Imagine the thrill and exhilaration of being able to combine your drone-flying hobby with your boating hobby. Picture being able to take your drone out for a spin when you’re at the beach and having a relaxing swim out in the summer sun. What if you could go out surfing and have a cool quadcopter fly overhead, capturing and immortalizing all of your moves in high-quality photos and HD video?
Surely, all of that sounds fantastic. Fortunately, these aren’t things that you need be reduced to merely standing there and dreaming about. You can actually make them all a reality.
Of course, for jobs like those, not just any old drone will do. To get the perfect shots of all of your waterborne adventures, you’ll need a waterproof drone with a camera. You’ll need a quadcopter that can not only take a good, hard splash of water without ceasing to function but also one with a quality camera that will make exposing it to the elements for the sake of the perfect shot worthwhile.
With the great profusion of drones out there on the market, how can you be sure that you’re getting the best one for your particular needs? How can you be sure that the drone you choose is truly the best that can be had in the areas of durability and water resistance, photo and video quality, speed and maneuverability, flight range, and battery quality?
That is why we’re here for you. We’ve extensively scoured the drone world for the very best waterproof drone with a camera in all the areas that matter, and we can tell you without hesitation that the absolute best is the SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus. Here’s all you need to know about why we’ve chosen this as the best model available.
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SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus Specifications
| Product: |   |
|---|---|
| Specifications: | • 1.6-kilometer maximum flight range • 4S 15.2V 5200mAh LiHV battery • Three-level battery warnings • 90-minute battery charging time • Totally waterproof • 5.8 GHz remote-control transmission system • Three-axis gimbal 4K camera • Power-flip function when floating on water • Four different flight modes • 72 kilometers per hour maximum flight speed • 18-20 minutes of flight time |
SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus Pros List
• Completely waterproof and can even float and do flips on the water and be submerged for a short time
• Fairly long battery life (20 minutes when flying and 23 minutes while hovering) means less time recharging
• Fairly good flight range (up to 1.6 kilometers) means less time watching the battery
• High flight speed for fast maneuvering while airborne
• Excellent high-resolution 4K camera for taking quality pictures and videos
• 4 flight modes—GPS, Smart Cruise, ATTI, and Smooth—for a variety of flying experiences
• Functions under all kinds of weather conditions, so you can fly it in the rain
SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus Cons List
• Very expensive, making the drone out of range for most budgets
• Remote control not waterproof, so you can’t get it wet
• No internal storage; requires a separate SD card
Overall Ratings
Bottom Line
As long as you’re willing to pay the steep price for this drone—which can range from $1,500 to $2,000—you’ll be given an astonishingly impressive array of qualities to play with. The Splash Drone 3 Plus’ waterproofing is simply superb. It’s extremely difficult to find anything better anywhere on the market in this regard.
It can function flawlessly under heavy rain, snow, or virtually any kind of extreme weather conditions. You can even submerge this thing underwater and still retain functionality. Of course, it can’t be submerged very deep underwater or for a very long time—which is about all that keeps it from attaining perfection in this category—but its capabilities are still highly impressive.
The drone’s camera captures images and video in exquisite 4K and comes with a 3-axis gimbal to enable mid-flight stabilization. It is also FPV-enabled, making it the very best waterproof drone with a camera that you’ll be likely to find. It has a remarkably fast top speed of 72 kph and four various flight modes to satisfy the desires of amateur and experienced drone fliers alike. Its maximum flight distance and the total flight time achieved by its 4S 15.2V 5200mAh LiHV battery are both respectable. Although the SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus is very expensive, it’s an excellent drone. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
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Durability/Water Resistance
This is the main quality with which we are concerned in this review, and the Splash Drone 3 Plus performs phenomenally here. We’re not exaggerating when we say that it’s totally waterproof. Fly it in the most unforgiving rain, and you’ll see for yourself that its internal workings will remain completely dry and undamaged.
Perhaps most impressively of all, this thing can actually dive underwater, albeit at the shallow maximum depth of only about 600 millimeters. We also strongly advise not keeping the drone underwater for long. Still, how many other drones can boast of the ability to do such things?
It’s been tested and shown to work at temperatures ranging from 14 degrees F to about 104 degrees F, so you can fly it anywhere from the tundra to the desert. It works as well on land as on sea and can be made to float on water and flip from side to side while floating. Simply put, it’s virtually everything you could ask for in a waterproof drone.
Photo/Video Quality
The SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus comes with a 4K camera. That means that it can take photos and shoot videos in ultra-high definition. That should really be the end of the discussion when talking about photo and video quality.
As we’ve pointed out before when discussing other kinds of camera drones, a 4K camera sits at the summit of all good drone cameras. If you care about the quality of the photos snapped or the videos recorded by your drone, you should always strive to get one with a 4K camera.
The Splash Drone 3 Plus’ camera comes with one other nifty feature: a 3-axis gimbal. This allows the camera to automatically steady itself even as the drone flies at top speed.
Speed and Maneuverability
Though we intended to draw special attention to the Splash Drone 3 Plus’ powerful camera and excellent waterproofing, we must admit that if this model truly shines in any one area, it is in the area of its flight speed and general flying quality.
First, it can reach a top speed of 72 kph when not obstructed by wind and when in its ATTI mode. This is right up there with the very fastest drones that are currently available on the commercial market. The drone’s ATTI mode is one of its four flight modes. It ensures that the drone remains flying at some fixed altitude regardless of the actions of the pilot. This is very useful for beginning pilots.
Also useful for beginners is the drone’s Smart Cruise mode, which strives to keep the drone’s speed and trajectory relatively constant. GPS mode allows the drone to fly and hover as GPS sensors pinpoint its location. This is very useful not just for keeping track of the drone but also for using it to locate lost objects or stranded swimmers out at sea.
Lastly, there is Smooth mode, a feature designed for use by more skilled pilots. It allows them to use the full range of controls, including joysticks, to pilot the drone. This impressive list of features and flight modes makes the Splash Drone 3 Plus highly maneuverable and certainly sets it apart from the vast bulk of waterproof quadcopters.
Flight Range
This drone’s maximum flight range is 1.6 kilometers. This should be more than sufficient for most ordinary purposes. Indeed, this is a much greater range than you’ll get with the vast majority of drones. The only major class of drones with longer flight ranges than the Splash Drone 3 Plus are specially designed long-range drones like the DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Therefore, the Splash Drone 3 Plus earns high marks here as well.
Battery Quality
On a single charge, the Splash Drone 3 Plus’ battery can last for approximately 20-23 minutes—23 minutes when the drone is simply hovering in the air but closer to 20 minutes when it is actively flying. All things considered, this is quite a long time. There are a small number of drones with significantly longer maximum flight times than this, but there are many more that have significantly shorter flight times. The battery takes about 90 minutes to fully charge, which is a bit long. Considering the long flight time that you’ll get from a charge, though, it’s acceptable.
What do other reviews say?
Most other reviewers generally find themselves enthralled by the SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus’ many flight modes and capabilities. It’s common to see them take it to the beach and subject its waterproofing to stringent tests. The large number of accessories that come with the model also attracts a great deal of attention. This often necessitates long, extensive, and detailed reviews. This includes this helpful two-part review, of which the first part is here and the second part is here.
Conclusion
Whether you plan to catch some good surfing footage, depict the heart of a wild snowstorm during the winter, help find swimmers lost at sea, or even go chasing storms, the SwellPro Splash Drone 3 Plus is the drone for you. Its extreme durability, excellent waterproofing, top-quality camera, GPS capabilities, flight modes, and ability to function in extreme weather make it suitable for all of the above-mentioned activities and more.
Although it’s larger, much more expensive, and much more multifunctional than many of the simpler camera drones that we have discussed in the past, the Splash Drone 3 Plus belongs to an elite class. As expensive as it is, it truly is the best waterproof drone with a camera out there today. Get it here on Amazon, and then come back sometime and check out some more of our product reviews and best-in-class lists to further acquaint yourself with the best drones in each category.