Eachine EX4 Pro – Cheap camera drone with 3-axis gimbal
The Eachine EX4 Pro is an entry-level drone with 4K camera and 3-axis gimbal. It has GPS, a range of 1.86 miles (3 km), a flight time of 25 minutes and transmits the live image from the camera (FPV) to your smartphone.
Who is the Eachine EX4 Pro suitable for?
The Eachine EX4 Pro is a camera drone for ambitious beginners and thanks to optional propeller guards also suitable as a drone for kids.
Externally, the 17.7 x 19.6 x 7 cm quadcopter comes in all black. It is well-made and weighs about 435 grams. For the legally compliant operation of the drone in many countries, you may need a drone registration number and/or a liability insurance.
The Eachine EX4 Pro is a foldable drone, which means that you can fold the arms along with the propellers for space-saving transport. The included carrying bag is also very practical here, which can accommodate the drone as well as the controller and remote control.
Takeoff and landing work quite simply at the push of a button. For the automatic eturn to the starting position, the quadcopter has a Return-to-Home mode. In general, controlling the drone is very simple and no problem even for absolute beginners.
Thanks to Altitude Hold, the drone always holds its current altitude automatically without you having to operate the thrust controller. Due to the built-in GPS system, it lies quietly in the air and keeps its position stable even in moderate wind.
Flight time and range
The Eachine EX4 Pro has a maximum flight time of up to 25 minutes. The long flight duration is made possible by an 11.4 V, 2400 mAh, 3S LiPo battery. When used continuously, flight durations of about 20 to 22 minutes are realistic, which are still very good values.
A complete charge takes about 3 hours the first time. Afterwards even 5 hours. Since this is quite a long duration, we recommend you to purchase at least one extra battery to enjoy a longer flight time in the field.
Before launching, you must first connect the drone to the remote control and then calibrate it. For this, the quadcopter must be rotated three times around the vertical axis and three times around the horizontal axis.
A handy safety feature of the drone is a built-in alarm that sounds when the battery level reaches about 10%. This way, you always know when you should land the drone. By the way, the value can be manually adjusted between 10 and 80% battery level. If the battery level falls below the set value, the drone will independently return to the takeoff position and land on the ground or the landing site.
Should you ever stray too far with the drone and lose the connection, you don’t have to worry that the drone will simply fly away. It will also return to the starting position independently in this case.
The range of the Eachine EX4 Pro is up to 1.86 miles (3000 meters). Since drones are only allowed to be flown within visual range in many countries, you should never fully exhaust this distance, however. The high maximum range is nevertheless advantageous, as it ensures a very good connection quality at shorter distances.
Features & Equipment of Eachine EX4 Pro
For an entry-level drone, the Eachine EX4 Pro has a very comprehensive set of features. It has brushless motors that are quieter and more powerful than inexpensive brushed motors. Speeds of up to 22.4 mph (36 km/h) are possible at peak.
Since it is a GPS drone, it automatically keeps the current position in the air and does not get upset by light wind. This facilitates the control immensely.
In addition, the copter has a so-called Optical Flow System, consisting of ultrasonic sensors and a camera on the underside of the drone. The sensors permanently scan the ground and help the drone to maintain its position, for example, indoors without GPS reception. The GPS, by the way, can be disabled manually, which is something you should do when using it indoors.
The black, padded and water-resistant bag for storage is a great extra. It has a strap and a handle, and in addition to the main compartment, it also has another small compartment for storing documents. There is even a compartment for an extra battery.
The remote control & app
The controller of the Eachine EX4 Pro is a 5GHz remote control. Therefore, make sure that your smartphone supports this WiFi frequency. The standard used is 802.11ac. By now, all common cell phones should support it – only with some older models you should rather play it safe and find out whether this WiFi standard is supported.
Besides the two control joysticks, the remote control has an on/off switch and a button for taking photos and videos. To take a photo, the button is briefly pressed once. A video is started with a long button press.
On the top of the controller is a small wheel for moving the gimbal. This can be tilted vertically to film from horizontal forward to vertical down.
To attach your smartphone to the remote, a mount can be clipped on. Even large models fit without any problems.
Before the first takeoff, you need to download the Eachine Enjoy Fly app for Android and iOS devices. Important flight parameters are then shown on the display in the app. For example, you get information about the current flight altitude, distance and speed. Of course, you can also view the live image from the drone camera and thus always see exactly where you are with the drone and what you want to record.
The maximum flight altitude can also be set in the app. Also, the control can be switched between Mode 1 and Mode 2. Furthermore, you can also calibrate the compass and the gyroscope of the drone here.
Absolute beginners will also be happy about the headless mode. If you activate this mode, a simplified control of the drone is available. Normally, you always need to know how the drone is currently oriented in the sky when changing directions. In Headless Mode, this does not matter. The drone will always fly in the pressed direction, no matter in which direction it is pointing at the moment.
The buttons for headless mode, calibration, trimming, and speed levels are located on the back of the remote control.
The camera of the Eachine EX4 Pro
The 4K camera of the Eachine EX4 Pro has a 1/3.2″ CMOS sensor and takes photos in 4K and videos in Full HD at 24 fps. While 4K videos would have been nicer, of course, the 1080p recordings are stabilized, which is not the case with a majority of inexpensive camera drones. The mechanical 3-axis gimbal does an excellent job and ensures smooth video footage.
The camera angle can be freely adjusted between horizontal (0°) and vertical down (-90°) using the remote control during flight. So you can easily change the perspective during the flight. A maximum 50x zoom is also available to bring distant objects closer.
The bit rate of the video transmission is 8 Mbit/s. This is not particularly much, but it is quite sufficient for an entry-level drone. In general, the recordings are of good quality and are more than respectable for a drone in this price segment. If you are looking for even better quality, you will have to look for a more expensive camera drone.
Videos are saved in MP4 format. This is either done directly on the smartphone or on a microSD card of up to 32 gigabytes, which is not included.
The 4K photos (4096 x 3072 pixels) of the Eachine EX4 make a consistently good impression. Although the camera settings can hardly be adjusted manually, the automatic ISO selection between 100 and 3200 ensures a good exposure under various lighting conditions.
The transmission of the drone’s live image works up to a distance of about 0.62 miles (1000 meters) and provides a clear image on the smartphone’s display.
Flight modes
The Eachine EX4 Pro features smart flight modes Follow Me, Point of Interest and even has waypoint navigation.
In Follow Me mode, the drone follows the signal from the remote control and thus you as the pilot. It flies sideways and keeps you in view at all times while recording video of you.
Point of Interest mode allows the drone to automatically fly around an object while simultaneously recording video of it. The perimeter can be freely set with the control joystick.
Waypoint mode allows you to plan a route in the app before the flight, which the Eachine EX4 Pro will then fly independently. You can either specify individual waypoints or draw a line freely.
Scope of delivery
- Eachine EX4 Pro
- Controller
- LiPo battery
- USB charging cable
- Charger
- Rotor protectors
- Spare rotors
- Tool
- Carrying bag
- Instruction manual
Conclusion
The Eachine EX4 Pro is an extremely well designed entry-level drone with great features. It has a 4K camera that records videos in Full HD and photos in 4096 x 3072 pixels. A special highlight is the mechanical 3-axis gimbal, which stabilizes video recordings excellently. For a drone in this price segment, this is a real rarity.
The flight time of up to 25 minutes is also a great value and the range of up to 1.86 miles (3000 meters) is also more than respectable. The quadcopter has GPS and therefore independently holds its position in the air. A Return-to-Home mode as well as take-off and landing at the push of a button are also available.
Thanks to the manually disengageable GPS and optical flow system, the drone can also be flown indoors without any problems.
The included carrying case is also very handy, with room for the drone, controller, accessories, and even an extra battery. All in all, the Eachine EX4 offers a very good price-performance ratio and is therefore highly recommended as a drone for ambitious beginners!