When I first got my hands on the HoverAir X1 Promax, I was impressed. Here was a drone that could literally fit in my pocket yet still crank out slick follow shots in crispy 8K. Now HoverAir has doubled down on its "self-flying camera" niche with something no one's done before: the world's first fully waterproof, water-native drone – the HoverAir Aqua.
This bright safety-orange flying machine is built to live on the water. Toss it in, press a button, and it's airborne. Even if you chuck it in upside down, it rights itself and takes off. If it runs out of juice, it doesn't sink – it just floats, awaiting rescue.
Similar to the X1 Promax, the Aqua uses a beacon for orientation. Strap the "Lighthouse" controller to your arm or wherever and it acts like a virtual tether, keeping the drone locked on you with centimeter-level accuracy. It handles takeoff, landing, and tracking, and if the Aqua wanders too far, the little drone leapfrogs right back into range on its own. And if you already have a beacon/controller combo for the X1, the Aqua will still talk to it to get those cinematic shots drones are great for.
On the spec sheet, the Aqua flies well above its 249 g weight – and no FAA licenses required! It'll stay airborne for 23 minutes, follow you up to a blistering 34 mph (55 km/h), and withstand winds up to 33 knots (38 mph / 61 km/h).
It uses millimeter-wave radar to detect the water's surface and can fly a ridiculous 5 cm (a smidge under two inches) above it. The camera packs a 1/1.28-inch CMOS sensor with HDR support and shoots 4K at 100 fps for those buttery slow-mo shots. Add in a hydrophobic nano-coated self-heating anti-fog lens and SmoothCapture 3.0 stabilization? Now you're looking at footage that stays sharp even when the drone is getting splashed.
There's also some clever engineering under the hood: magnesium alloy heat sinks, stainless motor housings, titanium screws, and an IP67 rating. Basically, this thing is more salt-water ready than half the boats tied up in your local marina. That being said, HoverAir recommends rinsing it off after a saltwater bath – as you should with anything, really.
Onboard storage is handled by 128 GB of UFS 2.2 memory – no cards to fiddle with and just enough space for about an hour of H.265 footage. If you somehow manage to burn through three batteries in a row, you'll run out of juice about the same time you run out of space.
And because HoverAir thought of everything and does a great job of taking user feedback, they slapped a 1.6-inch AMOLED display on it so you can preview shots or change settings right on the drone without having to pull out your phone ... who carries their phone when catching waves anyways?
Then there are the modes – more than 15 of them. There's a kayak follow mode, a gimbal mode, even a snorkel mode where the Aqua floats on the surface, points straight down, and films you underwater. Surf mode? It's happy to get barreled and just keep flying.
During the media press launch a couple weeks ago, CEO MQ Wang quipped, "When one of my babies takes flight, I always get a little nervous." I get it. I would be too, especially being the first to make a water-native drone like this. I don't have actual stats, but I'd be willing to bet you can find drowned carcasses of drones in nearly every body of water in the world these days.
The Aqua also shoots stills at 12 MP, with processing bumps up to 48 MP if you just need to grab a few photos. At 4K video resolution, you can grab fairly crisp screeners too.
One question I had specifically during the media press launch was "Can the user replace rotors or other broken bits?" Sadly, no you can't. But HoverAir has a HoverCare program for that. Reason being is HoverAir can't guarantee waterproofing if users are dissecting their drones. Makes sense, but means you might be out of commission for a bit should you fly into a fishing net or the likes.
As with the older HoverAir drones, Zero Zero Robotics is firing this one off on Indigogo. Early bird orders on Indiegogo start at US$999, with shipping expected later this year. At the time of writing, HoverAir Aqua has already exceeded its goal by 1,422%.
The bottom line: while most drones (or maybe just me?) panic at the sight of water, the Aqua feels right at home in it. If you're into kayaking, surfing, foiling, skiing, rafting, or even just tooling around on a jet ski, this little orange drone is built to follow you anywhere you're willing to get wet. And it might just change what watersports look like on camera.
Source: Indigogo
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