ZHIYUN Smooth X Gimbal for $59.99

After ZHIYUN has made a name for itself in the YouTube scene with his gimbals, a new model is now following. The ZHIYUN Smooth X Gimbal is aimed at beginners in the field with a low introductory price. Can the company build on old successes?

• ZHIYUN Smooth X Gimbal
  • at AliExpress for $59.99 | GearBest for $64.99 | TomTop for $72.99

Technical data

Overview

Gimbals are now a dime a dozen and you have to be able to stand out from the crowd. ZHIYUN tries to convince with this model with its low weight of 245 grams and is therefore about half as heavy as the Smooth-Q. Moreover, the gimbal is only 6.5 x 5.6 x 14.5 cm and should be so handy and still have the necessary range of functions.

So that you know what is meant by the range of functions, here is a short list of the features the gimbal has to offer. You can rotate the smartphone with the cradle and switch from selfie to portrait mode. In addition some gestures should work, for example you can automatically trigger a picture by waving.

The complete range of functions, including simple video editing with small effects and the automatic following of people, will then be executed with the ZY Cami app. But I would take all this with a pinch of salt, because the app is currently still running in Chinese and thus (at least as of now) probably still relatively unusable. In addition to the other models, ZHIYUN has also used the ZY Play App, which is at least in English, but also rather moderately popular.

But the gimbal has some nice features even without the app. For example it supports time-lapse, slow-motion, or panorama shots. You can see all features in the following video from the manufacturer:

https://youtu.be/Hr6VKyrhHkc

The model is of course only 14 cm tall when folded and can be extended to 26 cm thanks to the aluminium rod. This is still relatively short, but should be sufficient for selfies and at least the gimbal remains handy.

The gimbal is rechargeable via USB-C cable and one is already included. With a 1000 mAh battery, you can probably film between three and four hours, but even for beginners this is not a very long runtime. In case of the worst case you should always have a powerbank with you.

The connection to the smartphone is via Bluetooth 5.0, which should be no problem for the current smartphone models.

Evaluation

With a market price of just around $60, ZHIYUN is trying out a cheap gimbal, but it still comes with some features. I think the price is very fair, although the “new, innovative” ZY Play App unfortunately discourages me more than it convinces me of the gimbal.