DJI NEO's Biggest Weakness
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ม.ค. 2025
- The DJI NEO is a fun little quad to fly. Because it's small, flying it indoors is a lot of fun, but when you fly through gaps, the lighting isn't always the best. That is when we noticed that it started crashing and going out of control. Darkness seems to be a big weakness for the DJI NEO. In this video we show you what happens when you try to fly in the dark and how to avoid this problem.
The DJI NEO is a blast to fly and we hope this video will help you get the most out of it!
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Kelly Shores is a FAA Part 107 certified drone pilot. He enjoys flying toy drones, camera drones, RC airplanes, and FPV quads. When he's not flying drones, Kelly enjoys photography, biking, travel and hanging out with his family!
We tried your suggestions and made a follow up video. Check it out here. 🧐🔦
th-cam.com/video/QSH5_gR4ltI/w-d-xo.html
Hi there. This may be due to insufficient GPS signals in the two test environments. You can notice that the "No Satellite" prompt still appears outdoors.
We recommend that you fly in an open, unobstructed area with good GPS signals. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
When will you fix this error? It just needs to be calibrated! Why wasn't there such a problem in the previous firmware?
@@bertosovich Hello. Are you facing the same problem? If yes, we recommend that you fly in an open, unobstructed area with good GPS signals.
@@DJISupportGlobal Ask your DJI Natalia
Thanks @DJISupportGlobal We have done another test in an open area and have some results to share in our new video. th-cam.com/video/JkDs6yXH7Ew/w-d-xo.html
Be careful, folks, even DJI doesn't recommend flying at night.
Very true!
Come on, guys, this drone is designed for daytime use. Don't risk damaging it!
Fair point. We are professional idiots. Can't help it! 😜
DJI have made is quite clear NO NOT FLY IN THE DARK, they know this is a limitation, along with flying over water - this is all you need to know.
Yeah, that even have the drone say "fly in well lit textured environments." 😄 I'm just surprised that it takes off full speed and potentially crashes when it goes through a dark gap for a few seconds.
I took this little drone out for a spin at dusk once and didn't encounter any issues. I'm pretty satisfied with its performance so far.
That's awesome. We've only had this happen with the Motion 3 controller. I don't wish this bug upon you! 😊
It all started when the first OG Neo flew into a ‘haunted’ building. It required serious councilling, never got over it.. Sadly, the fear was passed on via wireless firmware and now every unit has brown underwear. 😢
Lmfao 😂
lol!! I don’t mean to laugh but that is EXACTLY what mine did from my porch to the outside and it went full speed into my house 😂. Thankfully in manual mode it doesn’t go off and do its own thing.
😂 Well, I guess when you're in manual mode, we can't really blame the drone. 😜
I haven't tried flying it inside yet, let alone in dark spaces, but good to know that there will be problems. I have flown it on the beach just a few minutes before sunset with no issues. Good testing Chris, and thanks for sharing.
Excellent review of this flaw. Also I appreciate the fact that you didn't swear or curse when it went out of control👌 (unlike another review where the F word featured a lot😢)
Clean controlled speech is an under valued thing pleasing to hear in the crass world we live in
Thanks very much, Warren!
Seriously the DJI NEO’s biggest weakness is that people expect way too much from a very cheap budget drone, trying to compare it to higher end drones and make it do what it wasn’t designed to do.
You're right, but it's fun to push the limits. 😜
No this could have been avoided with a tiny light on the bottom
DJI just needs to do better . They will. watch when Neo 2 comes out
And hopefully 4k 60. But still at a budget price. We're so demanding, aren't we? 😉
@@readysetdrone I think they knew what they were doing when they released the Neo. DJI knows the flaws. But they dodged it and never said don’t fly in dark areas because it will go crazy and crash.
我也是今天才拿到的DJI NEO机器，但是我在夜晚第一次尝试使用遥控器飞行的时候惊讶的发现根本无法控制，在夜晚有微弱灯光的路边无论是20+的卫星信号，只要一起飞马上就会失去控制乱飘，我之前使用过mini和air系列从未在晚上和暗光环境下出现这种问题，直到我了解了非常多视频发现失控问题非常常见。通过博主的视频非常明显下方的摄像头传感器发现是暗光就会立刻失去飞机定位，这对于主打新手来说的neo产品非常的危险
I found that this only happens with the goggles and motion controller, when I use the RC-N3 it doesn't freak out and take away control, it just says "atti mode, fly with caution" and you retain control even though theres a bit of drifting.
Interesting! That makes sense because we did previously fly in the dark and it gracefully drifted. That's what really surprised us when it freaked out and started crashing while in the goggles.
Thanks for commenting.
No worries - thanks for making the video. I watched it before I'd experienced the flaw myself, but when it did happen to me, I instantly knew what was happening thanks to your content.
Hopefully it gets fixed in a future goggles/MC firmware update because the drone is obviously capable of staying stable and not freaking out in low light. It's got to be a bug not a feature!
Cheers.
That is so weird. But truthfully, you’re scared of the dark too! Aren’t you?
Shhh! Don't tell anyone, Michael! 👀
Good info…….I could have used it yesterday, but I kinda figured something was up indoors. My initial assessment of the Neo (been using it for two days now) is its loaded with functionality, but it has a lot of quirks to become aware of to make it practical. Otherwise, its a good beginner drone due to the pricepoint……I would like to see a lot of the functions on the AV2.
I had the same issue with mine. I was flying over a stream in the forest when it got scared 😱 it took off like a shot and hit a tree, landing inches from the stream. Thankfully not wet. 😅
Whoa! That was lucky!
hopefully DJI can fix this in firmware 😊
@@JOEBlalock23 This drone uses either GPS or ground proximity sensors. Both GPS and sensors are the cheapest you can find in all of China - that's why you have a drone for $199.
There's nothing to fix here, it works exactly as you paid for it XD!
At home, GPS doesn't work and the sensors are too weak to distinguish distance in the dark, or over water - you have it in the instructions. You have to fly over water within GPS range, there will be no problems, I flew a few times over water: filming sailing competition - nothing happened. But I have 26 satellites practically constant. It is worth checking the K or KP index before the flight: which informs about the possibility of GPS signal interference by solar storms. We are currently approaching the maximum of solar activity, which will occur at the end of 2025. I can check it in the government flight recording application. K index greater than 4 is a solar storm with coronal effusions, it can blow out your Neo like a candle.
Luckily the tree stop it.
It's better to try the RC3 on Manual Mode to check if it's still doing this
We made follow up videos about this and discovered that manual mode has no problems.
Also, other controllers don't have this problem either.
Can you just add tiny leds if you fly in low lit areas. I bought several stick on usb c Leds(very bright) and will try that.
Good question. We made a part 2 video trying that. 🔦 th-cam.com/video/QSH5_gR4ltI/w-d-xo.html
Let us know if you get any different results than we got in our follow-up to this video.
Excellent explainer video. I was shooting at an artist garage and couldn't for the life of me figure out why it was doing exactly what you demo. I was flying a gap in a Rose Bowl Float and suddenly it lost it's mind, sped up and crashed. Why on earth would the default action for being in darkness be to speed up blind? That's crazy!
Sorry you had that issue as well. It is crazy! I understand that it might drift a little bit, but it seems to go into self destruct mode.
Thanks for your comment and anecdote. Hopefully, DJI can make this less crazy in a future update.
"Why on earth would the default action for being in darkness be to speed up blind?"
The drone must be tracked by satellites, see the ground with sensors, or be controlled in FPV mode. If it does not see well with sensors, the satellite signal does not penetrate walls, the drone does not know its position, speed, altitude. It should be noted that it flies towards a white spot - better light. Also in this video. I saw two videos over the sea, when at a high altitude the GPS most likely disappeared, then Neo also started to fall but tried to direct itself towards a bright beach. Full control over the ground was regained.
Nice catch and demo, Kris. ✌️
DJI offered to replace my unit since I was still within 15 days of purchase. At first, they were saying it's not meant to fly indoors. That sounded fishy to me. I've been waiting 5 days for then to get the unit using their shipping label. It has finally arrived and been verified. I'm now waiting for them to ship me the replacement. In the meantime I've been finding videos like yours that detail exactly what's going on. There's another video in a parking garage where they strap a light on the Neo and it flew properly in darker areas of the garage.
That's a good workaround to use a strap on light.
This action is described in the manual, your drone is not broken. If it does not detect GPS satellites - it needs contrast lighting. For a few dollars there are already available chassis with placed LEDs, I think it would be helpful.
Agreed. DJI has made this limitation clear, but how come even with satellites it went crazy after takeoff at the end of our video? I thought that the satellite lock would keep it stable even without the sensors on the bottom of the NEO.
@@readysetdrone After all, the film shows that maybe, maybe for a second you had enough satellites to fly. Think logically: there are two sensors at the bottom, one is for infrared so it doesn't count - it only detects the hand for landing, the other is for controlling the altitude - and you covered it. Wait with the take-off: it will catch a fix for more satellites - this may take a few seconds and if you have a white satellite symbol - only then take off. Go to an open area, without buildings/trees, GPS satellites are not hanging over your head, they are at different angles, they may be covered by trees or your house.
In the settings I set the maximum height to 20m standing on a hill, the drone rose to it, but did not lower when flying down the hill, it maintained the same height from the take-off point, the instruments did not detect any lowering of the terrain at all, the indicator showed 20m all the time, even though the drone was 30-40m above ground level (AGL). In my opinion, this means that the sensor only works up to a certain height, then the drone must have the right number of satellites to measure its height, if the satellite does not see the drone, and the drone is too high for the sensor or terrain surface badly reflect the sensor signal, the drone starts to go crazy. Remember that in aviation 120m is not a high altitude, it may be the case that suddenly most of the satellites are beyond the horizon, their signal can be disrupted, even by a solar storm, these 12-14 satellites are very few. And what mode did you have the drone in? In manual FPV flight it does not need any sensors, to be honest, flying in any other mode in an apartment is a rather bad idea, if you give me a moment I will paste a video of a professional: who makes videos in apartments for the real estate trade - you will see the difference - in the video he flies Neo and Avata2
Good info. Yeah, flying in manual mode should prevent any freak outs, well, the low light / satellite ones. In this video, since we used the Motion 3, we were in normal and sport modes. We've had some manual mode nose dives happen a few times randomly.
MIne has the same issue indoors. DJI Support said it is designed to work outdoors only. I told them that is not what their literature says. I was hoping the latest firmware update fixed the issue, it didn't. It still shoots off at random when flying indoors with all the lights on over a textured surface. None of my other quads, including 5 from DJI have this issue. Pretty bad design, something that tiny can't be used indoors. That's mostly what I bought it for. Flies good outdoors on calm days. Glad they added realtime stabilization in the goggles because it gets tossed around a lot in the wind. They should at least make it hover or land instead of accelerating into the wall, my dogs, my kids, my wife's collection of glass figurines. You get the idea...
They really should just make it hover instead of going crazy! RIP to your wife's glass figurines. 😮
You need to attach a flashlight to it. I saw a guy do it on another channel. But you were right at 1:44: "Okay, I'm out of control!" Yes, yes, you were. Try to maintain control. Have you tried deep breathing?
Do you have a paper bag I can breathe into, John? 🤣
The light is a good idea. 💡
Mine does the same thing. I’ve had nothing but issues with mine
Note to self don’t go behind that back drop
But, I want to check for ghosts behind there... 👻
What about in full manual mode using real controller FTV RC3, such problems should not exists?
You're right. We tried that at the end of our follow up video.
th-cam.com/video/QSH5_gR4ltI/w-d-xo.html
Good finding. Worth reporting to DJI.
DJI knows about it and wrote it in the manual. Of course a real man reads the manual:
when all other methods fail XD!
Yeah, DJI is aware of it and in fact the NEO itself audibly says, "Fly in well lit textured environments." But it's kind of wild and can surprise a pilot when we don't intend to fly in a darker spot.
Of course, we only read the manual when we have an issue. 😂 Oops!
This keeps happening to me too!
Thanks for sharing. That's great advice. I discovered the same issue indoors in a dimly lit room. Thanks again.
I learnt something today , if the N or S or maybe even M block highlights in red , shiz is gonna hit the fan
Ha! Yep! 😂
Maybe try just covering the optical flow sensor with tape outside? Pretty sure the ir sensors should still work in the dark…
Perhaps, but if that's the case, when I was flying in the dark room without any tape, it was still drifting, why wouldn't IR sensors keep it stable?
@ pretty sure the ir is for height and optical flow is for position but I was just wondering if with satellite lock outside but no optical flow, would it stay stable? Or does it only bother using sats when it’s above a certain height…?
Oh I see what you mean. After doing that test at the end of this video with the satellite lock and no optical flow (and I suppose, no IR either), I've just accepted that the NEO isn't a low light candidate. I mean, to be fair to DJI, the drone itself audible says to fly in a well lit area whenever I go in the dark. 😄
That kind of makes things awkward if you’re flying outside and want to fly through a pipe, doesn’t it?
For sure, unless you fly in manual mode... At least, I think it shouldn't matter on that situation, but in normal or sport modes, you're out of luck.
@@readysetdrone have you tested manual mode in that room?
this happened to me too, i was flying in a dark hallway( i didnt know about this bug yet) and the drone suddently started speeding towards the wall, i freaked out and ran towards it and managed to catch it with my hands, my heart was racing
Wow! Good reflexes! I can't tell you how many crashes I've had with the NEO.
Good to know Neo doesn’t like low light.
Seems it hits atti mode and drifts away.
It's like atti mode with caffeine! Haha
@ Wired up Neo lol. Neo get’s to tweekin out lol
avata 2 also？
I haven't specifically tested it this much, but I've never noticed an issue flying through dark gaps.
I should try it and find out next time I have a chance.
Excellent. Some guys are loosing their neos because of this erratic behavior. What would happen if it follows you and you are lighted up. But all in darkness? Neo will have you spotted but no sensors, so may be it would be crazy just making circles trying to get you on focus. May be...
Ha! 😂 We'll have to try that!
@readysetdrone same as before? Or AI will handle speed to control without sensors. Haha a mistery until this is tried.
I'll let you know in a day or two. You've got me curious!
@@readysetdrone yeah!! Thank you for considering me. I was thinking. You could try again just blinding the sensor so it'd be safer instead of doing the test in full darkess. If it gets berzerk mode it'll be easier to see where it is or what..... Hahaha ha forget about it. I forgot the focusing on darkess hehe he Sorry haha
That's a good idea. I might try both, but the resulting video recording in darkness would be funny.
"it doesn't like low light, we all know that"..... Then flies into a low light environment and makes a video confirming that it doesn't like low light.... Which we all know?
Lol sounds about right! 😂
Some vids worth more than words. I think that can be always helpful to have video proof and not just "everybody knows" proof.
I want to acquire Neo and this vid was clear about the issues and I didn't had to pass hundreds of written topics and still doubt about what people wrote.
Still a great little drone! Mind you only use mine outside
Agreed! This little drone is has so much going for it!
IR sensor underneath needs ambient light to read the surface. It's IR light source is just for landing. Neo doesn't use camera view for flight stabilisation when indoors, as many stated.
Its time of flight. Poor man's lidar is how I think of it, when used on low cost drones, and even Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
It's afraid of the dark. Who isn't?
Why do you have 0 satellites? Could that be the reason?
Flying indoors generally makes it difficult to get satellites, but even outdoors with satellites as you saw at the end, it still went crazy.
it is a spy feature?
the suburbian algo
Same issue, almost took my head off lol
I wish they would trust the pilot and let us control it instead of it trying to over compensate and getting confused in the dark
Oh goodness! 😂
Me too why?
read the instructions.
And listen to the warning... "Fly in well lit textured environments." 🙂
My Neo did the same thing when I was trying to get a shot of an early morning sunrise. it started to take off in the dark, then just tripped out and went crazy. Thanks for the video, I thought just my Neo was crazy lol
@@kaytee858 same I tried to get mine exchanged. Haha
use the regular rc controller
Yeah, it seems that any other controller doesn't cause this freak out.
Not much to see in the dark anyway!
I suppose we'll have to take something else when we go ghost hunting. 👻
Funny how fanboys defend dji and this drone saying:
It is not a top drone, how do you expect it behaves like a expensive one?
BECAUSE it doesn't matter if it is a cheap drone, it makes no sense it behaving crazy like that.
We've been accused of being fan boys, but we keep it real here.
We actually caught some flack for making this video, saying we weren't supposed to fly it in the dark. Yes, we know... But, it doesn't go wild like this when flying with the RC or a phone.
We made a follow up video with more tests in the dark, if you want to check it out here. th-cam.com/video/QSH5_gR4ltI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=jO2kxXl6FWk_Mf4p
then Dji needs to add headlight hehehe, with all these buzz with neo, I'm skipping it for now.
The light sounds like a good idea. A NEO head lamp. Lol
Fly manually with the FPV Remote Controller 3.... problem solved. ;)
Ha! Nice! That's the way to do it!
I don't have the Neo but I did get to play with my Nephews Neo for a few minutes this last weekend. I was pretty impressed with it but I wasn't in the dark because that is where monsters hide ;) Thanks so much for sharing.
Nice! Gotta stay away from those monsters, Dan! 👀😄
Get an Avata.
But the NEO is so cute though... Lol agreed, the Avata 2 is solid.
It’s a $200 selfie drone. What do you expect? It’s not gonna perform like $1000 drones. Lame content
For the price, it really does a lot and we shouldn't complain! We like to push the limit and have fun with the NEO. It's a fantastic little toy. 👍
I don't consider it lame, I'm new to drones and didn't know that cheaper drones can't fly in the dark so it's useful information for me and people like me. On the other hand I saw an asian dude flying it in very low light situations (at night in his back yard) and he didn't encounter this issue. He didn't use a VR headset just a normal DJI controller. Maybe the guy from this video didn't update the firmware, or it has nothing to do with that?
The Mini 2 had the same problem - and actually a worse one. It's because it uses the down sensor like a "mouse"... If you look at the underside of a mouse you'll see a light - there's a small camera next to it and it's looking for the texture of the 'ground' under it. It uses changes in the texture to figure out which way its going. The drone is doing the same thing - looking down to see which direction it's going., But if it's black - or ANY uniform colour that it can't get a texture off of, it thinks it's not moving and tries to compensate by speeding up.
I was demoing my Mini 2 in the courtyard of my apartment to a fellow tenant and the thing kept drifting and then zooming off - almost hitting him at one point! Turns out the grey waterproofing paint they used on the courtyard floor looks completely uniform white to the drone.
The only recommendation I can offer is to attach a small battery powered light to the bottom. IR might be good enough - but I've not tested this (still waiting for the Goggle N3 combo to show up at Best Buy) The good news is that since the Neo is just 135g, you have 115g spare space for the light.
Good info. Thanks!
This is a time of flight sensors, used often on less expensive drones and pre-2018 pro drones. It sends light an maps space - sort of a poor man's lidar. Samsung used Time of Flight on Galaxy Note 10 Plus for focus and silly stuff like animating your kids teddy bear. A developer wrote an app to "see" the image it maps.. cool stuff!v
Soare space? I assume you mean capacity within the 250 gram limit? If you're flying indoors there is no limit. It's could weigh 250 lbs. and not fail a single regulation! I mentioned a light as well, I've seen it attempted with mixed results.
@@TheoWerewolf yes, thank you ! This explains my experience also… A little light would have been perfect!
I’ve been testing a couple of them. Their biggest problem is they made a micro and it won’t fly in the house.. With the motion controller when it loses communication, it goes straight forward until it runs into something. Indoors or outdoors.