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JJRC H31 – lightweight yet nice flying drone without a camera.

JJRC H31 – lightweight yet nice flying drone without a camera.

Drone Reviews September 20, 2016

JJRC tends to be one of the most successful drone manufacturers in toy/hobby grade market. Many of their previous models were outstanding in terms of flight time, control distance and camera compared to other drones in similar price range. Does that scenario repeat with their newest drone? We’ll find that out in our JJRC H31 review.

jjrc-h31-box

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On first look, you’ll notice it’s kind a different from most of other drones. Lower profile with large propellers promises a lot. I was more than excited to fly it for the first time. This drone is great example of non-Phantom-like design. I really noticed how many drone manufacturers are giving their best to make their drones looking similar to DJI Phantoms. I’m not saying I don’t like how Phantom looks, but I just don’t like how some manufacturers copied its design.

JJRC H31 Specifications:

Control distance : > 100 meters
Flight time : 6-8 minutes
Charge Time : 60 Minutes
Battery : 400 mAh
Weight : 76g
Dimensions : 29.00 x 29.00 x 9.00 cm
Show me the price !

BEFORE WE START WITH THE ACTUAL JJRC H31 REVIEW, HERE ARE FEW THINGS YOU GUYS SHOULD KNOW : 

  • This drone is advertised as “waterproof”, but I wouldn’t suggest you doing some extreme things like landing in the lake/sea/ocean. I’m not 100% sure it can withstand those conditions. I saw some youtube reviews where their drone wasn’t able to fly after getting wet so.. be careful 🙂
  • This drone does not require FAA camera since it’s extremely lightweight
  • This drone DOES NOT come with camera. Camera is bought separately (at least, this was case with mine).

Packaging

jjrc-h31-box onlyJJRC H31 comes in nice looking box which contains almost everything you’ll need to get drone flying. I say almost everything because you’ll have to buy 4xAA batteries and insert them in remote controller separately because they are not included in the package by default. This is ready-to-fly drone which means all you need to assemble is : 1. landing gear and 2. propeller protection. It’s pretty simple and won’t take you longer than 2-3 minutes. Screwdriver and screws are included in the package.

Package contains :

  • 1 x JJRC H31
  • 1 x Transmitter
  • 1 x USB Charger
  • 4 x Spare Props
  • 2 x Landing Gear
  • 1 x Screwdriver
  • 1 x Pair of Sunglasses ( ? 🙂 )
  • 1 x English + Chinese User Manual
See more photos on Amazon

jjrc-h31-

Design and durability

As I mentioned before, I really like how this drone is designed. It reminds me a little bit of Tarantula X6, which is good because I really enjoyed X6. It’s made of some elastic plastic. That’s great because it should prevent some serious damage when crashing it. My only complaint about design goes to LED lights. They could be little more brighter in my opinion.

jjrc-h31-led_lightsI have one anecdote about this drone that I’d like to share with you. After I assembled and tested this drone I left it in my pantry where I keep all my drones. One day while I was out my 12 years old son decided to fly it outside. I don’t have anything against that, I teached him how to fly safely but he always (try to) do some silly tricks and most of our drones ends up being smashed on the ground. Well, this one has survived all his attacks! When I came back home, he gave it to me and said “this thing is indestructible”. JJRC H31 has successfully survived crash test 🙂

Controller

jjrc-h31-controllerController looks exactly the same as on many previous JJRC drones. It’s comfy to hold in hands and doesn’t have too many buttons. This is ideal for beginners because they are not interested in some advanced options anyway. There is no much to say about it, it looks and performs good. Remember, you’ll need 4xAA batteries to power it. Since it does not have large LCD screen like some other drones, batteries should last for at least few weeks, if not months.

Flight performance

JJRC-H31-revew-test-flightNow we come to my favourite part of this review. Honestly, I was very surprised by JJRC H31 flight performance. I didn’t expect it to be so agile. You simply don’t expect that from very cheap drone like this one is. But it is, it’s very agile and flying it is a pure joy. Since it’s extremely lightweight, I wouldn’t recommend flying it in windy conditions. In the other hand, nice thing is that you can fly it on rain because it’s “waterproof“. As I already mentioned, it does not have any advanced features such a return to home, altitude hold etc.. and trust me, you don’t need them anyway. It has two flight modes and you can adjust its speed. Slowest speed is 50% while fastest is 100%. Personally, I fly it on 50% or 75%. When considering all these information, I believe this is great drone for first time flyers.

Read some reviews on Amazon !

Flight time and control range

JJRC drones are well known for their above average flight time and control distance. Just check out some of their older models such a JJRC H25G or JJRC H26D. This drone has a range of > 100 meters. I can’t say exact number because there are some different information on the internet. Mine was tested on 100 meters and it didn’t lose signal. It’s hard to see it on that distance so I don’t see why you would go further anyway.

When we talk about flight time, 400mAh battery that’s included in the package should provide you with 6-8 minutes of flight time (advertised is 8-10 minutes). These are nice specs for a quad in this price range. I really don’t see how someone could expect more than this. It does not have audible warning when battery goes low. Instead, LED light in drones nose will start blinking. You should easily notice it because it will be flying with reduced power last 10-20 seconds. That should be enough time to land it safely.

Conclusion

This non-camera version of JJRC H31 will provide you with decent flight time and control distance compared to other drones of similar price. Be noticed that it’s made of some elastic plastic and it won’t break easily if you crash it. It does not have any advanced feature such a GPS position hold, return to home, follow me.. and trust me, you don’t need these features on drone like this one. So when we take everything in consideration, I have to say this is ideal drone for : first time flyers, beginners and casual flyers.

Other JJRC products

jjrc x1 with controller

JJRC X1

This is first brushless drone made by JJRC company. It was very popular when it was announced because of its attractive price and good performances. I should mention it has a flight time of 12-15 minutes. This is achieved thanks to its 7.4V 1300mAh LiPo battery. Control distance is impressive too, there are owners who claims they flew it on a 400 meters distance, which is pretty amazing. Combination is powerful motors and good battery is almost always a win-win situation. This drone does not come with camera by default but it’s powerful enough to lift some sport camera, even GoPro!

You can read full JJRC X1 review here.

jjrc h12wh new drone

JJRC H12WH

This is cheap drone that offers nice FPV experience thank to its 2.0MP camera. This drone is very important for JJRC because it comes with some cool features such a : altitude hold and one key return. Altitude hold function is very popular these days, even on cheap models so this is not a big surprise. It was matter of time when JJRC will start implementing it in their drones.

Same as other JJRC models, H12WH comes with above average flight time and control distance compared to other drones in this price range. Flight time is somewhere around 8 minutes while flight distance is up to 300 meters!

You can read full JJRC H12WH review here.

Larry Haller
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