I provide honest ratings and reviews on tech, toys, and consumer home goods that I've purchased and used. Reviews are based on hands-on testing and personal observations. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Takeaway: Compact/portable, easy gravity controls, stable hovering, but short battery life. You'll receive the drone in a rigid clamshell case. Inside you'll find the drone, a remote controller, a USB charging cable, and two re-chargeable batteries. You'll also receive an instruction manual. The drone is small and lightweight measuring 5.5"L x 2.75"W x 1"H when folded up. The fan blades fold out from the sides and the footprint is 8"W x 7"L. On top is a single power button for turning the drone on and off. On the bottom is the battery bay which simply gets seated in the compartment and slid up until it locks. There's also a 720p camera on the front that is adjustable up to 90 degrees.
The remote control requires 2 AAA batteries which are not included. The controls are interesting because they are gravity sensing and you control the panning of the drone by tilting your hand forward, back, left or right. Starting up the drone was a bit tricky, though once you get the sequence down is quick. Pressing up/down on the joystick will cause the drone to rise/descend and left and right rotates the drone. The bottom button on the remote is the emergency stop which kills the rotors. Be careful when doing this as the drone will drop out of the sky like a stone. The left button toggles on and off the front and back lights. The trigger button in the front changes the speed/power mode level from low to medium to high. The top button enters the drone into headless mode and the remote will beep while the lights on the drone flash to let you know when you're in this mode. Although it took a little getting used to, I actually like it a lot better than the traditional two joystick remote control as it's a bit more intuitive.
The other way you can control the drone is using the GoolRC mobile app. After turning on the drone, go into the phone's WiFi settings and connect to the UAV wireless network. Then launch the app and click connect. The drone's camera feed should show on your phone's screen. The virtual joysticks work just like a regular dual joystick remote. The camera and video buttons in the app activate the camera shutter for taking photos and movies and you can also perform 360 flips in the app, features that are not on the gravity remote. If you want to get all the features out of the drone, you'll have to use the mobile app but even without the camera features and 360 flip, flying with the gravity remote is pretty fun too. I also really like that it folds up compactly, is very stable during flight, and easy to get a hang of.
Takeaway: Smooth/stable video footage, easy auto time-lapse, quick setup, decent app, short BT range/battery life The gimbal comes in a heavy duty, hard plastic briefcase. Inside are the instruction manual, mini-tripod, gimbal, three batteries, screw-on handgrip, battery charger, ball head mount, quick release (QR) plate, lens support cradle and screw, felt drawstring bag with control cables and microUSB cable, horizontal handle bar, and two side handgrips.
The gimbal is pretty easy to set up for both one-handed and dual handle operation. The main gimbal handgrip has a 3/8"-16 mounting hole with pre-installed 1/4"-20 adapter and can be attached to the included mini tripod or any standard photography tripod or mounting system. The double-handle is optional and is not integrated with the gimbal, so it won't have built-in controls like a joystick or mode key. This makes it a bit harder to use the gimbal with the dual handles since you have to switch hands to the main handgrip to access the controls. On the flip side, it's easy to take the dual handlebar off when you want to go to single-handed operation on the fly. You can, however, purchase the wireless thumb control for the gimbal separately to get the best of both.
On the side of the gimbal near the controls is a 1/4"-20 mounting point and when using the dual handles, each handgrip adds 5 more mounting points giving you a lot of options to mount a monitor, lights, mic etc. The build quality of the gimbal is really nice; it's made of a lightweight aluminum alloy that's fairly durable. The gimbal without a camera weighs a little over 2.5 lbs in the single handle setup and just under 4 lbs in the dual-handle setup. All the handles have a soft-touch silicone which provide a nice grip for your hands. The gimbal's max payload is 2.5 kgs or just about 5.5 lbs. For heavier setups I recommend the dual-handle setup to reduce fatigue for long shooting sessions.
On the mounting platform are two tracks. The inner one supports larger cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II while the outside track gives you more leverage when using a smaller mirrorless camera like the Panasonic GH5. The included QR plate can be mounted onto the platform from either track as long as the release lever is hanging off the right side of the platform so it sits flush with the platform. Balancing the gimbal with the tool-less thumbscrews is pretty straight forward if you've ever balanced a gimbal before. For first-timers it usually takes a bit of practice but the instructions outline the process nicely and Gudsen has a tutorial video that is very helpful. Once balanced, make a note of the position markers at each adjustment point and use those to guide you and speed up balancing in the future. All 3 motors have 360 degrees of freedom and can rotate fully infinitely in either direction along its axis (provided your camera setup is small enough to clear the arms).
The gimbal comes with 3 control cables for Sony, Canon, and Panasonic so if you use a compatible camera with the gimbal, plug the cable into the miniUSB port on the underside of the roll motor and into your camera's control port. This allows you to trigger the shutter and video recording from the gimbal handle by short pressing the power button. I was a little disappointed that the Sony camera doesn't charge via the control cable port, since it's able to do this on other gimbals, but given that the battery life of the Air is only 6-8 hours, it's probably better to reserve the battery life for its operation. This gimbal is pretty quiet when operating, but not completely silent. However, even though I noticed the motor faintly whirring, the on-board camera mic on my a6300 didn't seem to pick it up. If you're in a very quiet setting or using a sensitive external mic, it may be more noticeable.
The balancing performance on the Air is very good, comparable tot he Zhiyun Crane (v1 and v2). It's smooth and fluid, but I did feel the out-of-the-box follow speed and especially joystick control speed was too fast. You can change the speed settings with the wireless thumb remote or use the MOZA mobile app which connects to the gimbal via Bluetooth. Most of the settings have to do with min/max angles and motor power while the speed settings are simply high, medium, or low and don't get more precise. The app also has a joystick mode for wireless control of the gimbal and there is a custom path mode which lets you setup a multi-point path for the gimbal to follow automatically so you can automate a pan and creating moving time lapses. The only thing I didn't like was that the Bluetooth range of the gimbal seems to be really short. It looses connection if you get more than 4-5 feet away and the Bluetooth signal strength indicator in the app never gets very high on the status bar.
Overall, the gimbal performed well for stabilizing my footage, whether running with a subject or operating in inverted mode. It does take practice walking and moving fluidly to ensure super smooth footage as bouncing the gimbal, up-down and side-to-side movements create visible shakes, bobbing, and jitters in the footage. Also, if you're using a light camera, I recommend reducing the motor power if you're experiencing motor vibrations. Occasionally, if you're combining a lot of movements or tax the motors too much the gyro will start to drift, for me, usually along the roll or tilt axis, but resetting the gimbal corrects it. While this gimbal's features aren't as customizable through the app as on other gimbals, it still performs nicely.
Takeaway: Fast, fun, easy to learn to drive, pairing remote was tricky at first. You'll receive the boat, remote control, three-piece stand, battery wall charger, spare propeller, two bow guards, and instruction manual. The RC boat is made of a thin lightweight plastic. It measures 19" from bow to end of the propeller, 6" wide and 4" tall. The stand is easily assembled by inserting the two side pieces into the base bar. The battery can be found inside the boat and charges in 3-4 hours. The boat can run for about 15 minutes on a full charge depending on throttle speed.
The remote requires 6 AA batteries which are not included. At first I was having trouble pairing the boat to the remote control. I was setting the boat in water to turn it on and you can hear the rudder self-calibrate as soon as you put it in water. Then I would flip the switch on the remote and wait for the light to turn green but I wasn't able to control the boat. I found that the time window for pairing is very very short. You basically have to place the boat in water and immediately turn on the remote, while the rudder is calibrating, to get it to pair. Under the plastic door on top of the controller, there is a dial for throttle trimming. The dial below that controls the sensitivity of the rudder for a tighter running radius.
The controls are pretty easy to learn and this boat is a lot of fun. It can go really fast at full throttle (which also drains the battery faster), so I recommend starting out slow to get a feel for the controls and handling of the boat and to extend use time, if not racing. If the boat capsizes, you can flip it over using the remote control and keep going. The turn radius is super tight at the fastest speed, about 2 ft. The boat is also pretty durable despite being made of plastic and the bow guard helps protect it from damage from bumps and crashes. Due to its size and speed, it's not suited well for the pool but works great on lakes, bays, and slow moving streams/rivers. Overall it's a well-made toy that's fast enough for racing and a lot of fun to drive around an large body of water..
Takeaway: Simple setup, easy to control w/app or Alexa, outdoor weather water-resistant, works great. The outlet main body measures about 5"L x 2.5"W x 1.5"H. It has a 7" three-prong grounded plug and a 3-prong receptacle on the bottom. This device only has one button on the front for on and off (manual control). This outlet is rated to handle up to 2000W and output 16Amps. It is IP44 water-resistance rated, so it should be able to handle wet outdoor conditions, though cannot be submerged obviously.
To use the WiFi remote control feature, you'll need to connect the device to your home WiFi network. Just plug the device in and a blue LED light in the power button should start flashing quickly. The manual recommends the Oittm app as the controller, but since I'm already using Tuya Smart for most of my IoT devices, I added it there instead and the functionality is identical. To control the device via Alexa voice commands, make sure you have the associated app Skill enabled in Alexa. Whatever you name the outlet will be your "call out" name for triggering commands. In the app you can turn the outlet on and off or set timers/schedules for it and even check the device's current and historical electrical usage. I like this feature a lot because I can monitor and manage my electrical usage for whatever is plugged into the outlet, like an A/C unit. The Alexa voice commands let you turn on and off the power to the outlet, but I didn't find a way to add timers or scheduling for the unit, so I think you have to do that fro the app. It's pretty straightforward though and you can set daily/weekly repeat schedules, quickly toggle individual triggers on or off or a countdown timer in the app. Because the unit can be used outdoors, it's also a good device for controlling outdoor lighting installations like holiday or landscape lights.
Overall, the outlet works exactly as I expected it to and is pretty convenient to control remotely. Even if you don't use Alexa, you can control the outlet from anywhere there's an internet connection with the smartphone app.
Takeaway: Fun and easy to fly, great balance, durable, RC car option. The drone comes with 4 replacement rotor blades, a remote control, 2 batteries, USB charing cable, a power adapter, mini screwdriver and instruction manual. The drone is made of a lightweight plastic and weighs only 4 oz with the battery installed. The rotors do not have blade guards on this unit. There are 4 foam wheels which makes the landings on this quadcopter pretty soft and it can also be driven like a car. There are two models of this drone: one with a 2.0 MP camera and one without. The camera is mounted in front and angled slightly downward and can take still photos and video. The version with a camera comes pre-installed with a 4GB microSD card. Be sure to charge the batteries before first use, which takes 20-30 minutes. Each battery will last 6-8 minutes of flight time. While the battery is charging, there will be no indicator light on the USB charger, but when the battery is full, a red LED light will illuminate.
The remote control requires 4 AA Batteries which are not included. Use the included screwdriver to access the battery bay on both the remote and the drone. When the drone is grounded, the left joystick (rudder) will act as the control for the car. The other buttons on the controller can adjust trim, take photo/video, change the acceleration speed (short press left-shoulder), turn on/off the LEDs (long press left-shoulder), and activate 3D flip mode (right shoulder button).
To bind the drone to the remote, turn the drone on and set it on a flat level surface. Make sure the throttle is all the way down, then switch on the remote. You'll here the remote beep and the light on the remote will be flashing. Calibrate the remote by pressing the throttle all the way forward and then bringing it all the way back. Then it's all ready to go. While on the ground, you can drive around using the rudder. I found that the foam wheels don't grip rough terrains well, and it seems kind of sluggish on asphalt and pavement. On smooth hardwood floors, however, it moved much faster.
Lift off and hovering with this drone is smooth and easy to control. I was actually impressed with how stable this drone is compared with others that I've used in its class. The drone's flight and balance were quite good and this drone would make for a great starter drone for folks new to drone flying. The camera quality is as expected for only being 2.0 MP. It's a bit grainy and at times choppy with the occasional refresh rate blur, but it's still fun to watch the videos after your flight. The only thing to note here is that the video can only be activated when the drone is in flight. You can't start a video when the drone is grounded. A 3 minute video takes up about 500 MB. The unit does record audio, but mostly you get the sound of the rotors. Keep in mind that you don't get a card reader with this unit, so you'll need to supply your own way of getting the images and video off the card. Overall, this drone is fun and easy to fly. It's well-balanced and it seems to take hard landings pretty well.
