If you have no knowledge of drones and are looking to get a present and be the cool gift…look no further!
The Snaptain SC5 Elite has a lot of features, can be flown with only the included remote, remote + smartphone, or smartphone only. This versatility means no restrictions for getting up and flying quickly.
If you are looking to get into drone flying and don’t want an expensive overhead…this drone is good enough for you to determine that.
Two reasons for the 3 Stars instead of 5 has to do with the drone drift and max distance. Some of this just has to do with the extreme light weight (145g according to specs) so it is going to get pushed a little easier and some drift should be expected. However, in my flying sessions the wind was not a factor and I found the drone to drift quite a lot.
It seems to have a hard time when input has ceased after flying in a drifting pattern and trying to change direction. It will change direction, but it takes a very long time to do so, It is typically easier to just stop. However, this also poses an issue (same when just flying in a straight line), when canceling forward input, the drone will air break, but also continue moving in the same direction, then slowly begin to reverse. Again this is after no input has been given.
It takes some time to get used to it and anticipate these extra maneuvers, but this also means you need an extremely large open area free of trees and houses. The box states Ages 14+, I think you could go younger; especially if the kid likes to play Super Smash Bros. since the drone drift I find is similar to that game.
Distance is said straight line 328ft and height is limited to 164ft, doing some math, it means at max height, max distance then is 284ft.. However, I find the drone begins to lose input at about 150 to 200ft. The remote will notify by beeps when signal has degraded, it also does so in the app. If you are at max height and flying away from yourself, you will reach the control limit range quicker. The drone limits its self from its height automatically and this barrier cannot be broken, however, distance from operator I found is theoretical and does not auto-stop the drone, as it just keeps flying on its own at that point.
Any info in the segments below deemed negative are only meant to show the drone’s limitations. Remember, this is a toy and the features it offers are quite good. Please don’t expect qualities of a higher quality and subsequently a higher priced drone.
Flight Time
This is true to product info at 15 min and charge time is true to 160 minutes (~2.5hrs) @5v 2amp charger (I used a Samsung phone charger); manual states max is 5v 3amp with included cable.
Video/Photo Quality
This is a toy, that fact that it can do it is a plus, but don’t expect to get awesome shots. I used a SanDisk Ultra 32GB UHS-1 with write speeds of 100MB/s and a Samsung 32GB UHS-1 with write speeds up to 48MB/s. Both recorded the same quality of footage and both cards are well equipped to record at 1080p video with ease, but many of the videos had missing segments and were grainy. This is to be expected since the drone camera is not on a gimbal but a fixed arm that allows vertical rotation still but no stabilization.
Discrepancies
BB Webpage vs Guide
Charge Time: 100 min vs 160 min
SD Card: 128GB vs 64GB
Accessories: Protective Propeller Guards vs no included propeller guards
Battery: Printed Guide states when charging battery light on, finished off vs reality = charging Red, finished Green
In App Guide and Tutorial Video is for Snaptain E20, not really an issue as basics are all the same. When the App is connected to the Drone the Snaptain E5C Elite model is shown in both image and name, but when not connectted the E20 is shown; there are navigation buttons that let you see other drones, but it does not change the video or guide.
Controller: not so much a discrepancy but an omission that the drone can be flown with or without the included controller if a Smart Device is connected to the drone. Google Play Store states requires Android 4.4 or higher, but Guide states Android 8.0 or higher, my device used to test is running Android 11.
The Snaptain SC5 Elite is a great starter drone or the “cool relative” gift and great for casual flying.

The Snaptain S5C Elite is a pretty cool little drone. A step above entry level “toy” drones, it has good features and is a nice introduction into higher end devices.
The case is pretty solid, with cutouts for all the accessories. There are two batteries that charge with USB C directly so no extra base or proprietary attachment needed. There are a second set of blades included. Unless you’re already well seasoned at flying, you’re going to need these. And more..
Screw driver is included as well to swap blades as well as open up the remote to add batteries. Unfortunately this isn’t rechargeable as well, It takes a few AAA batteries. The remote is pretty light and cheap feeling, so when you clip your phone to it, it will be very top heavy and want to lean back on you. There are many controls and a nice template overlay to see what’s what. you can easily pan the camera up and down, as well as take quick pics or videos.
Pairing your phone to the drone is pretty simple, just turn on the drone and then connect your phone to the Snaptain Wifi network that is being broad cast. Once you do that, you open the app and can see the feed.
Flying the drone will take practice. Fairly similar to video game FPS.. you can go up and down with the appropriate direction on the left joy stick as well as zero degree rotate left/right. Right joystick will move you forward, back, strafe left/right
The controller has some built in buttons for 360 pans for wide shots, trick flips and quick launch. You can do the quick launch manually with a combination of the joysticks as well. There is an emergency button where you’d want to kill the power in case its going somewhere you can’t get to to retrieve. If you do hit that button and retrieve the drone, you’ll have to power cycle the drone in order to use it again. Likewise, if you hit something and the drone falls, you’ll have to power cycle to use again.
i’m not the best at it and a couple times i flew it into my house and a school. the battery pack and hold popped off and was hanging by the wire. i’ve done this over a dozen times and easily snapped it in place. on that note, you cannot buy replacement propellor blades from the manufacturer. in fact i had to go online and purchase blades for a different brand and model drone. they looked the same visually and had the same labelling style. (A1,B1,A2,B2) and the work just fine. I’m on my 3rd set because my kids and I had some learning to do.
Battery life is decent, you get about 15 minutes per battery. charging isn’t terribly long, but long enough you can’t keep going back and forth without downtime.
the camera is surprisingly better than expected. for people goofing around quick videos that don’t need fine details, like sports/driving/ scenery, it’ll be good.
overall, fun drone for the price to get into “real drones” as opposed to little $20-$30 toys that are better suited indoors and won’t be taken from the wind

So many great things about this drone, but I will start with the fact that it comes with 2 batteries. It takes about 30 minutes to charge each battery and each battery lasts about 30 minutes. My son can get a good amount of play time to fly the drone around. The drone also has a little camera that you can connect through your phone and take pictures straight to your phone. We love that the remote controller has a phone holder that you can attach your phone to. Even on a semi-windy day he was able to use the drone at a low level but you can feel the wind slightly pulling it because of how lightweight the drone is. We cannot wait for a non windy day to use it and see how high it can go.
Another thing to love about it, is it is easy to control but it sometimes goes in the opposite direction of where we are controlling it, but we still like it.
The drone also looks really neat when navigating it through out the house. It can be a little loud, but it looks really neat. The drone can flip sideways and forward which is pretty neat. It also comes with extra wings in case the wing fans get broken and you run it into a wall like we have done a few times. Even with that, the drone is going strong and working just fine.
Overall this is a great starter drone and my son loves using it everyday. Summer break is here so this was perfect timing. Just another thing he can use that can bring him outside and I love that.

The SNAPTAIN S5C Elite is an excellent little drone. It’s fun for the family and isn’t that hard to operate.
Who: I recommend this drone for the family, kids, or anyone who just wants to have fun. This is not an advanced drone but one that is designed to be fun and affordable. The kids will love playing with this! I would say the age on the box (14+) is accurate. Anyone younger should be supervised by an adult and also provide full guidance.
App: luckily I have experience with similar devices and could figure out how to use he app with the drone. The app to me is confusing and really provides no guidance in connecting it with your drone. There’s no screen guidance so you have to follow directions or remember how to connect it each time. You only have to go into your phone’s wifi setting and select the drone (must be powered on) and go back to the SNAPTAIN app. It will take a minute but it will connect and you will get a live stream of the drones camera right on your phone. You can also use the app to control the phone.
Batteries: the drone comes with two rechargeable batteries that will give you a combined flight time of 30 minutes (15 min per battery). Each battery has a usb c port built into it which is convenient. What’s not convenient is that you have to use the included usb c charger to charge the battery. I used another high end usb c charging cable and it would not charge the battery which the directions state would be the case. I’m not sure what usb c cable I would need if I lost the included cable. The control takes two AAA batteries.
Drone: the drone is extremely light and I would consider it fragile. Any large drop will most likely cause damage. Although, I did crash it light twice and it was fine. The drone is equipped with 4 brushless motors, an adjustable 1080p 5 megapixel camera, and altitude hold. Theres a slot of a micro sd card (not included) and plenty of lights equipped around the drone to help see it in low light situations or guidance.
Flight: flight is easy! Either hold the take off/ land button or move both joy sticks in an inner motion to fire up the engines. Once started it’s easy to fly! A few cons about flight which is why this is not an advance drone. You must always have your hands on the sticks, any wind you will need to keep a thumb on the stick to compensate so your drone doesn’t fly with the wind. I also learned never to turn off the control while in flight, did this by accident and when it happened the drone just flew off. I recommend making sure you use healthy batteries in your control. Any signs of a weak battery I would make the swap before you fly.
Controller: the controller is nice and holds your phone so you can live stream your drones camera. It does make a low quality beeping sound when powering it or down. It’s also important to note that there is a speed selection switch. I like having the drone in the 2 selection spot as the drone is that much faster.
Other accessories include blades, a good case, and a screwdriver. Simple but helpful!