(Top): Black vers.: Deployed.
(2nd): Black vers.: Folded.
(3rd): White vers.: Deployed.
(4th): White vers.: Folded.
The HoverAir X1 Flying Camera (hereinafter, probably just called the X1) is a small (127mm x 145mm x 30mm), surprisingly light (125g {4.41 oz.}) flying camera that features optical flow and sonar stabilisation, a rechargeable 2S (two cell) 1,050mAh Li:Po (lithium polymer) flight battery, and the ability to have it automatically take to the skies directly from your hand and shoot a number of video styles.
The X1 is termed a "selfie drone" because that is one of its primary purposes.
But the most amazing thing about this product is there is no remote control!!! It takes off out of the palm of your hand and is totally autonomous from that point. And when you want to land, just hold out your hand and it'll come to your hand and gently land in it!!!
I love things that fly; that's why I took the bate and also why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" on my website a number of years ago and created a new website just a few years ago specifically for flying machines of this nature!!! I was also attracted to some things that this drone has that many others don't...
1: It has brushless motors (I tend to avoid brushed-motor quads these days because of their very short life!)
2: It has a gyro -- that means it's easy to fly even for a "craptastic" pilot like me.
3: It has an
optical flow sensor AND sonar; this allows the drone to stay stable in the air.
4: It is foldable; this makes the X1 easier to store and transport.
5: Because it doesn't need a controller, it is possible for stroke survivors to successfully fly it.
6: It has a number of automated flight modes
The X1 is in the lower-end of being HOBBY GRADE, rather than just being another run-of-the-mill pisson toy grade drone.
It's not puny for one thing (it isn't huge, but it isn't microscopic either); and it sports BRUSHLESS motors that deliver incredible amounts of power and have a far longer useable lifetime than their brushed counterparts.
It sports a 2.7K camera with a 90� FOV (Field Of View); both still photos and aerial video can be taken with it!
I believe that the X1 can withstand winds of up to 17.67mph (28.44kph)!
* I believe that this price is a promotional (holidays) price; normally it would be $399.00 for the package that you see on this web page (the version wth USB charging hub and two batteries).
SIZE (compared with a yardstick) -- battery was in the offboard charger when this pic was taken.
As with any rechargeable product, charge the X1 first, and then you can pretend to fly a large dragonfly (well, that's what kitty cats would think it was if it were designed to be flown in a small living room -- you CAN fly it indoors, but you'll want to be certain that the illumination level is relatively high.)
First off, load the app called, "Hover X1" (the Android version from Google Play) onto your 5G WiFi cellular telephone handset, and run it.
1: Unfold the X1 as though you were unfolding a butterfly's wings.
2: Press and hold the POWER button on the drone (it's located on the top of the drone's fuselage {this word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it ; the word is pronounced ""} near the front) for two seconds and then release it; the drone will generate a synthesised female voice telling you that is on and the rectangular LED on the front of the fuselage should spring to life
3: Follow the prompts on your cellular telephone's display to set up your X1 (you only need to perform the setup routine once).
4: Quickly press & release the "POWER" button. A synthesised female voice will issue from the X1, telling you what flight mode you are in; it will then emit a series of tones just prior to the motors spooling up and the X1 subsequently lifting off from your hand.
Congratulations, you're now a pilot!!!
For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.
On the X1, press & hold the "OFF/ON" button for a couple of seconds (until the light on the front of the X1's fuselage has extinguished), and then release it. This should neutralise it. Fold it back up and slip it back into its little bag or stuff it back into your pants pocket.
Screen dump showing what you might see when you connect the USB cable to the X1 (this was taken just after I had made my 12-08-23 flight).
Just copy the video(s) to your desired subdirectory on your computer's hard drive and do with them what you will.
Remember to delete the video(s) from your X1 when you've finished copying them.
The battery in the X1 is rechargeable.
To charge the Li:Po battery in the X1, plug up the large end of the furnished charge cable into any free USB receptacle on your Pee-Cee or Mac computer, and plug the smaller end into the furnished charging cradle. A series of white lights on the cradle should now flash in sequence and then go out.
Insert a battery into one of the two bays; note which end of the battery has brass contacts on it, and put that end into the bay first; orienting it so that the metal contacts on the battery go into the end of the bay that also has brass contacts in it. Gently press down on the battery until it no longer goes down.
The white lights on the "fat" end of the battery bay should now come on; the last light in the chain should flash. When all four lights are steady-on, the battery is fully charged and may safely be removed.
This should take approx. 35 minutes.
Alternately, you may plug the small end of the charge cable (a male USB-C plug) directly into the female USB-C receptacle on the left side of the X1's fuselage.
The white lights on the back of the X1's fuselage should now come on; the last light in the chain should flash. When all four lights are steady-on, the battery is fully charged and may safely be unplugged.
When the battery is charged in this fashion (as opposed to using the charging hub), expect it to take ~55 minutes.
Fully charging the X1's battery should give you approx. 11 minutes (advertised) of flying time; my flight times have maxed out at nine minutes and change.
This flying camera is meant to be used as a camera in a large dry area outdoors or a large indoor venue (smaller rooms are kosher when Manual Mode is used), not as a flashlight meant to be carried around all the time, thrashed, trashed, bashed, and abused; so I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, viciously chuck it at one of those wall-mounted porcelain uranators to see if it becomes broken (the X1, not the whizzer!), try to drown it in the {vulgar slang term for a fudge bunny}bowl (loo) or the cistern, run over it, swing it against a loo ring (toliet seat), swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the canno�ata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Pi�ata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a scanner-type device on a platform with a large readout, with handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the canno�ata is only used to shoot pi�atas to pi�ata parties away from picturesque Pi�ata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analyses, launch it into the upper atmosphere of Gamalon V** so that chairman Sonji gets all piddled-off about it and kills the poor thing, or inflict upon it punishments that I might inflict upon a flashlight.
Besides, drones are meant to be loved, not punished.
There is an optical flow sensor on the bottom of the X1; this helps to maintain the X1's position at lower altitudes. The ambient light level must be fairly high in order for this optical flow positioning system to function though, so please do not expect it to function on night missions (well, "night missions" won't happen anyway; the X1 will refuse to lift off if the ambient light level is too low).
I believe the optical flow is functional to 3 meters (9.84 feet) in altitude.
The X1 is also equipped with a bottom-facing sonar to help it maintain precise altitude.
The camera lens has a 90� wide-angle FOV that will allow you to capture more detail.
The gimbal is adjustable from 15� (almost straight up) to 90� (straight down).
Video modes are:
2704*1520 30FPS
1920*1080 60FPS
1920*1080 30FPS HDR
The X1 has 32GB of internal memory; it does not use a MicroSD memory chip as is usual for drones.
The camera has a true 1-axis gimbal (not a false 1-axis gimbal) (that effectively takes out up and down "pitch" motion) and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation) that removes side-to-side motion remarkeably well. The result is that videos made by the X1 are surprisingly smooth & steady.
There are a number of preprogrammed automated flight modes plus one that allows you to manually fly the X1 like a conventional drone using virtual joysticks on your cellular telephone handset.
The X1 is suited for those with certain physical handicaps and those who have been chopped from the drone-flying arena because they have fallen prey to a stroke, like I have. This is because the X1 is flown WITHOUT a remote controller!!!
Ahhh, the "stroke drone" has finally been invented!!!
The unique 4-bladed propellers are totally protected by a plastic "cage" -- this also serves to protect knuckles, fingers, etc. from the props themselves.
As I understand however, it is possible for the props to become busted in certain crash scenarios; should this occur, I do not know where replacement props can be obtained, so please do not ask.
The X1 has just two buttons: power on/off and flight mode change.
I did a brief test flight indoors and other than some difficulty in getting it to recognise my hand and eventually land in it; (though I later realised that the comparatively low light levels indoors {it was 7:18pm PST on 12-05-23 when the test flight took place} probably queered image acquisition), the flight went remarkably well.
One of the most promninent no-nos is that you must NEVER fly the X1 over water; best guess here is the water's surface will queer the ground recognition firmware and cause the X1 to go blub blub blub with all of the swimmy slimey thingies that live in the gigantic fish toliet. You are also forbidden from flying the X1 off rooftops or cliffs; this is because the unit does not have GPS and relies solely on optical positioning,
The X1 has a number of automated flight modes:
Hover
Zoom out
Follow me
Orbit
Bird eye
Custom (can pick between Snapshot and Dolly track)
The X1 has a maximum vertical range of 15 meters (just under 50 feet) a maximum horizontal range of 27 meters (~90 feet).
I am not able to test "Follow me" or "Dolly track" modes (at least until I obtain another electric wheelchair) because they require the user to be at least somewhat mobile; the stroke I had in late-winter 2022 robbed me of that ability. I may be able to test "Manual mode" in the near-future if I can figure out how to invoke it.
The X1 can record your voice while it in flight; it uses your cellular telephone handset's own mic to do this and has a notch-reject filter to cancel out propeller noise.
Note that this feature only works if you transfer the X1's files to your phone and not if you connect the X1 to your computer and transfer them that way.
The stroke that I had in early-2022 robbed me of my ability to talk, so I cannot test this feature for you.
Photograph of the bag that this drone comes with.
Photograph of the undercarriage showing the optical flow camera and the IR sensor assembly. Note one of them glowing blue -- it actually emits infrared radiation but the camera "sees" it as blue.
Brief video showing the ON and OFF sequences.
ALL OF THE FLIGHT VIDEOS ARE ON THEIR OWN WEB PAGE
SO THAT THIS EVAL. WOULD NOT BECOME TOO CUMBERSOME!!!
TEST NOTES:
Test unit was purchased on Ebay on 12-01-2023 and was received at 4:20pm PST on 12-04-2023.
My sister would normally object to my allowing a drone (or any other product for that matter) in the house, but she appeared uncharacterstically happy when she saw the box and asked about it.
** From the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Final Mission".
UPDATE 12-26-23
It would appear that one of the batteries is flunky; it refuses to power the X1 at all.
Time to cash in that warranty.
UPDATE 12-30-23
I am not able to wait for the warranty replacement, so I ordered another battery using my own money.
UPDATE 01-06-24
Because I did not purchase from "official" channels, I have no warranty.
UPDATE 01-07-24
The flight battery I ordered on 12-30-23 arrived on 01-05-24, and it functions beautifully.
UPDATE 01-17-24
I finally had a successful FPV flight yesterday!!!
Until then, the FPV feed would "freeze" immediately after liftoff; replacing my Galaxy A03S cellular telephone handset with a Motorola Moto E5 Play was what fixed the issue.
UPDATE 01-28-24
The Hoverair X1 can be used as a standalone still and video camera; you need not launch it in order to do this.
Just put it in Manual mode and initiate recording from the app as you would when flying in Manual mode.
UPDATE 03-07-24
Something's not kosher with my Hover X1.
When I attempt to launch it, it flies up just a foot or two, then auto-lands.
I'm hoping that it is just the flight batteries going to pot after several hundred flights; I have new ones ETA 03-06-24 that I hope will rectify the situation.
The jury's still out on those batteries: I had success with the first one but I experienced one malfunction on the second battery.
UPDATE 03-08-24
Product now fails to fly.
When I attempt to launch it, it flies up just a foot or two, then auto-lands.
The new batteries did not do the trick.
Therefore, the dreadful, "" icon must now be appended to its listings on this website.
Shame too; I rather liked this drone.
I have a replacement en route; ETA later this afternoon thanks to Amazon Prime.
UPDATE 03-11-24
I had the same issue with the new one, but after recalibrating the IMU, I've had successful flights not only with the new one, but with the original as well.
PROS:
Unique drone does not require a remote controller
NEUTRAL:
CONS:
Somewhat expen$ive
MANUFACTURER: Zero Zero Robotics
PRODUCT TYPE: Flying camera w/ optical flow and sonar
LAMP TYPE: LED
No. OF LAMPS: 19 (1 RGB on X1's front, 6 mode change LEDs on fuselage, 4 white on fuselage, 8 white in charger)
BEAM TYPE: N/A
REFLECTOR TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton on/off and mode selection switches on X1's fuselage
CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
BEZEL: N/A
BATTERY: 1x 7.60V 1,050mAh Li:Po
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND SIBERIAN TIGER MICTURITION-RESISTANT: Very light sprinkle-resistance at maximum (though if a big kitty really does go poddy on it, you've got FAR bigger problems than a stinky dead drone, hahaha!!! )
SUBMERSIBLE: ���EL CONEJITO DE PASCUA CON UN CEPILLO DE DIENTES QUE CAY� EN UN HIGI�NICO DE LOS, NO!!!
ACCESSORIES: USB charging cable, charging hub, 2x flight batteries, storage bag
SIZE: (Folded): 127mm x 86mm x 31mm (Deployed): 127mm x 145mm x 30mm
WEIGHT: unknown/unable to weigh (advertised as 125g; incl. flight battery)
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
WARRANTY: 12 months
PRODUCT RATING:
(Yes, that really is ten radios you're seeing; this is by far the best quad I've ever evaluated!!!)
; the word is pronounced "
"} near the front) for two seconds and then release it; the drone will generate a synthesised female voice telling you that is on and the rectangular LED on the front of the fuselage should spring to life
" icon must now be appended to its listings on this website.
)
