I have been wanting a new video drone for a while, so I was extremely excited to try out the Snaptain E20! I was really surprised when I opened the box to find that it came with (and inside) a specially made carrying case that contained the drone, the remote control, rotor bumpers, spare rotor blades, a carrying strap, charger and TWO lithium batteries! The drone comes fully assembled and ready to fly, with a lot of warnings to read the manual, look through the app, and verify you can fly the thing where you’d like to fly it (including urging you in the quick start and full instructions to download the B4UFLY app). The setup was easy and straightforward, the camera even does this nod to you to indicate the drone’s ready to fly! The app is the only really shortfall of this setup, and the biggest reason I can only give it 3/5. The connection is very intermittent, video quality is all over the place and vastly different from the crystal clear video stored to the SD card, like completely different colors! I feel like the connection system could be tweaked in a different way or maybe offer a hard connection between the phone and the controller. I am hopeful that continued updates will improve the app, because when the app works, it works great. With tons of features, controls, settings, and you can use your phone as a controller! You can fly without the app, but that severely limits your ability to direct the camera at what you’re trying to record. That said, if you are able to fly in a place with almost no wireless signals (a state park, if you can get permission), most of the interference and issues with the app go away, most, not all, and this was way up in the Wisconsin Northwoods where cellphone signal is offered by 1 carrier and still not good. The battery life is kind of what you’d expect from this price point, I believe they claim 18 minutes, I was somehow able to get closer to 30 on a few flights out in the sticks (absolutely unsure how) but most in the city have been closer to 15 minutes. Battery changes AND charging is super easy, changing a battery is just popping out the old and sliding in the new one. Charging is done with USB-C, which is extremely helpful as I was able to charge from my car! Charging time is still on the longer end of 4 hours, though.
Overall, this is still a great drone for the price! I’d still recommend it for someone who is just getting into drone video and photography because there are a few fewer tears after crashing a $200 drone vs a $1000 drone. It’s still exciting to fly, produces great video and photos saved to the microSD card, and it is tough! This thing can take a good beating before one of the rotor blade will break, nothing else has broken on mine, just two rotors after accidentally hitting a tree (the tree was unharmed). For me, I will likely keep using the E20 because it is tiny and works well enough for line of sight until I can justify splurging for a DJI or other more expensive drone.

Paid $199 for this in store. This is my first drone for practice. Opened it and inspected it – the antennas on the controller are attached with cheap plastic and upon unfolding them, the left one immediately snapped at the hinge at the base. I have not even charged it let alone flown it and it’s already broken.

Verdict: The Snaptain E20 foldable drone is certainly not perfect, and doesn’t perform like a premium drone… but it works better than expected and offers more features than expected at this price range. If you are on the fence about getting a drone to learn and play around in your backyard, this drone is a good place to start. However, I don’t recommend buying this drone to use for tasks that require precision and high-quality footage.
Experience. I have been flying drones for about six years now. I have owned a few drones from the premiere drone company in the market, and still have one of their bigger and nicer consumer drones. I am very comfortable flying and I understand the capabilities and performance of a high-quality drone.
First impressions. I love that the Snaptain E20 arrived in a carrier case, shrunk down as small as possible to still fit the folded drone, remote, batteries, and extra items. When folded, the drone is quite small. This is particularly interesting to me because I own a much bigger drone that doesn’t fold, so the folded size is remarkable. The remote is also quite small when fully folded. When fully opened, the drone has a nice size and looks capable. When fully opened, the remote provides two antennas. a smart phone holder, and better grip for your hands (nice touch!). The drone is very light, and the entire package when placed in the carrying case is also very light. My initial impressions made me quite excited to try this drone.
Specs. This drone advertises an adjustable 90-degree wide angle camera; the camera controls work fine and I was able to shift the angle of the camera during flight every time I used it. The camera specs show 2.7k resolution, however you will not get this quality from the WiFi connection to the drone. To take quality video and photos, you should use an SD card (not included) on the drone (there is a slot for it). The remote includes easy buttons for one-touch takeoff/landing, circling, and 3D flip. The one-touch takeoff/landing works well, but please note that the landing function does not return the drone to the takeoff point (no GPS capability)… it will just land the drone vertically from where it is flying, which could be an issue. If you panic because your drone is getting away, pressing the land button is not the easy solution, and could cause your drone to come straight down into trees or water. Think about where your drone is when you land… it will just come straight down, slow down before it gets too low to the ground, and then land. The circle function works… but I don’t see the utility because the circling using a very small radius and the camera isn’t on a gimbal, so the footage you get isn’t very useful and kind of dizzying. The 3D flip button didn’t work at all… I was most excited to try that feature.
Performance. Ten years ago, this drone would have been a revolutionary device. We are spoiled now because one company has really cracked the code on consumer drones, so our expectations of drone performance has significantly increased. The Snaptain E20 drone does fly and hover (with some drift). In my testing, it performed all the controls sent by the remote. I was able to get the drone quite high (still below the legal limit) and almost losing it to the wind actually. There are certainly imperfection in flight, such as minor drift in hover, lateral and forward/backward flying not perfectly smooth, and the WiFi connection really limiting the range… So you need to know what you are buying and how you should use it. This is not a drone to fly above tree tops; it is too light and does not have enough power to counter the breeze above the tree line. Additionally, with limited range, if you go too high or too far, you will lose connection, and thus the ability to control your drone. This is a backyard drone to get the feel for drone flying at an inexpensive price, learn the controls on the remote (which are the same as more expensive drones), and decide if droning is for you in the long-term, or if you become bored to play with it after just 10 flights. I would speculate that most people buy a drone and only use it 5 to 10 times, and then sell it, give it away, or forget about it. If you are unsure of your drone “career,” save yourself some money and buy something like the Snaptain E20 to find out. It works well enough *if* you stay within range and fly on calm days.
Things I love.
– Great carrying case to keep everything organized
– Very small folded footprint for the remote and drone
– It flies and hovers (with slight drift), and it can perform basic drone maneuvers
– The one-touch takeoff/landing is helpful for beginners
– It comes with extra blades, screws, a screwdriver, and protection bumpers
– The camera angle can be controlled from the remote
– The camera can start/stop video recording from the remote, and take pictures from the touch of a button on the remote
– It looks very cool
– It’s inexpensive (relative to other drones); great purchase if you want to learn the basics and decide if you want to invest in a serious drone
Things I don’t love.
– No skids… landing in the grass will get your propellers a bit tangled in grass blades
– No gimbal for the camera… Footage will be jumpy during flight. You can still get decent footage if you use an SD card and take videos and photos when hovering
– The protective bumpers add weight and create more drag on the drone, so it will impact your battery life. I used them for less than five minutes then took them off. I will never put them back on
– The system to hold the smartphone is a bit sketchy. I have a slightly-thicker-than-normal case on my phone and it barely fits into the phone holder. I was nervous the phone would fall out of the remote every time I flew the drone
– The WiFi range limits flight to just a backyard or small area. Do not try to push range on this drone or you will lose it!
– It’s very light and doesn’t have enough power to fly against wind that is stronger than a slight breeze; fly on calm days only
Overall, I think the Snaptain E20 provides good value for the money given the features and given an understanding of what it can and cannot do. If you want to experience drone flying, learn the controls on the remote, learn to record video and take photos in-flight, only fly in your backyard, understand the range limit, and want to save money, this is a great drone to do that. I think this drone offers a lot of value at this price range, but you should manage your expectations and understand what you are buying.

Got this for my daughter and she loved it . Works great.