DJI Lito X1 Review: Why This Entry-Level Drone Redefines What Beginners Should Expect

Today, we’re taking a deep dive into DJI’s latest entry-level premium drone, the Lito X1. And I know what you’re thinking — premium and entry-level, they don’t go together, right? Wrong. Because we have a very interesting product that has a ton of things going on without that many compromises.

Where the Lito X1 Fits in DJI’s Current Lineup

First things first, let’s start with a very important topic. Why does this drone even exist, and where is it positioned across DJI’s lineup of drones currently? This drone exists to replace the Mini and the Mini 4K. It kind of ends the line of the Mini drones, because the Mini 5 Pro in itself is a lot more professional drone. This one is geared more towards the beginners as their first ever drone, and especially when we consider the whole lineup of different drones that DJI has to offer, it sits in a very interesting middle ground.

So let’s see what they have to offer right now. First, we have the Flip and the Neo 2. These are more like follow-me drones with a little bit more low-altitude type of flying that are different. Then we have the Lito. We have a Lito 1 and Lito X1. This is the X1, which has a little bit more premium features. I’ll focus on the Lito 1 in my next video. But then we have the Avata 2 and the Avata 360. They are both super, super different. Avata 2 is a very FPV-focused drone. Avata 360 sits in its own category because of the extremely different way of capturing footage in 360 orientation. Then we have pro drones like Mini 5 Pro, Air 3S, and Mavic 4 Pro. They’re all geared towards the professionals, the more serious content creators out there who are looking for different types of drones in terms of their size but still offer very premium features, all of them. So the Lito 1 and the Lito X1 are your entry-level drones that offer your first ever steps into the hobby.

Design and Physical Features

So let’s talk about the physical side of things with the Lito X1. As you can see, it retains the same shape and design as all other Mini drones before. We have an omnidirectional obstacle avoidance with LiDAR here on the front. We have a sensor on the top, a sensor on the bottom, and the rest of the design is a very simple, clean, and I would say usual design that we’ve seen before. We have some vents here for cooling, an SD card slot on the back, and a USB-C port for connecting to your computer.

Other than that, it’s a very simple and clean design, with props that unfortunately still require a prop tool to install. They’re not twist and lock, unfortunately. I would have loved to see that on this drone to make it even easier to install and remove props, but I guess this hasn’t been in the cards for this drone.

Omnidirectional Obstacle Avoidance with LiDAR

One of the biggest things about this drone is the omnidirectional obstacle avoidance plus LiDAR on the front. Because this drone will be mostly flown by beginners, they will need that extra assistance to make sure that the drone will not hit any obstacles in its way. And because of that omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, the drone kind of sees all around itself, making sure that it avoids those obstacles or at least it stops before hitting them. The LiDAR in the front helps in low light, so even in dark environments, the drone will still navigate around obstacles and will be able to detect them safely, which of course is a massive safety net for everyone.

ActiveTrack 360 Makes Following You Effortless

The next thing which we have on the Lito X1 is ActiveTrack 360. This is one of my favorite features that DJI has implemented in their technology in the past couple of years, and I’m happy to see it here as well. Since we have obstacle avoidance all around the drone, combine that with ActiveTrack 360 and now you’ll be able to safely let go and just let the drone fly while focusing on your activity. It will be able to detect you, focus on you, and keep tracking you no matter where you go. You’ll no longer need any large open areas or large open fields to use ActiveTrack. Now, the drone is smart enough to navigate around obstacles and still keep you in the shot.

Image Quality: D-Log M on an Entry-Level Drone?

Now, let’s talk about image quality, because even if it’s an entry-level drone, this is a very important part of why this drone exists. And luckily, we have a 1/1.3-inch sensor with 4K 60 frames per second, 4K 100 frames per second slow-motion video, and the best of all, D-Log M 10-bit on the Lito X1. Now, this feature by itself — 10-bit video and D-Log M being present on an entry-level drone — makes almost no sense. It’s too good to be added to this drone, because it allows you so much flexibility and it will be able to give you confidence to not outgrow this drone immediately.

If you want to learn how to color grade, if you want to improve the look of your footage, you will be able to do so with the D-Log M color profile that opens up the possibilities for a variety of different-looking shots that you can capture with the Lito X1. So I definitely think that even though this is a beginner drone, it can still create some pro-looking footage easily if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, don’t worry — Super Great is here to save the day. I have my LUTs ready to transform your D-Log footage in a matter of just a couple of clicks, and that will facilitate your entire workflow. I’ll link it down below if you want to check it out.

O4 Transmission and Battery Life

Battery and transmission is another very important topic, because as a beginner, you don’t want to have a negative experience when it comes to flying your drone and quickly losing signal. Because of that, we have the O4 transmission system on the Lito X1, which is making sure that the transmission will be rock solid and you won’t lose signal very easily, especially when flying in urban areas where the signal is really bad sometimes.

In terms of battery life, you have a maximum battery life of up to 36 minutes with the regular battery. And if you’re outside Europe, you can buy the Plus battery, which is going to give you a flight time up to 52 minutes per charge, which is incredible, but then the weight becomes a little bit more than 249 grams, so it’s a trade-off that you have to think about.

Intelligent Flight Modes and Onboard Storage

If you’re just starting out, you’ll be happy to hear that the Lito X1 also comes with most of the really cool features that you would be looking for in a drone, such as Hyperlapse, Panorama, QuickShots, MasterShots — all of these intelligent flight modes that will make it super easy for you to get those smooth shots without any skill required. Those are super easy to get, and especially combine that with ActiveTrack 360 and it becomes super easy to get those shots nowadays, something that wasn’t possible just a couple of years ago from a beginner drone.

Last but not least, we have 42 GB of internal storage, so you don’t even need an SD card on this drone, and we have Wi-Fi 6 for transferring your photos and videos to the computer, which also happens very quickly. So in terms of usability and overall experience with this drone, any beginner would be super happy to have this in their arsenal.

Final Thoughts on the DJI Lito X1

My conclusion about the Lito X1 is that it’s not only just a great beginner drone, but a great drone overall. And because it’s priced, I would say, very competitively — I’ll link it down below if you want to check out all the different prices and different bundles for your specific region — I still think any person looking to get into flying would be super happy to have this, and they will probably not need anything more than that.

Let me know what you think about the Lito X1 down in the comment section below. I’ll also link it below if you want to check it out and maybe buy one for yourself. This will help me out tremendously to keep making those videos for you. Check out my next video and make sure you subscribe, because then I will be focusing on the Lito 1, which is the cheaper version of this, and I’m still very curious to see how it will hold up in real conditions. So stay tuned for that. Thank you so much for watching, and I’ll catch you in the next one very, very soon. Ciao.

This article is based on a video by Mike from Drone Supremacy. You can find more of his work on his DroneXL author page.