DJI Neo Versus HoverAir X1 Pro Max: Affordable Versus Performant
When it comes to autonomous, compact drones, ZeroZero Robotics’ HoverAir X1 ProMax is a clear winner over the DJI Neo. We can pour over all the specs, put each drone’s real-world performance head-to-head, and dissect the footage frame-by-frame. The X1 ProMax will win every single time.
Fortunately, that’s not what we’re here to determine. What I’m far more intrigued to find out is how close can David get to giving Goliath a real shiner. Is DJI’s cheapest drone in existence even remotely capable of hanging in the same airspace as the latest flagship HoverAir drone? With this question in mind, I tested, tested, and tested some more to get to the bottom of things.
HoverAir X1 Pro Max VS the DJI Neo: Design
The $200 DJI Neo gets a small win here in that it sits at a skinny 135 grams compared to the $700 X1 Pro Max which tips the scales at 192.5 grams. The ProMax quickly retakes the advantage, though, mostly because of its size and portability.
When both drones are ready to fly, their dimensions aren’t that far apart; the ProMax is a little longer, with the Neo being slightly wider. But the ProMax can fold in half for easy storage on the go, and boy is it easy. The HoverAir drone fit into my hip pack with plenty of room to spare, and could even be tucked into my cargo shorts pocket in a pinch. The Neo technically could do the same things, but it took a lot more maneuvering to get DJI’s drone to fit snugly into place.
On the durability front, I will say that I’ve accidentally sent both of these drones into a bunch of trees. Like, a bunch of trees. Impressively, they both fly as strong as the day I unboxed them despite this, with very few scuffs or marks to show for their blunders. I did snap a propeller on the Neo after one particularly rough crash but DJI as well as HoverAir provide a few replacement props that aren’t hard to install. Additionally, neither drone handles heavy winds great, but the ProMax offers a Level 5 wind resistance rating compared to the Neo’s Level 4.
Both drones offer onboard internal storage, with the Neo packing 22GB of space and the ProMax checking in at 64GB. The difference is that the ProMax has a microSD slot for expandable storage up to 1 TB while the Neo is bound by its internal storage space. Elsewhere, the Neo claims 18 minutes of flight time to the ProMax’s 16, though in testing these drones, they’re both a lot closer to the 14 to 15-minute range in real-world conditions. Additionally, both drones can shoot horizontal or vertical video, and both drones have (slightly) gimmicky features like voice control and audio recording options via their respective apps. That’s not to say they don’t work, but it is to say that neither is worth spending much time on.
HoverAir X1 Pro Max VS the DJI Neo: Modes and Features
The most important features for both of these autonomous drones center around, naturally, their autonomous flight modes. For the most part, the two drones have a lineup of similar, if differently-named flight modes. The main options include a selfie mode, where the drone focuses on you while it flies backward in a straight line of your preferred height/distance; a tracking mode where the drone tracks your movement as it flies backward; a hover-in-place mode where the drone sits in a stationary position and rotates to track your movement; and of course, a follow mode where the drone follows behind you as you hike, bike, walk, run, you name it.
Among a few other shared flight modes (namely, a vertical shot and a circular orbit shot), the ProMax tops things off with a Ski Mode and, more recently thanks to a firmware update, both a Cycling Mode and a Sidetrack Mode that follows you from the side as you move. We’ll dive more into the modes in our performance discussion. Essentially, though, the Neo can (surprisingly) do a lot with its different flight modes, but if you’re after every angle, the HoverAir is going to be your drone of choice.
One small, but surprisingly handy feature is the ProMax’s gesture control. When the HoverAir is done tracking you, you can face it and make an “X” with your arms. It will signal the drone to end the flight and the ProMax will take a quick dip, then perch itself in front of you as you allow it to land in your palm. Both drones have that palm-landing capability, and both are supposed to recognize your outstretched hand and fly back to it, but I’ve had a whale of a time getting either to natively notice that. If you can picture me yelling at the drone to drop out of the sky while I keep stretching my arm as far out as it will let me, you can see how the “X” gesture has effectively saved tons of goofy-looking anguish out on the trails.
HoverAir X1 Pro Max VS the DJI Neo: Controls
Both the DJI Neo and the HoverAir X1 ProMax have three different control options: the onboard buttons on the drones themselves, the products’ native smartphone apps, and actual, physical controllers (both, evidently, sold separately or as part of a more expensive package deal). Within these three categories, there are some, let’s say, discrepancies.
First and foremost, both the Neo and ProMax are easy enough to use regardless of what control option you decide to employ. With the autonomous flight modes, it’s a matter of powering on the drone, using the onboard buttons to toggle to the mode you prefer, and letting the drone do the rest. The ProMax’s iteration of this function is better, partially because of the small, built-in screen on the drone but mostly because the ProMax gives you the ability to change flight height and distance for each mode directly from the drone itself. You can adjust the same kind of settings with the Neo, but you need to access DJI’s app to do so. If you’re out on a trail and trying to get a drone in the air quickly, that can become cumbersome.
When it comes to the drones’ respective apps, it’s admittedly a bit of a mixed bag. Both the DJI Fly App and the HoverAir app work fine enough but they do have some interesting quirks. It was slightly easier to fly the ProMax in manual mode with the app as opposed to the Neo, as I found the former to be more responsive to the app’s touch controls. I was able to fly more naturally with the ProMax, whereas footage in manual mode with the Neo came out a bit more choppy as I fumbled with the controls. However, I do like certain aspects of the DJI Fly App better, particularly the ability to access stored footage. The Neo lets you see the footage natively in the app, while the ProMax only shows you “previews” (think extremely short segments) of the videos you collect, forcing you to download the footage to see the real deal.
The Neo’s biggest advantage in this category is the sheer compatibility it offers with DJI’s roster of available physical controllers. The Neo can be flown with the DJI RC-N3 — which adopts your smartphone as its screen — as well as the RC2 which features a built-in screen. It can also be flown as an FPV drone with the right DJI head-mounted hardware, showcasing some truly impressive flexibility for its price. The ProMax, meanwhile, offers its Beacon/JoyStick combo, a three-piece ensemble that can act together as a full controller or separately as controlling accessories. The HoverAir option wasn’t bad, necessarily, but the RC-N3 was a bit more streamlined for navigating the Neo through the air, especially for someone who didn’t have a lot of previous experience flying drones.
In all honesty, while I had both the RC-N3 and Beacon/JoyStick combo on hand, they got added to the hiking/biking pack far less than I originally anticipated. More often than not, I relied on the drones’ autonomous flight modes. In the rare case I wanted to grab some manual shots, both drones’ apps worked well enough as pinch-hitter controllers for a minute or two.
HoverAir X1 Pro Max VS the DJI Neo: Performance
It is in measuring performance where things really take off. HoverAir’s speedy drone is, almost across the board, a better performer. It records higher quality footage (up to 8K 30p, though I mainly recorded at 4Kp60), offers a two-axis gimbal compared to the Neo’s single-axis setup, and offers both front and rear collision detection sensors. And it’s faster. Like, way, way faster.
I will say that my first few rides with the ProMax (in Follow Mode) weren’t as impressive when it came to avoiding obstacles like trees and branches as I expected. A recent firmware update, though, added Cycling Mode and it was, quite frankly, a game changer. Cycling Mode features two versions: a Narrow mode, for tight single track better suited for mountain bikers, and an Open mode, for road riding in more open areas. My first ride on the trails with Cycling Mode was uninterrupted, even as we swept through some heavily wooded areas with all kinds of obstacles dipping into the trail. And on the open road, I have out-paced the ProMax exactly one-time thanks to a long, sloping downhill section that helped me push past HoverAir’s max follow speed of 26 miles per hour.
The Neo is… not as good. The drone can technically record in 4K, but it’s really 4K in name only as the resulting footage is suitable for social media and not much else. It will follow you as earnestly as it can but with most of the rides I took with the Neo, it either succumbed to a tree branch or just simply could not keep up. A firmware update bumped the Neo’s follow speed up to a promised 20 miles per hour from a measly 13 which I admit helped a bunch, but to be an actual action drone, the Neo is far behind the curve.
Despite the issues I did face with the Neo, it was still really fun to use. Against the ProMax, it doesn’t stand out but for $200, it’s kind of amazing what the Neo is capable of. It will follow you quite easily as long as you stay within its limitations (slower, and in more open areas). Its Active Track feature isn’t as good as the HoverAir’s Dolly Track (mostly because of the ProMax’s rear collision sensor) but it is pretty handy for capturing some vlog-like shots while out on a hike or walk. All of its flight modes work well and are fun to try out in picturesque places which generally delivers intriguing footage to post on Instagram or TikTok. It is also extremely well-equipped to take a punch and get right back up. In other words, you get way more performance than it has any right to for such a small price.
From a photography standpoint, the Neo holds its own fairly well up against the ProMax — at least in ideal conditions. The ProMax has better hardware, namely a larger image sensor, a 16mm wide lens, and it also has the perk of being capable of capturing 12MP and 48MP photos compared to the Neo, which sticks to 12MP. But in a head-to-head comparison, I can confidently say that the Neo does plenty well. The ProMax seemed to capture the colors of my local trail system’s landscape a bit more accurately, but there isn’t a huge discrepancy otherwise between the two images.
HoverAir X1 Pro Max VS the DJI Neo: The Verdict
HoverAir’s X1 ProMax is the better overall drone when compared to the DJI Neo and it’s not particularly close. If you have ambitions of using an autonomous drone in an action-sports sort of capacity, it is absolutely worth it to spend the extra money on the ProMax. It has a more travel-friendly design, records better footage, and is a faster drone with superior obstacle avoidance.
To its credit, though, the DJI Neo gets oddly close to a bunch of what the X1 ProMax has to offer. It’s just as compact with the same kinds of autonomous flight modes, and a larger variety of available controls, and is far more durable than any entry-level drone should be. It has an objectively worse camera, and can’t keep up with action that even approaches the concept of high-flying. But if you aren’t a weekend warrior, or if you only have a few hundred bucks to spend, the Neo punches out of its weight class by a wide margin.
There’s also the newly released DJI Flip, which is unofficially the drone giant’s answer to the X1. It is more expensive than the Neo at $439 (though that price also includes an RC-N3 controller) and wields better video quality than its little sibling while maintaining the same autonomous flight capabilities. Plus, it folds into a more compact version of itself like the X1. I haven’t tested the Flip against the ProMax, but from the research I’ve done, the ProMax still has a claim to the action drone throne thanks to its stellar performance at speed. That said, the Flip does represent a solid middleman between the Neo and ProMax.
The bottom line is, if you want the best autonomous drone available today, get the HoverAir X1 ProMax. If you can’t afford that, and can instead swallow a diet version of that drone that also happens to be surprisingly capable, pick up a DJI Neo. It can’t beat the best but it offers incredible value for the price you pay.
