Hubsan X4 FPV Brushless review - great until disaster struck!

So I got my Hubsan X4 FPV with a lot of anticipation and expectations of a great bargain quadcopter with a lot of features for the money. At around $250, you can't go wrong, right? I have owned a few drones from Hubsan, namely the smaller H107C mini for around $65. It has stood the test of time, been bashed on numerous occasions, a fun little indoor and porch flyer. I haven't been able to destroy or lose it yet. 

The H501S comes with GPS Hold, Follow Me and Headless Flight features. I really wanted a drone I could put way up there, and have the ability to return it home safely should I lose sight of it. This has happened a few times with some non-fpv,  fly by sight drones of mine, and is getting expensive. The only thing extra that I bought was a 2nd battery. 

What a cool looking quad, an ergonomic design, with no frills, very Hubsan like. 

It measures about 12 inches from prop to prop, quite a bit bigger than baby brother H107C.

Out of the box it was easy to fly, once you get it calibrated by spinning it by hand in a few different directions, it synchs with the controller. I liked the GPS mode right away, it will hold steady when you let off the sticks, which is nice if you are trying to do other things (like watch my dogs) at the same time. It will hover where you leave it, and then you can resume flying when you are ready. The speed and sensitivity are drastically slower when in GPS Mode compared to Manual Mode. After flying a few times in GPS Mode, I was ready to fly manually. I had to keep it within sight, as I struggled occasionally with orientation when flying manually and relying on the smallish fpv screen on the controller. 

With some Fat Shark goggles the FPV flying was really fun. I started in GPS Mode, kind of like learning to fly the drone all over again. The goggles are really the way to go, you are so immersed in the flying. My plan was to stick with the GPS Mode using the goggles, then something strange happened. The quad rocketed away just like that, I became disoriented on where it was, it seemed as if I had lost another drone! My quick thinking friend (who was flying FPV also and had no idea where it went) noticed on the controller the GPS coordinates displayed, so we entered them in his phone.
We started walking towards the google maps marker, and voila, there she was a couple of hundred yards away from us in the weeds. Broke a prop, no big deal. 

The next time flying with the goggles, I had her looping around slowly in GPS Mode again, and the same thing happened. Luckily this time I had a spotter, he pinpointed a tree about a 1/4 mile away.  I went to the owner's house and apologized before explaining I needed to go in his back yard and retrieve my drone. He was very nice about it, even helping me by lending a big ladder, and holding it steady while I tried to poke it out of the tree. It didn't fare so well this time, a couple of motors were fried, the front end bashed in and battery door snapped off.  

I'm guessing the GPS lost signal during both these incidents. Was it really my fault? I will send it back to Hubsan explaining what happened, but I'm not expecting anything from them, they probably get this all the time.

Not the review I had expected, but sometimes the unexpected does happen when flying....would I buy this drone again? Lets see what Hubsan says.....stay tuned.