I Put the HOVERAir X1 ProMax to the Real Test… Here's My Verdict

This video is sponsored by 00 Robotics.

This is the Hav Air X1 Pro Max, a fully

autonomous FollowMe drone that's been

refining this concept for years, now in

8K. And today [music] we're finding out

what that actually means in real life.

And this is why it's interesting to me.

It's small, foldable, under 250 g,

actually 192 g. I can just throw it in

my bag and take it anywhere. No

controller required. All you really need

is the drone itself and maybe, let me

check it, one or two spare batteries. I

also really like the design. The matte

black with the golden accent look

premium and the build quality feels very

solid inside. It runs on a high-end

smartphone level processor handling the

8K video and AI tracking and the

material feels extremely tough. They

even send you this little sample here. I

hope you can see it. And you can try to

rip it apart. Here we go.

No chance. But portability and design

are only half the story. What really

matters is how it flies. It comes with

over 15 intelligence autoflight modes

and fully autonomous tracking in 8K.

>> Zoom out.

>> Let's go with the zoom out.

Let us do it in orbit because I also

like this shot when it moves around.

And here we go. It does its orbit.

Okay. And then dolly zoom. And the dolly

[music] zoom. Trust me, this is the

Hitchcock effect and it will look

awesome. And for that, let's bring it

up.

So, this effect is very simple, but it's

really cool because the camera moves

away and zooms in at the same time, and

then you have this cool Hitchcock dolly

zoom effect. All right, that looked

good. The footage is solid, and the

autonomous shots worked really well. So,

to really challenge it, let's find a

spot. Then I think the spot behind me is

ideal with a lot of trees and branches.

So here is the drone hovering and now it

should follow me. So let's go and go

down here

and see if it can keep up.

So, there are a lot of branches. [music]

Let's see how it keeps up. So, this

could be a challenge here. Let's see.

But I can still hear it. Let's go a bit

this direction.

This branch is also [music] very thin.

Oh, but it still keeps up.

And now we have this obstacle. Let's see

if it checks where it has to go.

Yes,

that's great. So, this is also a bit

challenging here,

but it kept up.

Let's see if it's also able to check

this. Yes. Nice.

And I would say

let's [music] try to go up here.

Okay.

>> Okay. And let's go up here.

And we're back where we started.

All right. So, I think it was a success

even though it crashed once, but this

was very challenging. A lot of branches,

but I like it. Most of the time it

followed me without any real issues. But

according to the specs, it can track at

speeds up to around 26 mph, roughly 42

kilometers per hour, and even faster in

burst mode. Walking is one thing, but

cycling changes everything. And one more

thing before I start, I want to use the

beacon and the cycling kit they sent

over. The beacon is a pocket-size

controller with a built-in display

allowing you to monitor framing,

battery, and signal while riding. But

it's more than just a monitor. It also

acts as a positioning anchor for the

drone. Hover link. It combines the

visual tracking with signal data which

helps the drone follow more accurately,

especially in dynamic situations. With

the magnetic mount and handlebar

attachment from their cycling package, I

can secure it directly to the bike and

keep an eye on everything without

stopping. All right. So, I'm currently

here with my bike and I have the beacon

here with the X1 Pro Max here and let's

set [music] this up properly. I will

mount it here on my handlebar on that

side. So, I put it around here. Here we

put in my [music] mobile phone and we'll

track the pace so you can see in an

overlay how fast I go. Let's go.

All right, let's go faster.

It's a bit windy as well.

27.

Okay. So, that's really cool and fast.

So, I would say let's turn around

and do the same in the other direction.

Let's go even faster.

And

and it comes back. Here are some more

obstacles.

Yes.

So, here are some branches

and it still keeps up. That's awesome.

All right. And we're good. So, I think

this was a perfect run. Let's return it.

All right. the screen the bike follow

[music] videos on my phone and I must

say it's really impressive how this

little drone keeps up especially I went

over 30 km per hour and it was very

sticky. The bike follow test is

successfully done. So everything we've

seen so far was mostly autonomous. You

select the mode on the drone here and

the drone does its thing. But once you

connect it to the hover app here you

unlock more control. First of all, you

have to connect it here via the app.

Here you have your overview, the most

important settings. Here is hover

settings. And here you can see briefly

all the modes you can use on your drone.

You can also record sound here. So when

you activate it and you fly, you can

talk to your mobile and it will record

the sound. Firmware. Yes, I have the

latest version. Then the storage

management. So it supports internal

storage and also you can use a micro SD

card. As you can see, you can charge it

here via USBC and there is also an

additional micro SD card slot. Then you

can calibrate it. Then the language is

English now on my app. And then you can

see the unit. So in my case it's meters.

You can also switch it to feet. Okay. So

and this basically is everything you can

set up here. Then you can also set smart

preview. Yes. And here we go. And you

can see me talking for sure. You can

enter also your album. Yes. Okay. Let's

go back. And then you have the manual

control and you can fly it also manually

with this drone and can fly it with

those joysticks, the virtual ones. And

then let's go [music] back.

>> And then you have just the personal

settings, beginner tutorials, help,

feedback. So everything what you need.

That's it. Okay. And maybe additionally,

when it comes to video quality, it

shoots 8K at 30 frames as you saw

already in the app. And you can also

record in 4K at 120 frames per second

for slow motion shots. That's great for

action scenes like cycling or skiing.

You also get options like HDR and 10 bit

recording. Yes, you heard right 10 bit

on this little drone to for more

flexibility for color grading in post.

And those are some features you usually

see in much larger, more professional

level drones. Okay, for today I will

keep it simple, but it's good to know

that there's more under the hood if you

need it. And speaking of more control,

the beacon here isn't just a monitoring

device. You can also fly the drone using

this buttons here.

And that's only stage one. Stage two

gets more interesting when you add the

joystick module here. So the one part

and you can clip it directly. I will

show it to you here magnetically and it

attaches and locks securely into place.

And just like that, you've transformed

it into a onehand motion controller. So

that's actually pretty cool. And I would

say let's try it out and yeah, see how

it works. Okay, maybe you can see it

here. But now after connecting it to the

beacon here it says manual control

and it started recording. So now you can