The unique and useful drone of the Creator with several disadvantages

After creating a stir with $ 200 NeoDJI returned to this with another innovative drone, Flip. It has the first one of its kind design of folding and shrouded in screws to ensure the safety of people. It also integrates the 3D -infrared detection of obstacles to tracking objects and has a long list of impressive functions.

With a camera borrowed from Mini 4 Pro, Throw away You can shoot high -quality 40p 60p video in the room or on the street with a small risk. It comes with functions favorable for Vlogger, such as Direction Track and Quickshots for social networks. And you can fly with DJI controllers, a smartphone, voice control or pressing a button.

There is no need to fly on it, and this is best at a price of $ 439 With the RC-N3 controller, which makes it one of the most affordable drones. To see how well he serves the creators, I flew in a castle, a 500-year-old house and in nature. This is not perfectly (hello, hard winds and obstacles), and it has some hard competition with Hoverair X1 ProBut this is one of the most useful drones.

Design

Flip has a smart, convenient design. All four screws develop and develop under the body, like some kind of spaceship “Star Wars”. DJI chose this design so that it could turn on constant (and not removable) bonfires that protect the props to limit damage or injury in the event of a collision. The design also uses large propellers that help produce performance and reduce noise. For comparison, DJI has tiny, quickly accelerating screws that make a high screech.

DJI retained the weight of the take -off, including the Microsd battery and a map of up to 250 grams, using carbon fiber and other light materials. This means that Flip can fly without special permissions. This is still quite bulky, especially compared to the smooth Hoverair X1 Pro.

However, it turns much better than his rival. DJI promises up to 34 minutes of maximum flight (about 27 minutes in real conditions), compared with 16 minutes for X1 Pro. Batteries can also be charged quickly, taking about 35 minutes with an additional charger with four batars. However, you will need a memory card, since Flip has only 2 GB of internal storage.

Flip is the first light DJI drone with a 3D -infrared sensor to prevent advanced obstacles, and also has a visitor to the vision for detecting and stability of planting. However, unlike the Mini 4 Pro and other DJI drones, it does not have any side or rear sensors of obstacles.

One small problem is that the Flip screws do not have a lot of gap, so they can catch even in the short grass during take -off. Like NEO, it is intended more for ups and landings from your hand. To do this, he has a button on the opposite side of the power switch to select a flight mode and automatically take off, like Neo. It can also fly with the application, voice control, or manually using the controller of the DJI RC-N3 controller (which requires a smartphone), or the RC 2 controller with a built-in 5.5-inch display.

Functions and performance

Flip can hum at a speed of up to 26 miles per hour in sports mode, which is not bad for a light drone, but much slower than the Mini 4 Pro (37 miles per hour). Nevertheless, reduced weight and large surface area means that this is not the best with strong winds. For example, when he flew over the roof of the castle, he fell into the impulse, which pushed it almost back.

Nevertheless, flip can do what you are never trying with Mini 4 Pro. Complete protection, stability and a relatively low noise level make it good for flying in large rooms full of fragile objects and people. This, along with excellent quality of the picture, means that this is an excellent choice for professionals of events and creators of content working in public places.

It is also ideal for beginners, because, like NEO, you can run the coup from your hands to press the button. Then he will fly in a pre -programmed mode and land to where it began. One of these modes, direction, allows the drone to fly back and follow you for Vloging. There is also a regime of events such as running and walking, as well as flight modes for social networks, such as Dronie, Rocket, Circle, Helix and Boomerang. Please note that the video in these automatic modes is limited by 4K 30 with a frame per second.

At the same time, a flip is easy to fly manually either with a smartphone or supported controllers. Although beginners are not as maneuverable as Mini 4 Pro, it is easier for beginners to fly and creates a stable camera platform. You should be careful in areas with non -constructed floors (for example, painted concrete), as it can drop the flip sensors and make it unstable. When this happens, it is best to switch it to a sports regime in order to turn off the stability sensors based on vision (and then fly thoroughly, because the detection of obstacles will also be disconnected).

Oddly enough, Flip does not work with the DJI N3 and Motion 3 controller, unlike a much cheaper Neo. This is because DJI sees that it is mainly as a drone with a camera, and not an acrobatic device.

If you hope to use Flip to track yourself or others, there is a big problem: it does not have obstacles detecting in any direction, except forward or down. For example, if you are flying on a drone back, you must make sure that nothing can go behind him. And the automatic prevention of obstacles does not work at all when you use the smart functions of Flip, such as the direction or ActiveTrack, although the drone will stop 10 feet before hitting everything that it detects. The absence of this function is odd, since avoiding obstacles is an important part of the tracking of the subject, and DJI did not say whether there are plans to correct this problem using the future update. None of this is a problem with the Hoverair X1 Pro, which can track forward, backward and even to the side with the full detection of obstacles.

Flip has an excellent range for such a tiny drone at a speed of up to eight miles thanks to the DJI O4 transmission system. At the same time, he can send a high -quality video signal of 1080p 60 frames per second, which can be recorded by the controller as a backup. However, if you are flying using your smartphone with a Wi-Fi connection, the range is limited to only 165 feet.

Camera

Cameras are the biggest difference between Flip and Neo. FLIP is supplied with a much larger 1/1.3-inch 48-megapixel sensor and a 24 mm-elwivalen wide-angle of F/1.7 lens. This is the same as on the mini 4 Pro and provides a clear, without noise video in a good light.

You can remove a 4K video from up to 60 frames per second (100 frames per second in a slow moment), and not just 30 frames per second, like Neo. In addition, Flip supports a 10-bit D-Logm video, which provides an improved dynamic range in bright light, as on ski slopes. You can also take a picture of raw (DNG) photos of 12MP or 48MP.

The quality of the video is noticeably more acute than on NEO, and Flip is a much better drone for night shots or dull lighted in the room due to lower noise levels. Although the DJI Air 3S and Mavic 4 offer higher quality from large sensors, there is no much difference in good light. Since Flip has only one camera, the video is noticeably noisy when using 2 -fold. Please note that when shooting in automatic modes (direction of direction, drorie, etc.) there is no manual control of the camera to adjust the exposure, shutter speed and ISO.

The Hoverair X1 Pro has a 1/1.3 -inch of the same size 1/1.3 inches and offers a very similar video quality (also with a magazine mode), although I believe that DJI colors are a more accurate touch. Hoverair has a slightly low 4K 60p video if you do not spend an additional $ 200 on the Pro Max version to get 8K 30 frames per second and 4K 120 frames per second.

With three axial cards, Flip shoots a silky smooth video, even if it breaks through by winds. You can choose the “Follow” mode to maintain the chamber level, even when the jars of drones or the FPV mode, which allows the camera to bend for a more exciting perspective from the first person. As a rule, the video remains smooth even with sudden maneuvers, while shots from Hoverair X1 Pro demonstrates random shocks and crappy movements.

The FLIP camera does not rotate 90 degrees, as on the Mini 4 Pro, so the maximum permission for the vertical video is 2.7 thousand – a step back from the vertical video 4K 60 frames 9:16 on the mini 4 Pro.

Wrap

A Throw away It is a bold change in the direction (and design) for DJI. Unlike drones with open supports, this gives the creators the opportunity to shoot indoors and around people with a relatively high quality video. And this happens for only $ 439 – much less than the Mini 4 Pro for $ 759. Nevertheless, the flip is not perfect: its main disadvantages are reduced maneuverability, problems in the wind and the lack of obstacle to obstacles when using intelligent modes, such as ActiveTrack.

As I already mentioned, DJI also has serious competition in this category, namely on Hoverair X1 for $ 500. Both offer functions such as the Palm take -off, the intellectual flight modes and tracking of objects and have the same quality, but the Hoverair X1 Pro offers the detection of an active collision of the back, a wider lens and more internal storage. It is also about half the size of the flip. For its part, Flip has twice as many flight time and a much longer transmission range.

The choice then depends on what you want. If tolerance, tracking the subject and preventing obstacles are key, Hoverair X1 Pro is the best option. Others who are the priority of autonomous life, a more smooth video and a more established company must choose FLIP. In any case, DJI usually dominates all categories of drones, so it’s nice to see several products that are encountered in this space oriented towards the Creator.