My name is Jeferson Alessandro, and I am a content creator on YouTube, specializing in drone-related content. My channel focuses on reviews and demonstrations of drone equipment, and I also work with aerial footage for events and stores in Brazil. Recently, I purchased the DJI Neo shortly after its launch, trusting the high quality that DJI products are known for. Unfortunately, this model has fallen well below my expectations and the standards I have come to expect from the brand.
After some initial tests, I noticed that the performance of the DJI Neo does not match the level of safety that DJI drones usually offer. During my third battery cycle, I was hired to film at a store, but the Neo experienced severe issues. Despite being connected to 15 satellites, the drone "took on a life of its own," becoming completely unstable and displaying the message "Fly with caution." I was unable to complete the job because the drone accelerated on its own whenever I entered the store, endangering my work and the safety of the location.
At first, I thought the issue might be specific to the store environment. However, after conducting another test in a nearby area, I almost lost the drone due to similar behavior.
As a professional who relies on trustworthy equipment to ensure the quality and safety of my footage, I was extremely disappointed. The DJI Neo has proven to be the worst drone in DJI's lineup in terms of safety, which is unacceptable for my work.
Given this frustrating experience and the impact on my professional reputation, I am requesting an immediate refund for the DJI Neo.
I look forward to your team’s response so we can resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Jeferson Alessandro

I don't know why people keep doing things like this with Neo and thinking there's something wrong. In the manual there are countless warnings about flying in dimly lit areas.
Also, this isn't really intended for professional use. I mean, if you can use it that way--great--but you're better off with one of DJI's other offerings intended for professional photography and low light situations.

rpsd Posted at 9-13 18:21
I don't know why people keep doing things like this with Neo and thinking there's something wrong. In the manual there are countless warnings about flying in dimly lit areas.

I agree. This is a fun drone which works very well. It is not intended for business use

Were you expecting to still be connected to 15 satellite while entering the store???

Your professional reputation???

I would be a bit more concern about your knowledge in the tools you are using to be a professional..., but that's me...

Has the coin hit your account yet bro? Asking for a mate.

Delulu Pro Max.

rpsd Posted at 9-13 18:21
I don't know why people keep doing things like this with Neo and thinking there's something wrong. In the manual there are countless warnings about flying in dimly lit areas.
Also, this isn't really intended for professional use. I mean, if you can use it that way--great--but you're better off with one of DJI's other offerings intended for professional photography and low light situations.

So you're telling me that I have a scheduled time to fly? I've never seen that in a DJI or a similar device taking on a life of its own due to low lighting. So, I am right; this is the worst DJI ever built."

Thorby67 Posted at 9-13 23:02
Has the coin hit your account yet bro? Asking for a mate.

I finished the work with Avata 2

Burt37 Posted at 9-13 21:00
Were you expecting to still be connected to 15 satellite while entering the store???

Your professional reputation???

In fact, I have knowledge of DJI devices, I've had all the brand's products, I've never had a problem with the drone taking on its own life, it doesn't make sense to have a device like that

Hi there,

Thank You for reaching out. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience you are experiencing. When shooting in dark, DJI Neo is drifting is common as you can check on the user manual.  DJI Neo is light and compact, and relies heavily on its vision positioning system for stable flight, especially in environments with no or weak GPS signals. Vision positioning is highly dependent on ambient light and ground textures. In low-light conditions or areas with plain and uniform ground textures, the drone may not be able to hover stably. Therefore, we recommend that you shoot using DJI Neo in environments with ample light and distinct ground patterns.

DJI Neo is DJI's lightest, smallest, safest, easiest-to-use drone with the most control options. It's ideal for low-altitude filming and close-range human subject follow shots. DJI Neo is the perfect choice for vlogging drone ideal for capturing everyday life, leisure activities, family moments, and pets.
If you need a portable drone to instantly capture travel, camping, cycling, skateboarding, hiking, or important memories.

If you need further assistance on this issue, you may contact DJI support at https://www.dji.com/support.

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-14 01:47
In fact, I have knowledge of DJI devices, I've had all the brand's products, I've never had a problem with the drone taking on its own life, it doesn't make sense to have a device like that

But that's my point!

Why would a professional buy a NEO for work???

You are constantly contradicting yourself...

You mentioned you finished the work with the Avada 2. Any chance to see the final product?

DJI Gamora Posted at 9-14 01:58
Hi there,

Thank You for reaching out. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience you are experiencing. When shooting in dark, DJI Neo is drifting is common as you can check on the user manual.  DJI Neo is light and compact, and relies heavily on its vision positioning system for stable flight, especially in environments with no or weak GPS signals. Vision positioning is highly dependent on ambient light and ground textures. In low-light conditions or areas with plain and uniform ground textures, the drone may not be able to hover stably. Therefore, we recommend that you shoot using DJI Neo in environments with ample light and distinct ground patterns.

This happened during the day as well. Look how clear and sunny it is, with 9 satellites, and it still takes on a life of its own. DJI urgently needs to adjust the GPS system. It's complicated – you can't fly at night, you can't fly during the day either, and you can't take it indoors. Unfortunately, it's the most limited drone from DJI.

Burt37 Posted at 9-14 02:02
But that's my point!

Why would a professional buy a NEO for work???

I didn't buy it for work, I thought it could help, since in the sales letter DJI says it's excellent for real estate, there's no problem with it losing the GPS, it can't accelerate alone

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-14 02:20
I didn't buy it for work, I thought it could help, since in the sales letter DJI says it's excellent for real estate, there's no problem with it losing the GPS, it can't accelerate alone

I'm not sure that I follow

You wrote:

"During my third battery cycle, I was hired to film at a store, but the Neo experienced severe issues. Despite being connected to 15 satellites, the drone "took on a life of its own," becoming completely unstable and displaying the message "Fly with caution." I was unable to complete the job"

And I don't see the finished product for the Job you mentioned above either...

You did mentioned having to finish the job with the Avada 2... Can we see it?

You also mentioned being a Youtube creator... Do you have a link to your channel?

Maybe if you had read the manual first, you would have understood the limitations of the Neo.  It's a fine little low-budget device which performs well, within the spec it was designed for.

Even with clear view of the sky - sunny day - the NEO looses satellites much more than other DJI drones - Ive gotten the ATTIMODE RED WARNING banner at the top of the screen a bunch of times (out over a clear area) - (it will drop from over 20 sats to 10 or so then looses Normal mode (goes red)) - others have seen same - (typically recording 4K30) -  another user posted that when he stopped recording video it came back and allowed normal landing etc - the upgrade to 0200 today didnt help - right after upgrade - test flight - same thing happened - yesterday got same warning flying with Goggles3 and Motion controller (recording 1080x60)

JMX46 Posted at 9-14 14:05
Even with clear view of the sky - sunny day - the NEO looses satellites much more than other DJI drones - Ive gotten the ATTIMODE RED WARNING banner at the top of the screen a bunch of times (out over a clear area) - (it will drop from over 20 sats to 10 or so then looses Normal mode (goes red)) - others have seen same - (typically recording 4K30) -  another user posted that when he stopped recording video it came back and allowed normal landing etc - the upgrade to 0200 today didnt help - right after upgrade - test flight - same thing happened - yesterday got same warning flying with Goggles3 and Motion controller (recording 1080x60)

The last update didn’t solve the issue. Many here are focused on defending the brand, but I have over 15 years of experience in the hobby. It has nothing to do with reading or not reading the manual; the error still happens, even when flying during the day or indoors."

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-14 02:12
This happened during the day as well. Look how clear and sunny it is, with 9 satellites, and it still takes on a life of its own. DJI urgently needs to adjust the GPS system. It's complicated – you can't fly at night, you can't fly during the day either, and you can't take it indoors. Unfortunately, it's the most limited drone from DJI.[view_image]

Hi there,

Thank you for keeping us posted. DJI Neo is an indoor drone it should not have issue flying indoor. Please proceed to perform compass calibration. If issue persist upon calibration  the best course of action would be to submit an online repair request here: {https://repair.dji.com/repair/index}.

I hope this information has helped to clarify your inquiries. If you have any other questions, kindly let us know. Thank You!

DJI Gamora Posted at 9-15 03:53
Hi there,

Thank you for keeping us posted. DJI Neo is an indoor drone it should not have issue flying indoor. Please proceed to perform compass calibration. If issue persist upon calibration  the best course of action would be to submit an online repair request here: {https://repair.dji.com/repair/index}.

You go to support, see the example I'm talking about

This is exactly what the manual tells you repeatedly not to do. The drone itself will even audibly tell you to fly in well-lit textured environments. Vision positioning can't work on these shiny reflective tiles. And with not enough GPS signal when you go deep indoors, there's nothing else left to correct the position. Not saying ATTI mode shouldn't be better, but they do warn you multiple times not to do exactly what you're doing.

fichek Posted at 9-15 04:26
This is exactly what the manual tells you repeatedly not to do. The drone itself will even audibly tell you to fly in well-lit textured environments. Vision positioning can't work on these shiny reflective tiles. And with not enough GPS signal when you go deep indoors, there's nothing else left to correct the position. Not saying ATTI mode shouldn't be better, but they do warn you multiple times not to do exactly what you're doing.

There's no problem with it losing signal and becoming unstable, it can't accelerate on its own, this is the main issue, what a rubbish device this is, you can't do anything with this rubbish

ha !!!!!!!

I have to agree here Even in a well lit area it can do a thing of its own. A guy has tested this at it appears to be after recording in 4k30 which means the CPU/RAM is getting overloaded. This would be the cause of the issue.

Following all DJI official "Sales" videos I can see this happening in similar conditions with different people and different setups.

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-15 03:41
The last update didn’t solve the issue. Many here are focused on defending the brand, but I have over 15 years of experience in the hobby. It has nothing to do with reading or not reading the manual; the error still happens, even when flying during the day or indoors."

So we are going from being a professional, down to 15 years of experience in the hobby...

I can only conclude that you bought the NEO just for a bit of fun, and now you have regret your purchase, and wishes to return it...

To help yourself in your cause, you were trying to create the image of being a professional, that has fallen victim of a faulty product...

Why not simply ask DJI for a refund, instead of coming up with all these bullsh1t...

I think you have 15 days to return it, and your country may/could have other laws that protect the consumer, for situation where the product do fail to comply with its intended purpose... However, I don't think that does apply to this particular case..

What a waste of time this thread was!!

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-14 01:34
So you're telling me that I have a scheduled time to fly? I've never seen that in a DJI or a similar device taking on a life of its own due to low lighting. So, I am right; this is the worst DJI ever built."

I would say it is the best at an incredibly low price.

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-15 04:32
There's no problem with it losing signal and becoming unstable, it can't accelerate on its own, this is the main issue, what a rubbish device this is, you can't do anything with this rubbish

I love it and am doing loads with it. A bad workman blames his tools

Just confirmed, with indoor fun flying (not fixed GPS) DJI NEO with Goggles 3 + RC Motion 3 is DJI NEO accelerating itself which cause crashing... Never experienced that before with any other drone!
Distance 1-2 meter from Goggles so no issue with loosing signal.

Bigplumbs Posted at 9-15 21:37
I love it and am doing loads with it. A bad workman blames his tools

It's incredible how concerned they are about defending the brand, you're just a fan of the brand, nothing I say or prove on video will change your opinion

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-15 04:10
You go to support, see the example I'm talking about
https://cdn.djivideos.com/video_play/531104db-f14c-4c89-aba5-eefddaead4be

Hi there,

As mentioned on user manual, DJI Neo is suitable for indoor use. We recommend operating it under good indoor lighting scenarios where the downward vision system is effective to ensure stable hovering. Otherwise, drifting may occur. If the incident happens, please instantly adjust the control sticks and fly with caution. Thank you for your understanding.

I have had a similar situation today where the drone went out of control. I was in a well lit area outdoors and took off fine - flying manual mode with an iPhone. After around 20 seconds the Neo started moving to the right and I managed to bring it back to where I was. Then suddenly it banked right at full power and wouldn’t respond to any control on the iPhone. There was nothing I could do but watch. It crashed into a tree about 50 yards away. Thankfully it seems to be usable still but if flew away faster than anything you can do with the controls on the iPhone and it was very worrying to see.

I had the same issue as described above today, flying indoors with my goggles 3 and motion controller.
Whenever the message "warning about light and texture" comes up, the drone accelerates and flies straight into the next object.
I lose completely control, any corrections with my controller are ignored.
This is for sure neither the ideal nor the desired behavior in this case. It absolutely feels like a failure.
When the drone detects that it is missing light to the point that the motion controller does no longer work, it should level the drone (for this no light is required), maybe in worst case decrease power to force a landing, but never accelerate.
The current behavior makes it impossible to use it indoors, it is actually dangerous, specially when other people are around, but there is also risk to destroy paintings or other valuable objects that might be in its uncontrolled flight path.
Having said that, I have also serious doubts that the light was really insufficient: Also in my case there was really enough light to clearly see all surroundings in the googles. Maybe there was a very slight amount of noise in the image, but nothing that would justify this full out of control behavior.

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-15 04:10
You go to support, see the example I'm talking about
https://cdn.djivideos.com/video_play/531104db-f14c-4c89-aba5-eefddaead4be

This is exactly what happens to me, as soon as the messages comes up it accelerates and is out of control. There is no time to react.
And I would not describe the light conditions in the video as "low light", rather typical light for indoors flying.

jefersonalessan Posted at 9-14 02:12
This happened during the day as well. Look how clear and sunny it is, with 9 satellites, and it still takes on a life of its own. DJI urgently needs to adjust the GPS system. It's complicated – you can't fly at night, you can't fly during the day either, and you can't take it indoors. Unfortunately, it's the most limited drone from DJI.[view_image]

You're correct in your statement that the Neo is exhibiting unusual GPS behavior. I have seen unusual GPS behavior from my Neo as well, rapidly fluctuating up and down in satelite number lock in wide open areas, on take off, as well as having a very weak ability to lock satelites in difficult locations. I did an interesting little test a few days ago. My Mini 4 Pro aquired 9 satelites in my basement in several locations, the Neo aquired zero. Neither one is enough to fly, 9 GPS satelites just isn't enough. In my experience the drone isn't even going to update the homepoint until it has a sold lock on 12 satelites. Upstairs above ground in town, usually an area where my drones are slow to aquire enough satelites to update the homepoint, but always do so, I was flying the Neo a couple days after buying it indoors which I never do with my Mini 4. It suddenly lost satelite all locks and drifted into the wall, and my buddy caught it and flipped it over, lol. Hardly a big deal as the Neo is pretty tough. I beleive its a behavior particular to the Neo which is causing the issue, the rapid aquisition and loss of multiple satelites very quickly is dropping the number below the functional level. Example, having 15 satelites locked and suddenly fluctuating rapidly up and down between 15 and  6 satelites. I've owned 8 different DJI drones over the years, so have a bit of experience with them.

fichek Posted at 9-14 01:05
Delulu Pro Max.

hahaha

Antdrones Posted at 9-26 08:43
hahaha

The only thing that I don't like about the Delulu Pro Max, is the lack of accessories...

Burt37 Posted at 9-26 15:54
The only thing that I don't like about the Delulu Pro Max, is the lack of accessories...

if only they had reading skills.

Antdrones Posted at 9-26 17:06
if only they had reading skills.

That's an optional around here...

Burt37 Posted at 9-26 18:13
That's an optional around here...

I could tell