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Since I use all kinds of cameras for the making of my Replica Airguns Videos including the HoverAir X1 Flying Camera Drone, I though it would be a good idea to share my thoughts on the new DJI NEO Mini Drone which Is replacing my HoverAir X1 at least for now. This is not an unboxing first impression video with basic out of the box test videos. This video is going to go over how the DJI NEO actually performs comparing to the HoverAir X1 and other DJI dedicated Drones and FPV Drones.

I have used different drones to do everything the DJI Neo claims to do, but can the DJI NEO really do it all and if so can it do it all as good or good enough?

The short answer is yes it can do it all but will it meet your specific expectations?

I don’t claim to be a pro at any of the things the DJI Neo can do, but I have at least some experience using the HoverAir X1 for the past year which is a similar experience as what you get with the base model DJI NEO out of the box. 

I also have owned and flown standard DJI Drones with remote control setups for taking those cinematic flying around smooth shots. The DJI NEO out of the box can do limited distance and height using your DJI NEO with your phone in Manual Mode. You can also purchase the DJI NEO Fly More Kit that comes with the RC-N3 Controller and unlock almost limitless distance and even more features out of your DJI NEO.

I owned the first generation DJI Avata and flew it with the motion controller similar to what you can do with the DJI NEO when combined with the DJI Goggles 3 and RC Motion 3 Controller. That experience really got me more interested in experimenting with FPV drones.

I now own a bunch of FPV drones in various styles and sizes and use them with my DJI Goggles and Manual Controller to fly in full Manual Acro Mode for a true fps experience.

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DJI NEO Compared to the HoverAir X1.

• For the most part they both perform a lot of the same Selfie Camera shots like Follow, Droney, Circle, Rocket, Spotlight, Direction Track and some more specific to each unit.

• You can fly them without a controller or even your phone by simply turning them on, selecting your flying mode and pressing a button.

• They both can use your phone as a simple virtual controller to fly them around in manual mode and get some cool more cinematic shots.

• They both can use your phones built in Microphone to record audio while taking out the drones propeller noise.

• They are both well under 250 grams closer to 120 to 130 grams.

• They both have a one axis gimbal setup.

• The cameras in both are comparable. 2.7k 30fps for the HoverAir X1 and 4k 30fps for the DJI NEO.

• Both have full prop guards and are very crash resistant.

Where does each one shin in my opinion?

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HoverAir X1:

• Starting with the HoverAir X1 it came out first and so more of the bugs and settings have been worked out, and you have to give them credit for being first here as DJI did a lot of copying if we are being honest.

• The HoverAirX1 has more ability to change settings using the buttons on the drone without going into the phones software to do it.

• The HoverAir X1 is better at staying in place when inside and in lower light situations.

• The HoverAir X1 can record in portrait mode for social media content.

• The HoverAir X1 can use just about any external USB or BT Microphone for recording to get better audio than just by using you phones internal Microphone. The DJI NEO only gives you the option to use their DJI 2 Microphone which starts at $300 Canadian.

• The HoverAir X1 can be folded, making it much more portable.

• The HoverAir X1 at this time can track a little bit faster than the DJI NEO, but that can change with a softer update in the future.

• The HoverAir X1 does not restrict where you can fly as there is no Geo Fencing. The DJI NEO will not give you much of a problem here when in solo mode or when connected to the DJI Fly App without any controllers or Goggles, but when connected to addition DJI accessories, you will  have to factor in Geo Fencing limitations and work arounds which can be really annoying.

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DJI NEO:

• Moving on to the DJI NEO, the NEO has voice command as long as the DJI Fly App is open and your phone screen is on, very useful when wanting to change the drones distance and height in modes like Follow and Direction Tracking.

• The DJI software is a bit more intuitive and the Manual Mode allows for much smoother control of the DJI NEO and further distances and height. (60m)

• The DJI NEO records in 4k which is a bit better than the HoverAir X1 2.7k, but not by much. There is room for improvement with the NEO in terms of software updates but we will see what DJI does in terms of improving video quality and hopefully the ability to tweak the video settings.

• The DJI NEO has built in GPS which allows it to stay in position outside better and even go over water and steep drop-offs.

• The DJI NEO has an 18 minute battery run time versus the HoverAir X1 10 minute battery run time. (In real life it is more like 15 versus 8 minutes), so almost double per battery.

• The DJI NEO is much more than a one trick pony with its ability to be much more than a Flying Selfie Camera Drone. It can be a full fledged remote controlled drone or even a true FPV drone when adding the additional accessories to it.

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And that brings us to the point in this video where I talk about if the DJI NEO can really perform good enough to possibly replace your stand alone drone or even your FPV Drone? And again it depends on what your expectations are and what your end use in these modes is.

In terms of a stand alone drone, when the DJI is connected to the RC-N3 Controller, it can do much of the same tasks you would expect and get many of the same shots. Because of its size it will not be as good in stronger winds and it also does not have the power or speed of a larger dedicated Drone. Most of the DJI Drones also have higher quality cameras with larger sensors and 2 or even 3 axis gimbals with better stabilization. They also have much longer battery run times so you can go farther and longer with them. That said the DJI NEO may be good enough for a non-pro user to get the shots they are looking for.

The DJI NEO has been compared to the DJI Avata series and it does look a lot like a smaller version for sure. In terms of flying ink a DJI Avata, again it is smaller and less powerful so it will be slower and more prone to weather conditions. The camera systems on even the DJI Avata 1 is much better than the DJI NEO with full 4k 60fps ability and the DJI Avata 2 camera is even better than the Avata 1 camera.

As an FPV Drone you can strap on a set of DJI Goggles 3 and and instead of using the Motion Controller 3, you can connect to the RC Motion 3 Controller and get full manual mode FPV flying and hit speeds as high as 60km/h. You do have to be careful as the DJI NEO is not really a freestyle drone, if you push it too hard it will washout and go out of control potentially crashing, especially if you are close to the ground and it does not have time to recover. That said it is a lot of fun to fly if you fly within its limitations.

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Some tips when using the DJI NEO based on my experiences:

• Record in 4k for best quality except when in FPV Manual mode as the faster motion of FPV flying requires more frame rate speed to capture all of the motion without getting video jitter. Your feed in the DJI Goggles will look a lot better in 1080p 60fps as 1080p is the native resolution and 60fps is much smoother and allows for easier viewing while flying.

• Do not use the DJI NEO inside in low light, it simply does not work very well in low light inside and will most of the time just land.

• When using a remote like the RC-N3 or the Goggles 3, lower your video sharpness to (-2) for better looking video.

• To fly in restricted GEO Zones you will need to go online and make a license request on the DJI Fly-Safe website and then you will need to treansfer that request license to your drone using the DJI Fly App while connected to the DJI NEO with with an internet connect. A bit of a process but after a few times you get the hang of it. I was not able to unlock a Geo Zone on location while in the app even with an internet connection. Hopefully this gets fixed down the road.

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When it comes to video and audio components that I use for making my videos, I am always looking for something that can improve the creativity or quality of my videos and audio in the videos so I keep an eye out for any new tech that I think is ingesting.

I tried using a drone in the past but found them too time consuming to setup and the drone noise always got into the sound of the video which can be a problem when you need live audio.

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And then along comes the Hover Camera X1, it’s not really what you would expect exactly from a drone or camera. As a drone you would expect a remote along with GPS and the ability to go super high and far away and fly really fast. Well the Hover Camera X1 doesn’t do any of that.

As a camera you would expect something you can put on a tripod or at the end of a selfie stick and that is for the most part a more static object. Again the Hover Camera X1 is not really any of this.

What the Hover Camera X1 is is a new type of tech that allows you to have many of the benefits of what a camera man can do along with some of the cool tracking shots that a drone can do. And all in a device that fits easily in your pocket and weighs less than a smartphone.

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In this Video I go into what the Hover Camera X1 can and can not do and where it really excels as compared to what a typical camera and typical drone is capable of. Yes there are some similarities but there are for sure something newish a conventional camera or drone can match.

Watch my video review with my take on the Hover Camera X1 with samples videos showing off the capabilities this very versatile video and photo tool can perform.

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This test of the DJI Spark Mini Drone was to make sure I could use it in the way I intended for it when I am outdoors and want to get that nice higher up flowing camera angel you can only get form a drone.. The method I use in this video doesn't even require a remote control or smartphone and I can have it take off right out of my hand.

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I then use hand gestures to control the DJI Spark Drone to do things like: Place the drone in the right starting location, make the DJI Spark start recording video, have the Spark zoom up and out from me for an "eye in the sky" aerial follow me mode and then of course when I am finished what I want it to record have the DJI Sparkreturn to me and land again on my hand. Again all of this without even taking the remote out of the box or even using a smartphone to control the DJI Spark Mini Drone!

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Watch me test out the DJI Spark Mini Drone in my backyard while I shoot some of my Airguns at miscellaneous targets while I walk around and have the DJI Spark follow me while recording video.

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My struggle for a reliable and dependable Chronograph to test the feet per second velocity of the airguns I test in my indoor Sea Can shooting range has been going on for some time now. My original Chrony Chronograph just never gave me consistent results and over time it pretty much became useless so I ended up shooting the living tar out of it (Watch that video) and replacing it with a slightly better Chronic Chronograph.

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The new Chrony Chronograph setup in my indoor Sea Can Airgun range worked really well for me especially using the LED lighting system I added to it (Made by Caldwell). But not even two years later my new Chrony Chronograph just flat out died on me, the screen went all garbley-goop and became unreadable. I tried a new battery and looked everywhere to see if there was a factory reset I could do but was not able to get it working again :(

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Well I figured I invested enough money buying Chrony Chronographs with not so good results from them so it was time to look to another company for my airgun velocity testing needs. I ended up going with the Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph which by the way is compatible with my LED lighting system since it is all made by the same company. I paid $149 Canadian for my Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph which is pretty good and it even came with a super long cable to connect a smart phone that works on both iPhone and Android phones using the Caldwell App to display velocity readings in the their smartphone App.

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I will be making a "test" video where I shoot several airguns I have not Chronographed yet to see how my new Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph works so stay posted for that video coming out very soon!

On another note I upgraded my Drone just a little, I previously bought the Yuneec Breeze 4k Drone to use in my future videos to get some new interesting camera angles while I do some of my outdoor shooting and to be honest the quality is really good on it. Probably good enough for what I'm doing, but for only a couple hundred dollars more I was able to buy the DJI Spark which is by far a much better drone than the Breeze in many ways. Video is more stable and "follow me modes" are way more reliable to name a few things the DJI Spark does that are important to me.

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You'll get to see video from the DJI Spark shortly in fixture videos. This little Drone is crazy!

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What some of you may not think about is all the stuff that goes behind the scenes when a Vimeo video is being made. It's a lot more than simply grabbing a camera and saying what's on your mind although that can work sometimes.

Most of the time multiple cameras are used, tripods and special lighting are important and even how you record the audio source can make a huge difference as to the sound and what people hear in your final video.

With all that said I am always looking for a new way to help me out with the quality of my video recording and production. How can I make things look better or more interesting, how can I improve the sound quality and clarity of my videos?

Well today I show you two new products I picked up that I feel will help me out in these areas. First in the audio department I show you my new Wireless Headset/Lapel Mic system from a company called FiFine Technology. They actually sent me their FiFine Wireless Headset and Lapel Mic for free so thanks a lot for that! My plan is to use the FiFine Wireless Headset and Lapel Mic to record the audio portion of my videos rather than the built in mic in my camera since I will get less room noise and better direct voice audio recording. I think it will also be useful when doing outside shooting videos to get super clear audio with less outside noise at all times. For this testing I simply connected the FiFine Wireless Headset and Lapel Mic to my Samsung Android phone using a USB adaptor, the same can be done suing an iPhone.

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Moving on now to a new video product, I have been wanting to get a Drone to capture more interesting video that I can shoot from multiple viewing angles and also be able to have a moving camera while I shoot outdoors videos. The problem is they can be kind of expensive for anything decent, because of this, so far I have not been able to justify bitting the  bullet and buying a drone. That was until I saw a great deal on the Yuneec Breeze 4k Selfie Drone at my local Best buy for half price ($249 CAN) What a deal!

Anyways, watch me fumble around while I try to figure things out with my Yuneec Breeze 4k Selfie Drone for the first time, there is always a learning curve when you get something new but I do hope to be able to utilize both of these new products in upcoming videos for everyone.