The biggest problem of Hover Camera?

The Hover Camera is a unique flying cameras, focusing on a durable and portable lightweight design, and ease of use through an iPhone app. But some of the issues with the Passport you also should know before you buy it.

Range: 20 metres.

Flight time: 8 minutes.

But the biggest problem? The Hover Camera does not have a gimbal for stabilization. That means any vibrations from the high-speed rotation of four propellers and motors are going to translate directly into the video. And the results of that – well, they don’t look so great. Tested took a good look at the Hover Camera and its features – and found the video shaky and the tracking inconsistent. It’s worth watching their full review, which includes the positives as well as the downsides.

“With the face-tracking and body tracking, the results are very hit-and-miss, depending largely on your lighting conditions,” says Tested’s Norm Chan at the 6:32 mark.

He later continues: “…It would run past me and get really confused and continue flying. Or, when I tried to do like a walk-and-talk, walking toward it, it would veer off-axis and go off in one direction, then lose tracking, and then crash into a tree or something. Not very impressive.”

Not for $599. And not when you can buy a base DJI Mavic Pro for $999 US that you can control with your phone from up to 80 metres away. That machine has a three-axis gimbal, obstacle avoidance, and multiple smart tracking modes. It’s foldable design is also very compact – and DJI has packed in the cumulative knowledge the global drone leader has acquired during several previous successful generations. Its maximum flight time is 27 minutes.

Reviews of the Mavic Pro are pretty much universally positive – and no one is complaining about shaky video. (YouTube star Casey Neistat calls it “The Greatest Drone Ever.”)

That’s not to say the Hover Camera doesn’t have some cool features. It does. And if you’re looking for a simple way to snap a selfie and video quality isn’t that important to you – go for it.

But $599 puts you very close to the Mavic Pro.

Spring the extra $399…and you’re not just hovering. You’re flying.

The post The biggest problem of Hover Camera? appeared first on Drone Inner.