Watched a couple YTube videos (have already forgotten station name) of a GB flyer testing out the durability of the Neo.  The person who crashed the Neo first into a tree, then brick wall, and finally concrete sea wall.  Other video was the freefall from 100 meter altitude onto first grass then concrete. With a bit of simple repair for the jammed motor bell he was able to get the Neo back flying after the 100 meter freefall onto concrete.  Battery was damaged. Impressive durability based on my experience of crashing and trashing quads.

Took delivery of the FPV RC3 and managed to scare myself trying to fly the Avata2 in M mode in my too tight a space area around the house.  Too expensive a quad to do what I normally do if flying M mode.  Flights ending in crashing. Altitude and large open spaces are your friend. Problem is taking off and landing or twitchy thumbs or the "twistys" kicking in.  All too common occurances.

Thought just hit the old brain. DO NOT fly the Avata2 in M mode until your skills improve. Solution the NEO. Relatively more robust and significantly less $$$s.  You don't need an acro capable quad to learn to fly M mode.  Bit like first learning to drive in a RedBull F1 v. your parent's economy sedan.  Bomb proof basic M mode flying skills first. Then basic acro. Then push the envelope.  Looking forward of taking delivery of the Neo.  Manual landings have been challenging in hitting the landing pad. Good thing I ordered spare propellers.

Sounds like a great plan to work out the kinks by practicing with the Neo first.  

Altitude also increases wind and you want no wind when starting practicing Manual mode. Also remember and never forget the unique feature of the Neo and Avata - the Pause button - always keep your left index finger on it and when getting in an upset position you just press it and the drone will get level and hovers in Normal mode and thereby it shoulb be almost impossible to crash.

Hi Oldguy2024,

Thanks for sharing this information and your resolution! It will definitely be helpful for others on the forum. Have a great day! Thank You!

Swedrone Posted at 9-28 22:36
Altitude also increases wind and you want no wind when starting practicing Manual mode. Also remember and never forget the unique feature of the Neo and Avata - the Pause button - always keep your left index finger on it and when getting in an upset position you just press it and the drone will get level and hovers in Normal mode and thereby it shoulb be almost impossible to crash.

Thanks. Well aware of wind issues with altitude. Flying UAS for awhile. Oldest functional quad has dip switches on the flight control, accelerometer boards.  Tech has improved almost beyond our imaginations over the years.  

The low mass and power of Neo is a plus and a minus as a trainer quad for anyone interested in developing manual mode skills.  The minus is going to be flying in any real wind or even just light breezes with gusts.  The option of just flipping the rocker switch from M to N mode and let the sticks go to "neutral" is a big plus.  Fly an ancient electric launch sailplane. Has something similar to a stabilization mode. One switch on the Tx is programmed for 3 "modes". One is the "stabilization" mode. Saves many bad incidents from occurring.

DJI seems to be biased towards the video/imaging sector vs. acro/freestyle. Nothing wrong with filling that niche and not trying to do everything.  But, hope is eventually DJI will come out with a Tx that allow at least one more channel to select 3 different manual flight profiles.  Right now from what I can figure out you are limited to one set of flight setting(rates, expos...).  Guessing users that are just more into immersive flying would appreciate that feature.   I would easily sacrifice the gimbal rocker switch for that option.