I know how advertising works, but when you splash some seemingly impossible specs in people's faces, things gets weird. I came across this thing, which basically is a slightly better Mavic Air 2 (not the "S") in under 250gr category.

https://www.hubsanus.com/zino-mini-pro.html

Here is the teaser for it:



As usual no affiliation.

It simply does not compute, yet this is not a new kick-starter/scammer company, why would they lie about it? What do you guys think?

Unless you tie it to a balloon... It wont fly more than 10 minutes.

They didn't invest in I+D for the case, doubt they came up with a new kind of battery that can make a 250g drone full of sensors fly for 40 minutes.

Just another uninspired chinese copy and a video full of lies...

I would't expect any quality at all from a random super small quadbayer sensor. Diffraction will just destroy the image quality even in daylight conditions.

PS: In fact if you see the specs is a 17.28Wh LiPo  (same as the Mini 1) while the Mini 2 uses a 17.325Wh one and the average flight time for both of those is about 16 minutes or so, landing at 20-30% and about 22 minutes when flying at low speed. No way a drone with increased CPU consumption can fly longer.

Huginn Kenningar Posted at 5-1 17:20
Unless you tie it to a balloon... It wont fly more than 10 minutes.

They didn't invest in I+D for the case, doubt they came up with a new kind of battery that can make a 250g drone full of sensors fly for 40 minutes.

Did not make much sense to me either...

Sounds to good to be true to me.

On the other hand, why should all of this be a lie, it doesn't make any sense. In contrast to variable values, such as battery runtime (as with all drones), which is certainly less than 40 minutes, other information can still be verified 100%. If e.g. OA sensors are advertised and the drone doesn't have them, that would be nonsense.

jonny007 Posted at 5-2 01:16
On the other hand, why should all of this be a lie, it doesn't make any sense. In contrast to variable values, such as battery runtime (as with all drones), which is certainly less than 40 minutes, other information can still be verified 100%. If e.g. OA sensors are advertised and the drone doesn't have them, that would be nonsense.

There's plenty of drone manufacturers that just lie about the specs (DJI also lies about flightime and range) and are just cheap copy&paste from what DJI sells. With no R&D at all and with less quality components in general, poorly assembled and poorly designed.

You can see a Mini 2 opened and you can see is top notch electronic and component design. Wonder how this "Mini 2 killer" will look once you take the case apart.

If DJI drones have sometimes problems, like app crashing, IMUs malfunctioning, flyaways... I prefer to keep that chance as low as possible by not buying poorly design copies.

For example, I have a "cheap" 3D printer, but my 3D printer won't fall from the sky over other peoples head/property and put me into problems.

There are a lot of DJI drones falling suddenly from the sky ,,, trust it ,, just look around the forum posts

Huginn Kenningar Posted at 5-2 04:03
There's plenty of drone manufacturers that just lie about the specs (DJI also lies about flightime and range) and are just cheap copy&paste from what DJI sells. With no R&D at all and with less quality components in general, poorly assembled and poorly designed.

You can see a Mini 2 opened and you can see is top notch electronic and component design. Wonder how this "Mini 2 killer" will look once you take the case apart.

There's plenty of drone manufacturers that just lie about the specs (DJI also lies about flightime and range)

That's what I said and that's the rule, but only for the specs that are "variable", NOT for the functions. If tracking or OA sensors or 6x zoom are advertised, what would that make sense if the drone releases and doesn't have that? There will be tests on Youtube right after the release and if it is found there that the drone weighs 280 grams, has 2x zoom, 2 axis gimbal and 300 meter range and the battery life is 10 minutes, nobody will buy it anyway . So why wrong information before ?

DJI did advertise hyperlapse for the mini 2 but later retracted it as a "typing" mistake.....
As with many Chinese companies you must take with a pinch of salt what they advertise. In the end of the day, the consumers will decide if the amount of truth bending of each company makes their product still worthwhile or not.

If half of what Hubsan advertises is true, DJI will still have a competitor in a game they play alone at the moment.

jonny007 Posted at 5-2 01:16
On the other hand, why should all of this be a lie, it doesn't make any sense. In contrast to variable values, such as battery runtime (as with all drones), which is certainly less than 40 minutes, other information can still be verified 100%. If e.g. OA sensors are advertised and the drone doesn't have them, that would be nonsense.

That is what baffles me. Certain statements like "flight time" already carry disclaimers (like "measured under lab conditions" etc.) so they can stretch them a bit. But obstacle avoidance sensors are either there or not as you said,  you cannot lie about them. You cannot lie about a camera sensor this big either (it is 0.76", which is %50 bigger than Mavic Air 2's). And this is not "hit and run" new company, they have been around  for over a decade. It would be a suicide to lie about such things...

Well we will have to wait and see. The other rival seem to have kept their promises (Fimi X8 mini) but again they were not promising much...

CemAygun Posted at 5-2 13:25
That is what baffles me. Certain statements like "flight time" are already carry disclaimers (like "measured under lab conditions" etc.) so they can stretch them a bit. But obstacle avoidance sensors are either there or not as you said,  you cannot lie about them. You cannot lie about a camera sensor this big either (it is 0.76", which is %50 bigger than Mavic Air 2's). And this is not "hit and run" new company, they have been around  for over a decade. It would be a suicide to lie about such things...

Well we will have to wait and see. The other rival seem to have kept their promises (Fimi X8 mini) but again they were not promising much...

Ok, there is one another thing ... the specs better said the functions will come out as advertised, but in practice they will not work properly. See an article on this:  https://dronedj.com/2021/04/26/hubsan-zino-mini-pro-teaser/

A quoted part: "... we still don’t know how their mini bird will perform in the real world. Hubsan’s other popular drones, the Zino 2+ and Zino Pro Plus, for example, have received mixed reviews from users, mainly because of software bugs and issues with the drone app."

Yes, let's wait and see.

Looks interesting for sure.

Huginn Kenningar Posted at 5-1 17:20
Unless you tie it to a balloon... It wont fly more than 10 minutes.

They didn't invest in I+D for the case, doubt they came up with a new kind of battery that can make a 250g drone full of sensors fly for 40 minutes.

I'm not too sure I have enough time to answer all that is wrong with what you claim.  I don't know if all they claim will come true heck all that dpi claims never comes through 100% so we shall see.  you are already wrong since the battery will last 40 plus minutes hovering as far as the camera and video quality that remains to be seen but you are wrong about your implications on the diffraction I guess you think you can use big words and we will bow to them lol so wrong about the batteries and that is proven already and wrong about camera which is proven also  like the balloon comparison but definitely wrong about the 10 minutes since they have already had it hoover at 40 plus minutes before stalling lol we shall see but you must be a diehard dji fan or you get paid but them to throw so many wrongs in just a few sentences

djiuser_0nmvPy3vUmjh Posted at 6-18 15:12
I'm not too sure I have enough time to answer all that is wrong with what you claim.  I don't know if all they claim will come true heck all that dpi claims never comes through 100% so we shall see.  you are already wrong since the battery will last 40 plus minutes hovering as far as the camera and video quality that remains to be seen but you are wrong about your implications on the diffraction I guess you think you can use big words and we will bow to them lol so wrong about the batteries and that is proven already and wrong about camera which is proven also  like the balloon comparison but definitely wrong about the 10 minutes since they have already had it hoover at 40 plus minutes before stalling lol we shall see but you must be a diehard dji fan or you get paid but them to throw so many wrongs in just a few sentences

The batts on that drone have the same 17Wh that the Mini 2, it has more cameras/sensors, so more consumption, more weight and ofc less flightime.

For it to fly 40 minutes you'd need at least a 40Wh battery like the ones in the Air2.

You'll never see a 40 minute flight on a sub 250g drone with todays LiPo batts and engine efficiency... unless it's a sub 250g VTOL.

But you are free to believe in magic if you want.

Huginn Kenningar Posted at 6-18 15:58
The batts on that drone have the same 17Wh that the Mini 2, it has more cameras/sensors, so more consumption, more weight and ofc less flightime.

For it to fly 40 minutes you'd need at least a 40Wh battery like the ones in the Air2.

believe what I want lol did you not watch the video when it went into the curtain it had already been up hovering over 40 minutes I saw it and so did a lot of others and the video is still up to see it hoovers over 40 minutes period that is fact but you refuse to believe lol

djiuser_0nmvPy3vUmjh Posted at 6-19 09:28
believe what I want lol did you not watch the video when it went into the curtain it had already been up hovering over 40 minutes I saw it and so did a lot of others and the video is still up to see it hoovers over 40 minutes period that is fact but you refuse to believe lol

You can turn off everything off except for the flight controller unit and put 4 low power engines, and it will hover forever... and that's probably why it crasshed, because it was manually hovering all the time, just like any homebuilt fpv.

You can also fake the balance measurment shown in the video and remove 100g and it will also hover forever... but anyways, every Youtuber out there will test this drone day one, and you'll see that I'm right.

I'm an old dog, been on the internet since the begining... so nothing new here. A company that don't invest in R&D can't make a better drone than DJI, plain and simple. Autel, Skydio and Parrot have their own unique designs wich can compete with DJI in their own way, but Hubsan, Fimi and other simmilar manufactureres just copy and paste low quality products.

Well I guess the only way to verify their ad and the drone is order one and test it instead of all the hoopla and speculations. I sold my Mini2 and have ordered the Hubsan Mini to test it. I guess the best would be not having to call DJI everytime I wanted to fly to get their permission on a lock out! Will report back when I get the Hubsan and let all know what it will do.

Last week I received the Zino Mini Pro with two batteries. Previously I used Phantom 3, Mavic Mini, Mavic Air 2 and FIMI MINI. On paper the ZMP has lots of features but for this time not all working. The obstacle avoidance system is not as on the Air 2. It needs to be calibrated on a windows computer before usage. Setting up the Zino MINI is not streamline as any of my DJI drone... My biggest concern regarding this drone is the random USB disconnection message midflight. More impressions in my Zino Mini Pro review.

bottom sensors

front sensor

battery

FirstQuadcopter Posted at 9-14 23:39
Last week I received the Zino Mini Pro with two batteries. Previously I used Phantom 3, Mavic Mini, Mavic Air 2 and FIMI MINI. On paper the ZMP has lots of features but for this time not all working. The obstacle avoidance system is not as on the Air 2. It needs to be calibrated on a windows computer before usage. Setting up the Zino MINI is not streamline as any of my DJI drone... My biggest concern regarding this drone is the random USB disconnection message midflight. More impressions in my Zino Mini Pro review.
[view_image]
[view_image]

I have been following Zino Mini pro since day 1. The USB disconnections seem to be because of the supplied cable quality. I believe a proper aftermarket cable fixes that. There seem to be some design problems as well; like a tape inside affecting GPS reception or the gimbal cable easily coming loose. I guess quite a few things will have to be addressed in the next batch of production.

In the end It was an overzealous attempt by an unexpected company, which produced something beyond many peoples expectations. They punched way above their weight, and landed quite a few of those punches, if not all.

For me the deal breaker is the high frequency vibration in almost every video sample I have seen on youtube. I don't think it is a software issue (like a bug in gimbal control) which can be fixed by a firmware update. I think it is prop vibration not being dampened. Hopefully I am wrong; but if not, I personally find the videos unusable. Maybe it can be fixed by changing the gimbal mounts or something but until then I am not sold on Zino Mini pro.

Anyways, thanks for the info; it really is hard to find any good information between "paid under the table" reviews and fanatic  DJI fanboys. I don't think it ever got this dirty...

Huginn Kenningar Posted at 5-1 17:20
Unless you tie it to a balloon... It wont fly more than 10 minutes.

They didn't invest in I+D for the case, doubt they came up with a new kind of battery that can make a 250g drone full of sensors fly for 40 minutes.

Hi,
I came here from searching and researching the drone.
This review says it comes close to 40 minutes with obstacle avoidance turned off, also it has great video quality and uses a sony sensor. His words "2 batteries lasted him longer then his fully charged Gopro".
Everything advertised works and they fix bugs with firmware updates
This is big RC YT channel so im sure this guy is trustworthy

https://youtu.be/D4MPQNIN2gs?t=1564

CemAygun Posted at 9-15 03:04
I have been following Zino Mini pro since day 1. The USB disconnections seem to be because of the supplied cable quality. I believe a proper aftermarket cable fixes that. There seem to be some design problems as well; like a tape inside affecting GPS reception or the gimbal cable easily coming loose. I guess quite a few things will have to be addressed in the next batch of production.

In the end It was an overzealous attempt by an unexpected company, which produced something beyond many peoples expectations. They punched way above their weight, and landed quite a few of those punches, if not all.

I've seen a few without the shake but it seems to plague 90% of them, Ohio quad on YT said hubsan wants the drone sent back as his gimbal is malfunctioning. If that's true then as I said above it's quite a few of them need to be fixed, hoping the few that have made it into the wild will only increase with the later revisions sent out...

Personally the Zino got bumped the second the Autel Nano was leaked, in 2 day's we get to see what's all included and hopefully some actual footage. Autel seems to be what I thought I was buying when I bought DJI, a drone maker and not a consumer electronics brand who happens to make drones.

I'm excited to see what the future brings.

ABeardedItalian Posted at 9-26 17:22
I've seen a few without the shake but it seems to plague 90% of them, Ohio quad on YT said hubsan wants the drone sent back as his gimbal is malfunctioning. If that's true then as I said above it's quite a few of them need to be fixed, hoping the few that have made it into the wild will only increase with the later revisions sent out...

Personally the Zino got bumped the second the Autel Nano was leaked, in 2 day's we get to see what's all included and hopefully some actual footage. Autel seems to be what I thought I was buying when I bought DJI, a drone maker and not a consumer electronics brand who happens to make drones.

It will be nice of Hubsan to fix the jello issue of the earlier batches under warranty, but that is still going to be a lot of hassle for many people who live in places without an official Hubsan branch and had ordered the drone from abroad.

I am personally 50/50 on Autel Nano(s). I think they will be the best sub 250gr drones out there, but they would also probably be the most expensive I would love to be proven wrong with the latter of course...

We will know for sure in a few days, won't we

Hexenhammer Posted at 9-26 16:40
Hi,
I came here from searching and researching the drone.
This review says it comes close to 40 minutes with obstacle avoidance turned off, also it has great video quality and uses a sony sensor. His words "2 batteries lasted him longer then his fully charged Gopro".

I read that the video quality was sub par to DJI and that the "sub 250g" isn't actually sub 250g when weighed

Well.... that is a surprise indeed!
Nice review!

I must say that obstacle avoidance is a tempting feature, but not entirely user frindly to setup as I understand.
Apart from that, if the expected price is what is stated in the review (and so close to a mini 2), the video quality must be improved. That is one of the prime features for bying a serious drone isn't it?
Unless of course someoe just likes the fun of flying on it's own....

CemAygun Posted at 9-26 18:16
It will be nice of Hubsan to fix the jello issue of the earlier batches under warranty, but that is still going to be a lot of hassle for many people who live in places without an official Hubsan branch and had ordered the drone from abroad.

I am personally 50/50 on Autel Nano(s). I think they will be the best sub 250gr drones out there, but they would also probably be the most expensive  I would love to be proven wrong with the latter of course...

A lot of people might not like hearing it but I'd pay up to $700 for a full featured mini with no compromise, if it can do everything functionally a full size evo could but in a tiny package it'll be a little flying tank imo.

While DJI, Autel, Fimi, Hubsan might be the big dogs in the scene, the Toy makers have caught up and some have a really good camera on a toy drone, the market is adapting and soon you will have a sub 250 from under a $100 to the sky's the limit $$$$.

Everything is subjective but here are a few Toy maker brand drones who aren't sub250, but the camera's are Real HD and not the fake 4k crap we've seen all last year.
@16:15


@11:20


@13:20


@13:10



These can all be had for around $400 and aren't sub250, but for a no name drone maker they offer suprising video quality and some of them offer DJI like fearture set with active track and so on. If I was a kid who just got one of these for christmas, I'd be super happy with the video on any of these.
Here's an example of that "Fake" 4k I was talking about before.
@9:50



This is what the all but the hobby looked like untill the Mavic Mini released showing the world a better HD camera and on a sub250 to boot.


The Mini 1 is coming up on it's 2 year aniverisery and only now do 3 competitor sub250's exsist, Let's see what happens in another 2 years.

Bashy Posted at 9-26 18:32
I read that the video quality was sub par to DJI and that the "sub 250g" isn't actually sub 250g when weighed

It is below 250gr, but they also provide an optional heat sink guard (its heatsink is fully exposed under the drone) which puts it above 250gr when attached.

Image quality aspect is a bit complicated. Almost all the samples I have seen have high frequency vibration artefacts which renders the videos unusable. Other than that they seem to have incredible dynamic range.

If they ever fix the problems Zino Mini pro might become a very viable option...

ABeardedItalian Posted at 9-27 06:27
A lot of people might not like hearing it but I'd pay up to $700 for a full featured mini with no compromise, if it can do everything functionally a full size evo could but in a tiny package it'll be a little flying tank imo.

While DJI, Autel, Fimi, Hubsan might be the big dogs in the scene, the Toy makers have caught up and some have a really good camera on a toy drone, the market is adapting and soon you will have a sub 250 from under a $100 to the sky's the limit $$$$.

I guess your wish is granted Evo nano is $650 with 1/2" sensor. They also have a Nano+ at $799 which has a Zino Mini Pro sized sensor (1/1.28" - 0.8").

Funny enough they mention PDAF+CDAF on the plus, which are focusing techniques. So I recon this means Nano+ has a variable focus lens...

If anyone wants to see a review on the Zino Mini Pro

Bashy Posted at 9-26 18:32
I read that the video quality was sub par to DJI and that the "sub 250g" isn't actually sub 250g when weighed

Its 250 if you remove the free protector from the bottom side, its removable and you dont have to use it

A new video

Lol when the SE outperforms the PRO, what a great upgrade from the original mini 1.



Gimbal shake that's plagued the pro? I can't see it.
Requries SD card? Yes.
Has Active Track? Yes.

after the mess that the pro has been this looks like a gem lol.

...well the Zino Mini l SE model most certainly meets and exceeds all expectations...range and flight time...over 30 minutes with 20% and more battery left...solid competition so far...not in all areas but no sub 250g drone can claim and prove 30+ minutes flight time. The ZMSE can...
Hovering  38 minutes.
Documented 3+ mile flight out and back without fpv connection loss...landing with 39%.

I'm still open to mini drones. I've seen a lot of good consumer drones with great battery life and high-definition 4k cameras. I would recommend Autel EVO Nano+ and DJI Mini3 pro.

I'm still open to mini drones. I've seen a lot of good consumer drones with great battery life and high-definition 4k cameras. I would recommend Autel EVO Nano+ and DJI Mini3 pro.

https://www.autelpilot.com/collections/evo-nano-plus-drones

Hardware - camera sensors specifically - are only as good as the software that runs them...  There are millions of cheap cameras with sensors larger than what is used in mobile phones, and yet the tiny phone cameras from major manufacturers are now capable of images superior than DSLR's from just a few years ago.  Just because a camera sensor is larger means very little - the proof is in the image.

Likewise, "obstacle avoidance sensors"  are basically cameras - so again, it's how the control system works that is meaningful.  Avoidance sensors mean very little if they don't work well.

I do chuckle when Chinese products get ripped off by "competing" Chinese companies...  It's not like China puts great value on Intellectual Property.  Plus, China operates more like a cabal, with manufacturers sharing trade secrets and producing varying versions of the same product at different price points.  So, it's entirely possible that other companies will benefit from DJI's R&D and profit from clones based on their technology.

If you see a Hubsan firmware update that says "Optimized flight quality", you'll know where it came from lol.