Hover Air X1: Not perfect
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 07. 2024
- There's been a lot of buzz about this little autonomous drone...or flying camera and a vast majority of that buzz has been extremely positive. And rightfully so, this is an amazing little drone, but after using it for a couple days there are a few things to watch out for.
Main camera: Canon G7X III
Microphone: Blue Yeti
Video Editor: Filmora 13 - Jak na to + styl
Nice review. Folks really need to understand that this is a selfie drone and not a higher-end drone that can fly fast, avoid obstacles, etc. I have DJI drones and knew what to expect with the Hover Air X1, and I'm ok with what it can do. Like you, I think this is a great little drone. A couple of other "cons" that I would throw into the discussion: 1) The limitations of the height sensing tech. It doesn't have the ability to determine its height over uniform surfaces (sand, water, etc.) and it also can't do fly-outs over cliffs / steep drops in elevation because it is always going to want to maintain a maximum altitude above ground of about 50. I haven't tried doing that yet because I've heard others say that the drone descended and either crashed or hovered until "rescued". 2) The price point is a bit steep for the limited functionality. I held off on buying one because I wasn't willing to pay (says the guys with lots of DJI drones 😂) north of $500 for a combo package. I did see a Black Friday deal that had a 2 battery combo for $380, so I went for that and added another battery for $419 total. I still think the price is a bit high, but that's the case for most early adopters. Leaving on a positive note, one more item to add in the "pro" column is that this is a pretty rugged little drone. The general design with the propeller housing means it can bump into most things and either keep on flying or still be able to fly after a tumble/crash. I this the low speed capability benefits that survivability.
Have both Mini 3, and 4 Pro drones, and was thinking of adding this one-person ‘flying camera’ to top off some fun features for added adventure! Having something so small, fits in my pocket for some instant on-the-fly reaction shots! What a great idea! Thanks for your review! Will get one soon!
The sound is surprisingly good.
Thanks. Helpful.
Good information 👍
Yes there is 6:51 Just open the app. and chose "manual mode" while the Hover is in the air, It'll take A sec. to connect, then fly it from the app. or hit the land button after it has control. I use it a lot to just get it up & out, then take control & fly it around manually. I also use the "8BitDo Zero2" for remote control, but the controls in the app. work fine. 8:17 As far as the camera, in the app. within the settings for each flight mode, choose portrait mode. But only res. is 1080.
Good point about it not landing, probably have to wait until the battery runs out if its too high to land in the hand. On dollytrack its difficult for me to stop the Hover Air going away from me to land in my hand😂.👍
The 1st one, no obstacle avoidance: First, it follows your path pretty closely, so if you don't hit a tree, it won't. Second, small twiggy stuff won't stop it - see my walk in the park vid where it bats stuff out the of the way and keeps going. I could hear it strike and a high-pitched buzz for a moment or two but on the footage it's totally smooth still. Regarding speed, yeah, this is for you walking or running, not really for tracking vehicles but you could certainly capture some great shots with it; again think 'flying camera', rather than a tracking drone. I've not experienced any issues of it being too high to reach, and you got the thing in the end, so harm done! Worst case scenario, wait a few mins for the battery to die ;) For me, I have no great interest in 4k, in fact for my own use I just keep a 1080p version as 4K stuff eats up gigabytes of space and slows down my backups etc. What I'd really like is 1. Simply waterproofing. That would triple the value to me, as I hike in rainforests and like everyone, I camp near rivers and beaches etc. 2. The bird's eye view - I'd love it if the gimbal could look up and out while rotating, to capture the view of the area, instead of only straight down. 3. I haven't used the manual mode yet, but the app looks terrible, faint lines on a white background? How can you possibly see that in bright sunlight? Talking of the app, that's my other gripe; I dislike having to turn the drone on in order to access the app. Even if things were greyed out I'd like to be able to browse through the app and get familiar with it, without the drone telling me it's flight mode and ready to take off....
Love the review straight to the point... ❤❤❤
Good job, thanks for the video!
The title seemed a bit misleading - maybe "Darn Near Perfect" would have been better, since you do like the X1 and its features. I've had mine for just over 6 months, and it has done all I hoped it would do, and Zero Zero Robotics continues to release updates and more features. I'm impressed with it even more after the latest update offers Side Track and the ability to control some flight mode with hand gestures. Yep, darn near perfect.
I prefer to fly with 1080p and HDR, one of the filming options when using it. Great point about how to recover it. I haven’t yet used the “birds eye” flight route. I have used others, and do recall a time when it came back, hovering at a high distance. I am 6’1, and I had to use all of my body frame in order to reach up and put my hand into position for it to land. Why in the world would the programmers instruct the unit to behave in this way?
I understand you can use manual mode to tell it to land. But that defeats the purpose of the drone, to fly a predefined pattern and come back easily to the user. I am taking my drone on a two week vacation to the British Virgin Islands and will be leaving the day after tomorrow (2/20/24). This means I will need to practice another few times. Perhaps there is something in settings that I will be able to adjust, but I’m not optimistic. With all of this said, I truly do love this little flying camera. It’s awesome. Just remember one thing…it doesn’t like wind. The stabilization features work incredibly well, but if the wind is over 12 miles an hour, just pick another time to fly it. Otherwise you run a bit of a risk in terms of retrieving it. And who wants to crash their $330 drone?
I got one for Christmas and it is just great. You do have to be sure you take care as you said to understand it’s behavior and plan your shots to prevent getting into a 🥒
Not being able to take control of the camera manually is exactly how mines ended up landing in the water. I was in orbit mode in a park near the beach, it tried to return to me, but I was on a swing and accidently bumped it. Instead of crashing, it flew about 30 feet or more backwards over the ocean. I tried to see if I could connect it manually, but I couldn't. Eventually, it landed in the water. I have dried it and cleaning it out. It turns on, but it will not fly. One of the sensors aren't working and the gimbal is also not working. If you have any suggestions, I am all ears. Yes, I reached out to the company and they aren't able to provide toubleshooting suggestions, just that they can try to fix it for me if I send it to them, but they don't know the cost, or they can replace it for 20% off. I don't know if it is worth it, especially since the cost of the camera today is much higher than what I paid for it while they were crowd funding.
I have no problems setting up drones, but can't get the Hover X1 working ! It just gives a series of automated messages, and sits in my hand over heating.
1" sensor w/ 4k 120fps would be excellent for me.
I hope the 2.0 version has this
I am not so concerned about the resolution. For CZcams footage 1080p is plenty.
The prize is also very reasonable.
I’ve got one and sincerely DJI is out.
Price……..in Australia, vastly overpriced
Absolutely boring boring you go on and on I was totally bored after 2 minutes