First Flight and some observations

[Chrislaf]

Got a chance to try out my new NEO today. My first impression on removing from the box - Wow, this is smaller that I thought!

First I tried the NEO with my iPhone in Follow mode set at Flat and Far. I flew it along a bush trail that was wide and did not have lots of obstacles like branches to avoid. The NEO did a great job and I was Impressed at how well it followed me. I expected the phone control to be much like my Tello and it was. I still need to get used to the phone only interface.

Next, I few the NEO manually along a more dense trail with me following behind using the RC-N3 with my phone. It was immediately noticeable how much more control you have with a controller and I felt much safer flying it this way. I also tried Active Track out and was pleased that it behaved the same way as when it was following me with the phone. This is different from my Mini 3 Pro which doesn't follow my exact path and sometimes cuts corners (not good on a dense bush trail). I also have to get used to the limited buttons on the RC-N3 since I fly my other drones with a screened controller. I noticed I kept bumping the short lightning port cable on my iPhone causing the display to loose connection with the controller.

Battery Life - Boy am I glad I got the FMC with 3 total batteries. My first flight was 13 minutes and the second 11 minutes (was fumbling around with controller). I like the new charging hub. Being able to charge 3 batteries in an hour is great.

Picture/video quality is what I expected so no surprise there.

I still have more testing to do, but overall I am very pleased with the FMC. Even though I haven't tested the NEO in all the situations I want to fly it in, I think it will be great for my uses. I see myself using all 3 methods of control regularly - NEO only, NEO plus phone, and NEO plus controller and phone.

Chris

 

[JohnRC]

Nice to be able to get out in Ontario! Pouring most of the day in Vancouver.
What can you report on the noise level?

 

[Chrislaf]

Nice to be able to get out in Ontario! Pouring most of the day in Vancouver.
What can you report on the noise level?

Yah, the weather was a bit dicy - cool and cloudy periods sprinkled with a bit of rain.

I expected the noise to be loud and irritating but I was surprised that it didn't seem that bad. Don't get me wrong it is much louder than my Mini 3 Pro. I don't intend to fly the NEO indoors, I have a Tello for that, so will only be using it outdoors.

Chris

 

[Anzacjack]

Great to hear you are finally up and running and happy.
Nice work

 

[Chrislaf]

One thing I forgot to mention - on my screened controllers I can program a button plus the right dial to adjust shutter speed, but on the RC-N3 this is not possible because there is no right dial. I at least thought I would be able to program the function button to open the camera control window (ISO, Shutter Speed and EV) but it only opens the general camera setting window.

Chris

 

[GFields]

Glad to see you enjoying your NEO. I told you that you'd be glad you got it

 

[Chrislaf]

Yes, I do like it. I think it will be good for some of the things I bought it for. I’m hoping DJI will release a firmware update that will tweak the camera settings so that it’s full potential can be realized.

I’m so glad I got the FMC as the drone with only one battery is pretty limiting.

Chris

 

[GFields]

Yes, I do like it. I think it will be good for some of the things I bought it for. I’m hoping DJI will release a firmware update that will tweak the camera settings so that it’s full potential can be realized.

I’m so glad I got the FMC as the drone with only one battery is pretty limiting.

Chris

Me too.
I just figured out how to take still shots last evening.

 

[Chrislaf]

Me too.
I just figured out how to take still shots last evening.

Since I don’t have a compatible screened controller, I have to rely on the RC-N3. I just wish more options were available for the function button like calling up the camera settings (ISO, shutter speed, EV) rather than the general camera settings like grid lines, video format, etc.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

Its early, and this definitely has the feel of being rushed to get out in time to compete with the Hover X1 for the holidays season.

I'd be amazed if more camera control didn't show up in a later firmware release.

And if the Neo does well, and so do the X1 Pro and Pro MAX, we'll be seeing the Neonitus Maximus Overlordus (a.k.a. the "DJI Nemo" ) within a year, and that's what I'm really drooling over

 

[3rdof5]

I bit the bullet today and ordered a RC2 controller as I do miss the right scroll wheel with my RC-N2. I now will have better control with both my Neo and my mini 4pro. I haven't flown my Neo much yet as I recently had surgery on my leg and been stuck inside but I am healed up now and will be testing it out very soon!

 

[Chrislaf]

I bit the bullet today and ordered a RC2 controller as I do miss the right scroll wheel with my RC-N2. I now will have better control with both my Neo and my mini 4pro. I haven't flown my Neo much yet as I recently had surgery on my leg and been stuck inside but I am healed up now and will be testing it out very soon!

Glad to hear that you are feeling better.

Congrats on getting the RC2. The NEO is the only drone I have that would be compatible with it. With the price of the RC2 being almost as much as the complete FMC I won't be getting one. I will just stick with the RC-N3. When I had my original M3 (two lenses), I used the RC-N1 that came with it initially until I bought the RC Pro so I am familiar with using the N3 style controller.

Chris

 

[Adembar]

Mordi a isca hoje e pedi um controle RC2, pois sinto falta da roda de rolagem direita com meu RC-N2. Agora terei melhor controle tanto com meu Neo quanto com meu mini 4pro. Ainda não voei muito com meu Neo, pois recentemente fiz uma cirurgia na perna e fiquei preso lá dentro, mas estou curado agora e vou testá-lo muito em breve!

Espero que meu amigo se recupere rápido e tenha bons voos, cuide-se e que Deus o abençoe

 

[3rdof5]

Espero que meu amigo se recupere rápido e tenha bons voos, cuide-se e que Deus o abençoe

Gracious

 

[Droning on and on...]

I bit the bullet today and ordered a RC2 controller as I do miss the right scroll wheel with my RC-N2. I now will have better control with both my Neo and my mini 4pro. I haven't flown my Neo much yet as I recently had surgery on my leg and been stuck inside but I am healed up now and will be testing it out very soon!

You won't regret it.

However, you don't need it to test that leg

 

[Chrislaf]

More observations from second day flying:

Today I flew all 3 batteries and using the N3 controller had the NEO follow me on bush trails that I often walk down to get to flying locations. I love how good the Active Track is on the NEO. It followed me at my set height all the way down a hill and up the other side and maintained the same height above the ground the whole time. My Mini 3 Pro does not do this when going down the same hill - I have to manually adjust its height so it won't hit branches.

I am very glad I bought the FMC as all three batteries only lasted around 11 minutes - Was recording on Auto settings in 4K30. It was a cool 7ºC and there was some wind gusts on the trail so that likely affected battery life.

I found the video a little overexposed on Auto settings. Also, the limits of the NEOs dynamic range were apparent as it had difficulty dealing with an environment with a varying and wide dynamic range. I took a few photos and they were better than I expected but still not nearly as good and my photography drones. I expected this.

I found, as others have reported, that satellite acquisition takes more time than my other drones do. Also, there were a few times along the trail where it lost satellite positioning but still maintained positioning and tracking likely due to the VPS.

Connecting the NEO to my computer and copying the files from the internal storage is a much slower process than popping out an mSD card and using that on other drones.

Overall, I am very pleased with the NEO - I think it will be perfect for what I intend to use it for and the value of the NEO FMC is great. I see myself controlling it more with the N3 controller rather than the other methods since I have finer control and can tweak the settings in the camera more.

Chris

 

[Adembar]

I do it like this: when I finish the flight, I access the gallery, click on the NEO videos and transfer them to my smartphone, I check if they have all been downloaded and then I delete the oldest ones from the NEO, leaving only the last one so as not to lose the numerical sequence. Then I transfer these videos downloaded on the smartphone to an external HD, just to be safe and this way I always leave the NEO with few GB used (internally) but I have all the flights (from the first one) on the external HD. I don't worry about quality, because I'm not an expert in that.

 

[Chrislaf]

I flew all 3 of my batteries today on a walk on a forest trail. Some more observations:

•Satellite acquisition continues to be slow, especially for the initial flight.

•Using the RC-N3 controller the NEO tracked me from behind amazingly well. I would have never attempted this with my Mini 3 Pro and I felt completely relaxed and confident in the NEO especially because the cost of the drone should I have a mishap is so low.

•There doesn't seem to be a way, using the controller, to get the NEO to track from the front like with the phone. I tried but it would only follow from behind and to use the direction track method I would have to disconnect the controller and re-connect to my phone wasting precious battery time. Maybe this will be added in a future firmware update.

•I flew low along the forest floor, most of the times a metre or less and the NEO worked great.

•Flying through trees and under fallen logs was lots of fun, but I had to go slow because seeing obstacles on a small phone screen (iPhone XR) can be difficult.

•I tried both Auto settings and manual settings where I adjusted the shutter speed (using the histogram) and I like the pictures from Auto better. The NEOs Auto setting seems to be pretty good.

•You can't record sound using a regular controller and have the NEO sound removed. I would have loved to have this ability while using the N3 controller because it could have captured the sound of the leaves as I walked through them.

•I got just over 34.28 minutes of flight time with 3 batteries (avg 11.43 minutes) taking mostly tracking video and some photos. Looks like I will be buying a fourth and possibly even a fifth battery in the near future as I was wanting to fly some more but had no more batteries.

•When I have a battery in the NEO it seems to transfer all of the videos and photos to my computer much faster than without the battery in the unit.

Overall, I am loving the NEO! It is great for what I wanted it for.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

•Using the RC-N3 controller the NEO tracked me from behind amazingly well. I would have never attempted this with my Mini 3 Pro and I felt completely relaxed and confident in the NEO especially because the cost of the drone should I have a mishap is so low.

What you want is ActiveShots Manual mode, like in the Air 3 and other camera drone models. I don't think the Neo has this feature, but the only way to check, i just found out, is by firing it up with the RC and checking Fly:



The Neo manual doesn't cover RC -or- FPV flight at all.

O4 controller operation seems, at the moment, a, "if you're doing this, you already know what you're doing" kind of thing.

 

[Chrislaf]

Thanks, I will look the next time I am flying with the RC but I suspect this is not available on the NEO with a controller.

Chris