Zerotech Dobby 4K – compact mini drone with 4K camera
With the Dobby 4K, the Chinese manufacturer Zerotech offers an extremely compact and lightweight quadcopter with a 4K camera. The foldable drone with selfie function can be controlled via smartphone and enables aerial photography and FPV image transmission via app. In contrast to current top drones such as the DJI Phantom 4 Pro or Mavic Pro, the Dobby 4K does not quite keep up in terms of quality, but it is much more compact and affordable.
And size does matter!
Whether always handy in the glove compartment, packed in the backpack on hikes or in the bag for the bike tour – the Dobby 4K convinces with compactness and low weight and is therefore perfect as a drone for on the go. The arms of the Zerotech Dobby 4K can be folded for transport and even the propellers are foldable. Weighing in at just 199 g, Zerotech’s Dobby 4K is barely more than most smartphones and is a true lightweight.
With dimensions of 135 x 67 x 36.8 mm when folded, the Zerotech Dobby 4K is a real space-saver. When folded out, the drone measures 135 x 145 x 36.8 mm. Thus, the Dobby 4K still passes for a mini drone for us, but it belongs to the larger specimens here.
The look of the Dobby 4K with its four rounded arms has something insect-like about it and comes across as quite classy. Unfortunately, the workmanship of the quadcopter, which comes with a plastic housing in mother-of-pearl, cannot quite keep up. This shows the difference to current top camera drones from other manufacturers, which cost a bit more, but promise better quality and features.
The control system – the heart of every drone
The Dobby 4K is controlled via a smartphone or tablet with the help of the free “Do.Fun” app, which can be found in the Google Play Store as well as in the Apple App Store, depending on the device used. The app has a lot of setting options, but the design is quite plain. The translation also leaves a lot to be desired in some places.
The control via the app, on the other hand, works quite simply and largely without problems. In the app, you can see the FPV image of the camera and operate the virtual control sticks of the drone. The app communicates with the drone via WiFi and indicates an existing connection by a blue continuous glow of the start button on the drone.
The Dobby 4K uses GPS and GLONASS and also has a Return-to-Home mode. All in all, however, the app is unfortunately not entirely convincing – similarly priced drones such as the Parrot Bebop Drone 2 offer much more here, even if the compactness of the Dobby 4K remains unbeaten.
The camera – the reason for which many start flying
With a 4K camera, the Zerotech Dobby 4K promises a lot in terms of image quality, even though the drone does not have a gimbal.
The front-mounted camera can be manually adjusted in tilt, allowing for different shooting angles. The radius ranges from 22.5 to 90 degrees. The resolution of 4208 x 3120 pixels and the recording rate of 30 frames per second are also impressive and produce quite acceptable results.
Electronic image stabilization is even available in 4K mode – resulting in acceptable to good 1080p video quality. Your photos and aerial shots are stored on a 16 GB memory. Alternatively, the data can also be stored directly on the smartphone via app.
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And this is what else the drone can do
The Zerotech Dobby 4K comes with a 970 mAh battery. This enables a flight duration of around 9 minutes. When the battery of the Dobby 4K runs out, the drone automatically makes its way back to the starting point – a pretty handy feature.
You can fly the compact quadcopter within a radius of about 110 yards (100 meters), that’s how far the radio signal reaches. However, the range for streaming the drone’s live FPV image is only 10 feet (3 meters). Therefore, you have to control the drone exclusively on sight at greater distances.
The most important data at a glance
- Package contents: drone, instruction manual (Chinese), charging adapter, USB charging cable, USB to mini USB cable.
- Size: 135 x 67 x 36.8 mm (folded); 135 x 145 x 36.8 mm (unfolded)
- Take off weight: 199 g
- Flight time: 9 min
- Range: 110 yards (100 m)
- Camera: 4K camera with 13 MP resolution for photos
Conclusion
The Dobby 4K from Zerotech is a compact drone with camera for under $500 that you can take anywhere. For its size class, it delivers decent to good results and offers a 4K camera for photo and video recording. In various tests of different online portals, the Zerotech Dobby 4K did not score quite as positively, which was mostly due to the not-so-high-quality workmanship and the app that could definitely be improved.
We also think that there are alternatives to the Dobby 4K, unless you are only interested in compactness and low weight. In these points, the small quadcopter is not easily outdone.