NEO - One of my favourites!

[Chrislaf]

The NEO is one of my favourite DJI drones. I use it all the time to document almost everything I do outdoors. Sure, I have more capable camera drones but they cannot do what the NEO can. Almost a year after getting it, I am still blown away by this little drone. Today, I was biking through a bush trail that had numerous low hanging branches that I had to duck under and it followed me perfectly. When it did get hung up it just stopped and then found me again. A couple of times it got hung up and once it fell to the ground but I just picked it up and re-set the tracking and continued.

There is no way I would try this with my more expensive drones like the Mini 4 Pro that have omni-directional obstacle avoidance. Even the new Mini 5, I don't think could handle this environment. The Flip, which has similar features and enclosed props might be able to handle most of this environment but one bad crash and that 3-axis, less protected gimbal would be an expensive repair.

This is why the NEO is one of my favourite drones. Sure I hope there are improvements in the camera, maybe larger onboard storage and hopefully more camera controls for the phone method of control but I sure hope DJI keeps the price of the next generation NEO in the same ballpark as this one.

Also, I recently tried the NEO out with my RC 2 controller and although it is quicker than the RC-N3 to connect to the NEO, I much prefer the RC-N3 with the NEO. I find the RC 2 is too bulky for the NEO and is too much for it. My RC 2 will stay with the drone it came with - Mini 4 Pro.

Just my thoughts.

Still love my NEO and use it all the time.

Chris

 

[GFields]

I use the NEO for my interior videos

 

[Chrislaf]

This might help in low light indoor areas.



Chris

 

[Christian]

Awesome universal drone. I´m not interested in using the smart features (never tried them) or using as a photo drone (sold the rc n3 months ago), just FPV. Flies over 60 km/h in manual mode. Without the prop guards and with the hurricane racing props, the drone is much more agile and significantly quieter.

 

[GFields]

The only feature I wish the NEO had is waypoints. I could plan out the track for the interior flight and let it go. Smoothness is the key to a good interior video. I'm getting better but still have to do some redos because of a jerky turn.

 

[Chrislaf]

Yeah, waypoints would be useful indoors and out where you could plot a path through a forest. I imagine it would be easy to do a firmware update where this could be added but it seems DJI only adds waypoints to drones that have full omnidirectional obstacle avoidance.

Too bad there was no SDK released so a third party could step up, but that likely has to do with the overall number of NEO sales.

Chris

 

[Christian]

The only feature I wish the NEO had is waypoints. I could plan out the track for the interior flight and let it go. Smoothness is the key to a good interior video. I'm getting better but still have to do some redos because of a jerky turn.

I don´t think that the waypoints works indoors. This meant to be for longer outdoor flights. There´s a 3rd party app called Litchi. It was compatible with DJI drones back in the days. I´m not sure, that the newer generation drones e.g.the Neo compatible is. That has waypoints. Runs on android.

I can recommend a few things:
- open the dji fly app, -> settings -> control -> gain & expo tuning -> set the lateral speed lower and reduce the expo to minimal, the linear setting makes smoother drone movements
- buy longer gimball sticks. there a lot on aliexpress
- practise...

 

[GFields]

I don´t think that the waypoints works indoors. This meant to be for longer outdoor flights. There´s a 3rd party app called Litchi. It was compatible with DJI drones back in the days, that use the dji fly app. I´m not sure, that the newer generation drones e.g.the Neo compatible is. That has waypoints. Runs on android.

I can recommend a few things:
- open the dji fly app, -> settings -> control -> gain & expo tunung -> set the lateral speed lower and reduce the expo to minimal, the linear setting makes smoother drone movements
- buy longer gimball sticks. there a lot on aliexpress
- practise...

I am very familiar with Litchi and use it exclusively with the P4 Pro v2. I don't think it works with NEO, and I don't use it with the Air 2,s although it is compatible.

 

[jaja6009]

The NEO is an absolute bargain. It does so much.

• It can film you for vlogging with a touch of a button
• You can fly it like a normal drone with a phone or controller
• You can fly it with Goggles to introduce you to FPV
  • You can use the Motion Controller for beginners
  • You can use the FPV 2 controller to fly in in manual mode with or without nanny guards
• It decently tough and can survive some bumps and minor crashes
• It has incredible connectivity due to Occusync 4?

I added the Firehouse Technology light kit with the above LED on the bottom and a Samsung spotlight on the front. The drone can fly through my house in total darkness to include going up and down the stairs in my 3 floor townhouse.

We just tested it at work with this light kit for confined space entry. It flew into the simulator by dropping straight down a 15 foot pipe, then proceeded to fly through the entire simulator with its pipes and connection boxes. It only crashed once due to one section of piping being all white. The LED on the bottom hitting the all white piping confused the VPS sensors making it bump the wall and flip over.

This will now be our first choice for confined space entry or for entering a building post structure fire to check its integrity since the replacement cost of $200 is so reasonable and the NEO is available on Amazon. The Avata 2 of course will do this better, but good luck finding a replacement these days.
I don't have video because I was used to the NEO autorecording and did not press the record button. I will try this week to fly it again and this time get some video.

 

[Chrislaf]

@jaja6009 agree with everything you said. I'm considering getting that clip on light I posted about in post #3 so I can fly the NEO into abandoned structures that often have low light. In your test you did, were you using goggles and either the motion controller or FPV controller or were you just flying the NEO with a regular controller?

Chris