Hubsan Zino Drone Review - cheap 4k, 3 axis drone
Battery Life
Range
Camera
Motors
I got the Hubsan Zino drone to review in 2019 and I was pleasantly surprised by all the features such a cheap drone had.
I still own it to this day and plan to compare it with the Xiaomi FIMI A3 soon so make sure you bookmark this site.
The drone itself comes with a pretty good 4k camera attached to an outstanding 3 axis gimbal that stabilizes it perfectly.
There are no fancy obstacle avoidance sensors like the ones found on DJI drones, but there’s still the barometer that holds it’s altitude constant and the GPS that keeps it in place.
This is one of those drones that comes back home if the signal is lost or it has low battery. The range of 1km isn’t amazing but it’s usually enough for anyone to not see the drone anymore.
Drone stability
Drone stability is important for precise flight and footage stability. It’s usually achieved with either GPS, optical positioning and barometer for height.
Hubsan Zino : GPS + barometer
Battery life
Battery life for camera drones should be at least 15 minutes per flight.
Take in account spare batteries!
Hubsan Zino : 23 min to 0% in perfect conditions and 18 min in real life
Range
Flight range can really change what sorts of images you can capture.
Hubsan Zino : 1000m and even more
Camera
Camera resolution isn’t everything. Colors, sharpness and bitrate are very important for the overall image.
Hubsan Zino : 4k, video sample bellow
Image Stabilization
If I had to pinpoint the most important factor in a camera drone, it would be Image Stabilization. A 4k unstable camera has worse results than a gimbal stabilized 720p one.
Hubsan Zino : 3 axis gimbal (super stable)
The Hubsan Zino is a drone that made so much fuss in the market mainly thanks to its unseen before features compared to its price point.
The main competitors for it are the DJI Spark and more recently the Xiaomi FIMI X8, which even though a bit more expensive has very similar features.
The build quality for the drone is quite good, but excellent. I could notice at least when it comes to the transmitter that it felt like a cheaper plastic than DJI drones for example and even Xiaomi.
Here’s what you’re getting in the package:
- aircraft
- intelligent flight battery
- remote controller
- spare props
- charger
- 3 types of phone cables
- manual
Here’s a daily price history, so you know if now is the right time to buy it.
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Hubsan Zino vs DJI Spark
This is a video I made comparing the Hubsan Zino with the DJI spark. If you’re interested in seeing my entire video review of the Zino check out this video.
These photos were taken in 4k, click on them to see the full resolution image in a light box.
The photos are mainly exactly what you’ll get from the video image as well. And that’s because the photos are nothing else than basically still shots taken from video.
I am pretty happy with the quality, I must admit. There is some blurriness on the edges, but otherwise it’s top notch from what I can tell.
The dynamic range is allright, but as you can see, in the brighter part of the image above, the snow has lost almost all it’s details.
The gimbal itself is stabilized in 3 axis and I simply don’t have any complaints for it, it works as it should and is one of the most stable gimbals I have seen in a while.
Hubsan zino
The transmitter feels a little bit cheaper than higher end drones, the sticks felt a bit like cheaper toy drones from china, but overall the controller does its job well.
Usually transmitter quality is an area where I can compromise in, if all the functions are properly working.
The drone can be set up to fly in standard or sport mode, which will make it considerably faster, but won’t allow for smoother cinematic movements.
There’s a wheel to controll the camera gimbal up and down and a few useful buttons like aut launch and return to home.
The transmitter has one drawback
Speaking about return to home. It can be triggered by itself if the drone has low battery or if it loses signal.
I did have one big downside on this transmitter, and that is the fact that it won’t let you know when it ran out of battery.
I’m used to the transmitter beeping when it’s low battery, but this one didn’t make a sound.
So I found myself with the drone in the air while the controller ran out of battery and I couldn’t controll it anymore.
Fortunately the Zino returned back to the starting point by itself, and thanks to it’s quite long battery life, I managed to charge the transmitter in the meantime.
Zino Flight modes
The hubsan zino has a bunch of flight modes, some of which are actually very useful for professional shots even, not just playing around.
Waypoint mode
A standard waypoint mode, but you can actually change the direction of the drone and camera angle while flying, which is nice.
Orbit Mode
A standard flight mode, no issues here, it simply does what it says. It can get clumsy sometimes in stronger winds.
Following Mode
In following mode you can either follow the GPS signal of your phone, or you can follow the subject on the screen. This mode works very well, and manages to track subjects even if you run under the drone.
Line Fly mode
This is my favorite, as you can setup a certain trajectory for the drone to fly at and then play with it, to get a more complex sideways shot for example.
Bellow you can check my top drones in the same price category.
Please use the “Add to compare” button and then press on the icon on the right to compare them.
Glad you liked it!
Wow! You just made me decide to buy hubsan zino