My Amazingly Versatile $249 DJI Neo Drone

I bought the little DJI Neo drone for my birthday and have been loving it! The drone alone cost only $250 CDN and last weekend I was able to take the following beautiful panoramic video of my neighbourhood, and the San Juan Islands that are just of the coast of Victoria, BC:

My neighbourhood in Victoria, BC, Canada

Admittedly for the panoramic video above, I was using a controller and extra batteries that came with the $445 CDN DJI Neo Fly More package, but the quality of the video and photos that you can get out of this little drone are amazing.

The DJI Neo drone.

After testing the out in my back yard a couple of times, I took it on a day hike to Englishman River Falls, and used the built-in AI powered “Follow Me” mode show off some of the trails and log bridges along the river. You’ll notice at the beginning of the video how useful the propeller guards are as the drone bumps into a tree and then continues following me.

River trail & bumping into a tree & recovering.

The follow me mode, and five other built-in modes, do not require a controller and could be done with the $249 package. The Neo weighs only 128 grams, which is about 1/3 of the weight of a Tall Starbucks coffee. Its compact size, light weight, and propeller guards make it an excellent drone for quick videos while hiking or exploring.

The video below is a quick Rocket mode shot on the banks of the Englishman River. I have the height setting at 10 meters for this video which is the maximum height for this preset mode. The default height for this mode is 4 meters.

Circle mode is a fun way to show off what things look like when you’re in an open location with obstacles or people close by. You can vary the distance of the circle, up to 10 meters, which you can see in the video below.

Direction tracking mode is a great way to record video from beside you rather than from behind in Follow mode. Because the Neo doesn’t have any object avoidance detection capabilities, you’ll need to make sure that there isn’t anything in front of it that it will run into as it tracks you.

In this last video I use the controller in DJI Neo Fly More package, to orbit around a little condominium taking videos and photos as part of a roof inspection. When you’re taking longer videos like this it’s good to keep in mind that the rate fly time is 18 minutes, in a more real world setting with a bit of wind, I’m able to fly between 12-15 minutes.

As I said at the start, I’m loving playing with my little DJI Neo drone, and using it for some real work. The drone itself costs only $249 CDN, and you can manually control it with your phone, but are limited to flying it a distance of 50 meters away from you, and 30 meters hight.

The DJI Neo Fly More Combo with a controller, extra batteries and a charging station.

If you’re ready to buy one for yourself, I’d highly recommend purchasing the controller in Fly More package for $445 CDN. It comes with the drone, a controller, and 2 extra batteries to extend the time you’re able to fly. The controller allows you to fly it a maximum of 7 kilometres away from you to an altitude of 120 meters.

Have fun and fly safely!

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