When looking for the best hexacopter you’ll want to make sure that you know the advantages compared to a quadcopter and also make sure you choose the perfect one for your needs.
This article will help you do just that and I’ll also present a helpful table to compare all these hexacopters.
A hexacopter is a remote-controlled aircraft that uses six propellers and six motors to propel itself in the air and is known as one of the multiple types of drones.
Hexacopters are usually best for heavy lifting work and most frequently for high level cinematography and carrying larger cameras for films. But hexacopters come in all sizes and shapes, as we’ll see in this list.
Hexacopters differ from quadcopters in more than one way, which we’ll cover right now:
In this section I’ll present the absolute best hexacopters in their respective category (so you have an easier choice) and talk a bit about them and when you should buy each one.
Weight: 9.5kg (21.2 pounds)
1668 x 1518 x 727 mm
Flight Time: 38 minutes
Weight 9.5kg
5km range
6kg payload
Max speed 65mph
Max altitude 2500m(8202 feet)
If you’re looking for a professional cinematography hexacopter that is fairly priced, the DJI Matrice 600 PRO is what I recommend most.
DJI has some of the most advanced technology in the world of quadcopters, but also hexacopters, and the Matrice 600 PRO is one of their greatest machines yet.
It is a redesign from the original matrice 100 and an upgrade from the Matrice 600, by adding the PRO to the name, and not for nothing.
It comes with some really solid specs, one of which is the outstanding 38 minute flight time, considering it can also carry 6 kg of weight (13.2lbs) it can handle most camera rigs out there (including gimbals).
It is made for aerial photography and videography, but can also be used to carry things in industrial applications.
The Matrice 600 Pro can operate between -10° to 40° C which is very good considering most drones can’t fly below freezing point.
However, one of the features it’s mostly used for is its amazing speed of 65 mph (104kph) which means it has an easy time tracking cars or any fast-moving objects.
This cheaper hexacopter kit comes with all the parts you need for building it, but you might require a few tools like a soldering iron to complete the assembly.
It even comes with a battery, a battery charger, all the motors, and a transmitter. It’s not an easy job building it, but here’s a youtube video that will help with that a lot.
The hexacopter comes included with a GPS module so you’ll be able to set it up to return to home automatically as well as a stable hover.
Now don’t expect this drone to fly or carry as much as the industrial level ones, but it’s certainly a lot of fun building it and learning about drone technology in general.
If you want to build your own hexacopter easily but want something more serious that can lift a heavier gimbal with a camera, this might be the easiest way to go about it.
The QWinOut hexacopter Tarot 680 PRO comes with a foldable carbon frame design, GPS, transmitter, and pretty much all that’s required for the drone to work (besides the camera).
Now don’t get me wrong, this is still an entry-level hexacopter, as the parts aren’t of the best quality by far, but it’s a nice project and a pretty solid frame that you can upgrade later on if you want.
It comes with a lipo battery, but you should buy additional ones if you want to fly enough and test it properly and make sure to get some of my tools for building a drone.
While not cheap by any means, the Yuneec Typhoon H is one of the most affordable “Serious” consumer hexacopters that comes with some more advanced technology and is made by a reliable company.
It has the advantage of being foldable and it also comes with a camera that can rotate 360 degrees at any time, since the landing gear folds up.
The camera itself is modular and can be brought down from the hexacopter to use as a handheld gimbal.
This hexacopter has two main downsides, the range being quite short ( around 1-2 miles) and the battery life lasting somewhere under 20 minutes, which is quite limited compared to nowadays drones. But of course, it comes with motor redundancy and the power of a hexacopter.
If what you’re looking for is just a hexacopter drone to play with around the house, there’s also an option for that too.
The JJRC H20H is a tiny indoor drone mainly with 6 propellers and brushed motors that can do flips, fly for about 7 minutes and is a ton of fun!
It doesn’t really benefit a lot from the advantages of hexacopters, as it doesn’t have motor redundancy, but it certainly does feel a bit different in flight compared to a similarly small quadcopter.
If you’re looking for an agricultural hexacopter, the DJI Agras T16 has perfected this task to the smallest detail.
It can carry up to 16 liters of fluid for crop spraying and is one of the most efficient agricultural drones on the market that can cover up to 10 hectares per hour.
It is water-resistant (IP 67), dust, and corrosion-proof so you know it’s with the investment and it won’t degrade easily in time.
While the battery life might not look impressive, it is quite amazing considering that’s how much it can fly with a full tank.
It also uses an RTK module for extra precision with GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo, which means it is connected to every satellite system possible.
This ag drone is also foldable which means it's easier to carry than it may look and can be folded to 25% of its original structural size.
I wrote an article on the best drones for Gopro cameras but the fact is, there are very few of them, and from all I could find, the only one that’s a GoPro Hexacopter is the Walkera Tali.
It’s not as large as some on this list, but it can certainly easily carry a go pro and it also has a gimbal for it and a remote with an FPV screen.
You can pretty much add any action camera you want on it and it has foldable legs, so they can retract while in the air and they won’t appear in the frame.
You don’t frequently see an FPV drone with 6 motors, but you have to admit they look pretty awesome.
But what’s the point of an FPV drone being a hexacopter?
Well, for one, it can carry more weight compared to the 4 motor equivalent, which means you can even carry a larger gopro with a 4 inch hexacopter like this one.
What’s more, this hexacopter fpv drone has one of the first 6 in 1 esc boards we’ve ever seen in such a small package.
It can handle a 4s battery and is quite small for the power it produces with all 6 motors. While not necessarily made for acrobatics with a large gopro on top, it can certainly do flips and cruising is a breeze with this one.
Let's see a few more details you should know about foldable drones before you head out and buy one.
A hexacopter works by propelling itself with the power of 6 motors (usually brushless) and gaining lift from that force. For a hexacopter to move in any direction, the motors need to spin at different rates, so the drone can tilt in that direction and propel itself.
I’ve written an article on the best octocopters, and to be frank, they are very closely related. Octocopters have 8 motors instead of 6 and that pretty much further improve on the hexacopter benefits while also drawing more of their downsides.
Octocopters are larger, heavier, yet can usually lift more weight. The industry has settled on hexacopters as being the best compromise, because they come with redundancy, good lifting capacity and aren’t as heavy or expensive as the octocopters.
In my opinion, hexacopters are the best balance, and octocopters should be used for extreme cases.
Some of the heavy lifting hexacopters out there can lift up to 16 kg of weight, but if you want to focus on the heaviest lifting drones out there I suggest you check out my article.
Some of the best places to buy hexacopters from are Amazon and Banggood.
I prefer Amazon for most buys, because the shipping is faster, but Bangood is a chinese site from where most people buy their FPV drones, so if you want to build your own with parts, it might be the best choice.
Of course, the DJI official website is probably best for acquiring DJI related products.
Since hexacopters can sometimes simply be an expression of style, not necessarily function, it can be a matter of taste, but overall, if you decide to buy a hexacopter, then the main reason is that it can carry more weight and the motor redundancy.
