Zoopa Phoenix HD Drone

I’ve not had a ton of experience using drones in my lifetime, but when given the opportunity to take Zoopa’s latest for a spin, I couldn’t resist. With a large open park next to my home, flying the drone around while my kids played was an excellent excuse to do this review! From putting the device together, to flying it, it was way less difficult than I ever imagined. Although everything about this drone is not perfect, it’s still a great product for under 200$ USD!

Although I’ve had the drone for a few months now, I’ve not been able to publish a review for one, fairly significant reason: in the cold, I cannot get this thing to stay off the ground. In Southwestern Ontario, we’ve been having colder than normal temperatures throughout December and most of January. In -15 weather – with wind chills pushing that to -25 to -30 – you legitametly cannot fly this drone. I was able to get it to hover in my living room, and even managed to fly it from room-to-room, but couldn’t get the full affect for a good review!

Design and Aesthetics

While many drones look unassuming and rather boring, the Zoopa Phoenix HD is actually a really attractive drone. The orange and black colours really play of each other well, and when in flight, the entire drone will light up, so even at night, you won’t lose your precious device.

Putting it together was cinch as well, although the instructions could have been a bit clearer for younger users. Still, within 15 minutes I had the entire thing assembled and the battery on the charger, ready for my first flight. Charging the battery took a lot longer than expected, quite a few hours in fact, which didn’t seem normal based on the information provided to me. Others who are also reviewing the drone said their charges were coming in around what Zoopa advertised, so I chalked this up to a bad battery or perhaps, a poor outlet connection.

The camera on the underside of the drone is also a fantastic piece of equipment. Light weight and durable, my camera survived a number of crashes, with very little wear and tear visible after my initial flight. A tiny (included) micro SD card is included, and pops into the back of the camera to store all your videos and pictures, which is done from the hand remote.

The remote itself is a bit daunting, as the buttons are not labeled on the device. You need to consult – and memorize – the button configurations from the manual, before taking your drone for a go. Press the wrong button combination and you could send your drone hurtling towards the ground, with no power to control it! Overall though, the handheld feels good in the hands, not to heavy, even when attaching a smartphone for real time camera viewing.

With a smartphone attached – via a wifi signal coming out of the drone and being accepted by your phone – you can view, in real time, what your camera is looking at. This is how you’ll know whether the shot you are taking are of good quality, and that your videos are capturing what you want them to capture.

Flying the Drone

When you get the Zoopa Phoenix HD in the air, you will know right away that you aren’t flying a premium drone device. The drone won’t hover nicely in one sport, and requires a bit of work to keep it under control, which is particularily difficult when attempting to snag a nice camera shot, or some video. That being said, the price point for this specific drone is significantly lower than others, so I wasn’t actually expecting the cleanest flight experience. Once I got a firm grasp of how this handled, it was perfectly fine. This might take a bit more practice than a $500+ drone, but once you’ve spent an hour or two test flying it, you should be good to go.

And when you get to that point, flying the Zoopa Phoenix is a blast. The drone can quickly go up and down, left outright, and rotate 360 degrees with little effort. When first trying to learn the ins and outs of this particular device, I was concerned that snapping photos and getting video would be difficult. Thanks to a 2 axis gimbal, however, the 720P camera n the drone stays relatively still even as the drone goes from left to right, and up and down. Shacky videos were never an issue, which is a huge plus over drones that simply mount a camera without an axis to move on.

The regular HD drone is a good value, and if you are looking for something casual, it’s a great drone to purchase. If you are looking for quality videos and pictures, however, I would strongly recommend spending the 50 extra dollars to purchase the Phoenix HD Pro, which provides 1080P captures as opposed to 720. In the age of $k, 720P doesn’t quite cut it anymore for videos that you might want to share with friends and family.

Conclusion

With around 15-20 minutes of flight time with the camera enabled, this drone, at under $200, is a great piece of equipment for someone starting out in the hobby, or someone who is going to fly a drone casually. It has enough power and features to keep you engaged for hours upon hours. You can’t really go wrong with this wonderful piece of technology!