Syma Z1 Review – A Good Low Cost Selfie Drone

Hi there and welcome to my review of the Syma Z1 foldable selfie drone.

Are you looking for a cool drone that will allow you to take quick selfies with an HD camera? Well, there are many choices and the Syma Z1 is one of the cheapest options available.

I haven’t reviewed a Syma drone in a long time, which surprised me because they are a well-established toy drone company and have some very good drones in their catalogue.

Drones are fun to fly, especially the ones with a camera (which is most of them nowadays). My personal favourite type of drone is the lightweight foldable drone, which is exactly how the Syma Z1 can be described.

If you are in the market for a cheap selfie drone, a drone that you can easily carry around with you and take impulsive photos like people do with smartphones, carry on reading this review of the Syma Z1 as it may be the drone you are looking for.

Syma Z1 Review

One of the first things that will impress you about the Syma Z1 is its flat foldable design. It is a slim drone with foldable arms and is very lightweight, it actually weighs around 200g, I mention this because it means you will not need to register the drone if you live in the UK, Canada, USA or Australia.

Most other countries do not have a specific weight a requirement for you to register the drone, however, because drone laws are kind of fluid at the moment, I do still advise people to check their local aviation rules and regulation so that you stay within the law when you fly any kind of drone.

I really do like its design, they have put a lot into the aesthetics of this drone and it looks more expensive than it actually is. It’s built from ABS plastic and has an all-black colour scheme which makes it look stealthy and has a cool Syma logo on the top.

With arms expanded the drone only measures 25.6*20*3.5 cm and has small collapsible propeller blades. It comes with brushed motors, which is expected seeing how cheap the drone is and has an optical flow sensor along with a 6-axis gyroscope which will help with better flight stability and hover capability.

You also get some propeller guards that you can attach on the end of the arms and will help protect the drone against any damages if you crash the drone.

Like most drones nowadays, the Syma Z1 has some really cool LED lights on the front that make it look like it has glowing eyes. Not only do they look awesome but they also allow you to fly the drone at night.

AS this is a toy grade drone, the flight time is not very good, you can probably get around 7 minutes from one battery charge, which, if I am being honest is on the lower end for these types of drones.

The battery is a 3.7v 500 mAh li-ion battery, it’s a proprietary battery that fits in on the belly of the drone and takes just over two hours to fully re-charge. 7 minutes is a very short flight time for any drone, so I would advise people to purchase a couple of extra batteries if they decide to purchase this drone.

Something else I have to mention is that the drone does not come with its own remote controller. To operate this drone, you will need to do it through your smartphone via the official Syma Fly App.

This may disappoint some people, but I think it’s the better option, you are not going to be flying this drone very far and the Syma Fly app is one of the better drone apps on the marketplace. It’s available on both Android and iOS devices and has a good rating on the Google Play Store. Plus, the app is updated regularly so they do try and fix any bugs as soon as possible which is in stark contrast to some of the other drone apps that are hardly ever updated.

Syma Z1 Camera

The camera is probably the main reason to purchase any drone and this includes the Syma Z1. Even for a cheap drone, the camera is quite impressive, don’t get me wrong, you will not be winning any kind of drone photography awards, but it does take some decent images with its 720p HD camera.

The camera can be manually adjusted 90° to get better viewing angles and the live streaming quality is pretty good. The transmission range is only around 50 meters in good weather, so stay well within this distance for the best FPV quality.

As the drone does not come with a micro SD card slot, you will have to save your files on your smartphone, so make sure you do have enough memory.

Other Features

Surprisingly, despite being one of the cheapest drones on the market, it comes with several impressive features, these include the following;

Waypoint – I was really surprised that the Syma Z1 came with a smart flight mode, this is a drone that costs less than $100! In this mode, you can draw a flight path on the app and the drone will fly along the route automatically and come back home.

Gravity Sensor Mode – Another impressive feature for such a cheap drone, this mode will allow you to control the drone by moving your smartphone around.

One-Key Return – Return the drone home by simply pressing the return home button on the app.

Optical Flow Sensor – As this drone is very cheap, it does not come with a GPS module, however, there is a small optical flow sensor on the bottom that will help you flight stabilisation and this will result in better quality images and videos.

Flight Performance

As you would expect from a Syma drone, the Z1 flies very well and with its internal barometer and optical flow sensor, it maintains a stable altitude. The drone hovers well with little drift and is a fun drone to fly. Seeing that is a very light drone, its highly advised that you do not fly the drone in any kind of windy conditions, especially if you are a beginner. 

Final Thoughts

The Syma Z1 is a good drone that is suitable for everyone but it really is geared towards beginners. If you are looking for a drone to have some fun with at parties and social gatherings, the Syma Z1 will not disappoint you.