Moza AirCross S Review: A Gimbal for Mirrorless Cameras, Smartphones, and ActionCams
Moza AirCross S is the all-in-one gimbal for smartphones, action cameras, and mirrorless cameras. The gimbal is made for hobbyists, people looking to create content on the go, and professionals who want a lighter version of the DJI RS Series.
Most often, the hybrid gimbals have a lot of corners cut to fit everything in a small package. But Moza is known to bring innovations to their products. So, it will be an exciting experience testing this hybrid gimbal.
So, here is my take on Moza AirCross S.
Let’s Inspect!
Summary
Pros
- Excellent price
- Lightweight and efficient design
- 3 motors for complete control over the footage.
- Buttery smooth footage with light mirrorless cameras, action cameras, and smartphones
- Easy to carry thanks to the included carrying case
- Useful screen to easily configure the gimbal
- Modes to make videos interesting
Cons
- Smartphone app is not very interactive
- You will feel vibration at certain angles with heavy cameras
- Battery is not replaceable
Moza AirCross S – Price
Price is one of the strong sides of the gimbal. The cost of the gimbal is just 259$. It is an excellent device and supports a wide range of cameras, but has its limitations. So, I recommend carefully reading the specs and features before making a purchase decision.
Moza AirCross S – Unboxing
Moza has always been pretty good at packing their products. So, let’s unbox this Moza AirCross S. The packaging looks nice, and inside we have the soft carrying case, which packs all the contents. 
Opening the zipper will reveal the Moza AirCross S. Moreover, we have a small tripod, Arca Swiss quick-release plate, smartphone clamp, charger, user guide, L-Bracket, Camera Control Cable, and bag inserts. It has quite a lot of handy things that are beneficial for the overall performance and portability of the gimbal.
Appearance and Build Quality
At first sight, Moza Aicross S looks quite nice and feels solid in hand. The design is very ergonomic and easy to use. Moreover, its foldable design makes it even more portable and compact. In many ways, it looks like a regular smartphone gimbal on steroids. It has three motors with an easy locking mechanism on each arm of the gimbal.
The rest of the controls are around the grip. In the middle, we have a small screen with a couple of buttons on sides, joystick on the left, and a trigger button on the back side of the grip. All the buttons and controls are perfectly placed around the hand. The ¼ thread is under the hand grip, unlike the Moza Mini MX thread placement.
The construction is a combination of metal and plastic. It’s lightweight, and the quality is not too convincing, but again, the top priority is portability, light, and ease to use.
Overall, Moza AirCross S is a lovely hybrid gimbal with satisfactory build quality, great design, and ergonomic controls.
Technical Specifications
- Stabilization: 3-axis stabilization
- Pan, Roll, Tilt: 360, 330, 330
- Weight: 750 grams
- Payload: 1500 grams
- Battery: 100mAh
- App: Moza Master
Configuring the Moza AirCross S
Let’s turn on the camera and configure and tune it accordingly. The Sony A7c is a rather heavy camera, so balancing and tuning the motors is extremely important. The good news is that most options are accessible through the small screen on the gimbal, which is quite handy. Use the joystick and the button on the right side to toggle through the menu and adjust the gimbal accordingly.
Moza AirCross S has both automatic and manual tuning options. In my case, automatic always failed to deliver the desired result, so I will recommend using the manual mode. It is something that a firmware update can fix but till then, manually tune the gimbal.
You can control the gimbal with the controls on the handle, smartphone app, and you can also use a wired interface to remotely trigger the camera. One thing I love is the button placement. They are easy to access and far from accidental touches. The trigger button has dual functionality. It can automatically turn on the selfie mode and reset the angles to default.
Moza AirCross S – Performance
Let’s start with the Sony A7c; it is my primary camera. The footage was smooth, and I believe the gimbal will keep its composure in most situations. I was able to hold the gimbal for a long time because of its weight without feeling any discomfort.
The gimbal is perfect with a smartphone. It is much easier to control and feels very light in hand. Before attaching it to the gimbal, turn off the stabilization in the smartphone, it will let you have fairly better-quality video, and you will be able to add software stabilization in post-production. Vertical mode is perfect for a smartphone and will be a favorite feature for social media content creators.
The results are similar to action cameras. The video is buttery smooth, given the remarkable stabilization of GoPro. I didn’t notice much difference between quality with and without the gimbal. The difference was well visible in budget action cameras like Akaso Brave 8 and SJ Cam SJ10Pro.
MOza Moza AirCross S is a perfect gimbal for point-and-shoot cameras. The gimbal makers often neglect the categories of cameras. The results with Sony ZV1 were exceptional because of its lightweight and compact size.
Moreover, the gimbal has a mode like Dolly Zoom, Inception, timelapse, selfie, etc., to make your videos more interesting.
Overall, I think Moza AirCross is a non-pro gimbal. It is an ideal product for smartphones, action cameras, and point-and-shoot cameras. You can use a mirrorless camera with a small lens, but you will feel vibrations and stuttering at certain angles like I was experiencing with my Sony A7c.
So, if you are buying the gimbal to use with a big camera body, then Moza should not be your priority.
Moza AirCross S – Battery
It has a 1000mAh battery that can run for 12 hours. It is possible to get this number with a smartphone or an action camera but will not exceed 3 hours when a heavy camera is mounted.
Drawbacks
- Vibration under heavy load
- Does not support big cameras
- Not waterproof
- Non-replaceable battery
Verdict
In the end, if you plan to use the gimbal with smartphones, action cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, and light mirrorless cameras, then the gimbal is good. But if you have a Sony A7 or a similar camera, then go for a bigger gimbal like Moza AirCross.
Moza AirCross S is not for professional videographers. But it can be an excellent option for hobbyists and small content creators looking for an affordable and lightweight gimbal with amazing stabilization.
Watch our YouTube review to learn more about the hybrid gimbal.
https://geni.us/MOZA-AirCross-S
