Men’s Gear Awards: Best Underwater Drone Brands

Notilo Plus

Notilo Plus is one of the newer underwater drone brands out there. However, they have been pretty amazing from the start. They only have two drones thus far, but both are considered to be two of the best on the planet.

We love the overall brand itself because, despite being new, they have seemingly learned from the mistakes and successes of other companies. Everything they put into their drones is must-have, with no real additions that will make it overly bulky.

This is not so much an issue for the drones you might see in the air, as their size can sort of be whatever. For underwater drone brands, this is not the case with how they have to make their products. These drones have to get into tight spaces and move around well among possible creatures of the sea.

Notilo Plus has found a way to make two drones that can do just that.

Meet The iBubble & Seasam Drones

The two drones from the Notilo Plus company are known as the iBubble and Seasam. The iBubble drone is made for the average consumer. It can do whatever the average person might need from an underwater drone. Meanwhile, the Seasam drone is made for professionals.

This does not mean Seasam is made for pro-drone users. Rather, it’s made for people who might need more out of their drone than what a random user might. The Seasam drone is made for your explorers or scientists, even people who might work for places like National Geographic, for example.

The iBubble is by no means something you should look past, however. Notilo Plus has done a brilliant job about making this drone capable of anything. It can do things like follow you automatically in free dives, recording it all. It can be used on a tether while you’re traveling on a boat too.

The iBubble and Seasam drones both possess special sonar technology that prevents them from accidentally hitting up against any coral or reefs. Since they’re pretty much silent, they do not affect any of the sea creatures by being too noisy. On top of this, they’re also virtually emission-free and serve no danger to the creatures of the sea here either.

The iBubble and Seasam differ based on a few different things in their specs. For example, the iBubble can reach up to 196 feet underwater and run up to 1 hour on its battery before needing a recharge. It also has two 1,000 lumen lights attached as well as a feature that has it return to the side-pack of the diver when its running low on the battery.

This is pretty good in our opinion.

The Seasam drone, it appears Notilo Plus tries to be quite private on regarding its specifications. We do know that the camera is a bit better, with possible 4K viewership being added to them as standard.

Although we know usually the pro-style drones do this standard, this is not always the case. iBubble’s camera can reach near this, so they may have this as an option.

Both are the first of their kind, as they’re fully autonomous when in the water. Of course, you still have the option to run them manually too.

While they only have two technical drone models, they offer different versions of it. Yes, while the iBubble is pretty much the same for all, they have 3 different versions of the drone. This is the iBubble Underwater Drone, iBubble Explorer Drone, and iBubble Premium Drone.

The Underwater Drone version includes just the iBubble drone itself without any extra side items. However, you can buy any of those items separately.

The Explorer version includes technical Bluetooth connection to have your phone see what the camera sees. They also include 60m/200ft of cable and a few other smaller items.

The Premium version includes the Premium Explorer pack, dedicated remote, 100m/300ft of cable, iBubble hard case, 2 extra batteries, and 2 battery chargers.

Price Range:

Since Notilo Plus only has the two drones, there isn’t really a “range” here but rather just exact pricing. While this usually means we can give you an exact figure on the items, it’s not that easy with Notilo it seems.

The iBubble drone is pretty easy to track down with the Notilo Plus website showing you their three models.

The Underwater Drone: $4,500
The Explorer Edition: $5,200
The Premium Edition: $7,000

The Notilo Seasam is the one that we have trouble finding a price on. We assume this is due to the fact that the company seems to make them for certain usage. This could mean that they’ll want to know what you need your drone to do since it’s supposed to be a pro-style underwater drone.

They have a contact page where you can get in touch with them to get a quote on how much they charge for the item. There, you can likely ask about the price as well as what features it has that makes it differ from the iBubble. Well, more than the ones we mentioned.

This also makes finding how their warranty works a bit of a challenge too. We know that the iBubble has a warranty on it that Notilo Plus buries in their terms and conditions page. It is the #7 topic on that page, just an FYI there.

We’re honestly really happy with their warranty, as we feel it’s actually quite good for how new their company is. That is why we’re a bit confused as to why they don’t put this in its own section of their website. This is the only real downside with the Notilo Plus drone, however. That is saying a lot to us.

Robosea

Not all underwater drone brands can do what Robosea does, but we feel they have one of the best formulas for drone companies. They have decided to make drones for every purpose, underwater versions at least.

The company touts that they have over 60 patents and forms of cutting-edge technology. These patents and amazing technical work have clearly given them the ability to make some impressive products as well as improve on their designs.

They break down their categories into 3 main categories:

• Consumer
• Professional
• Education

Robosea then tries to stick with this for each one, offering the best possible features to fit the needs of that category. Due to this, they all operate with the concept of being just different enough to remain separate,

All are great, but we wanted to focus mostly on their consumer category. That is where one of the most well-known underwater drones in the world happens to be.

The Robosea Biki

The reason the Robosea Biki is so well-liked might very well be due to the multiple features it has within it. The Biki is capable of more than most, not only for its size but also for the current tech of the day in the consumer category.

The Biki uses two-way control, with one being a remote that they call the “underwater acoustic remote control” and the other is your own smartphone. The latter works through the Biki application you’ll download upon buying the device.

This drone also has infrared obstacle avoidance, allowing it to see obstacles via sense by at least 30cm and then avoid them. It also includes an automated option for it to return to its base or home. Due to utilizing GPS, the drone can use this for a lot of things on top of the return home feature.

The camera shoots in 16 Megapixel with the capability of 4K video. Both pictures and video are taken on a huge 150-degree wide-angle lens. Plus, due to the impressive gimbal and stabilizer, you’re going to always get great pictures and videos that won’t come off shaky or blurry.

It holds up to 120 minutes of video on its 32G built-in storage. This drone is also capable of diving up to nearly 200 feet. Meanwhile, it uses 55dB tech for an extremely quiet device in the water. Best of all, it comes in 4 unique colors and is priced for only $800.

Price Range:

The price range for Robosea is relatively industry standard among other underwater drone brands. Since they have quite a number of drones, it is much easier to offer an average compared to one with only a few.

However, these prices vary wildly due to where you buy and what model you want. Currently, you can buy Robosea drones from eBay, Amazon, and Taobao. The prices can differ big time here with the Biki drone selling for $800 on Amazon while eBay has it at around $1,000.

That said, you’re looking at an average of around $800 to $6,000.

A warranty card does come with their drones. However, there is not much known about the details of what this includes.

OpenROV

The OpenROV brand is not exactly new to the world of underwater drones, but they have not been around as long as some of the companies on this list has been. What makes them so important is their one drone.

You read that right, OpenROV has only one actual drone that they use. Although, this one drone happens to be one of the most beloved, top-rated underwater drones in the world currently.

Underwater drone brands are not exactly as huge as the everyday drone brands of the world. That means you’re going to have to expect fewer drone options for many of them. However, for OpenROV to make our list with only one drone is impressive.

It’s all due to that drone.

The OpenROV Trident

People often forget that the OpenROV Trident is used by your average consumer as well as by professionals in the fields of education and science. It’s often loved for the features it brings to the table, which may not seem like a lot on the surface but truly can be major in the water.

The Trident has sensors all around it to detect possible movement with animals in the area. This also allows it to sense possible immobile plant life in the ocean like coral or reefs.

It’s fast enough to keep up with several different types of fish and can even make it through things like swift currents. It’s incredibly tough for its size for sure. Due to being so small and compact, it’s lightweight and easy to carry. Yet people do not expect its impressive toughness.

It shoots in beautiful 1080p with the possible 4K tech coming in newer models. However, the real draw to the Trident is that it has a battery life of 3 hours. This blows away most drones, who have averages of one hour or less.

Currently, the price of this drone is around $1,700.

Price Range:

OpenROV does not really have a price range, as it IS what the drone is.

However, there are a few quick things you must keep in mind with the selling of this product. You have the option to buy things separately. It comes with a standard 25m tether, for example. If you want a longer one though, this will cost extra. The 100m option is the one offered most here.

You can keep it protected in standard packaging, but they offer a hard case to keep it protected too. This will need to be purchased separately.

Finally, you have the option of using the controller OpenROV has for the Trident or you can use your phone. If you want to use your phone, you simply won’t pay for the controller.

The case is $250 extra while the controller is $400 and the 100m tether is $300.

That potentially an extra $1,000 on top of the purchase price. That said, you’ll need to keep all of this in mind before the purchase.

OpenROV offers a 30-day money back guarantee and has a warranty on the product that’s good for up to 1 year for any real reason

They also sell parts for people to make their own underwater drone if you want to check it out. It’s about $900 for all the parts and clearly, it won’t be up to the standards of the Trident. However, it’s worth doing if you want a hands-on approach. They also sell other random parts you might need separately. Check that out here.

Chasing Innovation

Chasing Innovation is quite unique in the world of underwater drone brands in our opinion. Like OpenROV, they are mostly known for the one type of drone they have made called the GLADIUS.

This was the first drone they made and they realized it was a terrible concept to mess with a good thing. This led them to push toward making the GLADIUS better by adding features or perfecting the drone as time went on.

However, they’d then decide to make a new drone and felt it was best to simply go with a “mini” version of the successful GLADIUS drone. That said, the company technically has 2 drones and both are considered to be Top 10 in the industry right now.

GLADIUS Prime vs GLADIUS Mini

When Chasing Innovation decided to make the Mini version of the GLADIUS drone, it made sense. More people wanted to use something smaller in the underwater drone world, considering getting into tight, smaller places was more important here.

Normal drones have no need to be insanely small in comparison. Plus, if it could be anywhere nearly as good as the normal GLADIUS, people were going to be getting something amazing.

So what does the GLADIUS do that the Mini has to get close to?

The normal drone can dive an incredible 330 feet, among the highest in the industry. The 6100mAh battery lasts up to an incredible 4.5 hours. GLADIUS’s camera shoots in 1080p and 4K while the pictures are taken via 12 Megapixel capability. Both also have an incredible zoom and focus too.

It uses 6200K lighting with a max power of 10W.

All of this saves on the 62G SD Card.

Meanwhile, the GLADIUS Mini also shoots up to 1080p and 4K for video with 12 Megapixels for pictures. Although it lasts only 2 hours on its battery and has a bit of a smaller light than the normal GLADIUS, it also has something the normal does not.

It uses a deep preset, stabilizing mode that has the ability to tilt the device up to 45 degrees.

Both use their own remote and can be seen on your regular smartphone. That said, you get a lot with both.

Price Range:

This is the area where you can determine which version you might want of the two drones. The cost of both is relatively reasonable and industry standard for underwater drone brands.

The GLADIUS Mini costs $1,500 while the normal GLADIUS Drone costs $1,800.

Both drones have a warranty on them that we believe might be the strangest we’ve ever seen. The overall warranty comes with a 1-year coverage, but not everything is covered in this warranty.

Some portions of the drone have no warranty coverage while other portions have a 6-month coverage system. Meanwhile, the remainder has 12-month coverage. To learn more about the Chasing Innovation warranty for the GLADIUS drones, you can check it out here.

Geneinno

Underwater drone brands like Geneinno are really fun to keep up with. They have more drones than most in this sector, with a terrific 3 drones. They are all different and they all do unique things. Some are more professional while the others are consumer focused.

Truly, it all depends on your budget combined with your overall needs when it comes to the drone you pick with Geneinno. They have three, as previously mentioned. Those are:

• Titan
• Poseidon I
• Trident

As mentioned, they are all different. However, we are only going to go over one. This is due to the fact that the one we have picked happens to be the top-ranked underwater drone available today.

The Geneinno Poseidon I

Tons of underwater drone brands are envious of Geneinno for having the Poseidon I on their list of drones. It’s really understandable that they’d feel this way as it is capable of more than most other underwater drones.

First and foremost, it takes video in 1080p and 4K. You are able to real-time stream from the device due to its ability to connect to WiFi too. On top of this, it uses a 120-degree wide angle lens. All of this was considered to be revolutionary in the industry when the Poseidon I first came out. Now others are trying to copy its success.

The drone uses a 9000mAh battery, one of the most powerful in the world of drones across ALL types. This incredible battery allows the drone to reach up to 5 hours of runtime. This is the highest in the industry today.

It is capable of diving nearly 400 feet, yet another industry high. It also has both depth and temperature sensors, allowing the drone to keep track of critical issues before they become problematic.

The drone does all of this by recording footage or images on a 32G memory system.

While a controller comes with the purchase of the drone, you can also control the device via the Geneinno phone application too. This works for both iOS and Android smartphones.

This drone currently retails for $1,700.

Price Range:

The prices for the Geneinno devices are all pretty reasonable and industry standard. Underwater drone brands typically charge similar prices for their top machines, so it’s no shock that a newer or more advanced device might cost more.

They sell a cameraless model called the Trident that is compatible with a Go Pro add on. This is mostly a water scooter. It is sold for around $700.

Their top model, the Titan, sells for $2,600. Meanwhile, as previously mentioned, the Poseidon I sells for $1,700.

The drones and scooter all have a warranty but it varies. A lot of the warranty is limited, with some parts being guaranteed for 6 months while others are 12 months. You can full the full drone warranty here.

Meanwhile, you can view the sea scooter warranty here.

RELATED READS

• Best Underwater Drones