Drone is Really FUN! – DJI NEO Full Manual Acro Flight

The DJI Neo’s Versatility

In my first video with the DJI Neo, we did our unboxing and first follow flight with the drone. I had it track me autonomously while I was on my OneWheel. I provided no input to the drone whatsoever; in fact, I didn’t even have a controller hooked up at the time. I just had the Neo connected directly to my phone, and from there, it was following me all by itself. I think that’s how a majority of people who purchase the Neo are going to use it. They’ll buy the drone only, hook it right up to the Fly app on their phone, and have it follow them. They might use the controls right on the touchscreen, but many people won’t even buy the remote controller. They’ll let the drone do all the flying for itself.

However, there is a significant number of people who want to fly this drone manually, who want to actually use a controller to fly it. That’s what we’re going to do here in this video today.

The Perfect Playground: Schuylkill River Trail Extension

I figured a great playground for the Neo would be the Schuylkill River Trail extension they’re building here in Philadelphia. Construction sites are like the perfect play area for an FPV drone, especially one of this size, being able to maneuver in and out of tight spaces.

Lucky for me, just as I was about to start flying, we had a train coming by. That’ll make for a really cool subject to follow. Unfortunately, the train seemed to stop, but we’ll still be able to zip around.

Manual Flight Experience

We are flying the drone manually here, so this drone is being flown with the FPV controller. Of course, I have the left stick tuned so that we can fly it in full manual mode.

I have some thoughts after a couple of flights here with the Neo, specifically about its size. The size of the drone is kind of the root of, I don’t want to say problems, but the root of how you actually use this drone. I can understand why they didn’t call it an Avata Mini, so to speak. It’s way smaller; it’s kind of like a little Tiny Whoop.

The Neo’s Purpose and Performance

In my opinion, this is more so to just have fun, capture some cool videos, and post them onto Instagram or social media. For me, this is probably one of the most fun drones you can fly. It’s not going to be the fastest, and it sure isn’t going to give you the best image quality, but it is going to give you something that is really fun to fly around.

I still stand by what I said in my first flight: this is going to be one of DJI’s most popular drones because of its price point and how easy it is to use.

Speed and Maneuverability

Now, I mean, for example, with the Avata 2, I came absolutely shredding down the new area they’re building here of the Schuylkill River Trail, over the actual boardwalk that they’re building. But the Neo is not going to go as fast. Now, I can try to pitch the camera up more. So maybe if we try to pitch the camera up, let’s say to 30°, give it a little bit more kick, now we can move pretty quick. Now we’re getting up to about 30 miles per hour with this little drone.

Indoor Flying Potential

I think another thing I’m excited for is flying this drone inside. I think this will be the perfect drone to fly indoors. The handling of it is nice too. I mean, for its size, I will say that when you’re pushing it, man, you do feel like you’re just on the edge of its speed there.

Comparing to Other DJI Drones

I think that I continue to get impressed by DJI’s mini drones because they make them smaller and smaller and more capable. There’s going to be a lot of people comparing this to the Avata. There’s going to be people calling it the Avata Mini, which I mean, TRUST me, I totally get it. But there’s a reason it’s called Neo. It’s kind of in this new class of drone, again, kind of like a Tiny Whoop.

Battery Life and Camera Quality

I will tell you that this battery life is not going to be the best. It’s not going to be what you’d expect from DJI’s other drones, but that’s really true for most of their FPV-style drones that you fly in manual because you’re pushing it so hard, and especially with a small aircraft and small battery like this one.

One of the biggest talking points of the Neo is its camera. For me, I did expect a little bit more out of the camera in terms of image quality. I think that looking at the live feed directly through the goggles, it looks great, it looks fine. But for some reason, when I got that initial video of the drone following me on my OneWheel on the computer, I just wasn’t super happy with the results of the camera.

Conclusion: A Fun and Versatile Drone

Overall, it’s fun to fly manually like this. It’s very fun to fly as a tracking drone, as a follow drone. I mean, really, this is one of DJI’s most versatile drones because it has all those features built in. It is really cool to have a drone this capable that is this small and this quiet.

Thank you guys so much for watching. If you have any thoughts on the Neo, please let me know down below.

As always, I’ll talk to you later.

Peace.