Heads up!!! Here’s your massive holiday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $419, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for just $699, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $249, (or the brand new Hero 13 or $299!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ deals here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Thanks for the Update! Any predictions on whether we see a black Friday/holiday sale on this unit this year?
I would not expect it.
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?
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.
Your beach cruiser bike speeds must be higher than mine.
13mph is plenty fast on a beach cruiser.
…ride it like you stole it.
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?
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
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!!
As long as the phone is within range, which can be pretty limited at about 50-100m.
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
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.
Brilliant, thanks Ray and good luck with the move to Majorca!
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:)