As one of Snaptain’s newest drones, the S5C Elite combines a number of premium features into a budget friendly price point. The S5C Elite is a compact quadcopter drone that features brushless motors and a motorized camera for beginner or recreational flying. Retail price on the drone is an affordable $99.99 with 1080P FPV camera. The drone utilizes a classic quadcopter design and uses an optical flow sensor in lieu of GPS. Snaptain includes two 1200mAh batteries with the drone which provide up to 30 minutes of flight time. The compact drone and all the additional parts are also packaged in a premium fabric carrying case.
The Snaptain S5C Elite drone combines a budget friendly price with modern brushless motors and a 1080P camera.
| Retail Price | $99.99 |
| Rating | 8.7 / 10 |
| Measured Weight (in g) | 147 (drone), 138 (remote) |
| Likes | + Budget friendly + Easy to fly and intuitive user interface + Portable and compact folding quad copter design |
| Dislikes | – Speed feels artificially limited – Battery status is only shown on the app and not on the drone or battery |
| Where to Buy (US) | Snaptain |
UNBOXING
The Snaptain S5C Elite comes in a compact cardboard box with Snaptain branding on it. Inside the box you’ll find:
- Fabric carrying bag
- S5C drone
- Spare rotors + screws
- Two 1200mAh batteries w/ USB charging cable
- Plastic remote controller
- Instruction guide
Once you open the box you’ll find the drone and all the spare parts in a fabric carrying bag which makes it easy to store the drone and travel with it. Note, you will need three AAA batteries for the remote control before you can do any flying with the remote.
FIT & FINISH
Visually, the Snaptain S5C Elite has a classic folding quadcopter design that’s lightweight and stable to fly. There are four brushless motors that are each mounted on folding arms that tuck against the main plastic body. As you’d expect, the drone is almost all plastic with a plastic body, forward mounted camera and two blades on each motor. It’s a very small drone that can almost fit in your pocket and is small enough to avoid most of the regulations that come with larger commercial drones. The body is all black with blue accents and simple Snaptain branding. On the main body you’ll find the motorized front 1080P camera which can rotate a full 90 degrees for FPV flying or capturing landscape shots. Underneath the drone body is also a downward facing camera that is used for the optical flow sensor to help stabilize the drone when it is closer to the ground.
There is also a micro SD memory card on the side that lets you store the full 1080 resolution video as well as a removable rear slot for the battery. The memory card is optional though as video can be streamed in 720P directly to the Snaptain app. Snaptain also includes two batteries which simply slide in the rear slot and have to be removed to charge via a USB-C port. There is a single button on top of the drone which serves as the user interface. Holding the top button powers the drone on and activates the numerous build-in lights and a fairly loud startup / power down sounds.
There are even speakers integrated into the body which provide an audible indicator that the drone is powering on or off. Snaptain has also used a combination of white, blue and red lights to make it easy to visually identify the orientation of the drone. On the front of the drone there are two white forward facing LEDs on the main body along with blue LEDs on the rear and top. There are also additional lights on each of the motor arms with red lights on the rear and blue on the front. The lights are mounted on the corners which means you can see them from different angles which is a nice touch.
CAMERA
One of the big differences between the S5C and the S5C Elite that we have here is the 1080P camera. It’s a higher resolution camera compared to the S5C’s 720P and allows you to capture crisper images. The camera has a single axis motorized mount which allows you to rotate it 90 degrees from a FPV forward facing perspective to a downward perspective. Using the remote or app you can also adjust the camera angle on the fly which is a big perk from cheaper drones which use fixed camera angles or manually adjustable mounts. However, unlike higher-end drones there is no image stabilization or built in gimbals so the video will not be smooth and is better suited for recreational use than creating commercial or social media content. That results in jumpy video with okay quality and not smooth cinematic shots.
REMOTE
Snaptain also includes a battery powered remote to control the drone. It’s a simple plastic design with fold out handles and a two joystick setup. The remote has blue buttons and accents that match the drone with clear labels on each of the controls. To adjust the pitch or yaw of the drone you use the left joystick while the right joystick is for altitude control and drone rotation. Snaptain has also included dedicated buttons for the stunt mode, orbit flight, emergency stop and one-button take off. On the rear of the remote there are also buttons for adjusting the camera angle as well as taking photos and videos. It’s a nice touch that makes it easy to access all the functions of the drone without having to use the app.
For FPV flying, the remote also has a simple cell phone mount that folds out the center of the remote that lets you clamp the phone in place. Although the remote itself feels cheap the cell phone mount is effective and the remote is comfortable to use. Note, the S5C Elite is not a GPS model which means you are limited to 50m height and 100m distance from the remote or app. We’d highly recommend staying within those bounds to avoid having the drone drift off and getting lost or stuck. If you do get near the communication range limit, the remote has a warning beep. It’s a helpful feature that reminds you to bring the drone back.
FLYING IMPRESSIONS
With its $100 price point and brushless motor setup we were excited to see how the S5C Elite would compare to the Snaptain E10 and E20 drones we’ve previously reviewed. Out of the box, the drone is compact, lightweight and intuitive to fly with simple controls on the remote. The one button launch and landing make it easy to get into the air or land smoothly while the two joysticks offer decent responsiveness. Snaptain limits the speed of the drone to only two settings, a slow “novice” mode and a more responsive second speed. In our opinion, it felt like there should have been a third speed option as the drone felt sluggish even in the higher speed mode. Otherwise the drone is intuitive to use and can preform sharp turns and rapid altitude changes.
At under 150g the drone is light enough that it’s easy to travel with but also highly sensitive to wind. The drone drifts in windy conditions and can be difficult to control as the wind speeds increase. We’d recommend only taking the drone out on calmer days, otherwise you’ll spend most of your time trying to counter act the wind. As a non-GPS drone you also have to be careful about staying within WiFi range. The remote and app display helpful warning beeps if the connection becomes weak. If you’re slow to respond to that the drone will drift off and potentially get stuck somewhere or lost like the Snaptain E20 that’s still stuck in our neighbors tree.
As the battery gets low on the drone there are also reminders to bring the drone back and land. That means the claimed 15 minute runtime is closer to a 10-12 actual flight time as you don’t want to run out of battery mid-flight. Compared to the Snaptain E series drones we would say that the S5C is a bit more user friendly with smoother actions and easier to fly thanks to all the additional lighting elements. We also were happy to see the motorized camera mount which is a feature budget drones like the ASC-2680 typically lack. That means you can do some FPV flying using the app, but the footage is shaky which makes it harder to do any type of precise maneuver.
SNAPTAIN APP
The Snaptain S5C can be paired with the free Snaptain drone to support FPV flight. It’s a simple app that’s primary function is to display the camera feed and controls. All the controls on the remote are repeated on the app and you can even fly the drone without the remote by using touch points on the app to control altitude and drone angle. To connect the drone to the app your cell phone has to connect to the Snaptain WiFi network. Once that is complete the camera image is shown on the main function display. The app has a simple design with icons along the top and battery and memory card storage along the bottom. Unlike higher-end drones that have automated flight modes like target following, the drone only has a orbit and stunt feature that have duplicate buttons on the app. One of the main features of the app is that it is the only place to view the battery status of the drone. We would have liked to see a simple LED indicator on the battery or drone to make it easier to check the status.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Snaptain S5C Elite drone to be a fun and compact drone. Snaptain has taken their popular S5 drone and added improved the camera. Despite the $100 price of the drone, the S5C Elite features premium features like brushless motors and a motorized camera mount. It’s a small drone that is intuitive to fly with fun features like auto-launch, orbit and a simple stunt mode to do flips automatically. We appreciated the additional LED elements that make it easier to track the location of the drone and determine its orientation. The included fabric carrying bag is also a nice touch that stores the two batteries and spare parts all in one location. As far as negatives, we would have liked to see a battery status indicator on the drone and a higher speed setting to take advantage of the power. That said, the Snaptain S5C Elite is a fun and affordable drone that is intuitive to fly.
Disclaimer: The product for this review was provided by Snaptain. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.