HEXO+ autonomous drone review

The Hexo+ is meant to follow you, but we wish it might just fly away

A couple years ago, a completely unknown drone company took Kickstarter by storm with an innovative new auto-follow drone called the Hexo+. Unlike other drones that were available at the time, it didn’t require a controller or any piloting experience — you'll just send it into the air with the faucet of an app, and it might film you autonomously from the sky.

At the time of the campaign, it had been one among the sole drones that would pull this off. But now that the Hexo+ is finally purchasable , it’s one among a few dozen different UAVs equipped with auto-follow functionality. DJI, Yuneec, et al. have all added it to drones that you simply also can fly manually.

So now that “follow me” mode is nearly a typical feature on most drones, can a one-trick pony like Hexo+ still prove its worth?

Features and specs

Hexo+ brings a couple of unique features to the table — the primary and most blatant of which is that the incontrovertible fact that it’s a hexacopter. this provides it a touch more stability within the air, and also means if one motor fails or a prop breaks, the drone won’t fall out of the sky directly . That’s nice, because unfortunately it doesn’t have any quite obstacle avoidance inbuilt .

This bird doesn’t come equipped with a built-in camera, either. Hexo+ is of the “bring your own GoPro” variety, so if you don’t have already got an action cam to use with it, you’ll got to dish out another $300 to $500 so as to use the drone. Technically you'll fly it without a camera, but since it only does auto-follow, there wouldn’t really be any point.

Since it’s almost completely autonomous, the Hexo+ comes with no controller, and only provides alittle set of basic pilot controls built into the smartphone app. you'll adjust the position of the drone, and choose how it'll fly as you progress . immediately the app offers 12 different camera movements, and Hexo says that “soon, you’ll be ready to customize, combine, and make movements” to raised fit your needs.

Hexo+ may be a fickle little bastard.

What really sets the Hexo+ aside from the competition is how in-depth the auto-follow technology is. rather than simply following from a preset distance or orientation, the drone can slide in or out, pan to follow you from a hard and fast position, hover close or far, and even fly in an orbit around you while you progress . While this happens, the Hexo’s proprietary framing and predictive tracking algorithms confirm the camera is usually aimed correctly — which in theory means you’ll never miss an attempt , and your videos will have a more professional, cinematic feel to them.

Build quality and sturdiness 

We didn’t put this drone to the last word test and crash it into a tree (as we unintentionally have with a couple of UAV review units), but the Hexo+ feels pretty sturdy. The arms are strong and well-built, and therefore the hull definitely seems like it could take a tumble down a rocky hillside without breaking into 1,000,000 pieces. We also liked the removable legs underneath. Not only do these make the drone easier to pack — the very fact that they’re removable also means if you ever break the undercarriage (which is typically the primary thing to interrupt during a crash), you'll replace it with none tools or tricky installation. Just buy some new ones, pop ‘em into their slots, and begin flying again.

That said, a couple of design elements left us scratching our heads. The GoPro mount, for instance , can’t accommodate a camera in its protective case, and uses an inexpensive Velcro strap which will easily be lost. You basically haven't any option but to fly together with your GoPro naked, exposed to the weather , and persisted with Velcro.

Battery life, charge time, and range

Once you’re within the air, you'll expect the Hexo+ to remain aloft for anywhere from 15 to 18 minutes. At a plain-ol’ hover, it’ll fly for about 18 minutes — but as was common , if you fly it hard and push the motors to their limit, you’ll only get around 15 to 16 minutes before it starts beeping at you and flashing warning notifications on your screen.

Those figures pale as compared to the 20-, 25-, and even 30-minute flight times offered by another drones on the market immediately . But what the Hexo+ lacks on the wing time, it makes up for with a really speedy charge time. Hexo’s rechargeable batteries can go from empty to full in but 40 minutes, which is really one among the quickest recharge times we’ve ever encountered. Still, you’ll probably still want to shop for multiple batteries if you propose on filming quite half an hour during a given day.

As for range, Hexo+ can allegedly stay in touch together with your phone for up to 300 feet — although this might vary widely counting on the sort of phone you’re using. the great news, however, is that because it’s an auto-follow drone, range isn’t really much of a problem . If the drone is doing its job, it’ll continue and maintain an inexpensive distance from you (and an honest wireless connection) no matter where you go. We had a touch of trouble getting the drone into the air, but once it had been up and running, it never fell out of range one time.

Piloting, control, and autonomy

Operating the Hexo+ isn’t really such a lot “piloting” because it is “directing.” Once it’s within the air, the drone is nearly completely autonomous — all you would like to try to to is tell it the way to behave together with your phone.

This level of autonomy is superb in theory, but in practice, it leaves a touch to be desired. the most important problem is that when you’re able to fly, you would like to initiate the flight sequence within the right order, then pass variety of automated preflight checks — which is simpler said than done. If you don’t pass one among these preflight checks, the drone won't leave the bottom . There’s no manual start button — so if the drone isn’t oriented correctly, calibrated good , sitting on even ground, or if your phone’s Wi-Fi is on, it'll refuse to require off.

These features make sure that the drone flies safely, but they also turn you into a servant to your little flying robot. you would like to satisfy all its requirements so as to coax it into the air — and unfortunately the Hexo+ may be a fickle little bastard. If even one thing isn’t perfect, it won’t fly, and you've got to shut the app, restart the drone, and check out the entire startup process again. This reboot process is that the last item you would like when you’re out having fun snowboarding, mountain biking, or whatever crazy action sport you’re hoping to film with a UAV. There’s nothing worse than stopping within the middle of Capitol Hill to bust out your camera drone, then getting stuck for half an hour because the drone refuses to require off.

We had this very problem once we took Hexo+ bent the racetrack for DT’s annual Car Of The Year Awards. the thought was that we’d be ready to fly the drone, film the cars, and basically conduct two reviews at an equivalent time — while also getting some sweet auto-follow footage of the event. When the Hexo+ did not get a stable GPS connection, within the middle of the treeless central Oregon desert, the entire operation was stunted. Try as we'd , we couldn’t manage to urge past the preflight checklist screen, and had to use a special drone to film the entire event.

This wasn’t an isolated incident, either. The Hexo+ gave us trouble on a couple of other outings also . If it wasn’t the GPS, it had been something else. On a couple of of our subsequent attempts, the Hexo+ couldn’t seem to pass the “hardware” section of the flight check, and required multiple re-starts, re-pairings, and re-calibrations before it decided it had been okay to fly. just one occasion it even passed the flight check, lifted a couple of inches off the bottom , then immediately decided that its compass needed to be calibrated, landed itself, and demanded to be restarted. Frustrating? More like maddening.

When we finally managed to urge the Hexo+ into the air, it began to redeem itself. The follow functionality is quick and precise, and therefore the various flying modes allow you to travel much deeper than basic auto-follow. additionally to full control over the drone’s orientation, the app’s simple interface allows you to simply transition between flying modes at the push of a button. Watching footage after the very fact , these modes appeared to give the footage a more cinematic feel.

Having the Hexo+ follow you is certainly easier than trying to pilot it yourself, but using your phone as a controller may be a bit cumbersome in certain situations. Switching Hexo’s flying mode while you ride a motorcycle , for instance , is quite awkward unless you’ve got a phone holster of some sort.

Camera, accessories, and upgradability

While Hexo doesn’t supply you with a camera, it does provide an honest three-axis gimbal to stay the camera steady. It’s not the best gimbal ever made, but it does offer vibration dampening along the Z axis, which may be a nice feature that doesn’t always come standard.

Unfortunately, you won’t find many additional accessories or upgrades. An upcoming app upgrade will allow you to link together flight modes and make custom flight paths. But unless you’re comfortable making modifications yourself, Hexo’s hardware will forever remain an equivalent .

Conclusion

If you’re getting to be a one-trick pony, you would like to be really, specialized at that one trick. The Hexo+ isn't . Its autofollow technology is sweet , and arguably better than what you’ll find in some competitors, but it just isn’t dazzling enough to form us ditch all the things it can’t do.

First and foremost, Hexo’s maddeningly fickle preflight checks often make it more of a burden than a companion on your adventures. It’s so hit or miss that we honestly spent longer trying to urge the drone to take off than we did flying it.

To make matters worse, albeit you are doing manage to urge the drone into the sky, it’s still not really a perfect videographer. The drone can capture good shots, but its lack of obstacle avoidance tech limits the sorts of places you'll film in, and since it’s not equipped with onboard altitude sensors, you can’t shoot on hilly landscapes unless you’re employing a phone with a built-in barometer.

When compared to a number of the opposite drones on the market, Hexo doesn’t bring an entire lot to the table. The drone currently retails for $999 with no camera. After adding one, you’re within the same price range as DJI’s Phantom 4 and Yuneec’s Typhoon H — both of which supply advanced auto-follow additionally to other flying modes and advanced features. And if you have already got a GoPro, you’re more happy with the $800 3DR Solo, another drone that also offers both “follow me” and “watch me” modes on top of manual flight controls.