of the drone’s hull body is the battery compartment.
It isn’t exactly the state-of-art modularized battery as you would see on modern quadcopters such as X12 Drone (See Price) and HS160 Shadow (See Price). Inserting the battery inside the drone for the first time will take a few minutes since it needs to be squeezed inside. After a few uses, you won’t have any issues inserting the battery in the drone.
The drone holds the battery pretty well when I’m flying it around. But I didn’t like how the battery wires are hanging outside. To avoid the risk of propellers hitting the wires, I suggest that you bend the wires downward. The wires will stay on its own after you tweak it a little bit. Furthermore, the LED lights are located on the front and rear. While you really can’t see it during day time, it’s especially useful for night flight operations. Even more fun when you are flying in a dark room!
Performance
The JJRC H36 mini drone is an excellent choice for indoor activity. While it doesn’t have any strong propulsion force to sustain its flight speed in windy conditions, I advise you to fly it outdoor only when the weather conditions are nice. This mini drone can fly under 5 mph without any issues, but any higher than that and you’ll have a hard time controlling it. The battery is advertised as a 6 minutes flight time. But on average you’ll be able to fly it for up 4 to 5 minutes.
Performance-wise, this mini drone comes with a few useful features. For starters, it comes with headless mode, altitude hold mode, and 360-degree flip mode to awe your audience. However, you’ll have to tweak its stability a bit via trimming. Once you feel that the drone can stay relatively stable, it’s overall a great starter drone for the first-time flyer.
Remote Controller
As I mentioned previously, there are different brands but looks and performs the same. I researched the product that I bought from AliExpress and the product that is sold on Amazon. Both have the same functions and features. So, the only difference is the layout design. The remote controller itself is very small that can easily fit with your palm of hands.
It doesn’t come with a good inscription, unlike the ones you would see on more modern quadcopters. So you’ll have to read the instruction manual to learn what each button does. After a few flight practices, you’ll be able to fly it without having to figure out which button does.
To get into the details, the remote controller consists of levers, trimmings, and additional features. On the front view, you can see trimming buttons that are being used to adjust the drone’s stability. If you feel that the mini drone is too hard to control, simply trim to correct its positioning. Moreover, you can launch automatic takeoff and land with a push of a button. This process simplifies your flight process. The same is true for automatic landing.
Furthermore, on the shoulder of the transmitter are the feature buttons. They are the 360-degree flips and headless mode. To perform 360-degree flips, you’ll have to fly the drone in a direction then push the button to activate it. Unlike the recently released DJI Tello (See Price) that can do an 8D flip, the H36 mini drone only can flip in four directions. Which means forward, backward, left, and right.
Lastly, you might be wondering what the heck is a headless mode? This feature switches the orientation of controls from the drone to your remote controller. Instead of flying in the direction, your drone is facing at. It’ll fly accordingly to the direction you’re pushing the levers on the remote controller. Pretty cool feature.
Customer Experience
In Amazon, the JJRC H36 Mini Drone has an average rating of 3.7 out of 5. Sixty-one percent of the reviews are from four-star and five-star reviews. Those who are happy with the drone say that the best thing about it is that little ones can easily fly the drone. They’re also impressed by the drone’s flight performance, saying that it’s excellent for its price and very useful for beginners who’d like to learn how to fly an affordable drone first before moving on to a much more expensive one. Perhaps the only con that’s pointed out by the users is the short flight time.
Final Thoughts on H36 Mini Drone
As I’m about to conclude the H36 mini drone in-depth review, I want to share my final thoughts about this toy-grade quadcopter. I have flown this a few times and enjoyed the quality that it has to offer. You have to understand that it doesn’t come with a lot of features that most of the advanced drones have. But that comes at a significantly lower price tag. What I think makes this mini drone a great steal is how easy it is to fly.
The H36 mini drone itself isn’t that complex at all. Rather, it is very simple and only consists of the necessary components to start flying a drone. As I mentioned previously it comes in many different colors and shapes. But I think this one is the best out of all for starters. Thanks to its built-in propeller guards and quality craftsmanship. It’s a mini drone that you can enjoy indoor both during the day and night.
