Release Date: 05.09.2024
What a cute little drone! It is a lot smaller than we were expecting it to be! This looks like the first drone we will allow to be flown in the house – with all the propeller guards and its small size, it looks like it won’t do much damage to the house!
Tips for when your buying your first DJI Neo
There are currently two versions of the DJI Neo in Australia, and it will depend upon what you wish to do with the drone!
You can purchase just the drone, and this will run with the DJI Fly application on your phone or tablet – however will be limited to up to 50m in flight distance. The box is tiny! You can also purchase this option is your an existing DJI user and have other remotes that will be compatible with it (the DJI RC-N2 and RC-2 are compatible as long as you update the software to the latest release).
Or you can purchase the fly more combo – which comes with a remote control, and extra batteries and charging hub – which can be flown longer distances. While DJI say up to a couple of km’s – this is in ‘perfect’ conditions – our experience shows anything up to about 500 metres with these remotes (bearing in mind for Australian drone operators you need to keep line of sight of your drone at all times – meaning you need to be able to see it with your own eyes).
What we noticed – neither version comes with any carry case or pouch or anything – we have some on the way though! Get your name on the waitlist by going to our DJI Neo Accessories page – they are due mid-September at this stage.
ANDROID USERS – we are iPhone users around here, but we get lots of calls from people with Androids who can’t find the App on the Google Play Store… Go to DJI.com – click on download center part way down the page – and you want to download the DJI Fly app to your device.
Unpacking the box –
We purchased a fly more combo, so whilst we have the other remotes – thought it easiest to have a dedicated remote for this drone (and to test accessories with the updated version as well).
Charging the Batteries – this was a bit different to what we have seen on previous DJI drones, the batteries charge in parallel in the charging hub (ie – they all charge at the same time, rather than one at a time). The charging hub seems to start with the battery with the lowest charge – and ‘catch it up’ to the others and then start charging the rest. I guess the goal is to have them all finished charging at the same time.
Whilst it came with a charging cable – there is no charging brick / block included – we recommend a 30W or higher PD charger for them.
The drone came with the propellers already installed, and the prop guards already in place – the fly more combo came with two spare propellers and the cables included were for the remote to lightning, and remote to USB-C (if your a MIcro USB device user – check compatibility of your device first – but the cable did not come with the drone). There is a gimbal cover which needs to be removed prior to flight – but we always recommend putting it straight back on after flying to reduce risk of damage.
Memory – these don’t take a Micro SD card of any sort – with built in memory only – from what we have read, about 40 minutes of 4k video – longer if you use 1080p
DJI Care Refresh – depending where you have bought drone, you may get offered DJI Care Refresh or the specific retailers warranty options. We do recommend DJI Care Refresh – we put it on all of our drones – because even though we fly regularly and are well experienced… crap happens. A bird will come out of nowhere, a tree branch, a wall if your flying inside… if you did not purchase anything with your drone – you can visit dji.com and purchase through their website for up to 48 hours after you activate your drone for the firs time.
Preparing for the first flight
We always charge everything before we even think of turning on the drone, activating etc – just to check everything is working as expected and we dont’ get caught out with batteries not having enough charge while doing updates and first flights.
We then run through on the remote control / device – and check for software updates to our DJI Fly app and download those as needed (we already had DJI Fly on our mobile device – so it needed an update to recognize the DJI Neo). Once you are all logged in with the latest version of the app – it will prompt you to do any other updates for the drone or remote control.
(NEW DJI USERS – as part of the process, you need to create a DJI account – this will then be your login to DJI and links the drone to you as well in the app).
Then we will do software updates on the drone and remote control – as there are generally some from in between the product being packed and then arriving to you
CALIBRATION – we recommend the drone be calibrated before the first flight. In the app – press the 3 little dots in the top right corner and go to safety, then scroll down to compass and IMU – this will guide you through the calibration process.
NOW FOR THE FIRST TEST FLIGHT…
Once we have charged everything, logged in, updated everything – we are getting ready for the flrst flight… We are doing the first flight inside the house (literally off our desk!)! Takes off easily through the app and is easy to control with the remote around the room.
We did find out that it will turn itself off once it hits a wall (oops!) – but no damage to the drone or the wall as a result.
I’ve always disliked hand landing and hand taking off for drones – don’t like the idea of injury from propellers, but with this one it feels perfectly safe with the size and propeller guards in place. We did find flying it indoors we didn’t pick up any satellites, which would be expected, so it drifted a little while in flight but nothing too bad from a control perspective.
Overall opinion so far – I really like it! It is a fun little drone – which can be flown indoors… We are yet to test it outside :). That will come later today.
TWO DAYS INTO PLAYING WITH THE DJI NEO
Still of the view this is an awesome little drone as a personal drone, the extra little features for taking pictures – the palm control, the voice control – all great for first time drone users!
The video and photos come out better thane I would expected, and whilst it is a bit wobbly in the wind (being so lightweight this is expected) – the footage is surprisingly stable when we review it later on.
Our five year old can even use it – sitting it on his hand, and pressing the button on the drone to take off – he sets it off to follow him around the house and the front yard!
After a good play with this little drone – I see this as a great drone for those wanting to just take quick footage or photos, selfies, indoor footage – and just generally want to have a bit of fun with the drone! We are loving having this in the family already 🙂
Outdoor flying – we have had a few questions around how it goes outdoors, and we actually took it down our local park on the weekend. Whilst the drone is very lightweight – we were impressed with how it did in the wind. It did blow around a little bit but the gimbal stayed stable and it remained in control at all times we were flying it. How windy was it – I wouldn’t be able to put a figure on it honestly – but enough for me to think it wouldn’t handle it well! Would I fly it high winds – no way, but the normal day at the park – I’m quite comfortable with how it flies and can be controlled…
So, we are an accessories business after all – so what are our top picks on accessories (bearing in mind the drone has just been released – so things are still being designed!)
- A case of some sort – we were quite surprised at it not coming with a pouch or anything, especially in the fly more – but you need something to store it in…
- Remote control lanyard, silicon cover – these things get dropped – the more you can do to protect it, the better.
- Filters – if you plan on flying out doors, these will help in your images – reducing glare especially with a CPL filter we find helps a lot