Is NEO the new Mini?

[Chrislaf]

Yesterday I flew my NEO like I would have flown my Mini 3 Pro. I flew out over a frozen lake to a creek I often fly to. Aside from the shorter battery life and lack of automated camera functions (AEB, Pano modes), it felt like I was flying my Mini 3 Pro. I have to wonder if DJI will make the NEO the low-end Mini and just keep the Pro mini's in their line-up.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

As I've mentioned here, I'm hoping for a SuperNeo that competes with the Hover X1 Pro MAX. Think mini Avata 2 with an even better camera.

 

[The Gunny]

I've had the Neo now for a little over a month and I'm flying this thing almost every day. I'm actually thinking about upgrading to the Mini. I never realized how much fun these are.

 

[Chrislaf]

For me, I am flying my NEO almost every day too. Since I got my NEO, I am flying my Mini 3 Pro a lot less, unless I need it to do something the NEO can't do.

Chris

 

[The Gunny]

I'm flying the Neo with the RCN3 and holy cow it is so much fun. I keep pushing the distance more and more everyday. I want to venture out further than the battery will allow me hence the want for a mini. Maybe I'll just wait for DJI to come out with a bigger battery...fingers crossed.

 

[NEO 317]

Maybe I'll just wait for DJI to come out with a bigger battery...fingers crossed.

Purchase more batteries.

That's what I did about an hour ago because you're correct, the NEO is so much fun putzin' around.

My Mavic Air 2 hasn't flown for a while and is jealous.


.

 

[The Gunny]

Purchase more batteries.

That's what I did about an hour ago because you're correct, the NEO is so much fun putzin' around.

My Mavic Air 2 hasn't flown for a while and is jealous.


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I just purchased my 4th battery...one always loaded in the Neo and the other 3 in the chute ready to go.

 

[Chrislaf]

I also just purchased a 4th battery - a Christmas present to myself. More batteries increase the flights you can make but doesn't increase the overall flight time which limits how far and how long you can be in the air on a single battery.

Chris

 

[NeoNeo]

I also just purchased a 4th battery - a Christmas present to myself. More batteries increase the flights you can make but doesn't increase the overall flight time which limits how far and how long you can be in the air on a single battery.

Chris

Similar plan. 3 in the hub and 1 in the Neo. All should be fully charged in about the same time. No real complaints regarding flight times in S mode. Need the 4th battery for Manual mode sessions.

Coming from the non-DJI world. Flight times of the Neo, Avata2 are significantly longer than most other quads. Every fly tiny whoops. Couple hard minutes and throttle response starts to go soft due to too deep voltage sag. Have a 1s 1100mAh indoors flier. Flying the equivalent of unstablized N or S (aka angle mode) indoors with light throttle hits I might break 7 minutes. The 6s 35 size quad struggles to get 8 minutes in Angle mode. Manual mode, maybe 5 minutes. But YES! I want longer flight times in the Neo, next gen Neo.... If delivered.. I would then want even longer flight times. aka, Extended Flight Time Addiction Syndrome.

Outlier in that I'm not into image capture. Appreciate the digital higher resolution goggles image. Prefer the next "Neo" to a sub-250gm version of the DJI FPV. Bias towards immersive flying. The current Neo fills the "do everything ok" drone. The FLIK looks to be the compact and folding cine drone. The NeoFPV or whatever DJI marketing labels it would fill another niche.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I've had the Neo now for a little over a month and I'm flying this thing almost every day. I'm actually thinking about upgrading to the Mini. I never realized how much fun these are.

My opinion, you'll be disappointed.

Don't wasted your money unless your purpose is camera drone stuff. If you don't have a camera drone, then yeah, good idea. But not "fun" to simply fly once you've got the FPV whoop bug.

35 minutes floating around at 200ft is 3.5 times as boring as 10 minutes floating around at 200ft. That's compared to 10 minutes of adrenalin on FPV.

 

[Chrislaf]

My opinion, you'll be disappointed.

Don't wasted your money unless your purpose is camera drone stuff. If you don't have a camera drone, then yeah, good idea. But not "fun" to simply fly once you've got the FPV whoop bug.

35 minutes floating around at 200ft is 3.5 times as boring as 10 minutes floating around at 200ft. That's compared to 10 minutes of adrenalin on FPV.

@The Gunny, I think I would tend to agree with Droning on … . The current mini drones are designed for quality photos and video at a regulation friendly sub 250g in most countries. If your main purpose is more fun/air time/distance then an upgrade to a mini will likely be a disappointment. There are also other drawbacks as well - higher cost of entry, much less options for control, and durability/flexibility (exposed props vs completely enclosed props).

I was speculating when I created this topic whether DJI will consider the NEO the new low end mini drone that will replace the current Mini 4k and the current Mini 3. It is kind of like an introductory drone that introduces new drone pilots to camera drones as well as FPV drones. It is unique in that it can function as both a basic camera drone and a basic FPV drone all at a reasonable cost.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

I was speculating when I created this topic whether DJI will consider the NEO the new low end mini drone that will replace the current Mini 4k and the current Mini 3. It is kind of like an introductory drone that introduces new drone pilots to camera drones as well as FPV drones. It is unique in that it can function as both a basic camera drone and a basic FPV drone all at a reasonable cost.

This makes a lot of sense, and definitely at it's price point, safety and robustness, direct phone control, and limited range it's an excellent "first drone" and can include younger kids than a mini with exposed props can.

What kills it as an entry substitute for the Mini 4K is the lack of a full 3-axis gimbal. However, our colleague @Chrislaf has been doing Yeoman's work with his captures proving that may not really be an issue

 

[Chrislaf]

What kills it as an entry substitute for the Mini 4K is the lack of a full 3-axis gimbal. However, our colleague @Chrislaf has been doing Yeoman's work with his captures proving that may not really be an issue

I must say I am quite surprised at the smoothness of the 1-axis gimbal in combination with DJIs Rock Steady tech. It can almost simulate the effect of a 3-axis gimbal.

Yesterday I few my Mini 3 Pro over a large local lake that is beginning to freeze up (this is the first time in over 10 years that this has happened before Christmas) and today flew my NEO in the same location. The conditions were calm and -3C for the NEO flight and yesterday the temperature was the same but there was a brisk wind which made it feel much colder. Both days were cloudy overcast conditions. When comparing the footage, I was surprised at how good the NEO's was. It was not as good as the Mini 3 Pro but it was good enough. There were a few stutters in the footage especially when flying sideways which is likely due to the single axis gimbal. I suspect that the NEO footage would have been much less useable had I flown it on the day I flew the Mini 3 Pro due to the brisk wind off the lake.

With a good 15-20cm of snow everywhere, I find it is much easier to launch the NEO in cold weather and in locations I can't drive to which is where most of my flying is done. The only drawback for me is that I don't have an RC2 which would make it even more convenient.

Chris

 

[ryguy80]

Being that there is a Mini 5 Pro supposedly in the works based on leaks, I think the Mini series will continue. With the Flip on the horizon, which seems to compete with the HoverAir series, DJI seems to be expanding into the smaller drone, cinewhoop market.

 

[Chrislaf]

Being that there is a Mini 5 Pro supposedly in the works based on leaks, I think the Mini series will continue. With the Flip on the horizon, which seems to compete with the HoverAir series, DJI seems to be expanding into the smaller drone, cinewhoop market.

I think DJI will continue with the Mini line especially at the ‘pro’ end, but I have to wonder if the NEO will now become the low end mini since it can do many basic mini functions.

I flew both my Mini 3 Pro and NEO in similar conditions with similar settings and was surprised that the difference was not as great as I thought it would be.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

For purely trivial reasons, I hope the Flip isn't the answer to the X1 Pro and Pro MAX... I really like the Neo/Avata whoop body style, it's just a slick, high-tech look, and I love it. So I hope we see a high-end neo with awesome camera specs and Avata-like flight performance.

Being the DJI fanboy I am, I'll almost certainly get a Flip... but it's fugly.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I flew both my Mini 3 Pro and NEO in similar conditions with similar settings and was surprised that the difference was not as great as I thought it would be.

I think the difference will show in a big way for low light inages...

 

[NeoNeo]

Friend flies the Mini4 Pro. Just into image capture. He had issues flying "Home" in windier conditions. Warning pops up noting overheating or something trying to fly into or across strong sustained winds. Why he is considering a Mavic 3 Pro, but holding off to see if the maybe to be released Mavic 4 Pro would allow him to use his Mini4 Pro controller.

Guessing the FLIP might have similar higher wind issues. Something to consider if really getting into image capture.

For higher winds the Avata2 is relatively impressive. Mass of the quad helps. Neo is a bit of a handful in gusty winds. Annoying red box high wind warning obstructing the peripheral field of view. A characteristic of probably most DJI 04 OSD. Find the info, warning boxes in the Neo that start literally stacking up on from the bottom right of the view more annoying than ever. Yes, I know when I'm flying close to a restricted area. I know I'm flying Manual Mode. I know the wind velocity is "high". I know I have zero satellites and loss of visual sensor function. Now my FOV is restricted and I will not know what obstruction is coming up on the starboard side until I see it before I hit it.

 

[Chrislaf]

I think the difference will show in a big way for low light inages...

Most definitely. I can fly my Mini 3 Pro in low light situations and get good useable images with acceptable noise but I would not be able to do this with my NEO.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

Friend flies the Mini4 Pro. Just into image capture. He had issues flying "Home" in windier conditions. Warning pops up noting overheating or something trying to fly into or across strong sustained winds. Why he is considering a Mavic 3 Pro, but holding off to see if the maybe to be released Mavic 4 Pro would allow him to use his Mini4 Pro controller.

Guessing the FLIP might have similar higher wind issues. Something to consider if really getting into image capture.

For higher winds the Avata2 is relatively impressive. Mass of the quad helps. Neo is a bit of a handful in gusty winds. Annoying red box high wind warning obstructing the peripheral field of view. A characteristic of probably most DJI 04 OSD. Find the info, warning boxes in the Neo that start literally stacking up on from the bottom right of the view more annoying than ever. Yes, I know when I'm flying close to a restricted area. I know I'm flying Manual Mode. I know the wind velocity is "high". I know I have zero satellites and loss of visual sensor function. Now my FOV is restricted and I will not know what obstruction is coming up on the starboard side until I see it before I hit it.

The NEO does well in mostly ideal flying conditions - well lit environments with calm conditions. The last couple of days I have flown my NEO out over the forming lake ice and it flew great but the conditions were calm. Had it been windy, I would have used my Mini 3 Pro as I did a few days prior when there was a much stronger wind.

Chris