The Helix Sentinel Drone is a $200 drone made by the team at Air Hogs. You may have seen the recent Helix Sentinel Drone infomercials on TV or online. Learn more today in our review.
What is the Helix Sentinel Drone?
The Helix Sentinel Drone aims to bring the excitement of drones to people with a modest budget. The device consists of a virtual reality-looking headset along with a quadcopter-style drone.
You fly the drone around using an included remote control, then monitor the live streaming feed that comes in through your “FPV Headset”. It’s described as a “first-person video drone”. You can fly above your neighborhood while enjoying a livestreaming feed through your smartphone or tablet.
The drone is priced at $200 and is available online through GetHelixSentinel.com. Helix Sentinel Drone is made by Air Hogs, a company well-known for making a wide variety of remote control flying toys.
Helix Sentinel Drone Features
The Helix Sentinel Drone comes with all of the following features:
-Comes with drone, headset, controller, storage case, USB cable, 4GB microSD card, 4 ceiling protection sticks, and a removable foam body
-Headset can hold a smartphone, and you connect your smartphone wirelessly to your drone, letting you easily view a live streaming feed from your drone
-Uses four quadcopter-style propellers to stay afloat and stable while in the air
-Air Hogs calls their headset an “FPV Headset”, which we assume stands for “First Person View”
-Drone flies indoors and outdoors
-Uses an HD 120-degree wide-angle camera lens capable of recording and streaming 720p video
-Uses height lock stabilization and obstacle avoidance for a smooth flying experience
-Removable exo-frame
-Ceiling protection sticks prevent the drone from crashing into the ceiling
-Use Android or iOS app to monitor Helix Sentinel Drone from your mobile device
-Stream 720p HD video to multiple devices at the same time (in promotional images, users are seen viewing the feed on a smartphone in the FPV headset while also monitoring the feed on a tablet)
-Barometric pressure sensor
-Record video to share with your friends
-Uses 4 AA batteries (not included)
-30 day money back guarantee
The official Air Hogs website doesn’t mention this, but the Amazon description does: the Helix Sentinel Drone only streams through Wi-Fi. So if you fly beyond your home’s Wi-Fi range, you won’t be able to control the drone.
Customers indicate it only works in a 30 to 50 foot radius around your home. Reviews also indicate that the app doesn’t always work as advertised, so you’ll end up recording more video over the 4GB SD card than viewing live streaming video through the mobile app.
Helix Sentinel Drone Pricing
The Air Hogs Helix Sentinel Drone is priced at $199.99 USD from the official website.
That price includes shipping to all US addresses. Shipping takes up to 30 days through USPS.
You can also find the Helix Sentinel Drone online at other retailers. Amazon sells it for $237.99, for example, while Walmart sells it for around $200.
Don’t forget that you’ll need to buy 4 x AA batteries to use the drone, and there are no batteries inside the kit. Air Hogs doesn’t explain how long the batteries are expected to last per charge.
What’s in the Box?
Your purchase comes with all of the following in the box:
-1 Helix Sentinel Drone
-1 Set of FPV Goggles
-1 Controller
-1 Storage Case
-1 USB Cable
-4 Ceiling Protection Sticks (tiny plastic sticks placed on top of your drone to prevent it from hitting the ceiling)
-1 4GB microSD Card
-1 Removable Foam Packaging Material
-1 Instruction Guide
-Also Requires 4 x AA Batteries (Not Included)
Helix Sentinel Drone Refund Policy
All purchases come with a 30 day money back guarantee. It’s unclear if this guarantee applies from the date you received the Helix Sentinel Drone or from the date you purchased it. Considering the drone takes up to 30 days to ship to your address, it’s easy to see some potential complications with this pricing policy.
In any case, you’ll receive a complete refund minus shipping costs. You’ll also be responsible for your own return shipping fees. Return your Helix Sentinel Drone to the following address after contacting customer service by phone at 844-517-1319 or by email at [email protected]:
7850 Ruffner Ave
Dept. 4000
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Helix Sentinel Drone Review: What Are Customers Saying About It?
The Helix Sentinel Drone is a relatively new product. It only launched in 2016. So far, Amazon customers have posted 11 reviews of the drone, giving it an average rating of 3.2 stars out of 5. Here are some of the pros and cons real customers have to say about the Helix Sentinel Drone:
Pros
-Video and picture quality is surprisingly good
-Sturdy and well-designed
-Easy to fly, and flies very smoothly
-VR headset is good quality
Cons
-The included FPV app is “useless”, so you’ll probably end up using the 4GB SD card instead of the first person view feature
-Horrible flight time, won’t last for more than 10 minutes flying and taking video (then you need to wait 45 minutes to 1 hour to charge it up)
-Need to “dismantle” the quadcopter to remove the batteries
-Since it runs on Wi-Fi, it won’t go more than 30 to 50 feet, which means it will get boring quickly
-It can be hard to control if there’s anything more than a light breeze outside
Overall, the only positive reviews for the Helix Sentinel Drone on Amazon are from people who received the product for free – which is essentially a paid review. Most verified purchasers were disappointed in the product, with many saying they were returning it for a refund. Common complaints included the short flight time, poor battery life, and the fact that it doesn’t fly more than 30 to 50 feet beyond your house before losing its sync (it requires Wi-Fi to work).
Who Makes the Helix Sentinel Drone?
The Helix Sentinel Drone is made by Air Hogs, one of the toy industry’s leaders in remote controlled vehicles.
In addition to offering flying vehicles, Air Hogs sells products like the Thunder Trax, a tank-like RC vehicle that moves over rough terrain. They also sell RC helicopters and RC planes.
Air Hogs is owned by a Toronto-based company named Spin Master. The brand was launched in 1996 when Spin Master was approached by two British inventors. Over the years, the company has released a number of popular products like the Zero Gravity RC Wall Crawler (a RC Hummer-style vehicle that can climb up walls) and the Air Hogs Stormlauncher (an RC vehicle cable of operating on land, water, and in the air).
You can contact Spin Master and the Air Hogs team by phone at 1-800-622-8339 or by email at [email protected]. View their address and other contact information here.
Should You Buy the Helix Sentinel Drone?
The Helix Sentinel Drone is one of many affordably-priced video drones available on the market today. Priced at $200, the Helix Sentinel Drone is priced higher than you should be paying, considering similar devices – like the Sky Viper – are found for between $80 and $150.
That being said, Amazon now sells the Air Hogs Helix Sentinel Drone at a price of $130, which is a much more reasonable price.
However, reviews for the Helix Sentinel Drone aren’t very positive. Reviewers indicate that the FPV app is difficult to use, flight times never last more than 7 to 10 minutes, and that you can’t control the drone more than 30 to 50 feet away (it requires Wi-Fi to work). Customers did, however, like the build quality and the ease of use.
Overall, the drone is good if you just want to explore the area immediately around your home and backyard. Unlike the $1,000+ drone market, you’re not going to fly this drone 1 to 3 miles away from where you’re standing.
If you’re interested in experiencing first-person flight through a drone, or if you want to explore your neighborhood, then the Helix Sentinel Drone may be the perfect Christmas gift for a loved one (or for yourself).