When you are buying an RTF (ready to fly) drone, you must consider certain features. Obviously, RTFs such as the SANROCK B5W that we are reviewing here are best for beginners.
They are also good hobby drones for experienced guys who don’t want to deal with BNF (bind and fly) drones that come without a remote controller such as the Vampire2 HD racing drone that we reviewed earlier. By referring to it as ready to fly, we mean it comes ready to fly out of the box. Of course, you have to insert the battery and perhaps attach the blades, but that is that.
So basically, the SANROCK B5W drone offers some good features for a beginner drone. The 4K resolution camera is without doubt its best-selling feature. It also has a good number of automatic functions that makes it super simple and enjoyable to fly.
But there is a flipside… it is not foldable. And it is heavy!
Keep reading to see all the features and flight functions that this quadcopter comes with.
SANROCK B5W Features & Technical Details
It is very important to look at the features of any quadcopter before you invest your hard earned money in it. For example, beginner drones often lack obstacle avoidance systems.
Therefore, you are bound to crash yours a few times as you learn how to fly it. You must consider the build quality. You need to know that it will take the abuse and come out intact.
Design and Build Quality
This is where everything starts. You will love the sleek, sporty look of the B5W quadcopter. It is broader at the front and slimmer at the back. Not sure how that helps with “cutting through the wind” but it sure looks unique.
Sadly, this is not a foldable drone. It would have been much better if it could be folded to a smaller and more compact shape, which would make storage and transport ever so easy. The size is 12.5 by 11.2 by 3.5 inches. As you can see, this can occupy some space in your backpack when traveling.
The weight of this drone is 1.5kg. That is quite heavy! However, you will be happy with the weight because it contributes to the stability of the quadcopter in a breeze so that you can take good photo and video footage.
The fuselage of this drone is made with high quality ABS plastic that absorbs most of the shock that comes with a drop or a crash. This plastic material will hold steadily and the delicate electronic parts of the drone will be protected from damage.
The motors of this aircraft are brushless. They have low noise levels, they can last a long time and they require minimal care and maintenance. You can fly the aircraft through three drones and the motors will not overheat.
Camera Quality
Honestly, the camera is one of the reasons why many people choose the SANROCK B5W quadcopter over others in its price range of $200 to $300. This is a real 4K camera, records photos and videos in good resolution. If you need footage for your YouTube channel, or you need a good aerial camera to capture your family’s fun moments or your outdoor adventures, get this drone.
When storing the photos in a TF card, you can do resolution of 3840 by 2160P for photos and 4K for videos at 30fps and 2.5K at 35fps. However, when storing the footage in your smartphone storage, the resolution is 1920 by 1080P.
This drone supports TF cards of up to 128GB capacity, which is not provided so you have to buy it separately. To store high quality footage in 4K resolution, get one.
This is an anti-shake camera too. You will see that there is no distortion in the photos and videos. Even if the drone shakes in the wind, the camera stays stable thanks to the 3-axis gimbal on which it is mounted.
With a wide field of view at 120°, this quad captures footage with good background. In addition, you will also get a good first person view and see what the drone can see as it flies.
The real-time video transmission range is 500 meters, perhaps more if you fly it in a wide space without trees, buildings or other obstacles. The transmission photo range is longer at 700 meters.
Battery and Flight Time
You will get a high quality smart battery that can give you a flight time of 23 minutes. This is a 7.6V 2420mAh battery. This is a modular battery that is safe to handle and charges out of the drone. We could not establish whether you can buy spare batteries online, but chances are that you can and that will prolong your flight time a great deal.
Also, as a smart battery, you will always be aware of how much voltage is remaining. To show you that, the controller has a small LCD screen.
Charge the battery using the provided balance charger. The charging time is 5 hours.
Remote Controller
To use this 2.4GHz remote controller, you will need to buy 2 AA batteries, which are not provided. It is a stylish looking transmitter with a small LCD screen in the middle.
It displays the important metrics such as distance, remaining battery charge, height of the drone and so on. Transmitters with LCD screens are much better than those without.
When flying your drone blindly (without using the app), you will always be aware of its whereabouts. The transmitter has keys for all the functions that the B5W quadcopter is equipped with.
For a drone in this price range, we feel the transmitter could have been much better with an integrated rechargeable battery, but it is what it is.
Flight Functions
Automatic flight functions make it easy for beginners to fly drones. Therefore, unless it is a BNF racing/performance drone, it should have a good number of flight functions. Here are the most outstanding functions:
GPS fail-safe
If the battery of your drone runs low, you will get an alert on your remote controller. Besides, you can also see the remaining battery voltage on the small screen display.
You can press the return-to-home key and the drone will come back home. However, even if you do not do that, the drone will return home automatically when the battery runs low or when it loses signal.
Stable Hovering
Thanks to the optical flow and air pressure altitude hold technology, this drone has a very stable hover so that you can capture good footage without distortion.
Follow Me Mode
Aircraft recognizes you, locks onto you and follows you wherever you go. If you move faster, it moves faster. You can also get it to follow you while you are inside a car, when doing a road trip so that you can capture memorable footage. Just drive at a speed that matches that of the SANROCK B5W quadcopter.
Point of Interest
When you spot a monument or a landmark that can make your footage interesting, set the drone on circle mode and let it fly around the landmark taking footage from all angles.
TapFly Mode
On the screen, you can tap a point towards which you want your drone to fly towards. When you engage this mode and tap a point in your screen, the B5W flies in that direction in a straight line. Therefore, be sure there are no obstacles in the way.
Trajectory Flight Mode
In this mode, you can access the map interface on the app; choose a good route that you would like the drone to follow. Make dots along the route and then connect them with a line. The quadcopter will fly along that route.
Short Summary of Feedback from Existing Owners
I am so glad I got my SANROCK B5W drone. It is quite heavy though and you definitely have to register it with the FAA. My only regret is that it is not foldable, but I can live with that. Shak O.
The camera takes good footage even when there is wind, thanks to the 3-axis gimbal. Keep your footage distortion-free all the time. Josh W.
I have come close to losing the drone a few times but it has always turned and come back home. Thanks to the stable GPS connection, it is hard to lose this quadcopter. Juliana W.
Good photos and videos especially when you take them in good sunshine. For a beginner or even an advanced user, this drone is really exciting. Dave H.
The flight time is quite good for me although I would like to get another battery. I also love the footage that this drone takes and the wide field of view. I like to store my footage in my TF card and then I transfer it to my computer later. Jessie G.
I bought this drone for the 4K camera. However, I have also come to appreciate its other features such as the long flight time and durable build. It has a sleek and stylish look too! Steve K.
SANROCK B5W Pros
- Comes with high performance brushless motors
- Stable performance even when there is wind
- Nice, responsive app
- Good flight time from one battery
- Has many flight functions for hands-free flight
- It is simple to calibrate and use
- Nice remote controller with small screen to show stats
SANROCK B5W Cons
- Heavy at almost 1.5kg
- Flight time could be much better
- Long charging time of 5 hours
Who Should Buy The SANROCK B5W?
This is a good, stable drone with fair flight time for one battery. While it is made for beginners, it has some features that make it exciting for advanced users as well.
One of them is the high quality 4K resolution camera with a wide field of view and 3-axis gimbal for keeping it stable.
If you do not mind the extra weight of this quadcopter, go for it. Anyone looking for an aerial camera for those precious family moments can buy this aircraft.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The urge to get this aircraft out of the box and into the air immediately will be too great to resist. However, take your time and read the user manual carefully.
While many drones look alike, they are unique in their own special ways. That is why you need to read the user manual to know how to calibrate it, and fly it using different functions.
Do not fly your SANROCK B5W GPS drone in the wind. In addition, choose a wide open space without animals, trees, people, houses or other obstacles so that you can fly it to its maximum flight distance.
