The Gladius Mini S is easy to set up and use. With a little practice, you can quickly master its controls and feel confident in slow-moving bodies of water. While the Mini S doesn't have the advanced movement of the larger M2, it still is very capable and should be more than enough for most users. The camera is more intended to help you navigate around and take photos or videos for reference or memories, but not so much for its quality.

Key Features
  • Portable underwater drone with easy controls and advanced features
  • Patented anti-stuck motor
  • Can be used to find fishing spots, photography, safety inspections, and exploring
  • Supports the mounting a grabber claw, sports cameras, lights, and more
  • Direct-connect to remote controller prevents disconnections
  • Can run up to 3-4 hours in normal use
  • 4K EIS Camera
  • Two 1200 Lumen lights
Specifications
  • Brand: Chasing
  • Camera: 4K resolution, 1/2.3 SONY CMOS, EIS, f1.8 lens
  • Speed: 4 knots (2 m/s)
  • Weight: 6lb
  • Range: Max depth 100 meters, Max horizontal shooting radius up to 200 meters
  • Connectivity: Direct tether to remote controller
  • Battery: 2 x 4800mAh, Up to 4 Hours
  • Storage : Included 64GB removable Micro SD Card
  • First-Person View (FPV): Yes, via the Chasing app
Pros
  • Simple to learn and use controls
  • Latency-free live-view of the camera when connected to the Chasing app
  • Drone is relatively portable and can fit in backpacks
  • Optional grab arm and other accessories add more features
  • Its two lights are bright and help you see as you navigate
Cons
  • Setup and teardown requires plenty of space and time
  • Controller is bulky and not compact
  • Phone/tablet mounting bracket on controller feels like a cheap after thought
  • Finding a good body of water to launch, operate, and retrieve the drone from is the biggest limitation
Buy This Product
Chasing Gladius Mini S

The Gladius Mini S is Chasing's latest consumer underwater ROV. It's a highly maneuverable drone that is fast and easy to control. Featuring a 12M 4K EIS camera, it can help you find good fishing spots, assist with search and rescue missions, conduct maintenance and surveying, or just be a fun way to discover uncharted depths.

The built-in features, including its camera and lights, are impressive, but you can also add on a number of accessories such as a remote grab-handle, additional lights, or larger cameras like a Go-Pro. Currently retailing for $1199, the Mini S is Chasing's mid-range drone and is one of the best semi-pro underwater ROVs for around $1000.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - What's Included

The drone comes with a 100m base tether that gives users a real-time live feed of its camera and sensor readings to your connected smartphone or tablet via their app. With a very similar control layout and information system to what you'd get with aerial drones, the Mini S is easy to operate and has a very simple learning curve.

Whether you're using this as a professional tool or as a hobbyist, the Mini S is very capable, innovative, and surprisingly practical ...under the right conditions. Similar to most other underwater ROVs, including the Chasing M2 I reviewed last year, the Mini S has a number of practical limitations inherent to this category of drones which you should be aware of before purchasing one. While it's simple enough to operate, compared to aerial drones, it has additional steps in its setup and deployment and also requires additional planning and considerations in the locations where it can be used effectively. Taking these considerations into mind will help you determine if it's a good buy or not.

Why Do You Need an Underwater ROV?

Compared to aerial drones, underwater ROVs are far less common and have much more niche applications. But within those niches, these drones can be very useful and very fun, even in the hands of a beginner.

About five minutes into my first deployment of the Chasing Mini S and I found a massive school of fish passing by the front of the camera. I let off the controls, letting the drone sit in place, and soon even more fish began to surround the drone from all over. It was an incredible experience and literally let me discover a whole new world that only moments ago, I had no idea even existed.

Moving slowly, just a few feet forward, I began to move through some float grass where I found more interesting fish swimming about. I later turned around and started following the shore of the lake where I then found a rusting Mountain Dew can and a pair of eyeglasses. This had me wishing I had the optional grab arm attached as I knew this was the perfect application to use it in. The craziest part of this whole experience was how I could still see the bright yellow drone as it traveled about 4-5 feet underwater, but from my perspective above, there were no signs of fish, other living creatures, or anything for that matter in the water.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-5

Aerial drones are also amazing to use and can show you views from a higher perspective, but in many cases (provided you are operating the drone legally and maintaining line of sight), they can only show the same things that you can already look up and see in person. In contrast, I think the more unique part of using and using an underwater drone is how it allows you to not only see things in bodies of water without physically entering them, but also how it allows you to experience the ecosystem as though you were there.

When operating the drone in a relatively clear body of water (which can be surprisingly difficult to find), the Mini S performs well. This can be a great tool to find fish, inspect your hull, or find missing items.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - In the Marsh

Drone Specs

The Mini S is the successor to the Mini. Measuring 400 x 226 x 145mm, this 6lb drone can descend to a max depth of 330ft (100m) at operating temperatures of -10℃~45℃. It has a maximum speed of 2 meters per second (4Kn), and with its two custom 4800 mAh batteries, has a run time of up to four hours in calm water, or one hour at its maximum speed with the two 1200 lumen lights at full brightness.

The Mini S has a total of five thrusters: two vertical and three horizontal. It uses "patented anti-stuck motor technology" that "greatly reduces the probability of the motor getting stuck in the sand, and it works safely and reliably in all kinds of complicated underwater environments". The motors are recessed within the body of the drone. Essentially, they have plastic coverings over the motors that help prevent debris from entering the housing and getting lodged or clogging the area.

The Mini S also has a few other solid improvements over the older Mini including compatibility with the optional Grabber Claw as well as GoPro attachments. If you want a better camera than the built-in one, it's easy to attach most action cameras to the bottom of the Mini S.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-20

Compared to the Gladius M2

I previously reviewed the Chasing M2 which is one of its larger and more industrial drones designed for more professional and industrial applications. Unlike the larger M2, it doesn't appear that the other pro-level Chasing attachments, like many of their lights, laser scaler, sonar, or floodlight are compatible with Mini S, most likely due to the reduced payload of the smaller drone.

While the M2 and Mini S have several identical specs including their max speed, depth, runtime, operating temperatures, and camera, and even use the same controller and tether, the M2 has a much better range of motion thanks to its 8-vectored thrusters. The M2 has omni-movement and can actually roll 360° (side-to-side, forward, and back) and has ±90° pitch and tilt—whereas the Mini S is limited to just ±45°.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-23

In my previous tests, I found these additional thrusters allow the M2 to more precisely navigate around the waters than the Mini S, and is especially helpful in tighter and more awkward areas. This isn't a deal-breaker for the Mini S, but something to consider depending on your needs.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - Smart Phone App

A more important benefit to the additional pitch and tilt of the M2 over the Mini S, however, is its ability to directly look down or up at something. This can be especially helpful for looking directly down at something without needing to actually descend to that depth to see it. You can also better avoid colliding as you can see where you can see the path you're descending to. Even at lower depths, facing the camera directly below you gives you the ability to track and follow targets like fish from further away and more inconspicuous locations which are perhaps less likely to scare them off.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-24

Operation and Setup

The Mini S also uses a tether cable, which connects directly to its back side, to communicate data from its sensors and a live view from its camera back to its connected controller. Just as with the Gladius M2, the controller offers inputs for direction, power, manipulating the optional grab arm, and recording or taking a photograph. You will need to pair a phone or tablet with its Chasing app installed in order to see a live camera view, change camera settings, or view its heading and other sensor readings.

The movement controls are very similar to a DJI drone. If you're familiar with that layout, this will be very easy to pick up. Provided that the water current isn't moving too much, the drone handles and moves around with confidence and can hold its position well when no user inputs are made.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - Direct Connection

Again, the controller is identical to its other ROVs, and I would say is the area where I would most want to see changes in a future model. It's big, yellow, and while the all-plastic build doesn't necessarily feel cheap, the phone/tablet attachment bracket certainly does. The bracket provides tilt adjustments and can support many mid-size tablets. A smaller sun hood is also included, but it will only support phones. Because it relies on your phone or tablet as a viewfinder, you will be at the mercy of your device's screen brightness and glare too.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-27

The bracket doesn't inspire confidence and feels like it was more of a last-minute addition slapped on. The bigger issue is that it makes the controller even bulkier and harder to pack up as it doesn't fully retract when not in use. It adds about another 2.5 inches to the height of the controller even when the bracket is fully folder. Considering how compact they were able to make the Mini S, the controller's overall design is a letdown.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-28

Because of the Mini S's more portable design, it is far easier to set up on your own. Gladius sells a backpack to store and transport the drone. I was able to repurpose an old camera bag and use its main compartment without any dividers to fit the drone in. It worked surprisingly well. I was even able to fit the 100 meter tether in the laptop compartment.

Interestingly, the Mini S has a small one-and-half-inch cylinder shape sticking up from the top that houses the micro-SD card. It looks like a submarine conning tower that you'd find on a real submarine, but it's rather awkward to have on this drone.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-22

Aside from the micro-SD card enclosure, I'm not sure if it offers any other purpose. Going back to its compact design, the Mini S would actually be far easier to pack in even smaller bags this piece was not present. As such, in my repurposed camera bag, I was unable to also fit the ridiculously bulky controller as well. I can't comment on the effectiveness of the custom backpack offered from Gladius, but I confidently say that the Mini S would feel like a much better-designed product overall if they could remove that cylinder at the top as well offer a more compact controller.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-6

It is recommended that you have a large and dry area cleared for the deployment and pack up of the drone. You connect one end of the tether to the drone and one to the controller. You can unravel as much cable as you want, though I find it easiest to start with just enough and then release more after the drone has been deployed out. Finding a location where you can practically use the Mini S still proves to be difficult. If you're just throwing this off the side of a boat, it's fairly simple. On the other hand, if you are launching from a shore, I found the experience to be more difficult. You need to not only find an area of water that is deep enough for the submarine to fully submerge, that was clear of debris, but one where you could also easily pull the Mini S out of when you were done. For smaller bodies of water, if a dock was not available, finding appropriate spots proved to be very tricky. When considering if the Mini S will be a good underwater drone, you should first determine if you have a spot where you can easily use it at.

Package and Accessories

Included in the cheapest Mini S 100m package for $1199 you'll get the drone, remote controller, 64GB SD card, GoPro mounting base, and 100m tether cable. For $100 more you can upgrade to a 200m tether instead. For most uses, the 100m should be more than generous. I was able to take the drone across to the other end of a lake and still had enough reach to freely explore around on that side.

It's also important to note that in either case the Mini S will be limited to a max dive depth of 100m. The added length of the 200m tether will offer more freedom moving around at those depths.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - Packages

For $1499, you can step up to the 100m Flash Pack, which gets you the Grabber Claw B and the Gladius Mini S Backpack. This is a pretty good deal as buying them on their own, the Claw costs $399 and the backpack costs $149. This package will save you $248 and is a no-brainer if you're planning on getting the Claw.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - Accessories

While I have not been able to test the grabber it has potential applications for retrieval missions or manipulating smaller objects. Gladius doesn't officially list its payload, but don't expect to pull heavy chains or a box of lost treasure. You'll be limited to smaller objects like water bottles, glasses, wallets, phones, etc.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-17

Additionally, Chasing also offers two universal tether reels, a mechanical for $399 and an electronic for $699. In my experience, I've never felt the need for an upgraded reel over the back plastic loop one that comes with all packages. In fact, with the amount of sand, dirt, and other debris that gets collected on the tether, I might actually prefer the standard one as it would allow for easier clean-up of the cable after use and perhaps avoid inevitable issues with those other two options. That said, more professional applications which require faster and more precise tether management might appreciate or need these upgraded reels.

Video and Photo Quality

The Gladius Mini S is using the same F1.8 12MP 1/2.3 Sony CMOS sensor that we've seen on their other ROVs. It provides 4K up to 30fps with Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS). The sensor size is the same as GoPros at 1/2.3", though the Mini S might be able to let more light in with its larger aperture of F1.8 compared to the F2.8 of a GoPro. Even with this, though, you will still need to rely on its two 1200-lumen LED lights to really see anything, as any haziness in the water will make things much darker. Unless I was using the Mini S at or just below the surface, I had the lights set to full brightness.

Chasing Gladius Mini S - Camera Settings

The Mini S's camera is capable of capturing semi-decent photos and videos, though I wouldn't call them sharp. Everything looks like it was taken on a budget phone from seven years ago. In part because of the protective layer over the camera keeping it waterproof, safe from bumps and scrapes, and the murkiness of the water itself, the image quality itself will never be incredible.

For example, I found a rusty blue beer can in the water and could observe how it had slowly broken down and how the fish interacted with it. But, even within a few inches, I could never get the camera to get sharp enough to where I could read the ingredients on its side. Under ideal conditions you can get better results, but that won't be the norm.

Chasing Gladius Mini S-16

Final Thoughts

The Gladius Mini S is easy to set up and use. With a little practice, you can quickly master its controls and feel confident in slow-moving bodies of water. While the Mini S doesn't have the advanced movement of the larger M2, it still is very capable and should be more than enough for most users. The camera is more intended to help you navigate around and take photos or videos for reference or memories, but not so much for its quality.

An underwater drone has a more niche use compared to aerial drones and as such, it might not be as practical. While this is a more affordable drone compared to some of its enterprise options, the Mini S is still a very hefty investment.