Customers love the P40 LITE 3-Axis Gimbal Camera Drone for its awesome video quality and ease of use, noting its compact and lightweight design. The drone is also appreciated for its stability in the air and the inclusion of accessories like a carrying case. However, some customers have expressed concerns about the battery life being too short and the gimbal needing frequent calibration.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 4 Showing 61-79 of 79 reviews
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Sanchez
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
It was my first drone to have, I watched a few videos before about it and i loved it. Once I had the fit one it didn’t connect with my cell, I had a hard time so I returned it and got another one, the second one connected well but the video had no sound and was not clear. I returned it and I haven’t bought any other drone yet.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Snaptain Team
Posted .
Brand response from Snaptain Team
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We are sorry to hear you are not satisfied with this item.
We are dedicated to ensuring your 100% satisfaction. Please reach out to us via [email protected]. We are more than happy to assist you further.
We offer a 12-month warranty for this product, plus lifetime technical support. Our standard for responding to email quests is less than 24 hours, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
Snaptain Drone
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This is just a okay drone, dont have your expectations high for it.. Charging dock didnt work out of the box, the style clips that secure the batteries do not like to release, rarely keeps a secure connection to phone/controller.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We are sorry to hear you are not satisfied with this item.
We are dedicated to ensuring your 100% satisfaction. Please reach out to us via [email protected]. We are more than happy to assist you further.
We offer a 12-month warranty for this product, plus lifetime technical support. Our standard for responding to email quests is less than 24 hours, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Flight stability, Video quality
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Advanced entry level fun!
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The Snaptain P40 Lite is my third drone from Snaptain. The previous two were basic units. The first one flew for about 20 minutes before disappearing into the ether on its second battery. Without GPS or a Return-to-Home (RTH) function, it caught an apparent updraft, lost signal, and kept climbing—never to be seen again. The second was a smaller, more basic model, better suited for my kid to play with.
I also own an FPV drone from a company that’s currently hard to source. It’s a blast to fly, but FPV setups take more time to get airborne. I wanted something I could launch quickly with minimal fuss, so I decided to give Snaptain another chance with their new model.
The build quality of the P40 Lite is surprisingly solid and reminds me of the DJI Mini 3. The foldable arms and compact design make it easy to carry, and the included rigid carrying case keeps everyting tidy. The unit also supplies extra props, cables and optional prop guards. The brushless motors keep it relatively quiet (especially compared to my FPV), and thanks to bottom-facing sensors, it remains stable with minimal drift as long as it has a solid GPS lock.
Speaking of GPS, the RTH function works as advertised. Whether triggered by low battery, lost signal, or manually, it reliably returns within a foot or two of the launch point. The P40 also includes smart flight modes like Follow Me, Orbit, Rocket, and Point of Interest, which are easy to activate via the app and perform well. The Throw Away mode is unnerving but fun. I would advise only to use it once you have good GPS lock with over 9 satillites or it will have a bit of difficulty stabalizing. I still don't have the courage/faith to toss it anywhere than over grass.
The camera setup is above decent for the price: a 4K video/48MP sensor mounted on a full 3-axis gimbal (which is rare at this tier). Footage is smooth even in moderate wind. I did notice some odd gimbal jerking while on the ground, but this didn’t show up in the recorded footage or live feed. Image quality is good for casual use, though not professional-grade. Expect some over-saturation and brightness issues, which can be manually adjusted in the app.
Battery life is advertised at up to 31 minutes, but realistically, you’ll get closer to 25 minutes of flight time. I strongly recommend getting the bundle with two extra batteries, a charging dock, and a soft carrying bag (instead of the rigid case). The added cost is worth it if you want longer flight sessions especially since charging a fully drained battery can take over 90 minutes, and extra batteries are only available directly from Snaptain.
The range and transmission are claimed to reach up to 20,000 ft with 5G support. That might be possible from a high vantage point with clear line-of-sight, but in a residential area, I only managed about 1,000 ft before losing signal and triggering RTH. The app also alerts you when you hit the 400 ft ceiling.
The app itself is beginner-friendly, offering features like one-key takeoff/landing, beginner mode, RTH trigger, and even a gamified tutorial. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it doesn’t require account setup or login to function. Just install and fly.
The Snaptain P40 Lite is a well-rounded drone for casual flyers who want solid features without the complexity or cost of higher-end models. At $450-$600 it's not a cheap drone but it’s easy to launch, stable in flight, packed with smart modes and a gimbal-stabilized camera that strives to compete with better known drone manufactures. It won’t satisfy professional videographers or long-range enthusiasts, but it’s a great pick for hobbyists who are looking for convenience, portability, and decent performance. Just be aware about its range, camera limitations, and battery logistics—and you’ll likely be pleased with what it offers.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Connectivity, Ease of use, Video quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Light, easy to pack and carry, one single battery
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This drone is very lightweight and makes for a good backpack drone to carry around. The drone comes in its own carrying case (this is what’s in the box), to which inside is the drone, drone controller, interface cables for mobile device connection to the drone controller, and spare blades. There are various drone modes to place the drone into for operation from beginner (limited operating capabilities), normal, and sport. Each mode differing in drone capability from distance, height, to controls. Normal mode provides smooth operational movement and removes the initial beginner mode restrictions, while sport mode makes the drone more responsive and moves through the air a lot quicker. In each of these modes, you can customize your range limits from height and distance.
One thing I did notice during flight in windy conditions, the drone does get pushed around at times. The weight of the drone does not meet the FAA registration requirement, but does have its own registration id beacon built in. Once the included propeller guards are added to the drone, the weight increases to fall into the required FAA registration requirements.
For storing the drone, there is a rubber bit the legs when it’s folded to prevent damage to the propeller blades and appears to protect the motors for the blades at the same time.
One major con is the required onboard charging where as others offer an external option to charge directly to the battery or a separate charging base. The battery must be installed onboard the drone to charge instead of charging the batteries outside of the drone. It does use the latest USB-C port on both the drone and the controller. There’s also the two separate USB-C ports on the controller; one for charging and the other for interface with your mobile device. They are both clearly indicated.
One unique thing about this drone is the thumbsticks for the controller are removable. They should be removed/reinstalled before/after each use of the drone, storing them on the bottom edge of the controller. The engineers did take into consideration the mobile device sizes being “odd” and therefore have changed the way the controller and the mobile device holder work. The changes make for a better future proof design. The included cables for. Mobile device to controller interface include: USB-C, Lightning Port, and micro USB (oddly enough). Video and photos are taken easily via the remote or mobile device. Both are clean and clear, having no sun glare issues.
Overall, this drone can fly quite a distance before receiving out of range notifications, battery needs to be charge and returning to home point.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Not a good product.
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Posted . Owned for 2 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The device was extremely quirky and I had multiple issues with it. Snalptain’s customer service was very responsive and they seemed to know about a lot of the problems with the drone. They said they were trying to fix some of the issues. The gimbal needed calibration constantly. The phone/remote interface had connection issues and multiple times I almost lost the drone because the remote would disconnect mid-flight. I ended up returning the device.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Brand response from Snaptain Team
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Brand response from Snaptain Team
We really appreciate your feedback to make this item better. I would like to present our deepest apologies for all the inconvenience.
We are dedicated to ensuring your 100% satisfaction. Please reach out to us via [email protected]. We are more than happy to assist you further.
We offer a 12-month warranty for this product, plus lifetime technical support. Our standard for responding to email quests is less than 24 hours, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Cons mentioned:
Noise level
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Battery nearly exploded on 1st charge
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
1 of 3 batteries malfunctioned, nearly melting the drone upon 1st charge. Battery swelled to the point it was barely able to be removed. Drone will not fly into a 10mph head wind. Camera signal is very poor. Considering price and battery meltdown it will be going back.
We really appreciate your feedback to make this item better. I would like to present our deepest apologies for all the inconvenience.
We are dedicated to ensuring your 100% satisfaction. Please reach out to us via [email protected]. We are more than happy to assist you further.
We offer a 12-month warranty for this product, plus lifetime technical support. Our standard for responding to email quests is less than 24 hours, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Video quality
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
A fun drone to have
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Overall, the Snaptain P40 Lite camera drone is fun to have if you have the budget for it. I love how everything, right from the box, is in its case so you can see where all the pieces are supposed to be. Therefore, you don’t have to second guess where everything goes, and so that you can close the case easily once you’re done using it.
Aesthetically, it looks okay, but I don’t mind it at all. It’s very light, weighing 249 grams. As far as the camera is concerned, it has a 3-axis gimbal which helps capture smooth and steady footage. It has a 48 megapixel camera, and it allows you to take 8K photos. I also like the fact that there’s an option to buy one with 3 batteries for continuity if you’re really into capturing pictures/videos using a drone. Each battery lasts 31 minutes of usage so if that’s not enough for you, then get the other option.
Setting it up was also simple. I had issues setting mine up because the GPS inside my home was weak. I had to set mine up outside. It was somewhat simple. I just wish the instructions clearly said something about sounds to determine when the drone connected to the remote.
After turning it on, flying a drone for the very first time was a little overwhelming, but I got over my nerves and was able to have fun with it. I love the RTH button in case anything happens. Just press the button, and it will return to you. I like the other features of the software like the tracking modes. At least, with those, you don’t have to control the drone. You can just leave it, and it’ll follow your subject, whatever it/who it may be. It’s just too bad the battery life is too short. Playing with it is one thing. Trying to capture pictures/videos on a professional level is another. It will definitely not be long enough so you definitely would need to buy the one with the three-pack battery. I think the throw-to-go feature is pretty cool, but I don’t think it is necessary. I haven’t tried it yet, and I don’t know when I’ll be trying it. To throw a $500 object in the air is nerve wracking. Maybe one of these days when I’m really used to flying one will I try that feature.
Taking 8K pictures with it is nice, but capturing 4K videos is okay. The video quality can get choppy, but maybe because I didn’t have a good GPS signal. Regardless, if you’re a professional trying to capture 4K videos, I would look for another drone. There are other drones with better cameras and longer battery life. Otherwise, this is a fun drone to have.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Video quality
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Solid First Drone!
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Context: I never really figured I needed a drone, but the "that looks pretty fun & cool" factor has always been appealing. When I had a friend who wanted to take pictures of their house from an inaccessible angle (pretty much over a cliff), I now had all the excuse I needed to try out the Snaptain - P40 LITE 3-Axis Gimbal 8K Camera Drone!
Pros:
- The Snaptain app, instructional videos and beginner mode settings made my maiden voyage(s) really simple. The beginner settings walk you through your first flights step-by-step with in-air tutorials and with controls and speeds at manageable levels that (in combination with your own wisdom) should keep you from making rookie mistakes. Given a friend that wrecked a very expensive drone on his second flight- this was really my primary concern!
- My initial pictures and videos are by no means professional quality, but the resolution is solid and I anticipate getting better with practice.
Cons:
- I don't know why, but the battery does take quite a while to charge. My two initial flights were very short because even after hours of standard wall-plug charging via a phone brick, I was only getting 25-40% of the charge. I haven't flown it yet, but it does seem that overnight charging with a laptop-grade charger finally got the battery fully charged
Overall, my initial experience has been very positive & I look forward to more practice with the Snaptain - P40 LITE 3-Axis Gimbal 8K Camera Drone.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Didn’t like it
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
DJI is better. I don’t recommend. There are better drowns out there.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We are sorry to hear you are not satisfied with this item.
We are dedicated to ensuring your 100% satisfaction. Please reach out to us via [email protected]. We are more than happy to assist you further.
We offer a 12-month warranty for this product, plus lifetime technical support. Our standard for responding to email quests is less than 24 hours, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Flight stability
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Inexpensive nice features image quality limited
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This will be the third drone I have owned. The first was an expensive larger drone in 2018, which is still in service today. The second was a smaller toy like drone and this is my first less than 250 g drone. The unit has several professional features, including a three axis gimbal And an updated app which has several nice features and tutorials for beginners. The drone is compact and comes with a nice carrying case and a single battery. The written instructions are OK but are somewhat limited. The remote control unit requires an android or iPhone and has nice cables for both. A Older micro USB cable is also included. Many phone cases will have trouble fitting into the remote control phone holder, but the legs are fairly flexible and it is unlikely you will have issues with separation of the phone and remote control unit.
The drone is fairly stable and moves well and quickly. It seems to be less stable than my larger drone in even mild windy situations. The app is fairly intuitive and has good features. I do not see a way to provide a glare filter on the very small Gimbal lens. The images are fine in full sunlight. There are quality limitations due to higher end drones in photo and video image quality. The image quality is clear but color and dynamic range are somewhat limited similar to a $100 150 android phone. The app is nice and but lacks polish with spelling errors. The most annoying feature is the very slow down of a full quality video to a phone – A 15 minute video could take more than 20 minutes if it completes before batteries are emptied. Similar to my other drones it is much easier to remove the microSD card. (note one is not supplied with the unit) and simply transferring the video files manually.
It is nice that the drone is less than 250 g and does not need to be registered(Unless used for commercial purposes); however, the Registration process is not too difficult. The drone is expensive enough to me that I would be upset if I damaged or lost the drone and I would not consider this a toy, but a lower end full function drone. Drones are very useful in inspecting hard to reach areas and for surveying property.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Flight stability, Video quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Nice Affordable Drone with Great Customer Service
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have been flying drones for over 7 years now and have enjoyed flying Snaptain branded drones due to their affordability and pretty decent quality. So, naturally I had to try their newest P40 Lite drone.
After downloading the Snaptain Go app, getting the drone ready to fly was pretty quick. I was able to pair the drone right away, but noticed acquiring the necessary 10 plus satellites, for takeoff, took a decent amount of time. The drone felt very responsive and steady the more satellites it locked in. The photos were a pretty nice quality, but I noticed the video feed was pretty choppy at times and the contrast/sharpness varied greatly with response to varying lighting conditions.
I experimented with many of the features and quickly learned the downward facing sensors, used for tracking, was great only for open spaces. I learned trees and other obstacles forced me to regain manual control to prevent collisions.
The most awesome feature this drone offers is the Throwing Away option. This feature must be activated in the menu before attempting this. I was amazed how quickly the drone was able to maintain a stable flight. This is the main selling feature of this drone and I enjoy starting out my flight this way.
I had an issue with my drone, but was surprised with the great level of customer care I received. Annie made sure I felt valued and requested feedback to help her increase the level of service she was able to provide for future needs. It is nice to have a company stand behind their product and be so proactive in improving their customer service.
If you are a beginner drone pilot and are looking for a budget friendly drone to fly without requiring a license, this drone should be on your radar. I would not expect great videos, but the pictures are very good for the cost of this drone.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Video quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Fun and Useful at Low Cost
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The Snaptain P40 Lite is a compact and light (249g) drone with several advanced features. It has a low price and is primarily targeted toward new users. It includes a convenient carrying case and can be operated either by the included remote or by an app. It also comes with a video tutorial that makes setup and operation easy.
I have not considered a drone for many years. Back then, drones were much larger, crashed too often and were difficult to control, had limited flight time, and had camera systems and features that were not particularly useful. The hobby was more of a drone repair activity than flying.
The Snaptain P40 makes flying drones much more pleasant. The 3-axis gimbal 4K camera system, small size, and reasonably long range and flight time allow the user to take quality videos/pictures in difficult environments. (One thing that I will note is because of the lightness of the drone, flying in windy conditions is not advised.)
I recommend the Snaptain P40 for anyone interested in the hobby of flying drones and for individuals wanting to get videos/pictures of places that are not easily accessible.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Video quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Easy to Use and Great Videos and Pictures
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I was excited to try this drone as the others I have used in the past were much less expensive and were difficult to fly. This drone is perfect for beginner's because it's easy to fly and takes really good videos.
Out of the box the drone is very compact and light weight. It weighs under 250g which apparently means you don't need to register it. It folds into a very small carrying bag that is easy to take with you. After downloading the app, the app walked me through the steps to get started. First step is to pair the drone and then do a calibration. After that it launched with the push of a button (auto takeoff). Not having used a drone like this before it took me a while to figure out what the various modes did. I went to Snaptain's website and watched the first use video, which was very helpful, as some of the controls on the app didn't make sense to me at first. However, after using for a while it became very intuitive.
The drone has some very cool functions. I specifically like the follow mode and the gradual retreat. I haven't had a chance yet, but am planning to take a video of my car driving down a windy road to see how the drone performs. The gradual retreat is great for taking pictures and videos of the whole family. There is even a parallel follow mode that keeps the camera near a 90 degree angle to you while it follows.
The picture quality is very good. The gimbal does a good job of keeping the video stable and the quality seems similar to my phone camera. The drone has a max flight time of 31 minutes and up to a 6km range; however I couldn't get close to either. My flight time was just over 10 minutes but maybe that's because I was utilizing power for the camera and had it in sport mode. Also, the range I was able to get before it lost signal and auto returned to home was much less than the max. I'm estimating about a mile. It probably can go further in locations that are more clear but I haven't tested that yet.
Overall, I'm very happy with this drone. It seems great for a beginner but also seems to have more functionality than other beginner drones.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Flight stability, Video quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Small but Mighty
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
In the box is the drone, one rechargeable battery, remote controller with built in battery, one battery, 8 spare propellers, USB-C to USB-C Charging Cable, storage box (travel case), screwdriver, screws, RC cables and user manual/information booklet.
First Impression - The drone is definitely a big improvement from the current drones that I own. I am really surprised of how stable the drone feels after unboxing. The drone is a lot heavier than it looks and very sturdy. The rotator blades are a huge improvement from the last model that I currently own. I am also happy that the camera is on a gimbal.
Battery Life - The battery life is as advertised, about 30 minutes. I was a little disappointed when I opened the bag and noticed there is a section for a second battery but it only came with one. (All of my other drones came with two batteries.)
Flight Time/Distance - I was nervous to fly the drone at the allowed distance, so I used it at 100 yards away. (I didn’t want to go the max distance and not be able to retrieve it back.) I did fly it in a field around my home. It flew great, very stable and the controls were very intuitive. The hover mode actually works as intended.
Camera/Video - The camera and video is super stable and steady. The camera button on the controller is very convenient and the photo shots are instant with no delay. The camera has the ability to provide a constant aiming point on the screen or gridded lines so that you have a visual reference point. This can be turned on and off as needed.
App - I liked the app because it has a built in tutorial and a built in flight check. This allows me to check all of the parts of the drone before flying; to make sure everything is working. I do want to add that the controller has the ability to charge your phone and the controller at the same time.
Overall, I really like the new design of this drone and all of the features. I would highly recommend this model to friends and family and I would purchase again.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great Drone For Daylight Videos
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The Snaptain P40 LITE is an 8K (4K video) camera drone. The LITE must refer to its weight and not specs because this is light while packing in a lot of functionality. As this is my first prosumer drone, I spent some time reading up on things and getting ready for my first few flights. There’s a reason this drone is light, being 244g, it’s under that 250g threshold which triggers needing an FAA license to fly. As it is, there’s technically still an FAA test one should take to effectively self certify to fly any drone. But being under the threshold means one can get going quickly and make use of a lot of cool features without necessarily needing to be an expert.
There’s pros and cons to this. Pro, almost anyone can get started quickly and enjoy taking some amazing video with the P40 LITE. Con, Snaptain has made a lot of things easy enough to use that newbies, me included, may inadvertently develop bad habits. Getting started was straightforward: unfold the propellers, remove the gimbal cover, plug in the battery, and charge. Since there’s no charging port on the battery itself, you charge it through the drone, which feels a bit limiting. During this time, I grabbed a 256 GB microSD card (max that the P40 LITE takes) to install and installed the app on my phone. While it turns out you can fly the drone without the phone connected - unless you’re a pro, I wouldn’t recommend it. Just with line of sight, I got too close to things, having the camera view itself was useful. That being said, there is a dedicated return to home button on the controller so if you’re flying sans phone and need to be bailed out, there’s an easy to hit button so you don’t panic.
After checking again that the gimbal cover was off (I read that this is one of the biggest mistakes newbies make), I powered on the controller, then the P40 LITE. You’re to have the drone on a level surface for this. My practically toy drone does this specifically to calibrate the gyros when powered on. I don’t know if the P40 LITE is doing that as well as the instructions don’t specifically specify this, but as they do specify a level surface, I’m following that every time. With the phone plugged in, you’d launch the app, wait for it to connect, then wait for the drone to be ready to fly. This is mostly waiting for the drone to have good GPS signal. You can fly without it, but it means you’d lose out on having a lot of automatic stabilization features from the drone’s firmware. After having flown the toy drone in light wind and struggling with that, seeing how easy the Snaptain is to fly when set up correctly blew me away. I quickly found my skill plateau, but it’s cool that I now have something that I can use to capture decent video, and then if I want a challenge or to push my flying skills, I can do so. You’ve got three options for take-off. A stick sequence, using the takeoff icon/button in the app, or the throw away mode. I experimented with all three. The stick sequence did take a couple tries to get right but once I had it, I could repeat every time. The button in the app worked reliably. I never had a crash with my throw away experiments but it did feel like the most sketchy. Essentially holding the drone from the back between the propellers, you’d toss it up or forward. Each time, I was always a bit nervous about clipping my hand or that the drone would not detect being tossed and just topple down. While it’s cool, I don’t actually see a benefit right now. Perhaps if I was doing something where I tossed the drone from a moving vehicle, that I then have it follow, that makes sense. But given that the sequence is tap thru a menu on the app, hit the throw away button, wait for be ready, tilt the drone down, wait for confirmation beep, throw, then it will hover in place after being tossed until you give some command and you should maintain line of sight and keep the controller handy and active, I’m not sure that makes too much sense. It’s a lot of work just to take off when the one key takeoff or stick sequence is much faster. Maybe useful if you’re taking off from uneven terrain or a moving platform, but otherwise, it feels like more hassle than benefit.
I was very impressed with the video quality of the P40 LITE. Yes, it could be better, but it’s amazing how great video looks, stabilized, with this 4K sensor from the air. Easily much better than some 360 action cameras. This probably points to the gimbal stabilization being something that lets one extract much better video quality that optical stabilization or post processing. I think one notices the relative camera quality more with still photos, but doing those circle or soaring shots are just amazing. Like the action cams, the drone’s camera quality, video or otherwise, does start to suffer in low light and it’s there that the typically larger sensors do better as they’re just able to get more light. While I expected to do a lot of video capture with me piloting the drone, a lot of the actual good stuff and what I ended up doing for most of the review period is using some of the built in capture modes. I particularly liked the circle and soaring modes where you set a target and the drone takes care of the effect. Retreat or follow are nice for motion shots though none of these are pretty fast. While the drone’s top speed is close to my EUC, it definitely could not keep up.
While there was a lot of like, there’s also some things I felt could be better. The P40 Lite sometimes would lose connection (video would go out on my phone) while flying outside the house. Reviewing the recorded video later, there were never any gaps, but the first couple times it did worry me that I’d next see the drone fly away or crash into something. Neither connection gap was ever long enough that the drone came to a stop to hover in place or fly back home and I didn’t want to force testing that in an environment as cluttered as my back yard. Perhaps in a large open park after I’ve gotten more light time under my belt. Another issue was the battery life. Rated for 31 minutes, I never flew longer than about 20 and the one time I went past that, I got a low-battery warning prompting a return-to-home shortly after hitting the 20-minute mark. But more than the relatively short flying time, especially when you’re In the new phase of wanting to fly and try as many things as possible, is that charging takes almost 2 hours which seems a lot for only getting a fraction of that in runtime. There’s a SKU that comes with three batteries and an external charger. I imagine that helps - if you’re religious about going through pre-flight checks, then that’s probably enough that you would always have a full battery coming off the charger if you always pushed things to when the controller makes you return home but I can start to see why someone would graduate to a larger drone to get more runtime. In all, I feel this was a nice intro to the world of drones beyond the $50 price point. There’s a lot of excitement as you find being able to get nice flyby footage for some family photos or some nice action shots does not require nearly as much skill as you might think. Don’t get me wrong, going beyond what the drone will do for you definitely needs skill and so having video seamlessly transition from one thing to the next requires practice, especially if you yourself are the target but it’s fun to jump in.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Flight stability, Video quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent quality drone for an excellent price
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The Snaptain P40 Lite is an all around excellent drone for what it costs. It has good build quality, great footage, and pretty good run time. In the box you get the drone, remote with built in battery, 1 drone battery, a storage box and several other extras for those inevitable crashes.
The initial set up was very easy and you can be up and flying in minutes (after you charge the battery of course). Connecting my phone was easy and opens up a whole new set of features. The battery life is OK, but Id recommend an extra battery so you can fly while one is charging.
It flies excellent and is a lot of fun to fly as well. Dont expect super high speeds, but it was plenty fast for me. It also flies very stable as well.
It has a lot of great features from much more expensive drones. Follow me, auto land, etc. I look forward to using it to follow me on some motorcycle footage Id like to get.
Overall for what you pay this is an amazing drone, with lots of high end features, that is a lot of fun to fly. If your new or a novice to drones this is an excellent choice! And due to its size you wont have to worry about the FAA restrictions that seem to get more strict by the day.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Flight stability
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Snapped in 60 Seconds, but Still a Good Time
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I was really excited to give the Snaptain P40 LITE a try. I planned to test it around my neighborhood and eventually take it out to my farm for some aerial shots of the woods and valley. I haven’t made the farm trip yet, but I did get some solid neighborhood flight time in.
The carry case is well designed, with space for everything and a few extras like tools and replacement parts. After charging it up, I had a tough time getting it to connect to my Android phone. It turned out to be a permissions issue. Once that was fixed, the video feed showed up and I was ready to go.
I pressed the hover button for takeoff, and it lifted to about five feet before rapidly coming back down and snapping the front support strut. That part helps keep it level when sitting on the ground, so it was disappointing to see it break within the first minute. I may be able to glue it back, but still not a great first impression.
Once airborne, it flew well and was easier to control than older toy drones I’ve used. The hover mode is smooth, and the 3-axis gimbal does a good job keeping the camera steady. Just know you will need a microSD card if you want to record video.
The GPS return-to-home function is cool but aggressive. It flew back at me full speed, and I had to jump back as it landed. Fun, but a bit intense.
Overall, the drone is feature-packed and takes decent footage, especially for the price. I’d say it’s worth a look for beginners, but don’t expect top-tier durability.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great drone for anyone!
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The Snaptain P40 Lite 3-Axis Gimbal 8K Camera Drone Is a perfect drone for the hobbyist. Straight out of the box, it was very self-explanatory. However, it does not come with charging blocks, so you will need to make sure you have a couple of charging blocks. Once you have found your charging blocks and have them fully charged. Setting it up was a breeze; it took all of a few button pushes and an app to download.
Now, when it comes to flying the drone, that is definitely the fun part. If this is your first drone, follow the training that comes with the app. Once you have completed the training, you’ll be ready to fly around and take some amazing photos and videos.
I can tell you from experience, do not fly this in the house if you have eight-foot ceilings unless you are very sure of your piloting skills. The controls are very smooth and the gimbal movement is not steady as well. Overall, this is a fantastic drone. Now, as for flight time, it could use some improvement and a little more warning. I began flying mine with 50% battery, and the next thing I knew, I was receiving a warning stating it was about to land, and it did within seconds.
However, overall, this is a great drone and I would highly recommend it. It’s my fourth drone to own, and I truly enjoy flying it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Owner/ Operator
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
An excellent choice, small compact and reliable , i am confident this drone will help in my business ventures