I used my iPad to zoom it around the pool. It did well in the initial trials and I went to get it into a stream or a large body of water so I can see things beneath the waves. Nothing to see in a pool. It's fairly fast and stable and came with extra props, two. Keeping it sealed is the one thing that needs checking and rechecking. Water and electricity do not mix well and it will turn a fun expensive toy into a un-fun expensive non-functioning prop fast. So keep checking the seals. I didn't get a remote so I used my iPad but it really got heavy fast. It's the twelve point nine and is a invaluable part of my travel kit but heavy it is inside its protective sleeve. It's a well thought out and engineered piece of fun and we are enjoying it time and again but can't wait to get it out in the open water for a real test of it capabilities. But it's a solid built and well engineered water drone that is a ton of fun. Four Stars â­ï¸â­ï¸â­ï¸â­ï¸!!!

I admit that it took way too long to report that we crashed this unit into the side of the pool and broke it before we were able to get any usable footage. We are careful people, but it does take some practice to get accustomed to the controls and I would highly suggest using a natural (soft) environment for testing and practice. It's well made but not rugged. It has a hook so you can troll bait, but I don't think I'd use it that way in the open ocean unless you want to risk losing it entirely. Fun to see what's at the bottom of popular swimming areas and such. You can't move the camera angle while in motion.

In the past, I have done most of my underwater photography closer to reefs and in more shallow waters, where there is better accessibility and it is easy to go in and out of the water without too much trouble. I had a friend who took some incredible pictures further out with an underwater drone and I loved them. As much as I like taking pictures of water wildlife, I am not one who is confident enough to carry my equipment into deeper waters while I lug oxygen tanks and tight scuba wear in deep waters.

My friend was using an ROV to take some incredible pictures further out, but what they used was expensive and out of my price range. I started looking for other options that were more affordable and chose the PowerDolphin because the price was right and it had the same camera capabilities that the ROV had. I am not too techy, so the assembly was initially confusing, but I called the customer service line and they walked me through it pretty easily. At that point I was pretty comfortable with the purchase because I at least had someone reliable to go to if I needed help. I did not send it too far out into the water, but I got it farther than I would go if I was using my hand-held equipment. It took some pretty incredible pictures. Of course, as the water gets deeper, the images get darker, so I had to later adjust the coloring to make the colors pop. What I liked is that I was able to take pictures of areas I have not before, so it offered a more diverse portfolio. I would like to try this in different kinds of water to see what I can get from it. Impressed.

Power Dolphin was purchased new, and did not work. Had to send to Technical support, turned out the remote was not emitting a Wi-Fi Signal. They replaced and returned it. Been working now for about 5 days. It works great, my only suggestion would be to have a better tutorial video on the Vision + 2 App. Pretty much have to play with it to figure it out. Also, wish on the main screen it would always display Speed, Depth, Distance, and Direction. The depth can only be obtained by switching to the Depth Finder Screen. All in all, it pretty cool and the tech guys did a great job.

The marketing ads for this drone are a bit misleading. The 4k camera does tilt up but only manually and you have to tilt it up or you are staring at the water in its default position. Also it bucks and bounces around in anything more than minor chop. While it does have a self righting capability its not foolproof. I have a friend who had it swamped by a wave and it couldn't recover and he had to go into the ocean to get it. Luckily it was close enough to the shore.

Thats the bad.

The good is that despite those faults its totally worth it anyway and is a unique drone that can do things none other can. It has an attachable bait box it can tow out and deploy, it has the sonar you can attach to it and use as a fish finder or use it to sonar map an area. It can do way point missions. It has an 800m range which I've verified in my own test and the RTH feature works. The camera does indeed swivel up and down and is 4k. Before I send my Gladius mini submersible somewhere I send the PowerDolphin out first to check the depth with its sonar.

It's a lot of fun to drive and offers a unique perspective no other drone can give you.