Sam KieldsenGearFeb 1, 2025 9:00 AM
Review: Hohem iSteady M7 Mobile Gimbal
This premium gimbal shoots and tracks smooth, steady footage even with the most unwieldy of smartphones.Photograph: Sam KieldsenSave this storySaveSave this storySaveTriangleUpBuy NowMultiple Buying Options Available$269 at Amazon$269 at Hohem$269 at B&H Photo Video£299 at Amazon
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Rating:
9/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDRemovable touchscreen remote. Great stabilization. Tracks subjects with any camera app. Compatible with bulkier phones. Built-in extension rod. Highly customizable gimbal movement.TIREDTouchscreen controls can be awkward. Spotty Hohem Joy app. Less portable than fully folding alternatives.
For vloggers, aspiring filmmakers, and other content creators, today’s smartphones are more than up to the job of main video camera. Film director Danny Boyle is even using an iPhone 15 to shoot his upcoming zombie sequel 28 Years Later. To buff their footage to a truly professional sheen, however, even the most capable smartphones benefit from a helping hand. Boyle’s iPhone appears to be heavily modified with all sorts of add-ons such as multi-thousand-dollar cinema lenses.
But for those of us operating on a smaller budget, a mobile three-axis gimbal is the ideal smartphone accessory to take phone footage to the next level, by automatically stabilizing handheld footage and removing shakes and jitters far more effectively than any onboard image stabilization system. And after spending some time with it, I’m delighted to say that the Hohem iSteady M7 is the most advanced and feature-packed smartphone stabilizer I’ve ever used.
Photograph: Sam Kieldsen
A Big Gimbal For Big Phones
The iSteady M7’s chunky, utilitarian design and bold color scheme may not appeal to everyone, and it can’t fully fold down like the pocket-size Insta360 Flow or DJI Osmo Mobile (WIRED Recommends 8/10). It can be semi-folded into a flattened state for transport, whereupon it fits snugly in a hard carry case that comes with it, but it’s larger (13.2 x 6.2 x 2.2 inches when folded) and heavier (25.6 ounces including its mini tripod attachment) than most of the gimbals I’ve used.
The upside of that extra heft is its ability to carry and stabilize a bulkier payload. The iSteady M7’s large grip and powerful gimbal motor mean it can accommodate phones up to 17.6 ounces in weight and up to 0.49 inches thick, which means even folding phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 are compatible. It also means you can kit your phone out with accessories like cases or lens mods and still enjoy full stabilization. Most gimbals can only hold phones up to 10.5 ounces in weight.
Photograph: Sam Kieldsen
I found the stabilization itself to be flawless—and flexible. Some manual balancing of my iPhone 13 was required, but only via a simple slide along one axis, and once done the gimbal does the rest, automatically leveling the phone and then following my movements according to whichever of the preset modes I was using. Pan Follow keeps the gimbal locked along the tilt and pitch axes, Pan Tilt Follow keeps it locked only on the pitch axis and POV follows your movements on all three axes. There’s also a custom mode, where the user can pick the three axes they want movement on, and follow speed can also be adjusted manually.
Hohem iSteady M7
Rating: 9/10
$269 at Amazon$269 at Hohem$269 at B&H Photo Video£299 at Amazon
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED
There’s more going for the iSteady M7 than its stabilization, though. The ergonomics are solid, with the grip feeling comfy and secure in my hand, the buttons and other controls (which include a handy customizable wheel that can be set to smoothly pull focus or input gimbal movement) are all well placed. There’s a 7.9-inch extension rod that telescopes out of the handle to give the user greater working distance between themselves and their phone. There are two spots to mount third-party accessories via a standard tripod thread, plus a tripod mount on the bottom and two USB-C ports. One of these ports can be used to charge the gimbal’s internal battery, and one can be used to top up the battery of the phone currently mounted, effectively turning the gimbal into a power bank.
Photograph: Sam Kieldsen
AI Tracking Smarts
The M7 also comes with a detachable module that serves two functions. First, it’s an LED fill light that can illuminate subjects, and offers user-customizable brightness and color. Second, its onboard camera and “AI function” allows it to recognize human subjects and track them with the mounted phone, no matter which camera app is being used. This tracking ability (which I’ve previously seen done in a near-identical way on the Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI gimbal) is brilliant for solo vlogging, as it allows the gimbal to track the vlogger whether using it handheld or set on its mini tripod a distance away. Because the gimbal spins through 360 degrees, I was even able to walk all the way around it while it tracked me.
Photograph: Sam Kieldsen
Hohem iSteady M7
Rating: 9/10
$269 at Amazon$269 at Hohem$269 at B&H Photo Video£299 at Amazon
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED
On some gimbals, subject tracking is only available with certain apps, but the iSteady M7’s module takes it out of apps’ hands—so it’ll work with any camera app you choose. That’s a huge advantage whether you want to shoot social media using TikTok or professional footage using the Blackmagic Camera app. Hohem does offer its own companion camera app, named Joy, but I wasn’t overly enamored with it, due to some shoddy English translations and design choices. It works fine in general, but I imagine few people will choose to use it over the hundreds of alternatives the AI module makes available.
But the iSteady M7’s most innovative feature is its ingenious touchscreen module. This 1.4-inch LCD sits on the front on the handle and lets you adjust settings through a series of menu screens. That’s fine in itself (although the small size of the screen does make engaging with the UI a bit tricky at times, particularly for those with larger fingers), but the best part is that it detaches from the handle to work as a remote control. Working to a distance of about 10 meters, the module allows the user to move the gimbal manually, stop/start the camera and, thanks to the AI module, even preview the camera view while tracking.
Photograph: Sam Kieldsen
It’s not something I’ve seen in any other gimbals (although the new Insta360 Flow 2 Pro does support remote control via an Apple Watch or second smartphone), and yet another reason to consider this full-size gimbal over smaller pocketable alternatives.
Hohem has really pushed things forward with the iSteady M7, packing it with features that set it aside from its competitors and stake its claim as the most advanced heavy-duty smartphone gimbal around.
Photograph: Sam Kieldsen
Hohem iSteady M7
Rating: 9/10
$269 at Amazon$269 at Hohem$269 at B&H Photo Video£299 at Amazon
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED
$269 at Amazon$269 at Hohem$269 at B&H Photo Video