If you are looking for a consumer drone to travel with and use its surround flight mode, trajectory flight and other functions so that you can capture “broader” memories, you may consider going for the LEAD HONOR X46G drone. From looks alone, you can see there is a lot to write home about. However, most of the fun is in exploring the built-in flight functions and it comes with its fair share of these.
The manufacturer claims that this is a 4K camera drone. However, from experience, you know that the video and photo resolution that you will get hardly gets to that level. That aside, this is a good drone by build, flight and even the price is not too bad. Learn more about it in the upcoming sections.
LEAD HONOR X46G Features & Technical Details
The physical aspects of this drone are pleasing. However, we all know there is more to it than that. Here are the features and technical details of X46G.
Design and build quality
This is a sleek looking drone and the red strip above the nose makes it look somehow predatorial. It is black in color and it is made of high quality ABS plastic, which offers ultimate protection in case it is involved in a crash.
The bug eyes on the front, near the top left and right edge make this drone look really nice. You will also notice that it looks rather large, but quite stylish at the same time. Since this is a foldable drone, you need not worry about the size. It measures 47 by 47 by 7.5 cm/18.5 by 18.5 by 3 inches when unfolded. When you fold it up, it measures 7 by 3.3 by 2.9 inches. The take off weight is 490g, again not too heavy, but you have to register it with the FAA before you can fly it in the USA.
This drone has metal-cased 1806 brushless motors. It can fly longer without the motors heating up. Probably, what this means is that if you have two batteries, you can insert the second battery without waiting for the drone to cool down and fly it for another 25 minutes.
The drone is sold assembled and ready to fly. Even the blades come installed. These are standard split blades which makes it possible to fold the drone without removing them. You will also notice the high landing gear. The landing struts are rubber coated at the end to give your drone a soft landing.
Cameras
You get a standard camera on the nose, but a smaller, second camera faces downward on the belly of the quadcopter. The nose camera can be controlled from the transmitter to set the perfect angle for shooting your footage.
They say this is a wide lense 4K camera. That is a bit debatable because it usually never is, especially for drones sold at this price. Therefore, to avoid disappointment, we suggest you expect anything, but not 4K quality footage. The down-facing camera is 720P and it can be activated through the app.
The nose camera is 5G Wi-Fi enabled, so you should get a good first person view experience. You will see what the drone can see as it flies. It has a 6-axis gyro.
Battery and flight time
The drone comes with a 3500mAh 7.4V battery. There is the single and the dual battery pack at different prices. One battery can give you a flight time of 25 minutes. The charging time is 300 to 400 minutes. These are modular batteries and so you charge it out of the drone. Therefore, if you get two of them, you can use one while the other charges. You can get the battery stats on the small display screen on the transmitter.
Remote Controller
It looks and feels quite solid. A small LCD screen displays the quadcopter stats such as the remaining battery charge, distance and height of the drone. The control buttons might feel a bit flimsy but they do the job. Invert the transmitter and open the battery compartment door. This one uses three double A batteries, which you have to buy separately. The transmitter has “antennas.” We put that in quotes because they are fake and there was no need of having them there since they serve no purpose at all.
The grainy plastic does feel good in your hands though. You will find the vital buttons for operating the cameras, taking videos/photos, headless mode, calibration, one key take off and a few others.
Flight performance and functions
There is no need to have a feature-rich, well-built drone like this one and then not enjoy some automatic flight functions. As it is targeted at beginners, children and experienced pilots, it has some good functions.
GPS positioning
This drone will hover precisely, hold altitude precisely and fly precisely thanks to GPS. It also connects with the GPS in your smartphone to bring it back home when you press the return to home button. GPS is very important to prevent losing your drone.
One key take off
With the one key take off button on the remote controller, you can get this drone to take off and hover at a good height waiting for your next move. You can also bring it back home to land with just a flick of this button.
Gesture Control
Control the drone with certain gestures to get it to take your photos and videos. This makes it a good selfie drone. Show it the V sign and the palm sign to get it to start taking videos.
Trajectory Flight
You can open the map on the app and draw the route that you would like your drone to follow when you launch it. Usually, you make dots along the route and then connect them. That way, the drone flies while you concentrate on shooting your footage.
Fail-safe return and one key return
If you would like to bring the drone home, just press the one key return and it turns back. However, the drone also turns and comes back home if it loses signal or when the battery goes low. It is hard to lose the LEAD HONOR X46G.
Full flight mode
You can fly this drone forward, backward, upward, downward and even sideways, just for fun. It responds quite well too.
Headless mode
When the drone is far away and you do not know whether it is flying in the right direction, just engage headless mode and it will realign itself according to the pilot’s position.
Circle mode
Also called circumferential shooting, the drone locks onto you and flies around you at the set radius, taking footage all around you. This is the favorite mode for travelers.
Follow me mode
This is another important function. It is the closest that you will get to hands-free mode with consumer drones. You can get the drone to follow you at a good distance (30 meters for video and 5 meters for images) as you ride your bike or drive your car.
Short summary of feedback from existing owners
The drone arrived in a nice gray carry case. It was also ready for flight. I just bought 3 AA batteries for the remote controller and I was good to go. Salman A.
I found the drone manual quite straightforward and easy to understand. Note that this was my first drone. Joe M.
I find the aggressive look of this drone quite impressive especially with the two bug LED lights. For this price, I think it is quite a steal. David G.
I don’t know how to gauge photo quality. Can someone tell me whether this drone takes 4K photos? Thank you. Mike O.
The X46G drone looks a bit bulky from the front but it is not too heavy. It flies well, and folds nicely with the propellers snapping nicely into place. Jesse R.
LEAD HONOR X46G Pros
- Nice storage and carry case
- Long flight time of 25 minutes
- Two cameras – nose and belly one
- Can do 500 meters of flight range
- Has many auto flight functions to enable you fly it almost hands-free
- Drone feels sturdy and well built
- You can buy spare batteries easily
LEAD HONOR X46G Cons
- The antennas on the remote controller are fake
- Drone is a bit large so you always have to carry it in its case
- No information about SD card for storing your footage
Who Should Buy The LEAD HONOR X46G?
This is a fun-to-fly drone. It is also sold at a good price. Therefore, anyone can buy it. If you are a beginner and you want a drone that you will never outgrow, try the X46G. It flies very well, has many flight functions, fail-safe features and it is solidly built to withstand small crashes. The flight range of 500 meters is quite good and the extra weight helps the drone stay stable in low velocity winds.
Conclusion and Recommendation
When you buy a drone like this one for a substantial amount of money, you should take every precaution to ensure that the drone lasts a long time. Some of the things that you should do with the LEAD HONOR X46G is fly it in open places. Also, choose days when there is no wind and most importantly, read the user manual thoroughly before flying it. Please note that it is never a good idea to fly a drone out of your sight even if it has a long flight range.
