CHASING Dory Underwater Drone - Palm-Sized 1080p Full HD Underwater Drone with Camera for Real Time Viewing, APP Remote Control and Portable with Carrying Case, WiFi Buoy and 49 ft Tether, ROV

Topline: I've had my Dory out three times at Lake Michigan and it's performed wonderfully each time. For anybody interested in an rov but unwilling to spend a huge amount of money, this is a great choice. For those who don't know, the Dory comes with the submarine, a 50 foot tether, a buoy that emits a wifi signal that you will use with a mobile device to control the rov, and a few other odds and ends (e.g. extra o-rings). It's very easy to use - just download the app (available on iOS or android), plug the tether into the buoy and the submarine, sign on to the buoy's wifi with the password that Chasing provides, and your device will automatically connect to the submarine. From there it's go time! In my three dives so far, I've used my Dory from the shoreline on Lake Michigan, from calm waters to moderate chop in a 5 knot northeast wind. It's generally easy to control from my phone, even without the remote you can buy as an add on. The app is simple to use and the controls are very effective. From it you can easily calibrate Dory's internal sensors and even take data on water temperature/depth. Control becomes more difficult as the wave conditions get rougher, but that's to be expected and would be true for any tethered rov (which they all are). The three vertical motors go a long way towards making this little submarine more stable than it otherwise would be. The wifi signal stretches out 50 feet, so along with the tether, you have up to 100 feet of movement in the horizontal plane, and 50 feet of vertical travel. This has been more than enough to see all sort of things from the shore and would be awesome from a boat. That said, 50 feet is the vertical limit, so if you want to go deeper another choice would be best. Three critiques, none of which are dealbreakers in any sense for me: 1) it would be nice if Chasing included some sort of simple safety line to link the buoy to shore (or boat) - you wouldn't want to buoy to accidently float out of wifi range - if that happens you'll be getting wet rescuing your submarine. Alternatively, it would be nice if the buoy had a molded plastic ring or something to connect a line to. This is easy to jury-rig, with a kid's fishing rod or a kite reel and a small float or something, but I'd rather have the engineers figure out something optimal. 2) Similarly, it would be very helpful to have a secondary secure link between the tether and the rov, i.e. a second spot to secure the tether beyond the connection point. I'm leery of lifting the submarine by the tether, but sometimes this becomes necessary when putting it in/taking it out of the water. 3) A tether reel would be really helpful. All in all, I love the Dory, its price point is great for what you get in the world of rovs, and it's perfect for my use case.

After dropping my car keys at the marina, I located the keys using my GoPro camera. BUT I wanted a real-time view to make the recovery. I also have an interest in underwater photography and thought this would be a great excuse to purchase an underwater drone. The GOOD Things: • The video is good for a 1K resolution (focus range is limited). • The 50 ft tether w/buoy meets my needs. • The small size makes for easy transit for most any situation. The BAD things: • This particular Chasing Dory had marginal WiFi connections from the first use in water. The buoy was less than 3 feet from me. • Today, the Dory stopped communicating via WiFi. The WiFi connection is what caused me to decide to return the Dory. DESIGN COMMENTS: • The tethering with a buoy is good for typical consumer uses. • A physical controller would be better than the virtual one used in the Chasing App. • I lost several short recordings when the WiFi disconnected. I was able to recover some, but not most. When WiFi is lost, the recording stops but the app record button appears "active". Having a removable SD Card would be better. • The WiFi password is "12345678" AND there is no way to change it. • The virtual controls are supposed to be programable. There are no instructions how to change other than from "Japanese" to "USA". Strange way to describe it since Chasing is a Chinese company. By trial and error in clear water, I could see which virtual control did what. • The charger power supply cable has no locking ring. Since it is the same type plug as the tether, it should be easy to include one. Without the locking ring, the charger connection to the Dory can easily work free. OPERATIONAL COMMENTS: • In clear water, the propellers cause little disturbance unless the Dory is "on the bottom". • In turbid water the propellers stir up lots of loose sediment. This is not a complaint, rather a situational constraint. I overcame it by attaching an adhesive GoPro base to the top of the Dory. Adapting a 12 ft painters extension pole to the GoPro base, I was able to keep the Dory propellers OFF but record with the camera and light ON. Sadly, this is where the Chasing Dory's WiFi totally stopped. The battery was at 100% this morning. It was used for about 15 minutes this afternoon. I do believe that this particular Dory has some electrical faults and potential sealing issues. Hence, I am returning this Dory. I will be searching for a more robust solution for my underwater photography.

I just got the package two days ago, so excited to have an underwater drone and I can’t wait to try it! I really enjoy taking pictures and videos in a special angle, before this one, I’d got a drone that can fly, instead of diving, and I did bring it with me every time when I traveled with my friends, it did come out a lot of footage and it is so fun to see the world from high above the sky. However, it would be nice to explore the world in a cool way, why not try to see what s in the river? This drone is a great choice and now becomes one of my favorites, it is easy to carry, easy to set up, just connect it to my phone, put it into the water and we are good to go! From its HD camera, we can see how fascinating the underwater view of the river near our neighborhood! This drone has a floater that using wifi to connect to my phone and sending the signal to the drone via a wire that connects to it, easy to control like a tiny sub, taking pictures and videos and say Hi to aquatic living creatures! Also, it could be a great bath toy in my bathtub haha!

Don't get me wrong, just because I gave it 4 stars. I like it! It's pretty neat. Fair amount of tech for the price. I do think the "Dory" name cheapens it as a kids toy, but that's just my personal opinion. I almost didn't buy it just because of the name (my apologies to person that made the decision on that name). The case for the Chasing Dory is really nice, but it only holds the sub and not the buoy or tether. First run was in my Koi pond and they seems to be pretty chill with it swimming with them. The movements is great, and it can move pretty fast. It does have a few areas that can be improved. After my first videos I tried to view in the media but it showed nothing there. I used refresh a few times, but still no video. Then I quickly did another video and it also didn't show up. Even after restarting the unit then the videos didn't show up. The next day when I started it then I was able to see the video clips. I changed some of the settings, but the next time I ran it the settings were back to the original. The main issue with the on screen controllers it is pretty easy to accidentally move up/down when you were only trying to pan left/right. I have ordered the $99 controller. The app has Low and High speeds, but my opinion is low is way too low, and high it too touchy. I'm believe the hardware controller will improve this. WiFi range is disappoint. I have flying drones that cost less that have 100 times the distance. Now of course you don't need 5,000 feet range on this unit, but 50 feet (phone to buoy) is pretty limited if you are on the shore of a small lake. The buoy could use a 50' recovery line to shore. I can see it drifting way more than 50 feet from shore, and then you'd lose control and would have to go swimming. The buoy does not have a tie down point for connecting any recovery line. You might be able to glue, stick Velcro or make some click to attach a line to it. The 2MP camera is just ok. A lot of it's issue is due to compression of the video files. Still, these are not super critical issues, but thought I'd mention and I'm sure that future updates will solved some of these minor issues.

Worked good (one time) once I got everything calibrated. Video is good but the lights need to be brighter. During the 2nd use, the wifi connection to my phone was unstable. The same thing happened with two different phones. Item was returned. Here is an update on my review. This is quoted from the seller: "Dear friend， I am very sorry for this situation. We have always hoped to provide consumers with the best products, but sometimes there may be some collisions in the expressway, and it is difficult for us to control these situations. See that you have already made a return. We are very sorry about this. At the same time, I really hope that you can help me and delete bad reviews for me, because this will easily mislead consumers and also affect our sales. So, can you give me a little help? Kind regards， Samuel "

Chasing dory underwater drone is an amazing drone. It is lightweight so it is easy to transport. The video and photos are beautiful and clear. The headlights on it are bright and light up dark waters allowing you to see so much! The drone is very responsive to the controls. It is wonderful that you control it with your phone. It has a nice long connection cord so it can explore a large area. Battery fully charged in 2 hours and lasts about an hour run time per charge. Only had it about a week, but have used it daily and are very happy with the purchase.

Was decent to operate. Kinda of spazy on its controls but what do you expect for $500? But my problem and is where it's being sent back is the video quality sucks. That attached video is not 1080p

Your not paying for some cheap plastic!! The Dory drone is heavy and well constructed!! Just opened my new Chasing Dory package and I am amazed at the build quality and the packaging. You will never receive a damaged drone on shipping from Chasing unless damaged in transit. Brings many 220V and 110V adapters. Brings extra o rings for the connectors. Only thing I wish they would of given was a drying cloth with the Dory and Chasing Logo, but they provided a small travel case included!!!! Amazing quality and will be looking forward to buying more from Chasing Innovations!!!

If you just want an underwater drone for poking around at your local body of water this one is fun. Not 4K but 1080p and that’s actually fine. Easy to connect to the phone and easy to control. Wishing the buoy had something I could attach it to my boat with but some epoxy and a ring will solve that. The drone itself is really compact. Like travel size compact. The setup for inside a small backpack and I can see myself taking this up to small lakes while hiking to see what’s under the water. Maybe you’ll find a lost city. You’ll probably just see a trout. And that’s ok. If you’re on a budget I’d recommend this one. If you’ve got another few hundred or more to spend, get a larger model with longer battery life. This one has an hour in it but if you’re careful you can baby it and maximize the life. Internal memory is sufficient for the 1080p. Recommended.

No funciona correctamente, al encenderlo se va hasta el fondo y no se puede elevar ni matener a niveles intermedios, solo se eleva a superficie al apagarlo, lo devolví atendiendo instrucciones del vendedor (COMORO TECH), el paquete ya llegó a su destino pero el proveedor ya no me responde para hacer el reembolso de los gastos de envío y el costo total de la compra