The Hoverair X1 drone is a drone that has come to revolutionise the idea of flying drones, and it is revolutionary because it is autonomous and does not need to be piloted, i.e. it flies by itself without the need for a controller or an LCD screen where you can see any configuration options.
Of course, it doesn’t get any simpler than that. That’s why this article will be like this drone: simple and straightforward.
Read on as I tell you all about the Hoverair X1.
Just take it out of your pocket, press a button, and it’s ready to go!
How the Hoverair X1 works
The power button will be used to set it in motion and also to tell it in which flight mode we want it to fly.
Facial recognition is done through AI (artificial intelligence) so that the Hoverair X1 recognises the subject and follows it and balances its camera so that it does not leave its scribing radius.
And to end the flight, just put your hand underneath it and it will descend automatically.
Best drone for creating social media content
The Hoverair X1 records audio in those videos that we record, and it is done through our mobile phone, and at the same time through the AI is responsible for eliminating the annoying sound of the propellers.
How to get it going
You have to place it on your hand, press the big power button for 2 seconds, and it will do a quick calibration of the gimbal and start the face recognition I told you about. Finally it will tell you what flight mode it is in.
When switched on and pressing the main button repeatedly, the drone will tell us by voice (as it has no LCD screen) which mode it is currently in.
Once we have chosen the desired flight mode, by holding down the button for 2 seconds, we can change the configuration of the chosen mode: distance at which it will fly away, distance at which it will orbit us, etc…
General information
Underneath it has a ventilation grille and 2 sensors and 1 camera with which it will detect the ground and fly in a stable way.
On the side you will see a usb-c connection that will be used to connect the aircraft to your computer and transfer the material you have captured and also to charge the drone’s battery. This connection will also be used to charge the drone, which will take about 55 minutes.
If you are thinking of having more than one battery, I recommend it as the autonomy of each battery is not very long.
For this you have the option of buying a HUB charger with space for two batteries that will charge each battery in about 35 minutes, thus reducing the charging time compared to the direct charging on the drone via USB-c that I just told you about.
The battery is mounted on the top and if you remove it you can see that it is a type of drone that comes with a built-in label with the C0 class marking for Europe, and weighs only 125gr so it is an unlicensed drone that you can fly without the need for a licence to be a certified drone operator or pilot.
Do you know the flight rules for a drone with class C0 markings? I invite you to carefully read my article on the ‘Open’ drone category. Below is a screenshot of a very important piece of information about registration as a drone operator, which you will find in this article and which I will give you a sneak preview of.
Please note, this is neither a toy drone nor a drone for children.
This drone has no GPS, obstacle sensors or anything similar (although it dodges everything, or almost everything), it only has the sensors and the camera underneath to locate itself and have an AI camera for tracking.
It has a maximum flight speed of 25 km/h.
It has no SD slot and has an internal memory of 32GB, of which only about 22GB of actual memory is left for photos and videos, between firmware and data information stored in this internal memory.
Without a doubt, the Hoverair X1 is an essential tool for influencers, content creators and people who want to have a different kind of graphic material, this drone is very interesting.
App for Hoverair X1
I’ve already told you that the Hoverair X1 doesn’t come with a controller, but you will need to download the app to your mobile phone to start flying. It is available for both Android and iPhone.
On the phone and with this application you can configure some aspects in more detail and even choose some default flight modes.
From the application you can also transfer your recorded material to your mobile phone wirelessly.
This drone is intended to be used autonomously and the app is included as an extra but let’s just say it’s not the idea.
Battery
Each battery has a 1050 mAh charge which gives it a theoretical range of 11 minutes, although it is between 8-10 minutes of real flight time depending on the type of flight and wind conditions.
Camera
The quality of the camera is not going to impress you if you have already flown some of the most TOP drones that DJI has on the market, and for some users it has a little too much digital sharpness, probably to compensate for the lack of focus, noise, etc…
Although if you are going to use this Hoverair X1, the photos and videos you will get will be enough for social media formats (Instagram, Youtube, etc…), family videos and travel videos. It allows you to record vertically, although only at 1080P. The camera does not rotate, but it adopts the same type of cropping as the DJI AIR 3.
The camera has the following features:
- 35mm equivalent focal length camera
- 90° viewing angle
- Fixed aperture f2.4
- Video stabiliser
- Recording (small) sensor:
- Video: 2,7K 30fps/1080P fps HDR, 1080P 60 fps
- Photos: 12MG JPGE
The strength of the Hoverair X1 is not photography but video.
Hoverair X1 flight modes
The Hoverair X1 has:
- 4 automatic flight modes:
- Orbit, revolve around us
- Bird’s eye view, which is a zenithal flight mode.
- Hover. This word means lift in Spanish, and gives the drone its name. This flight mode will make the drone hover in the air as if it were a floating tripod. It rotates on its own axis and its camera tilts up and down to follow you, with very good and professional results.
- Zoom out, which is a flight mode that starts from in front of us until it gradually starts to zoom out.
- 2 tracking modes:
- Follow. This mode will be in charge of following you
- Dolly Track. It will record you from the front as you go along
- 1 manual mode
- It is done with the phone and is a very basic mode just for super simple shots. It is done via WIFI and has a maximum range of 30 metres horizontally and a height of 15 metres, in case we want to take a simple shot. It’s not the main purpose of this drone but well, there it is.
Let me tell you that all these flight modes work wonderfully.
A real feat of skill!
Price of the Hoverair X1
The price is a reasonable price considering its performance.
Depending on whether you buy it as is without the HUB I talked about earlier (which I recommend) it is priced at around 389€ and from 400€ if you buy the COMBO or COMBO PLUS.
Limitations of the HOVERAIR X1
As I have told you before on the subject of distances:
- It cannot reach horizontal and vertical distances of more than 30 and 15 metres respectively.
- You should not fly over the water as you will be able to perform uncontrolled manoeuvres with the glitter of the water and you will not have a support surface.
- Do not fly in strong winds
- Needs very good light conditions for the sensors to detect the ground.
Conclusions
This Hoverair X1 drone opens the door to a new concept and a new way of having a technological device belonging to the world of drones that will surely develop in the future with better devices.
Its simplicity of use, transport and ease of execution means that this drone can be used by anyone who has nothing to do with drones, as it does not require any kind of piloting knowledge to fly it.
If you need more information about this product or want me to talk about a specific product, please let me know in the comments!
