The DJI Neo is the smallest and lightest 4K drone ever from the drone king, with a tempting price tag
DJI has enjoyed near-total dominance in the global consumer drone market for years, but recently a few competitors have spotted a gap in DJI’s offerings: small selfie/FPV drones. They’ve seized on that market to offer this new line of entry-level drones.
HoverAir’s X1 – whose successors have just been announced in the form of the Apple-esque X1 Pro and X1 Pro Max – and BetaFPV’s Cetus X both earned critical acclaim last year. Now DJI aims to take on those rivals with its latest model, the aggressively priced Neo, its smallest and lightest 4K drone ever.
Weighing just 4.76 oz / 135 g, the Neo can take off from the palm of your hand and shoot stabilized 4K video with AI subject tracking and DJI’s Quickshots feature. It can follow you and stay close, keeping you in the center of the frame for selfies with a difference, plus it can perform six automated flight movements — Boomerang, Helix, Circle, Rocket, Dronie, and Spotlight — before returning to your palm.
You can fly it without a remote control, or in combination with DJI’s Fly app, remote controls and FPV goggles. You can also control it with your voice. Its small size and propeller guards allow you to safely maneuver it in and around tight spaces.
The DJI Neo also has a tempting standalone price tag of just $199 / £169 / AU$299 – I’d even call that a pretty aggressive price. The Neo Fly More Combo kit (including three batteries and an RC controller) costs £299 / AU$539 but isn’t available in the US, where there’s a Combo kit (three batteries, no controller) for $289 instead.
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Neo knows kung fu
Slotting somewhere between the Ryze Tello entry-level drone and DJI’s FPV drone, the DJI Avata 2, the Neo is designed as a basic drone equipped with impressive flight and camera features to quickly take your flying and aerial photography skills to the next level.
The easiest way to take to the skies is to select your desired shooting mode on the drone’s mode button. The Neo will then fly from the palm of your hand, shooting 4K 30fps / 1080p 60fps video or 12MP photos. It will then return to your hand, all without a remote control.
You can also control Neo with the Fly app on your phone, using virtual joysticks, or explore FPV flying with the DJI Goggles (additional fees apply).
Whether you want to be intelligently tracked as you move, or after some cool aerial maneuvers from above, like Boomerang, where the Neo flies around you in an oval pattern, the idea is that you don’t need any previous drone experience to capture the aerial shots you want.
With single-axis stabilization, DJI says the Neo can hover stably in wind conditions up to level 4. It has 22GB of internal storage, which equates to about 40 minutes of 4K video or 55 minutes of 1080p video.
There’s a built-in microphone if you want audio too, with the app automatically canceling out propeller noise. If you really value sound quality, you can hook up a Bluetooth microphone, such as the DJI Mic 2.
We’ve only just begun our full review of the DJI Neo, and if it lives up to its impressive specs, it could be the gateway to flying and photography for a whole new wave of beginners.
