DJI Neo vs Hover Air X1 Pro Max: Pocket Drone Showdown

What an absolute blast this was! I stepped into it again. What are you doing? I’m here. DJI versus Xcover: who is going to win? Let’s go!

What’s up, guys? Welcome back to another video. Today, I’m really excited to check out the two latest pocket drones that we have: the DJI Neo and the Hover Air X1 Pro Max. I’ll put them side by side and use them for tracking tests. I have some pretty cool ideas to see which one will perform better. Really excited for this one, so let’s get started!

Hover Air X1 Pro Max Test

First, we have the Hover Air X1 Pro Max. I have to say I’m very disappointed by the fact that this drone still does not support 8K in follow-me mode, which is how this drone was marketed. This was supposed to be the 8K follow-me drone, but unfortunately, in follow-me mode, you don’t have the option to choose 8K. It might come with a firmware update; I’m not really sure. There is 8K in some other modes, but for follow-me mode, the highest resolution is 4K at 30 frames per second. Really bummed out about this.

As far as the footage goes, I think it looks pretty good. However, it definitely looks a little bit too overexposed and bright in this exact scenario. In my other shots, it didn’t look that bad, but here it’s way too bright. Maybe the position of the sun was really making the footage go super bright. Personally, I would touch it up a little bit, turning down the midtones and the shadows just to bring back some more life to the footage itself because right now it’s just way too bright for my taste.

Other than that, I think when it comes to the following itself, the drone did a fantastic job. It keeps me centered, right in the middle of the shot. It’s very smooth; it doesn’t do any abrupt stops or go left and right all the time. The footage itself seems pretty smooth and good-looking, and it keeps a good distance between me and the drone. You can still see everything around me, which I think is a very positive thing because it lets you see the surroundings and makes the shot more interesting, as opposed to just sticking to your back and staying there.

DJI Neo Test

Now switching to the DJI Neo, and straight away I can see that the footage is a lot sharper. It doesn’t have that overexposed look to it, so you can kind of rest your eyes and just look at it without being blinded by all of the light, which was the case for the Pro Max. However, here we have this over-sharpening effect that I don’t really like. It’s just what DJI does to all of their drones in their factory settings.

When it comes to tracking, I think the Neo is doing a little bit worse in terms of smoothness because it’s way too close to my back. It’s kind of not letting me “breathe,” if I can say that. It’s a little bit close to me at all times and it’s kind of moving left and right to keep me centered in the shot. If it was 1 meter further back, for example, I think it would have been much better in terms of composition and smoothness. Now it’s a little bit too agile and it’s moving a little bit too much in my opinion, which is kind of taking away from the whole shot.

However, I have to say the shot in general looks a whole lot better to me. Since both of these drones are tracking me pretty well, they’re going around obstacles, they’re not hitting any branches, and they’re doing a fantastic job of following me. I have to say I’m pretty happy with both drones, but there are some very visible differences between the two.

Simultaneous Testing

Now this here will be interesting. The path I have chosen is a little bit wider and more open, but we have a lot of branches on the way and also a lot of mud on the ground because we recently had a lot of rain. I have to go around the mud; I already stepped in one giant puddle, so I’ll try not to do that again. I’m also testing the drones simultaneously, so let’s put them in medium follow mode.

[The author then describes a series of humorous encounters with mud puddles and branches while both drones attempt to follow him simultaneously.]

Wow, what an absolute blast this was! So guys, which drone performed better in your eyes? Let me know down in the comments which one you prefer and which one you think is the better buy. With that being said, this is only the beginning of my tests with these two drones, so stay tuned. Subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos like this one

This is Mike from Drone Supremacy. Thank you so much for watching. I really had a blast making this video, and I’ll catch you in the next one.

Ciao!