$599 for a Hover Camera Passport selfie drone? Think twice

Last year, a new type of drone hit the (preorder) market. It was the self-flying camera drone – a device that promised to combine camera and AI technology to create a drone that you could essentially throw in the air to follow you around and take photos and videos. Some of these drones include Dobby, Lily, Breeze and Hover Camera Passport.

Let’s talk about the Hover Camera Passport which make the Internet abuzz in the drone space, whose features include auto-follow and hover maneuverability. Weighing just 242 grams, Hover Camera Passport is a self-flying drone – throw it into the air and it will follow you around taking photos and videos.

As talking about the selfie the most important is the camera, Hover camera passport comes with stabilization (both electronic and through a one-directional physical gimbal) – which helps steady the footage. The camera can shoot in 1080p and 4K.

Yes, you may say that’s great, it has high quality camera and stabilization which can make good photo or video. But I say that’s too naïve, it’s just one determinant, you also should take other factors into consideration. The first issue Hover Camera Passport has is with camera stabilization. It’s obvious that the electronic stabilization the Passport uses is working overtime, and without it videos would be un-watchable. It’s definitely doing its job. The problem I had was that even with the electronic stabilization working overtime, the videos often came out choppy. This detracted from the actual video quality, making the output look more like 720p than 4K video. And also no GPS design make stabilization even worse outdoor.

The Hover Camera Passport drone is actually the most expensive selfie stick you will ever buy. But conventional selfie sticks don’t fly. So is it really worth paying $599 for a flying selfie stick? Let’s admit it – selfies taken with normal selfie sticks lack the ‘cool’ factor which aerial shots give. This is why buying the self-flying selfie stick actually makes sense. With seamless technology that focuses on ‘ease of use’ rather than hi-tech features, you won’t have to worry about usual time-taking processes such as installing, updating, or upgrading. You can simply live in the moment and enjoy your surroundings while letting the drone do its job and capture the beauty all around. That’s the power of a self-flying drone!

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However, Hover Camera is not cheap

Introducing the Hover Camera. To be clear, this is not a drone with a camera attached but instead a high quality camera that is able to fly. To use, simply throw the Hover Camera into the air and watch as it immediately and automatically self-balances. It can also be stabilized to hover in one position to capture a single angle.

Equipped with 13 megapixels and 4K video quality, the Hover Camera can be set to automatically follow you wherever you go to record all of your adventures. Electronic image stabilization ensures the footage is always steady while the carbon fiber enclosure keeps the camera safe during the flight. Weighing just 250 grams, the Hover Camera doesn’t need to be registered with the FAA and is more portable than any other flying camera system.

A quick look at Hover Camera’s features

• Auto-Follow: Tracks your face and body to always keep you in the picture, even on the go, by way of two Auto-Follow modes including Face Tracking and Body Tracking
• Release & Hover: As soon as you let go, Hover Camera Passport hovers steady in place to allow you to quickly and easily capture any moment
• Portable: At just 242 grams, below the FAA 250 grams Hobbyist Drone Registration weight limit, Hover Camera is portable and convenient to carry for any photo worthy moments
• 13 MP Photos & 4K Video: Capture and relive your memories in lifelike quality
• 360 Spin: See a new perspective as Hover Camera Passport films a 360 degree panoramic video of you in your environment
• Orbit: A brand new feature that captures a unique point of view by circling you to capture an iconic 360 degrees wraparound video, even while you walk
• Safe: Hover Camera Passport is both fully enclosed in carbon fiber and boasts AI-based safety mechanisms to ensure the user and their surroundings are unscathed despite being flown indoors and out.
• Self-Positioning: Using a combination of sonar, its downward viewing camera and artificial intelligence, Hover Camera Passport hovers in place so that it’s able to be positioned or repositioned ‘anywhere’ in space like an invisible tripod

However, it’s not cheap. The Hover Camera Passport drone will cost at least $600 while its battery lasts only eight minutes.And its construction makes it feel like it costs a lot less.

And the prices are falling all the time: DJI’s Phantom 4 drone is on sale at $999 and can avoid objects while tracking moving objects at over 25mph. Component prices—sensors, microprocessors, and the like—are dropping as quickly as software to better interpret imagery is being developed.

And Hover Camera Passport isn’t the only company trying to usher in a world where we can all toss a drone into the air in a few seconds to capture life’s complexities. There are heavy-hitters like GoPro and drone maker DJI, and startups like Lily and Vantage Robotics, that are all trying to corner the personal flying camera market.

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