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1334 Review
50 Karma

Review on Zhiyun Smooth-X: Foldable Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizer and Selfie Stick - Gray by Michael Boyce

Revainrating 1 out of 5

An impressively small and light gimbal that requires an invasive application - Update: it broke in transit.

**Update** This gimbal was great until it broke while climbing Mount Whitney. It seemed to be working fine, but there was a faint hum that picked up very loudly from my iPhone's mic. I have several videos from above with completely unusable audio. I had to carry this useless cargo hundreds of miles. Pros: I am impressed with this gimbal and plan to take it on a hike. I've found that using a 2-axis gimbal versus a 3-axis gimbal doesn't result in a significant drop in video stability, and videos shot with Zhiyun Smooth-X are very comparable to videos shot with my DJI Osmo Mobile 3 video looks better because Zhiyun can be extended like a selfie stick. I find this allows for more interesting shots and allows my hand to better dampen vibrations. For regular day hikes where weight is not an issue, I prefer the Zhiyun Smooth-X over the DJI Osmo Mobile 3rd Kami app because of this particularity. This app will not connect to the gimbal until you enable location tracking and create an account with a very lengthy email verification process. What you really need to do is check the box that consents to location tracking and if you have disabled that permission you will not be able to proceed. Also, you have to enter a code from your email within 60 seconds, and this code usually took about a minute. It took about 10 minutes for a new code to arrive in less than 60 seconds.

Pros
  • Incredible flexibility in the palm of your hand: Weighing only 246g, the foldable phone-sized gimbal easily fits even in your pocket for amazingly stable phone shooting.
Cons
  • Slightly dented