Dear Hover: I cut this part from the review, since it was getting absurdly long, and I needed to shave down the time a bit. However, on the off-chance you see this, here's my request for a Hover X2. But, I’d caveat that by giving a warning here: Don’t raise the price. The reason you’re successful, is because this is relatively cheap. If you raise the price even a little bit, it gets right into the DJI Mini 3 Pro on sale prices, and you'll instantly lose every time. You can't compete there without a massive increase in features/functionality (without impacting weight). Nonetheless, the four things I'd ask for are: 1. Slightly faster top speed. If you can get to 25MPH/40KPH here, that’d be massive for cyclists and a lot of other sports. I don’t need 50-60KPH or something crazy. Just 40KPH would really be huge, even if in bursts. 2. Slightly better image quality: I’d like to say 4K, but really I just want a bit more quality out of the 2.7K image, especially a reduction in artifacts you’ll see on bigger screens or some lower light conditions. I'd be easy for you to get all crazy with a log mode or such, but that'd be getting distracted in my opinion. Focus those efforts on other flight modes/customization instead. 3. A little bit longer flight time: But please, *NOT* at the sacrifice of the size of the batteries. Again, like the warning I gave up above on price, the 125g weight right now makes it feel like nothing in my pocket. I don’t want a much heavier drone. That’s why people like this thing, don’t ruin it trying to be a larger DJI. 4. A few more custom buttons (or, re-labeling some of the existing buttons to be custom): I virtually never use the Orbit, Hover, or Birdseye functions, but I use Dolly and Side Track a ton. Heck, you can do this in software now, since it audibly announces which mode it's in anyway. Just give me an advanced mode in the app that let's me re-use those existing buttons as something else. Speaking of which, can you add it audibly saying 'Vertical' if it's in vertical mode (when it's listing off the parameters)? Sometimes I forget to switch back, and then regret my life choices later on. Thanks! -Me Update 1 (May 1, 2024): Great to see Hover has added the repair kits in the last two weeks, and very reasonably priced at $20/20EUR. Awesome to be able to buy one ahead of time, just in case. Much appreciated. Additionally, in the latest firmware update this past week, they added the button to cycle through the custom modes by holding the small button down, once having selected the custom modes. This removes the requirement to use your phone to go from Dolly Track to Side Track and largely solves my #4 above. Much appreciated on both!

I bought 1 minute after watching your video i have a DJI mini 3 and this is EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED a no fuss drone that can take great beach shots and other activities

Your review of this HoverAir X1 drone has been the BEST review out of all the reviews that I've seen on YT! You showed so many cool features about this drone that the other reviewers either don't know about, or didn't bother to show. Truly in-depth! Thank you for posting such a thorough review and demonstration of all of it's current features.

That beach shot with the sun, oh man… IT’S AMAZING! Your reviews never fail, trustful source, as always.

Loved and subbed. The review was absolutely perfect. I like that you didn't go into too many technical specs because I tend to stop paying attention, and I love that the review was long. Nothing will turn me off faster than a review that is too quick. I don't feel like we get enough information. I am about 95% of the way there is to pulling the trigger to buy this because of you

I have always wanted something like this. Which means in a few years it is going to be perfection.

Excellent, comprehensive overview! This is the No-brainer, follow me drone i have been waiting for. The other stock modes are a plus. It is also the perfect size for my bike and motorcycle front bag or hydration pack.

Great to see this! This drone has been an absolute game changer for me. So easy to take on rides and runs and actually use it... mainly for social media. Unlike other drones where the idea seems great but the practicalities mean they spend most of their time in the box.

I just got mine- Really fun! Your review is helpful to a new user- Thank you!

Great review. Ended up getting because you weren’t sponsored and could give a true and solid review. Thank you ❤

Wow! I always thought this drone was trash with a lot of marketing but this review really blowed my mind, I really wanted it to be trash but now I even want one Jajaj I could come in handy for certain situations

I’ve seen all the influencer’s reviews of this drone and was very intrigued, but thought I’d wait until I saw a DC rainmaker review 😂 Great info as always.

Very tempted to get one of these to make my cycling, hiking and bikepacking videos more dynamic. Don't think I can justify the cost or size of taking a "proper" drone, and don't think I'd make the most of them. This might be the sweet spot.

Thanks for a great review: direct, to the point, easy to understand, and with pertinent examples. Very well done and greatly appreciated!

Perfect review, just the info I needed! Keep up the great work 🥳👍

"the light in the front of the drone changes from green to RED" is not a scary sentence at all.

Thank you for this review - I really did appreciate it. You also reminding me of when my own daughter was younger - so much fun to share wonderment with kids.

Outstanding review. I had been checking on the Hover since its inception. Now that it tracks to and from the side and “virtually”crash resistant, I am sold by your review.

This is the “go to” review for this drone. Perfect! I’m buying one for my metal detecting exploits as the audio feature also works for my lone digging shots. Thanks, Marcus

i like my hover x1 your review was excellent. 2 wish list items .. removable sd card. wireless noise cancelling microphone direct to the drone no phone app.

The palm landing makes me nostalgic for the DJI Spark!

I go hiking a lot and this thing sounds like a dream. Youve sold me on it, getting one now.

Thank you for this review. You answered all the questions I had. Seems like a ‘drone’ for me!

Best review I have seen so far. I own a Hover X1 since August and can confirm everything mentioned in the review. The software has constantly improved and new really useful features have been added, I even did not know that there is a side tracking mode mode. Love to test it the next days. Thanks for pointing me to this. The main issue with this drone is in my opinion the video quality and I am not talking about 4k. The footage from the drone is heavily oversharpened , has a lot of artifacts and has a poor color range making it hardly impossible to color grade the footage. The 1080p footage of my DJI Cameras (Action2 and Mini2) is way better. Besides that ,it is a great and easy to use drone.

Great review sir! Thanks for your honesty and in depth review!

Oh this made my day, the tree crashing compilation, gold! Thanks for the LOLs!

Used it for a few months last year and certainly bringing it out for my runs now the weather is getting better again. Great for Strava posts!

Very well rounded video. I have a Hover and a DJI M3 pro . Both have their place . Thank you !

Great thorough review! I was sold until the speed portion of your video. I’m a road cyclist and will look through your other videos for a faster drone with great follow features. 👍

I love this little thing, gets me some different shots for my videos and is dead simple to use. I just wish they would give us an option to tone down sharpness and saturation

Wow, that ks a very detailed review! Thank you so much!

I'm glad you included the skiing section. I was considering this drone to get some snowboarding footage, but it looks like the insta360 is still the way to go. Might still be useful in the terrain parks though

Great review. I've wished for a tiny drone that follows you during trail runs. Sounds like this is the one.

Thanks very for the review, I bought one of these a few weeks ago after watching this review. Not sure if you know but they have just recently released a spare/replacement parts kit. And also, not sure if it is a recent update, but I accidentally discovered that you can change the distance setting for each mode (eg for orbit, follow etc) by holding down the small button for that mode - it cycles through the different distances (eg 1.5m, 3m etc). Similarly, you can also cycle through the different custom mode modes by holding down that button - so you don't need to pull out the app to change these things. Super useful!

Great review! Thank you. BUT, did you say it only records 2-3 mins at a time? Did I hear that correctly?

Great detailed review. Thank you. Subscribed!

I have one. Great for family holidays.

Thanks a lot for the video. Very informative and really good way how you describe it 👍

Best review of the X1 I have seen. I have one of these but haven't used it nearly as much as you, so there's lots of great tips I will use. I did unfortunately discover the skiing challenge and almost died yomping uphill to save it. Wondering if a side track might work better?

Great video all the info I need just bought it and for the content I make I think is what I need

Great review … thank you … helping me make a decision. This seems exactly what I want.

Really good review and I love that it’s European., from the Netherlands. Only this drone is very expensive in my opinion. I happen to have a Spark, never used it with its hand guidance only before, but now feel inspired to try that feature out just for fun. Greetings from Finland!

Thanks, top effort as usual. Yes sir!

Thank you for covering usage over water!!!

Thank you for the comprehensive video. A few questions: 1. What file format & color profile does it shoot in? 2. Is 24fps possible with this drone? 3. Does the user have any control over exposure settings? Thanks

That was awesome. A very simple fun gadget

As always, a fantastic review, thanks so much! Quick question; can you give me an idea of follow cam distance when travelling at 15 kph?

Great video and looks like the perfect product for me, especially as it seems that it is completely usable without a smartphone, as i don't own one. Thanks for the info.

Amazing review. Thank you!

Great video. Awesome clarity w your explanations. What is the other drone you mention for doing scenic footage? Thanks !

Mr. Rainmaker, thanks SOOOO much for this amazing review. Sweetie (my Beer 🍺 Vlogs co-star) & I love ALL your videos. But, we comment here because we own 3 DJI drones that we do NOT use and this drone that we use EVERY WEEK. It in our top 3 video products including Insta360 x2(now4) and DJI pocket 3. And, the AMAZING thing is that , as you mentioned there are no obstacle avoidance sensors but it still does an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING job of VISUALLY avoiding objects with its camera. It weaves in, and around everything as long as it is flying forward. This blows our BeerVloggjng brains. And, since we got this at its launch we have used it to shoot an opening dronie shot for the last 50 of our 107 Beer 🍺 Vlogs and it only crashed once in high winds without a scratch to itself or the car it hit! We recommend this all the time. And we can’t wait to buy the next version (or a $600 PRO) version. Thanks again for ALL your videos. - Eric ZORK Alan & Sweetie [ 🤣Professional🤣Poets & Bed 🛏️ & Beer🍺 Vloggers ]

Had mine since the beginning, love mine, does everything that describes

this is solid! I want to get this down the road!!

outstanding write up. thanks!!!!

Thanks for the great review. Any chance to find out about the menus on the phone a bit more? I'd like to know what it can actually do in each different mode. I keep putting off buying it because there is no info about that in any of the reviews, and they don't really give much info when you contact them. I guess I'm mostly interested in the a custom flying time in the orbit, zoom and bird's eye modes, and can I stop them early if needed? Thanks

Thank you for your review! Would you have any real concerns with it flying into someone if you was running along a path or trail and other people were on it (moving in either direction)?

Thank you for such a thorough review! I'm trying to decide between this and the DJI mini 3 for travel content - I do think that I want to be able to get sweeping landscape shots.. so I should probably go with DJI. I also want to be able to film hotels and such without me in it and it sounds like the manual mode on this isn't the best. Do you think it'd make more sense for me to go with a standard DJI drone for travel content?

Great review as ever, Ray! I do have two questions: how do you make a photo with this thing and will you be able to use it from a rock? We are going to Lofoten next month, where there is a rock that you can cross, would be a great selfie shot. But that would most likely require the drone to be more than 15 m above the ground after take off. Would it be possible to do that with this one?

Crash montage was fan-freaking-tastic. This thing kind of looks awesome. I just don’t want to pay a lot for it. I’m so impressed at how fast you can get it up in the air.

I occasionally make some very low budget films and I can definitely see some applications for this drone.

nice review thx. So how will the follow work if other persons are around you or even when you are in a crowd.. festival type crowd..?

Looks like a TV remote using computer fans to fly…?🧐

This is a great review. I’m intrigued. Just one question, how is the sound? (Maybe I missed your comment on it). I have a DJI mini 2 and it seemed a bit louder from the video.

wow, great info! Two questions: 1) is it light enough that no drone license is needed in the US? 2) what about audio? Does it have a microphone or does it link to a wireless mic or the phone mic somehohw?

Thanks for a great review 😄

21:11 Dutch locale with perfect paved path yet wilderness? Envy!

looks a lot like Florida Great review as always, you are my go to for new stuff but I wonder will it follow a rc car or real car or is it just for people?

Thanks for another great review. Now I'm hovering over the buy button like a small human drone. Hopefully I'll land on it soon.

Great vid. Thank you. Just one question. Would this drone lose you in a crowded place or even in, say a small group of runners?

Yeah this drone has definitely added so many options for me! Love it for solo content creators.

Cool. Thank you. I still like this HoverAir’

Great video. Any plans to test the engo 2 glasses?

Cheers so much 😊 It works better if you use the app and adjust all the parameters and save them I got the 190 dollar Aliexpress deal lol ❤

looking forward to comparison video

Pretty cool to see my local trails (@Baarn) from a different viewpoint 😎

Needed this review! I’ve been kicking around the idea of this drone for gravel cycling as the mini 3 pro doesn’t have an adequate remote mount. Looks like this may just do the trick for sharing footage from group and club rides.

Amazing review 🎉🎉🎉

"it's nearly impossible for her to hide from it" thats cool! wait, no, that's terrifying. we have to stop the rise of the machines, Ray!!!

dope review thank you!

For the most part been really happy with mine as well. 2 catches I had. 1. Used it out on a bike ride and I could not get it to come back to me when I was done having it record it just kept running away. 2. My 3 year old does the same thing. Usually yes it bounces off, but of course the one time mom was around it did manage to catch in her hair.

I originally brushed this off as a toy as well… but it looks like what I had hoped the Spark was going to be after I realised the Mavic was too cumbersome to take everywhere. If they could get it to work whilst skiing that would be amazing… but I wonder how the tracking works when there’s more than one person in the frame?

You can reduce startup time by about 10 seconds turning the thing on while running :) It still needs to calibrate gimbal, so I guess startup time cant be any shorter. It is also possible to keep Hoover on, it slowly consumes battery (before it turns automatically off), but it will fly almost instantly when needed - its useful when doing bunch of shots.

In Canada on Amazon its on sale for $509 right now... their store site its $540 Canadian. Both for the combo with extra battery

Crashed ours only once in over 80 flights. The footage has been impressive. Only complaint is dolly track isn’t quite far enough away.

Cool product, good video. Question: Gravel Riding on rural roads. 25kph max speed and wind? will it loose me? I can go 25kph into a slight headwind (10-20kph). Conversely, I can cruise at 30kph with a good tailwind. I don't have a drone, would this be the right one for me? or should I keep looking?

Spare parts are actually easy to get. Their customer support is beyond excellent. Crashed my drone on a Saturday.. Messaged them that a propeller broke. The replacement arrived Wednesday.. This considering im based in UAE.

Is it water or sweat resistant/proof? What if i will take it on my running shorts for a long run. Or drop it to the pond?

What’s been your experience with using it around others? I’m a bit self conscious of the sound being to disruptive on an otherwise quiet hike. Also curious if you tried the mic mode out at all and your experience with that. Thanks always for your straightforward and honest reviews!

Great review. I can basically put together how this compares to a Skydio. Obviously the Skydio has better obstacle avoidance versus… none (lol) but it’d be great to hear your thoughts on that, mostly around context, ie when you would use over the other.

This is the best review and info video for the X1 that I have seen. Since the video was made, Hoverair now sells a repair kit with spare 4 propellers and 2 cage pieces for $20, in black or white color.

Please correct me if I’m wrong on this! But.. somewhere i read that all the footage is collected and becomes permanent possession of ZeroZero (the manufacturer).. is this true? and is it in the T&C’s of the app?

Thanks for this review! Question: This behavior - landing if it looses track - can't be switched off ? Would love to use this while kayaking...

I did some unsuccessful attempts at skiing as well, with my Hover going crazy and flying away from the piste into the woods. I was thinking of trying to attach a lightweight 10 meters leash, so that if it stops it will get pulled. I want to see how it behaves in such a situation

Hey DC, would it track a swimmer if you used it in Open Water? I reckon you could get some really cool shots

Wow Ray… you just sold that drone! I’ve had a Phantom Pro, a Spark, and a Mavic (my current work drone). Recreationally this drone seems like it fits what I want better than any of my other drones for what I want to do!

Can the drone be used for analyses of foot/leg/body in walking or running ?

Thank you for the video review. It looks awesome, but what Im worried about is the video quality, I checked many videos about it today and majority of sequences look terrible. Some of them even worse... 2704 x 1520 looks fine on paper but in real its doesn't look like 2K, but more maybe like HD. May I know your opinion? THX!

Could you use this for vlogging? I'm worried the sound is too much of an issue

Great content thank you 💯

Another input as someone who lives in a windy area, is there any way to make it more windproof? It gives up every time there's a gust of wind around