Does the self flying drone, the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX actually work? Can it fly in the woods for MTB?

[music] Yo, what is up? Welcome or welcome back.

Either way, thank you so much for making it this far. If you are like me, you've seen the Hover Air, the autonomous self-flying drone all over your social media [music] feed, following cool

people, doing cool things in cool places. But is the drone actually cool?

places. But is the drone actually cool?

Is the camera cool? Does it do what it says it does? Well, I got my hands on one to test. [music] I've had it for a few weeks now and I'm going to let you know my thoughts. So, without further

ado, let's stop wasting time and get into it.

Real talk. Come with me. Oh, yeah. This

whole intro was shot on the hover air.

Come on.

So, first things first, what's important for you to know is that I got this drone for free. Hover Air sent it to me. They

for free. Hover Air sent it to me. They

said, "Hey, listen. We recognize that you have nobody that wants to ride with you to film you. You do all the filming yourself. We can't help you with that,

yourself. We can't help you with that, but we can help you with a drone to help capture uh more dynamic shots." Just

kidding. Hover didn't say anything like that, but they did say, "Hey, do you want to check out this drone? We'll send

you one." and uh give us some feedback in the form of a video. So, that's what I'm doing. I get nothing out of selling

I'm doing. I get nothing out of selling this drone or, you know, there's a link below for a great discount. I get

nothing out of sales from that link. My

integrity, uh the trust that I've gained in you is far more important to me than selling this drone. That's important for you to know. Now, that we're beyond that, let's talk about the drone itself.

So, I'm not going to go into all the specs, the 8K video recording, you know, all that fancy stuff because you can find that anywhere. You can Google search that. It's on everyone's video.

search that. It's on everyone's video.

[music] I simply want to communicate whether it does what it promises to do and whether it'll do it for mountain bikers like you and I. So, first off, let's talk about the [music] form factor of the drone and my experience with it

mechanically. There's no denying that

mechanically. There's no denying that it's small, and that is a huge selling point for me because I am a minimalist when it comes to riding my mountain bike. I do not even carry water on my

bike. I do not even carry water on my rides. I don't want to be burdened by

rides. I don't want to be burdened by things that I have to manage to make my ride better. I just want to get on my

ride better. I just want to get on my bike. I'm old-fashioned. I just want to

bike. I'm old-fashioned. I just want to get on my bike, get in the woods, and ride. So, the idea of bringing a drone

ride. So, the idea of bringing a drone with me on a ride was never one that was too exciting for me. However, the Hover Air is so small and so light, I can

throw it in my pocket, and if I didn't know what was put in what pocket, I wouldn't be [music] able to distinguish which one is the Hover Air and which one is my phone. So, I can easily ride with this in my pocket comfortably. I don't

feel burdened by its weight. I don't

feel burdened by its size. The downside

to that is the batteries are small. The

batteries are light. [music] Because of that, you don't get a lot of flying time out of the drone itself. Hover Air

claims you get about 16 minutes of flying time. In [music] my experience,

flying time. In [music] my experience, I've achieved about 12 to 13 minutes on average. [music] Additionally, when it

average. [music] Additionally, when it gets down to about the 12 to 10% mark, it'll stop filming. What it'll do is it'll just hover in a safe area. And my

thought is the last 10% [music] is its ability to get back to you wherever you are. So, all of its energy, all of its

are. So, all of its energy, all of its focus goes to that last 10% to get the drone back into your safe hands. Now,

Hover Air sent me the cycling bundle, which came with three batteries. So,

when I'm out on a ride with those three batteries, I have about 30 to 35 minutes of filming. With three batteries, if

of filming. With three batteries, if it's a small ride and I know what I need to capture, it's for social media. It's

for a quick video, three batteries are fine. Especially once you get familiar

fine. Especially once you get familiar with the drone, you're wasting less battery life figuring [music] things out. Now, let's talk about its flying

out. Now, let's talk about its flying modes. Everything it claims to do, it

modes. Everything it claims to do, it does. All of the flying modes, whether

does. All of the flying modes, whether it's to the side or whether it's bird's eye or dolly in front of you or a follow mode, you name it. All the crazy modes that it does, it does. But here's what

you need to know, and this is for any action camera. Well, really any camera

action camera. Well, really any camera altogether. Camera's goal is to capture

altogether. Camera's goal is to capture the moment. You shouldn't rely on a

the moment. You shouldn't rely on a camera to make moments. And I think a lot of people that get action cameras or very expensive uh photography cameras,

DSLRs, mirrorless cameras, they rely on the camera to make the moment. And they

quickly realize that, you know, regardless of what you're using, what the tool is, or how good the tool is, [music] it's up to you to make the moment. And the better the tool, the

moment. And the better the tool, the better opportunity you have of capturing [music] that moment the way that you envision. And that's what this drone

envision. And that's what this drone really does. It really provides you

really does. It really provides you [music] an opportunity to capture moments in unique ways.

All right, little buddy. You're coming

with me.

So, when it comes to interacting with the drone, it's dead simple, which again is important to me on the trail. I don't

want to think through technology to make things work when I'm out on the trail. I

just want them to work. Okay? And this

does with just a few pushes of a button.

So, for instance, I push the button once, and there it is. It's off on its own, filming. God only knows what I'm doing.

filming. God only knows what I'm doing.

Now, when I'm done, and I want the drone back in my hands, I just kind of freeze like a statue for a hot second, show it my hand.

And back it [music] comes. Now, let's

talk about its tracking. So, it will track very, very well. I was very impressed by [music] its ability to track you as a subject. There were

certain points where I felt like it almost tracked me too well. For

instance, if I was riding a trail and the trail caused my body to swerve left and right subtly, or if I was going over jumps and whipping right and whipping left, the drone would read those

movements and be hyperactive to correct its positioning of me, the subject in the field of view. And because of that, it gave it somewhat of a swaying motion.

And the more motion that the drone does to keep you center on the screen as the subject, the more opportunity it has to fly into something. So, I wish with a

future firmware update that they would offer the ability to [music] perhaps make tracking a little bit less sensitive. So, this drone tracks very,

sensitive. So, this drone tracks very, very well. And if you are an a general

very well. And if you are an a general mountain biker in the woods or a cross-country mountain [music] biker riding single track, double track uh climbs, you name it, this drone [music]

will do very well for you. What

challenges this drone is speed. So if

you're more of a downhill uh enduro oriented rider, more of an aggressive rider, this drone will have a little bit more of a challenge keeping up with you.

So while it can cook [music] up to a pretty good speed if you are out in the open, it'll stay with you pretty well when you're going pretty [music] fast.

But what happens is as a mountain biker in the woods, we're increasing speed.

We're dropping in elevation. Our speed

is changing. We're going around turns.

This drone is doing its [music] best to keep up with you. It's doing uh it wants to please you. It wants to do well by you. But what happens is when [music]

you. But what happens is when [music] those speeds change suddenly and those turns change drastically and that elevation drops quickly, this drone will make mistakes. Now, let's be honest. I

make mistakes. Now, let's be honest. I

mean, mountain biking in the woods at high speeds with all these pokey branches around is an incredible challenge for an autonomous drone. Now,

[music] perhaps where you pay your taxes, the government that collects your taxes, they're working on reverse engineering alien technology, and in the future that will be released to consumers in the form of a drone. Then

you may have a drone that can keep up with you in all circumstances, at all speeds, in all conditions on the trail.

But for now, this drone does pretty well as long as you have your expectations set. Okay, so what I'm going to do is

set. Okay, so what I'm going to do is bring you along for a ride on a bit of single track here. We'll start off slow and we'll pick up speed as we go and see how well this will track me and avoid obstacles on some pretty tight single

track. What you're seeing me do here is

track. What you're seeing me do here is connect the beacon to the drone. Uh the

beacon comes with the cycling bundle.

You can also buy it separately. Also

with the cycling bundle, uh it comes with a mount that you can strap it to your handlebars, which is pretty cool.

So again, we're seeing on the beacon what the drone is seeing. Let's take off here. See how long she stays with me. So

here. See how long she stays with me. So

we're recording. I will keep the helmet cam on so you can get a perception of my speed from a rers's point of view and see how well the drone does.

Hear it back there.

See what it does with that tree.

Yeah, got a beefing going on.

So, I wouldn't say I rode that as fast as I normally do. mainly because I can't see anything with that sun.

You ready, buddy? You good?

So, are you going to go to the top of a long downhill, set this drone in motion to follow you, blaze down a downhill for 10 minutes, changing speeds, blasting

turns, riding drops, hitting jumps, and expect this to arrive seconds after you arrive, it's likely not going to happen.

It's going to run into trouble along the way. Now, if you are in a wide open

way. Now, if you are in a wide open space with no trees, yeah, you know, it has a good chance of arriving with you when you arrive. So, if you are a BMXer and you're riding skate parks or if you're riding street, uh you're a dirt

jumper that your dirt jump trails are out in the open, [music] um this drone is absolutely perfect for you. If you're a skateboarder, my gosh,

you. If you're a skateboarder, my gosh, this is such a cool tool to have with [music] you when you're out capturing content. So, now for me, while I was

content. So, now for me, while I was testing over the last few weeks, there are no leaves on the trees and these little branches are very hard to see.

So, I didn't expect a lot from this drone, but I was actually honestly surprised at what it [music] could do.

Even as I say that you can expect a lot from it at high speeds in the woods, I was honestly surprised and blown away at how well that it did do. There's that

little tree.

Get over here so I can give you a hug.

But yes, I have flown it into trees.

[music] It's smacked trees pretty hard.

It's fallen to the ground pretty hard.

And uh it takes it very very well. So

they send you a little sample [music] of this material here. And what they do is they ask you to squeeze it and try to break it to prove the durability of the [music] cage. There are a couple

[music] cage. There are a couple fractures in the cage.

Nothing major and nothing that [music] would keep it from flying. It flies face first, camera first, gimbal first [music] into trees, and I've not had any issues with the camera or the gimbal.

So, when it comes to the cage, you can buy replacement parts, and you can [music] uh buy replacement props, propellers, too. They are relatively inexpensive.

too. They are relatively inexpensive.

[music] However, what I would like to see rather than Hover Air send you a sample to squeeze and squish and bend and twist to prove its durability, I would rather them save [music] the money for whatever

it took to produce that little sample and put that towards just giving you an extra cage or two. But it's durable and [music] it's light. I think because it's light when it smacks into a tree, it just kind of bounces off like a

butterfly, falls to the ground, and as long as you can find it, I think you'll be good to go. Does this drone track you well? Does it do everything that it says

well? Does it do everything that it says it does? 100% absolutely yes. Will it

it does? 100% absolutely yes. Will it

run into trouble if you're in a more of an aggressive a faster downhill enduro type rider? It can. You the faster you

type rider? It can. You the faster you go, the bigger opportunity you have for this to run into a tree and [music] fail. With that being said, when you

fail. With that being said, when you understand its limitations, it is incredibly useful. For instance, if I

incredibly useful. For instance, if I want to go out and capture a short line, a technical trail, I can do that at a higher speed. And because I'm [music]

higher speed. And because I'm [music] not riding a great distance, I'll know that the drone is going to keep up with me very well. I don't have to worry about losing it and traveling a quarter of a mile before I've recognized that

the drone smacked into a tree or lost track of me and is sitting somewhere up the trail. So, I'm going to capture a

the trail. So, I'm going to capture a short section of trail that I think is pretty cool. It's not the hardest

pretty cool. It's not the hardest section of trail I've ever ridden, but it's super technical. Um, and I think it would be great to capture uh with the self-flying drone.

So there we go. It's off the flying. The

red light means that it's recording obviously.

[music] [music] So, who do I think this drone is for?

Well, I think it's for somebody who shares content on social media. The

majority of social media content nowadays is short form. Even in long form videos like this one, okay, your clips are relatively short because people just don't have the attention span. So, is somebody going to watch a

span. So, is somebody going to watch a fiveminute drone shot from the top of a trail to the bottom of a trail and retain interest the whole way? Likely

not. Okay. So, when you approach capturing content with that understanding in mind, you'll realize how beneficial and powerful this drone can be as a way of capturing moment. The

major selling point, the major marketing point on this drone is its autonomous nature, its ability to fly on its own.

However, I think that it's a super powerful tool if you use it in manual mode. For instance, I can go and find a

mode. For instance, I can go and find a feature um that I want to capture from a unique point of view that I can't set a tripod up for, that I can't set a camera up for. What I can do is take control of

up for. What I can do is take control of this drone and park it anywhere in three-dimensional space, and it'll capture a compelling angle of that feature. So, what we're going to do is

feature. So, what we're going to do is we're going to send her off here. enemy

control.

[bell] So, I am now seeing on my phone what the drone sees. So, let's find a cool angle

drone sees. So, let's find a cool angle for this drop that I would not be able to get uh from from a camera, you know, on a tripod. So, let's bring the gimbal

down a little bit.

Let's send her up a little bit.

Let's bring the gimbal down. So, what

you're looking at here could be a cool shot. Again, I can bring it forward or

shot. Again, I can bring it forward or up and down just to really frame my shot how I want it. I think this shot looks kind of cool. The drone is way out there. This is what the drone is seeing.

there. This is what the drone is seeing.

Make sure we hit record so we don't miss the moment. Now, this is a shot that I

the moment. Now, this is a shot that I could not have obviously gotten with any other camera. So, I think we'll start

other camera. So, I think we'll start here. Should be good enough.

here. Should be good enough.

The drone's doing its job now. I just

have to do my job.

So, here's how I look at this drone, okay? It's I look at it like it's a

okay? It's I look at it like it's a little puppy. It's going to follow you

little puppy. It's going to follow you everywhere you go within reason. You can

outrun a little puppy. It's going to [music] do its best to keep up with you.

It wants to make you happy. like a

little puppy, the [music] more you get, the more it'll get and the more opportunity there is for it to run into trouble. But if you're like me, you like little puppies. And I love

having this tool with me as a way to capture the moment. So this drone is not perfect, but it does everything that it claims it does as long as you have your expectations set [music] correctly. So

if you are interested in this drone, I have a link down below that offers you a discount for the month of December. If

you have any questions specific to the Hover Air X1 Pro Max, you can leave them in the comments below. I'll do my best to answer them quickly. So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this video, do I think this drone is

cool? It does everything it promises,

cool? It does everything it promises, but there are some limitations in the woods, [music] but let's be honest, the woods are full of nothing but hazards for a self-flying drone. [music] And

honestly, it does pretty well on its own. So, for that reason, it's

own. So, for that reason, it's absolutely cool. Thank you, Hover Air,

absolutely cool. Thank you, Hover Air, for sending me this drone to check out.

And thank you to everyone who watched this video, who supports the channel. If

you like what you see, be sure to hit like, [music] hit subscribe if you're not subscribed already. Leave a comment below if you have questions. [music] And

other than that, peace.

[music] [music]