I’m not an early adopter when it comes to gadgets. I still use an iPhone 13 Pro Max, I used a Canon 70D for many years until I finally gave in to mirrorless and got a Fuji XT200, and don’t ask me about my daily driver. So when the DJI Neo first came out, billed as the brand’s most affordable drone, I held back after reading the reviews and the consensus was that the video quality was so-so.
But after a friend brought out his DJI Neo 2 during a ride and showed me the gesture controls and a few other tricks—all done without the need of a controller or even opening the DJI Fly app—my curiosity was seriously piqued. A drone that can work even without a controller or app? No way!
Yes way, in fact, because after reading enough about it, I lost no time in heading over to the mall to get my own. As luck would have it, the new Altitude store in Alabang Town Center had the last “Fly More” combo in stock and I took it as a sign that it was meant for me.
While you can buy a Neo 2 for only P12,390, that only gets you the drone, one “Intelligent Flight” battery, and a pair of spare propellers. Since that battery will only last you around 10 minutes, it’s best to get the Fly More combo since that comes with three batteries and the RC-N3 remote control.
Naturally, I took out the drone the minute I got home and tried out the “Active Track” mode that allows you to operate it without using the Fly app or remote. There are three buttons on the side of the Neo 2. The two white ones let you cycle through modes such as “Follow,” “Dronie,” “Selfie,” and “Rocket,” while the orange one is for take-off.
Select your mode, place the Neo 2 in the palm of your hand, press the orange button, and it will take off and hover, then move back to your pre-selected distance.
With gesture controls, hold your palm up until a blue light comes on, indicating that the lidar is “tethered” to your hand. Move your hand up, down, left, or right and the Neo 2 will obediently follow like an eager puppy. It actually follows commands better than my Lab. With two hands up, bring them together to bring the Neo 2 closer, or spread your hands wide to get it out farther.
It’s all so easy to do that my 11-year-old son Alex got the hang of it within five minutes. Then, with what DJI calls “Active Track” software, it will reliably follow you as you move along, with obstacle avoidance working to keep it from bumping into things. While I haven’t had the chance to test it on a bike yet, fast walking with the drone in front, behind, or to the side is not a problem for the Neo 2 as long as the obstacles are fairly large. I’m guessing it uses its camera and LIDAR to see all around it, but thinner branches can be missed.
In one particular “helix” shot (where the drone would ascend in a widening spiral), it got caught in a thin branch. After a few seconds struggling to get around it, I guess its little computer had enough and decided to just land. Unfortunately, it got caught in a few more branches on the descent, so it eventually spun out and crashed. Fortunately, it was only a few more feet to the ground and the prop guards protected the blades. I just picked it up, brushed off some dirt, moved a few more feet to clear the radius, and the Neo 2 did the job flawlessly this time.
With the Neo 2 linked to the Fly app, you can also customize the modes for set distance and low, wide, or high angles. These are great for content creation as you can just tap away and let the Neo 2 do its thing while you do yours.
You can also fly it manually with the app, though it’s a bit jerky and there’s about a half second of latency. Flying with the app is also limited to tracking you only. Unless you’re in manual mode, it will stop tracking the moment it loses sight of you, in which case it will hover until you come back into its field of view. So, no, you can’t use it to track you while you’re driving a car since you’ll be hidden, but you can use it to track you while on a bike.
With the RC-N3 remote in play, this allows you better manual control of the drone and also lets you track vehicles. Still, manual flying can be tricky when in “Sport” mode since obstacle avoidance is turned off, so it’s best to use this if you’re in an open field.
As for video quality, the Neo 2 has a ½-inch CMOS sensor with an FOV of 119.8°, an f/2.2 aperture, a format equivalent of 16.5mm, and a focus zone of 0.7 meters to infinity. This is the same sensor as the Neo, but the software has been tweaked to give it sharper resolution even when filming at 4K/60fps (16:9). You can also shoot 4:3 at 1080p, and choose from 30, 50, or 60fps. When using Portrait, it films at 2.7k (9:16) in 30, 50, or 50fps. This isn’t cinema-level video quality, but perfectly usable for YouTube content.
The Neo 2’s list of specs is long, but in summary, the things you need to know are that the batteries will last an average of 10 minutes with plenty of aggressive movements and around 10 or so takeoffs; the range is far enough that you’ll get scared of losing it before you ever want to test if its official 7 kilometer range is true; and the 2-axis gimbal is the key to why it’s so stable in flight.
Its maximum altitude is 2,000 meters, not that I’d even want to go higher than 100, but it’s nice to know it can sub for a professional drone if ever. Oh, and its top speed is 8m/s in Normal mode, or 12m/s in sport or tracking mode. There is no provision for an SD card, but internal storage of 49GB should be sufficient. Downloading photo and video files is a cinch through the app, too.
One glitch I’m still figuring out is how to get my DJI Mic to work with the Neo 2. In theory, it’s as simple as hooking up the Mic to my smartphone via Bluetooth, then tapping the microphone icon on the Fly app before takeoff. However, my practice shots have all missed the first few seconds of my spiels, so I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong. All things considered, though, I’ll probably figure this out with a few more practice flights.
Speed says
Since the Neo 2 only weighs 160 grams and the 1606mAh lithium-ion batteries are only 46g each, it’s light enough that you can stuff it in a small backpack and take it with you on a hike or ride. This portability is what really sold me on the Neo 2, because our work drone is an Air 3 and it weighs at least a kilo or two and is a bit fussy to set up. With the Neo 2, take it out of a small bag, press the power button, choose your flight mode, then press the launch button. It’s so simple and easy that it’s genius!
Words and photos Andy Leuterio
This review was first published in Speed’s Holiday Issue 2025.
