The company Chasing innovation sent us their latest version of their water drone, the Gladius
mini. I have to say I am impressed. Disclaimer: We did not pay for the Drone, they agreed
for us to do an honest review, also if you buy the Gladius Mini through our link in the
description within 30 days of clicking it, we will get a small fee.
The first thing we did was to read the instructions of course, after downloading and updating
the app we were ready to go. After reading the instructions again and really understanding
how it works, we started playing with it. The drone has a very long cable that connects
to a wifi station that you can connect to your phone and to the computer wirelessly.
You connect the remote controller to your phone and you can now control it using a real-time
video. So as long as you have enough cable out you can be far from the station and control
it with your phone and controller.
So we put it in the water and the first thing you do is to unlock it by clicking this button.
This will push it down a little. The first thing that surprised us is how stable it is
in the water. This is thanks to its five propellers, two here and the other three here. I would
say it is even easier to control than a flying drone. This shows how advanced their algorithm
really is.
The first thing we did is to test its speed. They say it goes up to 2 meters per second.
Seems about right although it might be a little slower. Since for us that would be sprinting,
that’s would be a speed of 25 sec in 50 meters. And I wasn’t sprinting but I did
have fins. So, maybe.
It can drift, it can turn it has a beautiful design and that’s why it caught the attention
of kids in the pool who stared at it in amazement and waved at it.
But we were really there to see how swimmers and coaches can use it. We know this is an
amazing tool for divers and ocean explorers. And there are a lot of videos for those uses.
I’ll leave the links in the description if you are interested in those. But how about
for swimmers.
Well in our experience you can tell swimmers what they are doing wrong a million times
and they will try to correct it. But the swimmer doesn't always know if he corrected the technique
or not! So having video feedback as soon as possible makes things easier. You can see
what you do wrong and correct it on the spot. With this drone, we took videos of us and
other swimmers and we could look at them immediately. As soon as you connect your cellphone you
have realtime video on your screen. Now if we had a big monitor or tv we could show the
video to the swimmer without her or him getting out of the pool, which is amazing! We could
also have a projector to the wall and they could all see the video. You can connect the
monitor or tv via HDMI. You can also download the videos and since it is wifi you can download
the video in a matter of seconds depending on the length of the video. You can even live
stream your video on social media! You cannot do this through a GoPro because as we learned
wifi signals and Bluetooth don’t travel underwater.
The camera capabilities are outstanding. In some big ways, they are better than a GoPro.
It has 4k video that you can adjust right on the screen. You can adjust the hue, contrast,
sharpness and the bitrate. In 1080p meaning HD video, you can even control the frames
per seconds. You can go up to 120 frames per second so you can really show every movement
in slow motion. The two main things that the GoPro 7 camera is superior over the gladius
mini camera is it stabilizes the video by itself via software and it has up to 240 frames
per second. However, since the drone pretty much stabilizes itself there is no need for
extra stabilization. Also, 120 frames per second is plenty if you want to slow things
down and show the details.
one of the most useful shots we got is this one. First, we stabilize the drone by clicking
lock depth, this will keep the drone in the same depth incredibly well. Then, we move
it to the middle of the pool. We then put it on low mode, which means that it will move
slowly and smoothly. Then, we tilted the drone up 20 degrees so it can look up. And we followed
the swimmer through his trajectory. Keep in mind that the deeper the pool is the better
you can make this shot work. And don’t worry about the drone, it can go down to 330 ft
deep which is around 120 meters. This shot is great if you want to see the stroke from
one side.
Another useful shot is having it almost in front of the swimmer and not moving the drone.
This way you can see what the front of the stroke looks like and see if a swimmer is
crossing the middle line of their body or if they are opening their stroke too wide
in breaststroke and butterfly.
For a shot with more action, we found this one to be very unique.
As a coach, it is a great way to record your swimmers without getting in the pool or having
to move the GoPro walking along the side of the pool. The battery lasts up to 2 hours,
so the usual length of a swim practice. Also, as mentioned above, if you are an ocean explorer
or photographer or a pool inspector this is a great tool that you can use.
The one downside we found on this version of the Gladius is the position of the camera.
If it had a camera on the side or on top, or a 180 camera right here on the top, we
could record on this angle or this angle. Following the swimmer through the whole length
of the pool. So that’s what we are going to suggest the company change in the next
generation of the product but in the meantime, we put a GoPro on top of the Gladius and surprisingly
it stabilized itself perfectly, again great software algorithm and even moved forward
like it was nothing! Well, it did move a little slower but with enough to record these fast
swimmers swimming freestyle. We also recorded this shot, which is one of
the best angles you can get as a swimmer.
For its unique capabilities we will for sure use it in our next swimming camp to correct
techniques and have amazing footage. If you are a coach or you are in a swim team and
you think your team can benefit from having one of these, click on the link in the description.
Or contact us with any of your water drone questions to skillsntalents@gmail.com
I forgot to mention one thing… It is super fun to play with! I’ll see you later!
Thanks for watching! Swim fast!