I bought 2 DJI Neo 2 drones and here’s why you should too

This might sound a little bit crazy to some of you, but the DJI Neo 2 is a drone that I consider to be the best drone that DJI has ever produced, but not for the reasons that you may think. I actually purchased two of these with my own money, and this video is not sponsored in any way. In this video, I’m going to cover most of the major things about the Neo 2 that you should know before you think about getting one. In future videos, we’re going to get into the nuts and bolts of how to get the most out of this little powerhouse. It really is a great drone. But don’t worry, I’ll talk about some flaws as well.

Hi everyone, welcome to 51 Drones. If this happens to be your first time here, my name is Russ. So nice to have you here. You can also find my articles on my DroneXL author page.

The best drone DJI has ever made

First of all, I want to give you my overall summary about the Neo 2 because I want to make sure that you hear it right away. I think the Neo 2 is the best drone that DJI has ever made. The reason for that is because it is designed to appeal to all levels of interests and abilities. An 8-year-old kid can fly it alone with just their hands. A 25-year-old experienced FPV pilot can have fun flying it in acro mode, and a middle-aged regular dude from North Dakota can use it to capture aerial content for his social media. The use cases of this drone are endless, and the ease of use, the durability, and the versatility are what makes me hold it in such high regard. Even with its subtle flaws, anyone who buys this drone would have zero regrets.

Flight characteristics of the Neo 2

Of course, we need to talk about the incredibly lightweight design. Not only is this drone less than 250 g, so you can fly it without registration in many countries, it’s actually much less than 250. With the optional transceiver, it weighs just 160 g. It’s 151 g without it. That’s nearly 100 g below the standard. That not only makes it more regulation friendly, but it also makes it more nimble and easier to fly in tight spaces. You can also fly it indoors more easily, over people and more. Of course, be sure that you’re following local rules and regulations when it comes to flying over people.

The bottom line: don’t be turned off by how small and light this drone is. It is nothing like the original Neo. It is so much better. This is a little beast in disguise, and I have crashed it a number of times and it has not missed a single beat.

Even though it’s very light, the Neo 2 is tested to withstand a level five wind or up to about 24 mph. It’s another feature that brings a lot of confidence to new flyers because it lets them feel at ease about a strong wind taking their drone away.

Of course, you also need to use common sense. I did challenge it to the max the other day. We had a 25 mile per hour wind and I wanted to see how it performed a return to home against that kind of wind. I took it up to 200 ft, flew it out a ways and then I hit return to home and I realized right away what a mistake that was. It started drifting backwards. I quickly lowered it and then switched it into sport mode and I finally got it home. It was quite a struggle and it took a long time. But the thing is, at 200 ft, those winds were probably closer to 35 mph. The bottom line: just use common sense when you’re flying a 160 g drone in the wind. And also, it may sound obvious, but don’t fly it during a heavy snowstorm or any sort of rain. It won’t do well in those conditions.

The maximum flight speed of the Neo 2 is just over 26 mph in sport mode, and that includes when tracking a subject.

Flight time: the good and the not so good

The maximum flight time is advertised at 19 minutes without the prop guards installed. I thought that was a pretty generous flight time, so I did some testing. After six flight time tests with the Neo 2, the results really vary depending on conditions, whether you have the transceiver on, and whether you’re hovering or flying around normally. In harsh conditions at 8°F with 20 to 25 mph winds, I got just over 9 minutes of flight time.

Overall, I’m a little disappointed in the flight time because it is one of the lower percentages of advertised flight time for DJI drones over the past 3 years. I don’t recommend getting just the drone with the battery. That’s not enough. You’re going to get frustrated. Get the combo kit. That’s why I ordered the combo kit a month after I got my first one because I was so frustrated running out of flight time. It’s not great as far as flight time, but you just buy more batteries and then you’ll be okay.

The Neo 2 does utilize GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou satellite systems, which is one of the reasons that this drone can handle such high winds and maintain a strong GPS signal. This further demonstrates that the Neo 2 is not simply a toy drone just for kids. It’s in that upper level of GPS-enabled drones.

The last flight performance thing I want to talk about is the noise level. Although DJI does not advertise a decibel level for the Neo 2, which kind of makes sense because it’s pretty noisy. So why would you want to highlight that?

Design and portability

The Neo 2 is a protected prop cinewhoop-style drone. It’s just over an inch and a half thick and about six inches wide and about six and a half inches long. That makes it perfect for sliding into any jacket pocket or small carrying bag. It is portable to the max. That means this is a drone that most people are going to take with them wherever they go, so they always have the option to capture exciting aerial footage and shoot selfie content.

If you’re going to be flying the Neo 2 as a selfie drone, without using the transceiver or any of the controllers, you navigate through the system by using the buttons on the side of the drone. There’s a left and a right button to navigate through the system, and then there’s a select button. You look at the display on the front of the drone, and it’ll tell you what mode it’s in. Tap one of the buttons to cycle through your options: follow, spotlight, dolly, zoom, boomerang, and more.

Once you’ve chosen the mode you want to use, you can look on the front screen and adjust the distance by holding down one of the buttons until it starts blinking, then tap to cycle through the options. Hit the orange select button and it’s locked in. To launch, just tap the orange-lined button on the side of the drone.

When I’m done with whatever recording mode I’m using, all I have to do to get it to come back is put my palm out, and it flies right to me and lands in my hand. Very, very cool.

There is 49 GB of internal storage, which is amazing because there is no physical micro SD card slot, and there’s no chance of you forgetting your card at home. The downside is that if you forget to offload your files before you head out to fly, you could find yourself deleting videos in the field to make room.

Obstacle avoidance that sets it apart

This is the most compact drone that has omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, including a LiDAR sensor on the front, which minimizes the risk of crashing in low light conditions. That is what really sets this apart from other compact drones. Not only is it designed to take a hit, it also has the capability to avoid taking one.

Camera system: better than you think

The camera system on the Neo 2 has gotten quite a bit of hate from the trolls, mostly due to the fact that it has only a half-inch sensor and a constant aperture of f/2.2. I will say this: in low light, yes, the footage is not that great. But in adequate lighting conditions, even on cloudy days, the video footage and the photos look just as good as some drones with larger sensors.

You don’t buy a $300 drone if you want to capture beautiful low-light video. If that’s your goal, then you need to invest in something like the Air or the Mavic series because those drones are designed for recording videos and taking photos in low light.

The Neo 2 has a two-axis gimbal and Rock Steady electronic stabilization, which makes up for that third axis. The electronic stabilization combined with the two-axis gimbal is incredibly good. Even in 20-25 mph winds, the Neo 2 was bouncing around like crazy, but the footage it captured was rock solid. Just because it has a two-axis gimbal does not make it less stable.

When it comes to video, the Neo 2 records up to 4K 60 with a max bit rate of 80 megabits per second. It also records 4K 100 slow motion and up to 2.7K at 60 frames per second in vertical mode. Keep in mind that the gimbal does not rotate, so that vertical aspect is cropped, and that’s why you’re only getting 2.7K. That said, most vertical video finds its way onto social media, so 2.7K is more than enough.

One more limitation: slow motion at 4K 100 fps is only available if you’re using a controller to fly the Neo 2. Also, there’s no log recording, only normal color profile, and no RAW photos, only JPEGs. Overall, the video quality is great, and especially if you’re just going to be posting what you capture on social media, it is more than adequate.

Battery life: the biggest frustration

These tiny little 1,660 milliamp hour batteries take just over an hour to charge all three simultaneously with the charging bank, but you need to be using a 65-watt charger and a capable cable to make that happen. Super fast charging, which I love. Remember, if you use a slower charger or a cable that’s not meant for fast charging, they’re going to charge in succession instead of simultaneously.

The flight time is what’s really frustrating for me. I understand there is a diminishing return curve. I wish they could have used a larger battery, but that also means more weight, which increases the thrust demand. A bigger battery is probably out of the question until the chemistry gets more efficient. I think this is about the max we’re going to get on these little compact drones. I really wish the battery life was even just a minute longer.

Safety features: the champion of beginner drones

One of the most notable things about this drone are the safety features. The enclosed prop system not only protects the drone from damage when it collides into something, but the prop guards also provide significant protection to anything the drone happens to hit. Even though there are prop guards, you still have to be very careful when you try to catch it with your hand because it’ll still get you.

This makes the Neo 2 a great drone to fly indoors as well as around people due to the lower risk. Of course, always follow the rules and regulations of wherever you live when it comes to flying over people, but none of those rules apply when you’re flying indoors. Bottom line: just be careful.

The best thing DJI did with this drone is they added omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, downward infrared, and front-facing LiDAR. When you put all of those things together, you have what I would consider to be the champion of beginner drones. By not only mitigating the risk of crash through avoidance, but also making it nearly impossible to damage if it does crash, DJI has given us a drone that pretty much eliminates the anxiety that goes along with being a novice drone pilot.

One very important thing you should know: the obstacle avoidance capabilities of the Neo 2 diminish as the speed of the drone increases, especially when moving in any direction besides forward. The max tolerance in sideways, backwards, and downwards movement is only about 7 mph, and going forwards it’s only 18 mph. This explains why the drone does so well tracking a walking person amongst tree branches, but doesn’t do quite as well when tracking a vehicle at high speeds. Always be mindful of your travel speed if you are flying this drone near obstacles.

Intelligent flight modes and gesture control

The Neo 2 has a wide range of intelligent flight modes, and that is yet another reason it is so popular all over the world. People absolutely love using this drone exclusively as a selfie drone just because of all of the gimmicky things you can do with it. And yes, they are kind of a gimmick, but that’s what makes it so charming. It’s a personal cameraman. My favorite feature of all is the most simple one: the return to palm. You just put your hand out and it comes right to you and lands in your hand.

Gesture control is another feature that is a little bit goofy but super fun, especially if you’re a kid or even a kid at heart. To start gesture control, all you do is put your hand up facing the drone. Once it locks on to you, you can start moving the drone with your hand — right, left, up, and down. If you want to bring it closer or further away, you put your hands out like a triangle and then open your hands up to send it backwards, or bring your hands together to bring it closer. You feel like a Jedi master when you’re flying a drone this way.

Active tracking performance

Active tracking works very well. It’s phenomenal when tracking a walking person as well as a cyclist. It responds immediately to any change of direction inputs. It’s much better than even some of my more expensive drones like the Air 3S or the Mavic 4 Pro. It’s very dependable and the only time I get a little worried about it is if I’m going too fast above the tolerance speeds.

One thing you must do before using active tracking on this drone is head into the settings and adjust the parameters. They are defaulted to be very conservative and you’ll be frustrated if you don’t expand them. Go into the control settings and then choose focus track settings and expand the radius numbers as well as the height parameters for both people as well as vehicles.

Transmission strength

When it comes to transmission strength, it depends on how you’re going to be flying the drone. If you’re flying with your mobile device, it uses an optimized Wi-Fi and you’re only going to be able to fly about 500 m away with direct line of sight. Honestly, you’re going to be lucky to get 500.

If you get the optional transceiver and then use the RC-N3, the RC 2, the FPV, or the motion controller with the goggles, then you move into O4 transmission, which claims up to 10 km in the US and six kilometers everywhere else. But because of the smaller antenna, the lower RF power budget, and more, I think you’re going to be pretty lucky to get two kilometers. This is not a drone that you want to fly very far away. It is designed to be flown close to the controller and close to the user.

The latency is standard at 120 milliseconds, but it’s much better at 50 milliseconds when you use the goggles setup. I have never lost signal with the Neo 2 in any of my flights, but I’ve also never flown it more than 1,000 feet away.

Where and how to buy the Neo 2

If you live anywhere but the United States, you can get the Neo 2 just about anywhere. But if you live in the US, here are the options. I bought my first drone from Amazon for $315 after taxes. I ordered it on January 6th and got it delivered on January 8th. Incredibly fast. My combo kit I purchased for $452 after taxes from a South Korean vendor on eBay, ordered on February 7th and delivered on February 12th, five days later. No issues, no tariffs, and incredibly fast.

You can also find them sometimes on B&H Photo, Adorama, and other third-party sites. But the issue with those is if you see them in stock one day, they will likely not be in stock the next day. My overall recommendation: get it from Amazon. I had a great experience, got it right away, and I can recommend it without hesitation.

Drawbacks and areas for improvement

Every product and every drone has drawbacks or opportunities for improvement. My biggest gripe is the drone beeper when the low battery warning kicks in. It started beeping at 29% battery remaining, and it is incredibly irritating. Please, DJI, don’t ever do that again.

Along those same lines, please get rid of the incredibly obnoxious “fly in well-lit textured environments” prompt. There is absolutely no reason for it.

For some reason, DJI continues to oversharpen everything. Head into the camera settings and dial the sharpness down to -2. Some people also turn down the noise reduction, but I’ve never been bothered by the default, so I just always leave that at zero.

I wish the Neo 2 had some sort of log profile, something where you could fine-tune the colors and the contrast without making the video look overdone. You can certainly edit normal color profile footage, but log would be so much better. Some people have mentioned they’re hoping it gets added in a future update, but because the Neo 2 only records in 8-bit, it’s not very likely. Log footage would actually be worse with 8-bit. The only possibility would be if they added something like a cine-like mode, which is sort of a poor man’s log profile.

I have often found myself lowering the exposure by one stop when using the Neo 2 to record video. In auto mode, it always seems just a little overexposed with zero compensation. I now just leave it on -0.3 all of the time and it comes out looking better. I recommend keeping an eye on that when you first start flying this drone.

Finally, just be very careful if you’re going to be flying in any kind of wind. It’s rated for scale five, yes, but it’s only 160 grams. One good sudden gust of wind and you’ll be singing bye-bye birdie.

So, that’s my first video on the Neo 2. Let me know what else you’d like to see about this drone in the comments. Thanks for watching today, and as always, fly safe and fly smart.