Review Hubsan Zino

Welcome to our Hubsan Zino H117S review.

Hubsan are known for their budget friendly drones, they come with good features and are easy to fly. However, with the Hubsan Zino, they have now entered the higher end of the drone market and will be competing against the likes of DJI Mavic, Parrot Anafi and Autel Evo but without the price tag these drones come with.

I love drones and one of my favourite things about modern consumer drones is that nearly all of them come with cameras. Most of them are good but if you want a camera drone that is capable of taking professional high-quality aerial images and video footage, you would have to shell out a large sum of money.

The Hubsan Zino changes all that, it comes with a professional camera and some amazing features all for under $500. This is still a little expensive but when compared against its competitors, its much cheaper and comes with more or less the same features. It’s a drone that is suitable for everyone, from beginners, to more experienced pilots and especially those who are looking for an affordable 4k camera drone.

Hubsan Zino Review

Th first thing you will notice is that the drone follows in the footsteps of the Mavic Pro in its design features. The Hubsan Zino is a foldable drone which makes it compact and easy to carry around, it weighs just over 700g. If you travel a lot and looking for a good high-quality camera drone, the Hubsan Zino is perfect.

The drone is made out of high quality polycarbonate that is durable and will not damage easily, this is great for new flyers who will most definitely crash the drone a few times before they get the hang of it.

I like its black and white colour scheme and the LED lights underneath each rotor makes it look cool and suitable for nigh time flying.

The Hubsan Zino controller looks similar to that of the Mavic Pro, it feels comfortable in your hands and the controls are easy to reach. There is a smartphone attachment on the bottom but no attachment for something larger like a tablet.

You can control the drone with the RC or your smartphone. To use your smartphone as a controller, you will need to download the X-Hubsan app, which is available on both Google Play and the App Store. Th app provides you with even more features like limiting the distance your drone can fly, FPV, intelligent flight modes and map navigation.

The app is intuitive and easy to use, however, there are issues like connectivity and many people complain that the app uses too much power and drains the phone battery fast. However, they do release regular updates, so some of these issues will hopefully be resolved.

Hubsan Zino Review Camera

The main feature of the Hubsan Zino, in my opinion, is the 4K camera, with it, you can take professional level aerial photography without having to splash out a huge sum of money.

This beauty can shoot videos in FHD at 30FPS, the quality of the video footage is something to behold as can be seen from the video bewlo. You can also take crystal clear pictures with its state of the art Ambarella image processor and the advanced 3 axis gimbal will make sure that your video and images are distortion free.

The Hubsan Zino also comes with FPV capability, this will allow you to stream live video footage straight your mobile phone and with its 5G technology, the streaming quality is very good.

Hubsan have really gone all out with this camera and it looks like they have done a good job.

Intelligent Flight Modes

Like all smart drones, the Hubsan Zino coms with several intelligent flight modes that will allow anyone to fly this machine.

All these flight modes are easily accessible from the within the X-Hubsan app;

Panorama – With the press of a button, the drone will rotate a full 360° and record at the same time.

Waypoint – Draw a flight path of the app and the drone will follow that route on autopilot.

Tracking – This is a cool flight mode, you can lock the drone on a target and it will follow the target automatically.

Line Fly Mode – This is similar to Waypoint but in this mode you can only draw a straight line path on the app.

With each intelligent flight mode, you will have access to the camera so you can still record videos, stream them to your smartphone and take images.

Other Features

Intelligent Battery – This is a new generation Lithium ion battery, providing a longer flight time than most other drones in its price range. When the battery reaches a low charge, the automatic return home function will be activated and the drone will return to where you are. It has a charge of 3000 mAh and this provides a flight time of around 20-23 minutes.

Although 20 minutes is on the longer side of drone flight times, its still not enough to fully enjoy your drone. This why its best to purchase a couple of extra batteries and have them all charged up before you go out to fly.

Headless Mode – This mode is for beginners, it allows you to fly the Zino without needing to know the orientation of where the drone head and tail is. When you become a more experienced pilot, you can turn this feature off but at the beginning its best to fly with the aid of the headless mode.

GPS – Provides you with accurate tracking information about your drone and also makes it more stable during flight.

Its stated transmission rage is 1KM but it is usually less than that and video transmission isn’t very good quality from that far away. Also, please be aware of any drone regulations that may be in effect where you live. In some countries you may have to register your drone before you can fly it and you may also be limited in the areas you can fly around.

Final Thoughts

The Hubsan Zino is a fantastic little drone that comes with some powerful features and a very impressive 4K camera. It’s a drone that is suitable for everyone, from beginners to aerial photographers and its size and weight makes it a great drone to travel with.H