While most drones and cameras are known for their specs, many aren’t really know for their aesthetics. Challenging the norm is the PowerEgg X, an egg-shaped drone, camera and tripod set. Its sleek design, matching the company’s previous eye-catching drones the PowerDolphin and PowerRay, certainly caught our eye at CES 2020.
Wrapped up in a literal egg shape case, the PowerEgg X can be “cracked open” on one side (not actually broken) to unveil a 3-axis gimbal stabilized camera. The shell perfectly hides this camera, although I would have preferred an extra protective sphere around it. Opening the egg from the other side reveals both the battery chamber and side attachment adapters. The process of “cracking open” the egg was simple enough, and the wonder that this egg-shaped piece of tech hid a camera never dimmed for me.
Although we couldn’t test the drone or camera at CES 2020, PowerVision had a demonstration for the PowerEgg X’s weather resistance capability. Unlike other drones, the wings are attachable/detachable. This design choice meant that a protective shell could be placed around the egg itself with the wings attached afterwards. This, on top of its wide wingspan, allows the PowerEgg X to fly in more inclement weather than other drones. The demo unit flying through and hovering under a simulated waterfall surely captured unit shots no other drone could.
Whereas the drone mode for the PowerEgg X was accessed through attaching supplied propellers to the body, attaching the included mini-tripod or handgrip turned the PowerEgg X into a portable vlogging setup or camcorder. Switching between orientations was easy enough, and the curvature of the egg made the camcorder mode particularly comfortable.
Although we weren’t able to test out these features, the PowerEgg X does have the following interesting specs and software:
- 4K 60FPS UHD camera with 1080p real-time image transmission to the phone.
- In drone mode, it has a flight time of around 30 minutes, but has a much longer battery life for handheld/tripod modes (3.5 hours).
- AI Face Recognition can be used to track and follow subjects. In a demonstration at CES, participants would be on a swing going back and forth, but the camera (without human assistant) smoothly followed the subject.
At an expected price point of $800 for the basic kit, and $1250 for the full kit (coming with water landing legs for on the water video capture), the PowerEgg X is about equivalent in price to a drone, a point and shoot, and a camcorder. Whether multi-purpose models like this end up replacing specialized camera equipment is up in the air, but based on our testing, its safe to say the PowerEgg X has enough unique features that make it worth a look for those interested. Besides its egg-shape that is!
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