- VERDICT
The DJI Neo, despite its small size, is capable drone that can produce amazing results. And it’s small enough to take anywhere so you can add a whole new perspective to your photography and your selfies. For customers who are new to drones – the DJI Neo is a perfect, and affordable, starting point.
DJI has created some amazing drones over the years and they keep getting smaller while the video and image quality increases and they get easier to fly – the DJI Neo is a great example of that.
This is the smallest and lightest unit the company has ever produced and it is so simple to fly anyone can do it.
It literally fits in the palm of your hand.
Weighing in at just 135g, the DJI Neo packs in all the features we know and love from DJI including a great camera and an amazing gimbal for rock steady videos.
The onboard camera has a 117.6-degree field of view and can shoot 4K video at 30fps and full HD at 60/50/30fps. It can also capture 12MP stills.
One of the biggest attractions of the DJI Neo is the ease with which you can get in the air.
For those customers who were intimidated by the other drones that can only be flown with a remote control – the DJI Neo offers more flexibility.
Users can choose to fly the drone without a remote – they just need to connect it to the DJI Fly app on their smartphone.
The app gives users the ability to fly the DJI Neo from the palm of their hand, have it track them or fly in pre-set patterns with QuickShots and then land back in their hand again.
The drone has guards around propellors so there’s no risk of getting nipped by the blades.
Users can change flight modes on the device itself and toggle through to the mode you want.
We started with the AI-assisted tracking mode and the DJI Neo just followed us. We were in the centre of the frame no matter where we moved.
This is particularly pleasing if you are in a scenic area and you want to capture it.
The DJI Neo absolutely nails this and is the ultimate selfie tool.
I just wish I had the DJI Neo before my recent six-week trip to Europe – I could have captured some truly stunning videos and images with my wife – and we could have done it hands free.
There is even onboard voice control so you can say “hey fly” to take off and perform the mode you’ve selected.
The QuickShots include Circle, Rocket (where the drone flies straight up looking down at you) and Dronie (the selfie video where the drone keeps you in the frame and flies backwards away from you).
Pilots can choose to fly the drone manually with the virtual controls within the app or, if you choose the Fly More Combo, with the remote control and using your smartphone as the screen.
Or you might already own a DJI drone, you can use its controller with the DJI Neo.
DJI Neo also works with the DJI Goggles as well if you want to enjoy the first person view.
After all, the DJI Neo’s camera by default faces forward on a single axis gimbal.
We used the Circle Quickshot to show off our location – if only I had this in Europe! We would have produced some stunning shots.
We mainly used the DJI Neo without the controller and let the drone land in our hands.
It caught the eye of a few people and they were fascinated by the small size of the drone and how it can follow them and perform the amazing QuickShots.
And despite the small size, the DJI Neo handled the windy conditions on the water at Maroubra remarkably well.
The quality of videos and images were stunning – impressive when you consider the small size of the DJI Neo.
There are limited settings in the app so you can switch between 4K and 1080p and choose between H.264 and H.265 and the aspect ratio between 4:3 and 16:9.
If you use a controller including the DJI RC-N2, the RC-N3 and the RC2 you can also access other settings like ISO and white balance.
And if you want to add audio you can do that by using your paired smartphone as your microphone, but the quality is good not great.
Or, if you own the DJI Mic 2, you can achieve even higher audio quality to add some real polish to your videos.
The DJI Neo itself is quite noisy for a small drone so you’ll have that sound in the background.
On the storage side, users can only use the onboard 22GB storage – there is no microSD card to expand the memory.
This also means you have to transfer your videos using the local wi-fi connection between the drone and your phone to clear up space which is easy to do using the DJI Fly app.
This way you can get your videos and images into your phone’s camera roll on the spot and share it so social media right away.
You can also download your videos and images directly to your computer by connecting the drone using a USB-C cable.
There is no portrait mode on the DJI Neo like more expensive DJI drones where the camera flips around from landscape to shoot vertical like we can with our smartphones.
The closest you can come to the upright shape is shooting 4:3 which offers a squarer shape to suit Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The DJI Neo has a flight time of 18 minutes which is plenty of time to capture some tracking videos and a few Quickshots.
If you opt for the Fly More Combo, there are three batteries included so you can easily swap them out and enjoy nearly an hour of flying.
The DJI Neo is available now and is priced at $299. The DJI Neo Fly More Combo includes the RC-N3 controller and three batteries and is available for $539.
VERDICT
The DJI Neo, despite its small size, is capable drone that can produce amazing results. And it’s small enough to take anywhere so you can add a whole new perspective to your photography and your selfies. For customers who are new to drones – the DJI Neo is a perfect, and affordable, starting point.
