Hisingy Stargazer Review: Best FPV Drone Kit For Kids in 2024？

FPV drone flying is an incredibly fun hobby that lets you experience the thrill of piloting high-speed drones from a first-person view. However, it does come with a steep learning curve that can be intimidating for total beginners. That’s where the Hisengi Stargazer comes in – it’s an FPV drone specifically designed to be easy to fly even for first-time pilots.

In this in-depth blog post, we’ll be unboxing the Stargazer and putting it through its paces. You’ll learn all about what makes this drone so beginner-friendly, get flying tips tailored for newbies, and see just how easy it is to pick up FPV.

Let’s dive in!

An Accessible and Fun Out-Of-Box Experience

Right from the packaging, it’s clear Hisengi put a lot of thought into making the unboxing experience fun rather than intimidating. Instead of just a plain brown box, you’re greeted with colorful and inviting packaging clearly geared towards beginners.

Opening it up reveals the drone safely packed into a molded tray along with all accessories and components needed to start flying. There’s no sifting through various bags of loose parts trying to figure out what’s what. The easy-to-understand quick start guide eases any initial trepidation about getting in the air quickly.

[Image: Hisengi Stargazer packaging]

But Hisengi takes the beginner-friendly experience even further with an animated 3-minute tutorial video introducing key concepts. It personifies the drone as your “co-pilot” with a fun backstory to get newbies engaged rather than overwhelmed. You’ll learn about charging, controls, flying modes, and safety right upfront.

This out-of-box experience sets the foundation for an accessible entry into FPV. It gives you just enough info to get started without information overload, and the light-hearted tone helps take the intimidation factor out of learning an advanced skill like drone piloting. Well done, Hisengi!

Flight Assist Features Catered For Newbies

The Stargazer has several intelligent flight assistance features that make piloting much easier for beginners compared to a standard FPV racing drone. This allows new pilots to focus more on developing actual flying skills rather than struggling with hard-to-master elements of control.

Altitude Hold

Easily one of the best features for newbies is the altitude hold which mostly eliminates the need to manage the throttle. With many FPV drones, you constantly have to adjust the throttle stick to compensate for any elevation changes and prevent crashing. This becomes second nature with experience but is very difficult to learn.

The Stargazer’s altitude hold uses barometric sensors and software to actively stabilize and maintain whatever altitude you release the throttle stick at. So if you let go halfway up, it will lock itself in at that height. This frees up new pilots to concentrate on turning, orientation, and maneuvering without worrying about colliding into the ground!

I handed the Stargazer over to my 4 year old son who has never flown any drone before and the altitude hold made picking up the basics so much easier for him. He was zipping it around having an absolute blast without me needing to take over controls to prevent crashing over the course of 10-15 minutes. This would be extremely difficult on a standard FPV racing drone!

Throttled Speed in Beginner Mode

Another clever feature that contributes to the easy flying experience is throttled down speed and acceleration in beginner mode even at full stick deflection. On a typical FPV racing quad, full stick input unleashes the drone at extremely high speeds which only skilled pilots can control properly to execute maneuvers or prevent disasters.

The Stargazer flies relatively slowly at full stick input allowing beginners to get used to controlling movements without it zipping off instantly. As your skill progresses, you can allocate points earned through flying time to unlock higher top speeds. This staggered power progression mirrors the smooth learning curve and prevents newbies from firing off into the distance!

Between the altitude hold and controlled speed, beginner mode essentially eliminates the two most intimidating flight elements for novices. It transitions the experience closer to playing a video game rather than wrestling against an unwieldy aircraft liable to careen out of the sky with the slightest wrong move! This sets new pilots up for success within the first flight.

Safety and Control Baked In

It’s clear that instead of solely chasing performance, Hisengi intentionally focused on building in control and safety to cater to beginners with the Stargazer. Aside from features we’ve covered already, they also implemented common sense precautions to minimize unintended trouble. This covers gaps in experience beginners tend to struggle with.

Auto Landing on Low Battery

New FPV pilots often crash by accidentally draining the batteries too far leading to mid-flight power failure. However, the Stargazer activates auto landing once the battery level hits a roughly 3.8V safe cutoff limit per cell regardless of what you do with the controls. This eliminates surprise drops from the sky as power runs out.

Granted 3.8V is on the high side of safe cutoffs for many FPV drones. Manually flying all the way down to 3.5V or so probably would not damage most batteries. However, for beginners, it reduces the risk of accidentally over-discharging which can damage batteries. As you progress and better monitor voltage levels, you can configure a lower threshold yourself.

Locked Horizon Self-Leveling

Novice fliers struggle with maintaining proper orientation and leveling out from awkward angles. They end up overcorrecting back and forth often losing control. With the Stargazer locked in horizon auto-level mode, it returns to straight and level flight no matter how you move the sticks around. This failsafes you from losing orientation control which could quickly send a high power FPV racing drone to the ground!

First Person View Adds Excitement

While flying line of sight around you in beginner mode is certainly fun already, entering the true first person view (FPV) really levels up immersion and excitement! The Stargazer includes an integrated camera and video transmitter feeding into the included goggles for seeing from the drone’s perspective.

Despite the relatively short range, just racing around the yard and buzzing by objects already feels like you’re zooming through courses like the pros. Having beginner stabilizations handling the hard parts allows you to experience FPV rather than struggling with difficult flying. It gives you a taste of that true pilot sensation.

Once you’ve built up flight proficiency, you can upgrade the camera/VTX module for enhanced range and image quality. You may also consider a module offering DVR functionality allowing you to record and replay flights in the goggles. This lets you critique maneuvers to improve faster.

Gaining More Performance Over Time

The Stargazer does limit performance and speed initially to avoid newbies getting overwhelmed. However, as you gain flight time and skills, you can unlock faster speed as well as gain full manual throttle control like a racing drone via sport mode!

Performance Unlock

As you accumulate flight time credits, you can allocate points towards enhancing speed and other attributes. Four categories exist:

• Faster altitude change rates for quicker climbing/descending
• Higher horizontal top speed for racing around
• Quicker turning rates for more agile maneuvers
• Extending flight times by limiting power consumption

Distributing points across these categories lets you tune the aircraft behavior to match your improving proficiency. It offers a slick way to add capabilities without accessing intimidating software configuration interfaces.

Sport Mode

This disables the helpful altitude hold and gives you full manual throttle control just like racing drones. Here you take over all aspects of flight including stabilizing height. Initially lacking the stick feel and rates muscle memory, expect somewhat wobbly flight.

However, resist reverting to beginner mode! Force yourself to adapt over several battery packs working on consistency and smoothness. You’ll steadily rewire brain pathways and hand-eye coordination improving rapidly. Sport mode trains you in skills needed to eventually transition towards high performance FPV racers!

Recommended Gear Upgrades

While the Stargazer comes fully equipped out of the box, you will likely crave enhanced gear after getting comfortable with flying basics. You can judiciously upgrade components balancing cost against improved capabilities instead of replacing the entire rig.

FPV Goggles

The included goggles function decently though offer somewhat washed out image quality and optics limiting immersion potential. For noticeably clearer video feed and wider field of view, the Fatshark Scout Goggles prove tough to beat at just $99. The compact form factor also fits easily in pockets.

However, the mid-tier SkyZone Sky02X offers a solid blend of affordability and performance for $189. It comes with a battery allowing cordless operation, diversity receivers, adjustable IPD, 40CH auto-search, and DVR capability. This checks important boxes if you foresee extensive usage.

On the higher end around $250-$300, the Skyzone Sky04 line built with OLED panels delivers superb video dynamic range and clarity. The depth perception and immersive experience takes your flying enjoyment to new levels! This aligns better for serious hobbyists.

Batteries

While the included 450mAh packs work decently, upgrading to high quality batteries with higher capacity directly converts into longer flight times and more FPV enjoyment per charge. Stick to 1S HV packs matching the voltage profile – the drone likely cannot safely handle higher than 4.35V per cell.

For cost-conscious pilots, the Tattu FunFly 450mAh 4.35V batteries offer proven quality at just $8 per battery allowing you to buy multiple. More advanced fliers desiring maximum flight time could utilize Tattu’s 850mAh pack yielding almost double capacity.

You’ll need to take care not charging these packs beyond 4.35V maximum when using the included charger lacking proper HV mode. Monitor voltage manually and disconnect once fully saturated to preserve longevity. An basic voltage checker works well here – consider grabbing an inexpensive adapter harness simplifying plugging packs into the checker.

Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Buy The HISINGY Stargazer?

The Stargazer hits a nice sweet spot catering towards beginners but also offering capabilities leaving headroom to grow into while avoiding an overly toy-like experience. This differs from many toy drones failing to unlock greater challenges as you progress. Let’s examine key factors steering your decision here:

Good Fit For Stargazer

• Complete newbies seeking to easily sample FPV flight
• Pilots struggling with manual throttle and orientation challenges
• Anyone emphasizing safety and crash resistance learning tricks
• Fliers happy progressing slowly without full racing performance

Poor Fit For Stargazer

• Experienced FPV pilots already adept at flying racers
• Those primarily chasing acrobatics like flips and rolls
• People who dislike gamified achievement systems
• Anyone wanting to jump straight into fully manual Acro mode
• Those viewing drones mainly as photography/camera platforms

The Stargazer best serves beginner and intermediate pilots prioritizing safety while building fundamental hands-on skills. As techniques improve, it leaves room to continue expanding capabilities. Just don’t expect true racing performance – tradeoffs were intentionally made here erring towards foolproof flight.

FAQs About HISINGY Stargazer FPV Kit

Alternate Beginner FPV Options on a Budget

While the Stargazer dominates with the onboarding experience for new pilots, the $400+ price tag may stretch budgets, especially without first sampling FPV. Consider these lower cost alternatives potentially better matching cost sensitivities with the understanding you’ll sacrifice polish and user friendliness found with the Stargazer.

Emax Tinyhawk S

Arguably the most popular FPV trainer, the Tinyhawk S can be found for only around $100 yet flies impressively well even outdoors. You’ll need to buy a transmitter and goggles separately. It flies quite similarly to the Stargazer albeit on a smaller scale. Lack of GPS or position hold hurts wind resistance making the Stargazer possibly easier initially.

BetaFPV Cetus Kit

BetaFPV’s Cetus Kit gets you a very functional starter aircraft, goggles, transmitter, battery charger, batteries, and all essentials for $239. Capabilities stand reasonably close to the Stargazer albeit expect some DIY assembly and configuration. It copies innovative beginner friendly features like altitude hold. You trade user polish and fit/finish for bang-for-buck value.

Emax Tinyhawk 3

Stretching the budget slightly further to around $300, the Tinyhawk 3 Kit bundles the latest edition aircraft with a 2S 450mAh battery, transmitter, and goggles while shedding the 1S whoop-style ducted fan guards. This morphs the experience closer to a micro drone than an indoor whoop. It unlocks more power and handling approaching a racing drone through still sized safely for newbies getting accustomed to FPV flight.

Final Verdict – Should You Buy HISINGY Stargazer FPV Kit?

Hisengi managed to strike an excellent balance making FPV drones much more beginner-friendly through the Stargazer without diluting too far into the toy realm. It retains capabilities to grow along your journey up the learning curve.

Out of any ready-to-fly FPV drone kit I’ve tried, it delivers the most polished and accessible out-of-box experience by far for first-timers. Assist features provide a smooth on-ramp letting you taste immersive FPV flight without excessive struggling or crashing. As your skills progress, manually disabling safeguards teaches you to fly more capably while built-in software lockouts prevent moving too quickly before ready.

It may not offer full racing performance that appeals to experienced pilots. If chasing hardcore acrobatics and speed is top priority, you’ll want a dedicated race-bred FPV quadcopter built running Betaflight or other tuning software with compatible controllers. The Stargazer makes some intentional concessions here targeting newer pilots instead.

But just looking for good wholesome FPV fun without an intimidating learning cliff? You almost can’t find a better starting point than the Stargazer. It lowers barriers making FPV drones approachable for nearly anyone.