Are you looking for a cheap HD camera drone that is suitable for beginners? Well, you have come to the right place because in this blog post I will review the Contixo F22, a popular drone that comes with some cool features and a decent camera at an affordable price.

A few years back, there were hardly any cheap drones that came with an HD camera, however, times have changed and now we are really spoiled for choice.

Although Contixo are not known for their drones, they have released several low-cost consumer drones that have been well-received. The Contixo F22 is one of their more recent drones and is currently selling for less than $150 on Amazon.

Contixo F22 Review

The Contixo F22 is a foldable drone and if you are a regular reader of my reviews, you will know that foldable drones are my favourite type of drone. Actually foldable drones may be the most popular type of consumer drones because if you look at any site that sells drones, there seems to be an abundance of foldable drones.

You can see why they are so popular, especially amongst people who travel a lot, they are very compact and usually lightweight which means they are easier to carry around and travel with.

The Contixo F22 is not a big drone, in its expanded form it measures 11.81*11.41*2.56 inches and weighs around 242g. The drones weight means that if you live in the UK, Canada or the USA, you will not need to register the drone if you are just going to be flying it for recreational purposes.

For most other countries there are no requirements to register the drone if you are just flying for fun, however, since drone laws are kind of fluid, please do check what the rules and regulations are where you live just to be safe.

Like most low-cost drones, the Contixo F22 comes with brushed motors, unlike the more expensive brushless motors, brushed motors are not very efficient or powerful and they are also a little bit louder. However, since this is a low-cost drone, it doesn’t really matter, the drone still flies well and that is all that matters when it comes to drones.

You will, however, need to carry out regular maintenance of the motors so they work to optimal conditions. This usually means that you will need to clean the motors more regularly and make sure they are replaced if necessary.

One the end of each rotor arm are LED lights, these turn on automatically during flight and if you fly at night, it does make for a cool spectacle as the lights zip around the darkened sky. The LED lights also let you know when the drone compass is fully calibrated by flashing a certain sequence.

The drone is a little bulky and one of the reasons is because it has a big battery that goes on top. It’s a 7.4v 1200 mAh lipo battery, this is one of the modern-looking batteries that has LED lights on the top that indicates its power level. It provides the drones with a flight time of around 15-18 minutes, which is standard for a drone at its price range.

However, since it takes a full two hours to recharge the battery, it is best to purchase a couple of extra batteries to extend the flight time. 15 minutes is a decent flight time buts it’s not really enough to fully enjoy flying and it can get a little frustrating having to recharge a couple of hours just to fly again, hence the reason for extra batteries.

Before I get to the main feature of this don, which is the camera, I just want to say something about the remote controller.

Now, there are some drone controllers that are not so attractive and sometimes a little too large which makes them awkward to hold. This controller is well-designed, it sort of reminds me of the DJI Mavic controller, it has a minimalistic look, which I like and has an internal rechargeable lipo battery which is also a plus in my opinion.

It has a pair of fake antennas, which are there just for aesthetic reasons and has a pair of handles that fold out from the bottom. I don’t find these necessary but for some people, they may provide a better grip on the controller.

There is a smartphone holder that pulls out from the middle and a few small LED lights that indicate what state the drone is in. All the buttons have clear icons next to them so you know what they do, although you do get a very helpful manual should you need some help.

The maximum transmission range is around 500 meters, however, this is only in optimal conditions, so expect something in the region of 350-400 meters, which is still good for a low-cost drone. The range for live streaming is officially 300 meters, again this is slightly exaggerated, it is more in the range of 100-200 meters.

To make use of the drones FPV and smart flight mode feature you will need to download the F22 App which available on both Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s a decent app and has a 3-star rating on both marketplaces which is better than a lot of other drone apps. It has a nice and easy to navigate interface and the love streaming quality is in 720p at 24fps. It does have some issues like a little lag in the live streaming which is to be expected and sometimes crashes unexpectedly. It could do with more updates as it hasn’t been updated for a couple of months now which is always a bit worrying when it comes to apps.