Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad Star Wars Drone Review

In recent years, drone manufacturers have branched out in their product’s designs quite evidently.

Some have mimicked real-life crafts, others opting for a more futuristic render of a visionary’s imagination. And some have brazenly referenced pop culture in hopes of attracting self-confessed geeks.

The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad is one of these drones that take after these pop-culture favorites, from the world-renowned Star Wars franchise. As one of the most important figures in the fictional universe, a true-blue fan could not pass this opportunity up, right?

Hold on.

Aside from nostalgia and bragging rights to fellow nerds, what does this UAV have to offer? Does it have the basics down? Can it even fly?

We’ll answer your questions in this comprehensive Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad review.

Quick Specs

WeightUnloaded: 66 grams
SizeLength: 25 cm
Width: 18 cm
Height: 5 cm
SpeedUnlisted
SignalRange: ~50 meters
Operational Frequency: 2.4 GHz
BatteryFlight time: ~6 mins
Capacity: 140 mAh
Recording Camera: n/a
Sale
Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad Drone
  • Air Hogs is the leading R/C brand delivering non-stop action!
  • Discover R/C Helicopters, Air Vehicles, Land Vehicles and Smart Tech!
  • Visit www.airhogs.com and explore the entire line!
  • Whether you're a beginner or a pro, there's an R/C for everyone!
  • Includes: 1 Air Hog

Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad Features

Impact Resistant Design

Unlike most drones that are solidly built from frames and fixed hulls, this UAV makes use of a foam-based design for a lightweight yet impact-resistant construction. The Millenium Falcon’s design blends really well with the quadcopter layout being circular in nature itself.

This makes the drone safe from minor crashes and mishaps, providing added protection to the craft especially when handled by beginner pilots.

You know how it is in a gravity-rich environment, and you’re not exactly Han Solo, are you?

Star Wars Light and Sound Effects

The drone/spacecraft wouldn’t exactly be the Millenium Falcon if it didn’t have the signature bling and sound, would it?

The LED units on the drone and the speaker on the remote controller work in tandem to provide an entertaining experience to the pilot.

The LED units flash as if to mimic the classic hyperdrive effect, while the remote control’s speaker randomly switches from engine sounds to the voices of R2-D2 and Chewy. Talk about a comprehensive George Lucas experience.

Battery Life

The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon has a 140 mAh battery that provides around 6 minutes of flight time. With a battery this small, that’s about the best you’re going to get.

Along with that, the soldered battery unit doesn’t help in potentially extending your flight time as you can’t swap in another charged pack, so you’re stuck with the 6-minute limit and a wait time of over an hour for a full recharge.

It also comes with a really weird charging setup.

The drone’s controller has a micro USB slot pass-through that accepts standard micro USB cables. You’d think this was it, but no.

The right handle of the controller has a compartment that holds the charging cable which plugs into the drone. This unorthodox method has us scratching our heads a little to be honest.

Camera

For something that retails along the lines of $100, you’d think this UAV would come with an optics unit. But nope, no camera in sight.

Solo and Chewy didn’t need cameras to pilot the original Millenium star, what need would you have for them? A lot of need, we believe.

Controller

The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad’s transmitter is large and designed for maximum ergonomics, being very comfortable to hold since it fits quite nicely in the palms especially when gripped.

It has the usual layout of dual joysticks, as well as a power button that has a built-in LED indicator. But the most unique feature it holds are the speakers we mentioned earlier, capable of playing Star Wars sound effects.

As far as aesthetics go, the controller follows the vibe of the Millenium Falcon to a tee, with the beige and gray color scheme complementing each other quite well. And of course, who would miss that glaring Star Wars logo on the transmitter’s face?

Do note that you’ll need a whopping 6 x AA batteries to power the transmitter.

Design and Build Quality

As mentioned earlier, the Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad is built from fairly thick foamed material instead of a solid composite frame.

This makes the craft somewhat immune to light crashes, as you won’t even need prop guards seeing as the design completely envelopes the radius of the blades quite generously. They do pop off easily in the event of snagging, though, avoiding further blade and rotor damage.

The drone does take the likeness of the Millenium Falcon to a considerable level. Its overall horseshoe crab shape, the color scheme, and even the profile is enough to turn heads if you ever take the craft out for a spin. We don’t recommend doing such, though, as you’ll find out in the next section.

Performance

The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad doesn’t live up to the original spacecraft’s reputation.

Response level isn’t that desirable, with really inconsistent maneuvers that are potential risks for crashing.

Speed isn’t this drone’s forte either, flying in a clumsy and turtle-like pace when compared with similarly-priced birds. But perhaps this is for the better, as the lightweight profile of the craft makes it quite hard to fly if the speed was a bit more unhinged.

The Millenium Falcon’s design limits the placement of the rotors as well, with them closely positioned to each other that it compromises the craft’s balance in flight. Moving the rotors farther away from the center of the hull might prove to be a better performance option, but it’ll ruin the whole look that was intended to be faithful to the source material.

As such, we’d recommend flying the drone indoors as even the mildest breeze can topple the drone over.

Also, avoid going full forward tilt when flying the drone as it may result in a disastrous nose dive.

Sale
Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad Drone
  • Air Hogs is the leading R/C brand delivering non-stop action!
  • Discover R/C Helicopters, Air Vehicles, Land Vehicles and Smart Tech!
  • Visit www.airhogs.com and explore the entire line!
  • Whether you're a beginner or a pro, there's an R/C for everyone!
  • Includes: 1 Air Hog

Final Thoughts

The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Quad, apart from all the hype it gets from its namesake and inspiration, doesn’t really hold a candle to similarly-priced craft.

Zero assistive flight features, no camera, a dehydrated flight time, unbalanced build, impossible to fly without getting a mini heart attack, we could go on and on about this.

Perhaps the craft is really intended for those who want to feed their Star Wars addiction with a semi-usable craft to mimic its movements (spoiler alert: it doesn’t).

We think it makes for a good toy for kids, but not much more than that.

For a price of $100-$150, you could secure what we believe to be a far superior product, with less focus on a gimmicky design and more emphasis on useful features.

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