If you’ve never flown a drone before but are curious about all the hype, you may be reticent to invest in one of the top tier consumer drones. When you browse some of the premium models, you may find yourself with a case of sticker shock. But don’t fret because there are far more affordable options on the market. And many of them can do a lot of the same things the advanced models can do.
The Eachine E58 pocket drone is an affordable drone that’s perfect for beginners. You may be wondering just how good it can be with a price point that’s considerably lower than its top-ranked competitors. But the Eachine E58 is a quality product with some really great features you wouldn’t expect from a drone in this price range.
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Eachine E58 Short Review
Eachine E58 is an ideal product for people who are just getting started using drones, or for casual fliers who don’t want to break the bank on a high-end commercial drone.
The Eachine E58 drone has a super compact design which makes it easy to travel with, and the aerial camera can capture good quality video and images.
For the price point, the E58 pocket drone is unbeatable.
Extra features, like one-button launch and landing, make it super user-friendly. And the durability of the small, unassuming drone is pleasantly surprising, so new fliers needn’t stress about crash landing and breaking it on the first run.
The key features like FPV and headless mode push it over the top, making it a worthwhile purchase.
What’s Good About the Eachine E58 Drone?
The Eachine E58 is a super affordable drone, so it’s easy to justify for new and casual fliers. And even though it has limitations, it’s a pretty powerful drone for anyone shopping on a budget.
When you get a drone in this price range, you can’t expect the super high-quality camera and special features that the pricier drones come equipped with. But this product is a solid option, even without all the bells and whistles.
And while it does lack many of the more advanced features and functionality of its higher-end cousins, the Eachine E58 is equipped with the essential features any decent drone needs, plus some helpful extras that will endear it to brand new fliers.
💰 Budget-Friendly
Of course, as we mentioned, the price of the Eachine E58 is one of its primary advantages. Coming in well under $100, it’s a great entry-level drone to get started with. And despite being priced for people on a budget, it doesn’t fall short when it comes to key features and quality.
It’s not cheaply made and won’t crumble upon the first crash.
All in all, it packs an impressive value.
😎 Style
The Eachine E58 looks like an elite drone, with its modern and sleek design. The aesthetics on this drone are an accurate imitation of the DJI Mavic Air, which is one of the most popular commercial drones on the market, and significantly more expensive and advanced than the Eachine E58. Though looks are the only thing this drone has in common with the Mavic, it’s definitely a perk to send this cool little device into the skies.
👝 Pocket-Sized
You can easily fold the E58 drone and stow it in your pocket or tuck it into a backpack for easy transport.
It’s lightweight and durable, so it can go with you at all times, leaving you ready to capture any aerial views when an opportunity arises.
We would just advise getting the carrying case that is sold separately before throwing it into a backpack. It’s a durable little drone, but it definitely is liable to take a beating during travel without the case.
🔰 Great for beginners
With features like the one-button takeoff and landing, headless mode, and propeller guards, it’s the perfect drone for new fliers. Get comfortable navigating the skies with this affordable, entry-level option before upgrading to a more advanced device.
The remote control and easy to use design won’t overwhelm you, and you don’t have to worry about crashing because the propeller guards will help to mitigate any crash damage.
What Could’ve Been Better
Of course, the Eachine E58 does have drawbacks. It’s not going to come with all the advanced features of more high-end options, and even among its similarly priced competitors it has shortcomings.
💨 Avoid Windy Days
Being as lightweight as it is, the Eachine E58 drone does not fly well in windy skies. You’ll find that it can pretty easily be blown about and will be much harder to control when the wind is high. For this reason, you’ll want to limit your flying to calmer days.
📷 Camera Functionality
The camera doesn’t capture super high-quality, steady video. That’s one of the primary downsides to the E58 drone. Using the app on your smartphone to record your flights, you’ll find the footage is choppy and fuzzy.
The app functionality isn’t ideal either. However, for beginners, this drone is great for getting a feel for flying and not really meant to record high definition aerial footage.
✈ Short Flight Time
With just 8-10 minutes of flight time afforded by the battery, you won’t get a whole lot out of a single charge. The best way to mitigate this is by buying several extra batteries so you can swap them out as they die and keep your Eachine E58 out for longer trips.
🛰️ No GPS
Unlike the premium models that cost a bit more, the Eachine E58 is not equipped with GPS functionality. Because of this, the return function isn’t totally accurate, nor is the mission planner mode which lets you set the trajectory for the drone using the app. However, most drones in this price range don’t have GPS either, so that’s standard.
Eachine E58 Specifications
- Equipped with a 720p HD video aerial camera that has a 120-degree wide-angle lens. The lens can be adjusted by 90 degrees.
- 2MP still images camera
- WiFi control (with app)
- Super small fuselage, slightly bigger than a standard iPhone, and the propellers can be easily folded for storage and travel
Dimensions:
- 27 x 19.5 x 5cm (arms not folded)
- 12.5 x 7.5 x 5cm (arms folded)
Specifications:
- Propeller guards
- Two extra propellers
- 2.4 GHz remote control
- 80-100 meters of remote control range
- Remote control requires x3 AA batteries
- FPV (First Person View) camera
- LED lights with a nightlight function
- Gravity sensor
- 6-axis gyroscope
- Headless mode
- One-button launch and landing
- Trajectory Flight with a mobile phone app
- Three speed modes
- 3.7V 500mAh rechargeable Lithium battery
- One-button return
- 360-degree flips
- Micro SD card slot (SD card not included)
- Time to full charge = 60-70 minutes
- 7 – 9 minute average flight time
Eachine E58 Features that You Cannot Miss
Adjustable Aerial Camera
The camera can be moved from 0 degrees facing straight forward to 90 degrees facing straight down. It slides easily along the tracks and stays in place during flight.
Lights
The Eachine E58 has two headlights on the front end and a single red light on the rear. This is a great feature for flying at night, so you can easily determine the orientation of your drone from below.
FPV
Using the app, you can use the Eachine E58 to stream live video straight to your smartphone. FPV, or first-person view, is a really key feature on any drone, and so it definitely gives this super affordable device a boost.
You can have a lot of fun using it to fly the Eachine E58 around and get a birds-eye view in real-time. When using the FPV mode, you’ll need to be in about a 30-meter range of the drone.
One Click Return
Another very handy feature on the Eachine E58 drone is the one-button return. Using the button on the remote, the drone will be recalled straight to you.
However, since the Eachine E58 does not come equipped with GPS navigation, it will just fly toward your general direction, and you’ll still need to help it along a bit. But it’s great for getting it back to when it’s out of your sight.
Micro SD Card Slot
With a slot for a micro SD card, you can record and save images and videos easily during flight. The camera will record 720p video straight to the memory card. It doesn’t come with the SD card though, so you’ll have to buy your own.
Headless Mode
Headless mode on the Eachine E58 allows the drone to use the controller as a point of reference. Instead of relying on the orientation of the drone, it will fly in the direction that you (and the controller) are facing.
This feature is ideal for beginners, as being able to recognize your UAV’s front and rear ends from below takes practice. It’s a much more enjoyable experience for new fliers, as you can rely solely on line of sight to easily send your Eachine E58 in the direction you want it to go, without having to deal with the hassle of correctly orienting it first.
Rechargeable Battery
The Eachine E58 uses a 3.75V battery which easily slides into a slot on the back of the fuselage. Plug it into a USB cable to easily recharge.
It takes about an hour for a full charge, and the battery will run for around 8-10 minutes in flight. The battery has an LED light which will glow red while charging and turns off once it’s fully charged.
360 Degree Flip
The 360-degree flip function on the Eachine E58 is a cool bonus feature that will impress your friends. Just hit the button and move the right joystick to make it flip either left or right 360 degrees.
Controller
Also resembling the controller from the DJI Mavic, the Eachine E58 controller comes equipped with a few buttons and two joysticks, plus a slide out tray for your smartphone. The controller requires 3 AA batteries which are not included, and you’ll need to unscrew the back panel to insert them (the tiny screwdriver is included).
The controller is really easy to get the hang of. First, power it on or off by sliding the center switch. Use the left joystick for throttle (forward to increase, backward to decrease), right joystick changes the direction of the drone. There are a couple of buttons for fine-tuning the joystick controls, and a few others handle things like one-touch launch and one-touch land, headless mode, one-button return, emergency stop, and 360 flips.
3 Speed Settings
The Eachine E58 can fly at 3 speeds: 30 percent, 60 percent, and 100 percent. Though the actual miles per hour on each of these settings is unknown, the highest speed setting is definitely pretty fast. The three pre-set speeds are great for beginners to learn and progress with.
Emergency Stop
Handy if you need to get your UAV on the ground ASAP, the one-button emergency stop will immediately deactivate the motor and send the drone plunging to the ground.
If your Eachine E58 is hovering at a high altitude and you employ the emergency stop function, your device is liable to take some damage upon impact. If possible, save this feature for lower altitudes.
Wifi
Eachine E58 uses an app for smartphone flying with the FPV function. With the app downloaded, you can connect the drone to your phone with WiFi. The Eachine E58 becomes a little hotspot that essentially just links your phone to the drone.
App Features
The app “JY UFO” which you’ll use to pair the drone with your smartphone for FPV has the ability to replace the controller and act as a receiver on its own. Buttons and joysticks appear on the screen, against the background of what the drone camera is seeing in flight.
With the optional gyro mode, you can tilt your phone to steer and control the drone instead of using the joy sticks.
Additionally, the mission planner mode on the app lets you map out a course trajectory for the drone and the app will send the Eachine E58 on that flight path.
Eachine E58 Review
Eachine E58 Camera Quality
The camera quality on the Eachine E58 is not the main selling point for this drone. When purchasing an affordable model like this, one of the key features you lose is high definition image capture.
However, for a lower-end camera, the Eachine E58 captures decent quality images and videos. While you won’t get a ton of detail, the images and video provide enough clarity to be useful and effective for general purposes. Because it’s so small, a 720p camera is about the best you can expect, and common among similar drones.
Image Credit: The Gadgeteer Image Credit: Banggood Image Credit: AliExpress
Like we mentioned before, the video quality isn’t the smoothest. Unlike the more expensive models, the Eachine E58 doesn’t have an optical flow camera, which would improve the quality of your footage. But you can see what’s going around you and get a clear enough view of the world from above while taking some cool snapshots along the way.
Using a drone without the optical flow will also help you improve your flying skills to accommodate for windier conditions, helping you get comfortable stabilizing the drone on your own for better images.
The footage isn’t going to win any awards, but it’ll do the job. And once you’ve gotten comfortable flying and want to upgrade to a drone with a higher-end camera, you’ll be glad for the time spent practising on a more budget-friendly model. Here are a few more pictures captured with the Eachine E58’s camera.
Eachine E58 Battery, Flight Time & Performance
The battery life on the Eachine E58 will run you about 10 minutes of flight time at the most, though the average is closer to 7 minutes.
The 3.75V battery is rechargeable though, which is a plus. And some of the packages you can buy will include multiple batteries.
A micro USB charging cable is included, and once plugged in, it’ll take approximately 60 minutes to recharge when fully drained.
The Eachine E58 battery pack slides easily into the back of the fuselage and snaps into place.
While it’s in the air, the Eachine E58 performs quite well for such a small, entry-level drone. It does have a 6-axis gyroscope and an altitude hold feature which will keep it steady in flight.
It responds well and is very easy to fly once you’ve gotten familiar with the controller. It can hover in place and stays steady in flight when there’s not too much wind.
At its top speed, it’s an impressively quick little drone. And it’s sturdy enough to withstand the impact of most crashes, despite looking pretty fragile.
Eachine E58 Remote Controller/Transmitter
The remote controller/transmitter on the Eachine E58 gets high marks for being incredibly easy to get the hang of. The buttons and functions are very straightforward, and the setup allows for a lot of easy one-button activation of various features. You do need to be within about 80 meters of the drone for the transmitter to work.
For starters, takeoff and landing can be done with the simple push of a button. Same goes for recalling the drone back to you and activating the emergency shutoff. The left and right joysticks control throttle and direction, respectively.
Your smartphone can also completely replace the controller.
Using the app and linking the device to your phone using its WiFi capabilities, you can get an interactive controller right on your screen, plus the FPV feature in the background.
One thing to note when using the app instead of the controller is that your range is limited to about 30 meters instead of 80.
Final Thoughts
The Eachine E58 drone is a perfect option for beginners. Since it’s so affordable, you can get comfortable flying without running the risk of wrecking a far more expensive UAV.
The Eachine E58 remote controller is also incredibly easy to learn and use. Without the advanced features of the more premium drones, the Eachine E58 provides a seamless flying experience that any newbie can pick up in no time.
With functions like headless mode and one-button launch and landing, no skills are necessary to operate this drone. And though the camera isn’t super high-quality, it’s all any beginner needs. You can hone your flying skills with little to no risk before upgrading to the pricier models.
Eachine E58 Alternatives
There are other drones that are similarly priced with various other features. Below you’ll find a list of some of the best alternatives to the Eachine E58.
1. MJX Bugs 3
Specs:
- Camera Quality: 1080p
- Battery Life: 15 minutes
- Range: 300 meters
2. Ryze DJI Tello
Specs:
- Camera Quality: 720p
- Battery Life: 12 minutes
- Range: 100 meters
3. ThiEye Dr.X
Specs:
- Camera Quality: 1080 p
- Battery Life: 7 minutes
- Range: 50 meters
Update: The ThiEye Dr.X drone is no longer available and it appears that it has been discontinued.