HoverAir X1 Definitive Review: Tool, Toy, or Trash?

This is the definitive review of the Hover X1, diving into every feature, including a slate of new ones too!

Over the last decade and a half, I’ve tested almost every autonomous follow-me drone made in the market. During that time period we’ve seen many newcomers attempt to break into the market, albeit, less these days as DJI’s dominance has increased. Of course, their dominance is for good reason: They generally make some of the best drones out there. But when it comes to follow-me type features, while DJI has had the best image quality and other drone features, they haven’t always had the best follow-me technology. That award was Skydio for years, before they got out of the consumer business. One key feature of Skydio and other sports-focused drones (AirDog, Staalker, etc…) is that they don’t require you have a remote controller open, whereas DJI does.Thus enter, the tiny little Hyper X1.This unit aims to bridge that gap by essentially creating drone the size and weight of a small paperback book, but with an autonomous follow-me mode that requires no controller or phone app be open. Just tap a button, and go off and run.

0:00 Quick Overview
0:25 Crash Montage
1:05 Pricing & Unboxing
1:33 Hardware & Weight Comparison
2:24 Cage & Breakage
2:54 Hover X1 Flight Modes & Buttons
5:36 Timed 'Get it Flying' Test (How Fast)
6:23 Non-Tracking Modes (Orbit, Birdseye, Etc)
7:00 Tracking Modes Overview
7:23 Continuous Tracking Example in Woods
8:34 What Happens In a Crash
9:43 Dolly, Side Track, Follow Track Deep-Dive
11:57 Kids & Wife Usage of Hover X1
13:17 Let's Talk About the Bad (Speed, Wind, Loss)
18:09 Manual Control
19:00 Gimbal/Camera & Photo Resolutions/Modes
20:20 Battery & Charging
21:15 Footage Quality vs DJI Mini 3 Pro & Mini 4 Pro
22:03 Final Thoughts & Recommendations

Note: Re-upload to fix editing error.

#HoverX1 #HoverAirX1 #HoverX1Drone #Drones

[Dcrainmaker]

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!

[blnd-]

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

[TheIObook]

I have a Hover X1 and it does everything I need it to do. Definitely happy with it.

[AlvaroQF]

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

[ResistanceIsUsefull]

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.

[thewrightgaming]

I didn’t know there would be jump scare in this video 😂. I flinched for all the crashes

[jameseastwood]

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.

[kevinfrikitona]

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

[JakeMay]

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.

[ImpactWench]

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

[davidhorne]

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.

[jdcgmda]

This is one of the best reviews for this device I have seen on YouTube!
Thank you for a great, helpful review!

[patrickjreid]

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

[jorgkorte]

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.

[jonr]

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

[brookegravitt]

"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!!!

[Dan-cdhm]

The palm landing makes me nostalgic for the DJI Spark!

[NightOwlsMedia]

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

[mst]

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!

[thegreatoutthere]

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.