Hello Everybody,
I have a DJI neo that i bought on september 5, 2025, I have been flying it occasionally with my RC-N3 controller and it worked fine and never did anything wrong so I never crashed it. On october 19, 2025 I encountered problems with the Neo, I went to fly it near a field, there was no strong wind, no powerlines, no large metal objects or whatever. I waited till I had enough sattelites (it had about 21-30) and the homepoint was updated. The radio level was at 100% and all batteries were full. I took off and started climbing, when it reached some 20m above me, it started to fly away and I lost all communications and video. I could not control the Neo at all and it flew away from me, like somebody had taken over. I started looking for it but it was no longer connected to the Neo, after a while it had a brief connection and I saw some plants of the field on my screen, it looked like it was on the ground, then te connection was lost again. I tried find my drone, but it said: No connection to the drone. After trying for a while it suddenly had connection again and I turned on the beeping signal. Finally I found it in the field and it was not very far from where it started, it had flown away, made some strange patterns and seemed tho have returned after a while. There was nothing damaged and it looked fine. However after this incident I lost faith in the Neo and I didn’t fly it again ouside.
I never looked at such a log before, but to me this looks like something inside the NEO went wrong (software or hardware) and it went a littele crazy… to me it is not a pilot error or a porblem with the controller or battery, but it is the Neo itself…
That looks indeed similar, did it go down after hitting the branches and you started it up again, or did it fly away immediatly afterwards? Did you find it and was it damaged?
After it hit the branches, it stopped recording and continued this erratic flight until it landed (luckily on land). No damages at all on the drone (it was just a gentle encounter with some twigs). I also had a similar accident where it followed me from the side, but then suddenly decided to change position and crashed into the branches of an pine tree, flew 5 meters away and started to land (to me also a very strange behaviour). This time (as also all the other times) the recording stop in the second it hits anything (different from all my other drones, that continue filming until they are turned off.
Did you tell DJI about this behaviour? I contacted them, they told me to send it back to them and are going to send me a shipping label. But that didn’t arrive yet…
The default answers fro DJI is either send your drone back for review (even if they are aware it is a general issue) or that they appreciate the feedback and will forward the issue to their technical department (and nothing happens). I am not impressed. I am sad to say that DJI does not seem too concerned about drones already sold.
Did you ever ship yours back? Or do you just use it as is and hope for the best? I wonder if it will bring me something positive if I ship it back or just a bill…
No, I did not, as it otherwise worked normally (I have gotten similar suggestions with the other drones as well, but since I never suspected it was something wrong with the drones themselves - rather a firmware issue), I never sent them. The reason for this is that if DJI do not find any fault, you get the bill. I would at least make sure DJI pays for the shipping an diagnostic before you send it.
That’s exactly what i’m afraid of… on the other hand I lost confidence in the Neo. I’m afraid to get it in the air and lose it or maybe worse… I’m also wondering if a drone like the Mini 5 Pro is better concerning these issue’s…
I own a Mini 4 Pro, Mini 5 Pro and Air 3S as well (and Mic Mini, Mic 3, Action 4, RC Pro 2 and RC). Neither of the other drones have shown the same strange behaviour that the Neo does. I have reported all issues I have encountered, but really just gotten a “Thank you, we will look into it” and never heard any more.
In fact, I have close to 10 cases where I have supplied DJI with all information and files they have asked for on several of their products, but sadly nothing has been done. I am starting to get less positive about the DJI service right now.
I was thinking about buying a mini 5 pro, but since the price is much higher, I’m more concerned about it flying away like the NEO did. So I decided to fly the Neo again outside and see what would happen. I first did a kompass and IMU callibration (like some drone pilots suggest) and I did a 5 minute flight outsside. Everything seemed fine and it flies like before…
Did you ever buy a care and refresh package with DJI? Its not very clear to me what you have to pay when you actually have damage or a fly-away…
I did buy a care refresh package when I bought my Air 3S. Not because I expected a flyaway, but rather if I accidentally had a crash. During a training exercise I had a mishap, hit a branch (quite thick) and crashed. Broke a few propellers and split the camera. This was on a Sunday afternoon. I raised a Care refresh case the same day, selected the premium (fast delivery), paid about 100€ and got a brand new one on Tuesday at 10AM, delivered on my door. I am glad I did buy the care refresh, but decided after this to buy the Neo to have something to fly in tight quarters and also to purchase the RC Pro 2 so I actually can see what happens on the screen when it is bright outside.
I saw a RC Pro 2 last sunday, really nice and a very clear and big screen… but the price is really high…
If the care and refresh is interesting depends on the price you pay for the insurance, the price for the solo drone and the price you have to pay if something happens. The latter is not always clear to me with the drones DJI has in the market over here…
I was very in doubt if I should buy the RC Pro 2 because of the price, but when I found out I could link my Mini 4 Pro, Mini 5 Pro and Air 3S, then I could use one controller that I actually can see what’s going on and bring all three drones with me (rather than having either one controller for each or use one lesser controller (RC 2). I sold one of my RC 2’s, but kept one to use with my Neo. After getting the RC Pro 2, I haven’t regretted it one day (apart from the mess DJI have done lately with both the firmware and the Fly app. Hopefully this will be fixed).
I belive I pay approx. 250€ for the insurance for the Air 3S, but looking back, I saved the price for a new drone minus approx. 350€. To me it was therefore worth it, but if you fly carefully, I mean you really don’t need it.
I dropped the Care refresh package myself when I bought the Mini 5 Pro as I now have the Neo to do the more risky flights near ground and in dens forest.