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DJI Neo Sports Tracking Update Tested: Huge Speed Boost

November 7, 2024 by |Product Reviews|Comments (14)

In conjunction with DJI releasing a new budget-friendly FPV goggles yesterday, they also somewhat quietly released a firmware update for their DJI NEO. That firmware update addresses one of the two biggest issues the NEO had: Speed.

Or rather, lack thereof.

Until now, the drone was basically limited to about 21KPH/13MPH for any tracking purposes. Which would cover running and hiking (though, I could even lose it doing sprints while running). But that wasn’t even fast enough for beach-cruiser bikes, let alone road bikes on flat surfaces, or descending faster on any wheeled contraption. This speed was far below every past DJI drone from the last decade, as well as below their main competitor in the space: HoverAir.

However, yesterday’s firmware update aims to resolve that. In the release notes, DJI didn’t specify how fast the new speed was, simply saying it was improved:

Thus, I set out to figure it out. Of course, it’s not just a straightforward answer, as there are many different modes, which I cover in the video above, but are listed below:

1) Basic flying, with the phone as controller (not following)
2) Basic flying, with the RC controller (not following)
3) ‘Sport Mode’ flying, with the RC controller (not following, just what DJI calls faster flying)
4) ‘Active Track’ style following mode, using phone (or no phone, it’s the same)
5) ‘Active Track’ style following mode, using RC controller
6) ‘Active Track’ style following mode, using RC controller in ‘Sport mode’
7) Crashing into the trees mode

Fear not, I cover everything in a rather methodical way, testing the modes before and after the update. Ultimately, this update brings follow-me mode to about 32-33KPH (20MPH) in my testing. It may be possible that it’s closer to 35KPH on perfectly flat ground, but I was on a 2-3% decline, thus the rate of descent may be causing some slight reductions in speed.

Note that interestingly, the new 35KPH tracking mode does *not* apply to regular flight modes, which is beyond bizarre. But then again, the fact that this drone was released with such a low tracking speed to begin with was equally bizarre. But with that sorted, it’s now totally usable for road cycling (not descending), and most MTB/gravel scenarios. Of course, the other main issue – image quality, is still low, but hey…can’t win them all for $199.

With that – thanks for watching!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

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14 Comments

  1. Sam Smith
    November 7, 2024 at 4:15 pm #1

    Thanks for the Update! Any predictions on whether we see a black Friday/holiday sale on this unit this year?

    Reply
  2. RPA
    November 8, 2024 at 9:34 am #3

    I bought a DJI mini 4 pro this year (2024) with all the bells and whistles. I used it to follow while mountain biking. I found the Active Track to be a horrible “follow” feature. The drone would lose the subject almost every time the rider passed a significant sized tree (which happens constantly while mountain biking). I had much better luck – and footage – with my old 2017 GoPro Karma drone, which would follow the controller. Why doesn’t DJI offer this follow option?

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      November 10, 2024 at 9:37 am #4

      DJI has apparently been working on a remote. It was supposed to announce/ship with the DJI Air 3S, but got delayed till next April.

      Why on earth it took them this long? No idea. I suspect they had one started when Skydio came along with it, but then shelved it, and only re-awaked it after Hover started pushing harder into their space.

      Reply
  3. Bob
    November 9, 2024 at 4:12 pm #5

    Your beach cruiser bike speeds must be higher than mine.

    13mph is plenty fast on a beach cruiser.

    Reply
  4. Greg Hilton
    November 11, 2024 at 6:32 am #7

    Given the issues you had skiing with the Hover, do you think this would be a better choice for a simple follow me drone for ski & biking? If it loses you can you fly it back to yourself to avoid walking back up a steep off piste pitch at all?

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      November 11, 2024 at 7:30 am #8

      In theory, yes, in practice…honestly, ya never know.

      I don’t have a way to descend fast enough (in terms of steepness) that I can think of, to simulate skiing with a bike. And at present, I don’t see a single video on YouTube for skiing with the DJI Neo.

      I suspect we can’t be very far away from that, to be honest. Though, a super-quick look at a few webcams at the lift summits around Chamonix shows not a single dot of snow.

      If it loses you, yeah, you can generally get it back to you more easily than Hover, in my experience. In fact, you could probably even throw a DJI remote in your backpack in an emergency to take control long-range. Would be a fun test to see if I could:

      A) Purposefuly lose it on a trail, let it go land itself
      B) Then take DJI RC out of backpack, power it on
      C) And see if it’ll seamlessly connect to DJI Neo and let me take it back off

      Reply
    • Greg Hilton
      November 11, 2024 at 7:48 am #9

      thanks! Could you get it back without the remote just using a phone?

      Hopefully be a bit whiter in mid Dec when I get to the Alps!!

      Reply
    • Ray Maker
      November 11, 2024 at 7:58 am #10

      As long as the phone is within range, which can be pretty limited at about 50-100m.

      Reply
  5. Johnny
    November 27, 2024 at 9:59 am #11

    Hi

    Great reviews as always

    Looking for a quick recommendation
    DJI Neo or Insta360 X3?

    Use is to capture casual fun running, snowboarding, cycling & other action videos & photos for personal use and viewing (I’m jot a vloger or content creator)

    Previously had a GoPro 7 images/video very static and looking the same

    Many thanks

    J

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      November 27, 2024 at 11:10 am #12

      Honestly, pretty different scenarios. While the X3 can capture vaguely similar shots (depending on how you configure it), I find that ultimately the drone makes it feel more natural. Whereas the 360 cam you always have to hold it, ec…

      For me, I’d go Neo.

      Reply
    • Johnny
      November 27, 2024 at 3:52 pm #13

      Brilliant, thanks Ray and good luck with the move to Majorca!

      Reply
  6. Tom
    December 4, 2024 at 1:35 pm #14

    Do you have any plans comparing the autonomous modes of Neo to one or the newer ones from HoverAir X1 (Pro or ProMax)?
    I know Neo is way cheaper but if HoverAir is a lot better, I might still go for that one.
    Only interested in the autonomous modes:)

    Reply