The new EVOLVE video quad from XDynamics, is both awesomely beautiful with its naked 3k carbon twill body and a very interesting design with a m43 camera on the way. Join me for a throughout look at the new EVOLVE
LOL it flies GREAT, I have flown it tons and love it. It DO have a couple hick-ups because its beta-firmware yet, so im a little reluctant to share video as I don't want it to get judged by firmware revisions we are testing knowing they are flawed, however even as it is right now, it flies better than my old inspire1 for sure. easier and friendlier to operate. basically once it ships with the M43 camera im finally retiring my inspire1 X5 combo. *** and there is a VUE thermal kit option for the EVOLVE also which fits me really well being I have a VUE 640 sitting on the desk. ;-)
Its VERY well put together, with a lot of great ideas, at the moment I can't do the flight review as its a pre-production unit on beta-firmware, and frankly is not ready for prime-time yet ha ha. it have very comfortable flying characters but the overall firmware need refining before it hits "shipping" status. That said, I suspect this bird may quickly go to be mainly offered with the m43, since things like 1" sensor mavic pro, really makes anything other than m43 obsolete in large birds. *this platform is very commercial in nature, with thermal and other sensors on the way for the interchangeable camera mount.
Another excellent review. Question, let's say you want to present a video on a 60 inch tv. How do these higher quality drone camera stack up as far as video shake or jello? Most of the videos I've seen look great on a phone screen but shake when enlarged. Thanks again, David
Good Morning David, the better gimbals all stand up pretty well. But 60 inch screens is obviously also the reason there is still a market for m43 camera systems for drones :-)
Now that they are releasing this drone do you think it will be good for commercial use and do you have a suggestion on a particular drone to start up a business with thanks for the video .
Hey Michael, the real question is WHAT are you intended to do at your drone business. right now im flying a 25pound payload platform. but most don't need that. sooo. if you are thinking real-estate pictures and video, get a Mavic2pro or even the zoom, personally I like the zoom because it give you tighter shots.
Thank you Bo, I'll keep my Align with the GH4. It produces an awesome video on a 60-inch TV. I just thought I would like to see what's on the market in compact drones and what they're truly capable of. Thanks again, David
LOL you know it. a big bird with a GH4 is VERY hard to beat, frankly only things like inspire X5 X5s and probably the Evolve m43 will be real challengers in that regard, and maybe more along the lines of similar results from smaller birds rather than outright better. I think the more interesting thing is taking a look at the new MavicPro with 1" sensor when that comes out. its a 3 axis gimbal with a large sensor, that could look quite nice. Probably still not going to render like the m43 since the interpretation of a 1" class sensor is 16mm diagonal.. (I still don't understand how that is 1" but hey)
@@bophoto Thank you Bo for allowing me some of your time. I value your opinion. You sold me on the Align years ago on your review. I'm sorry to see that you had so many problems with the APSM flight controller. I purchased mine after your review and updated the firmware twice to 2.2. I fly every weekend in the spring, summer and fall. Never had any problems. I liked the 480 so much, I purchased another one. Coupled with the G3GH gimbal, it has been absolutely awesome. Once tuned there rock solid. I think Align could have hit the top with this one if they had more thorough information on setup. Your information has always been the best. Keep up the excellent content. David
Excellent! Thanks. Thinking A-B Hard stops on the radio for a tilt so that you know when/where you'll reach the right angle. This electronic stuff is simply not smooth / intuitive. Referencing old television zoom lenses with a single rocker /rotating stick.
yeah I would like something like that as well. im kinda wondering if they could put a thin line on the screen x degrees from center to show where center will be after releasing the camera pitch. (mine ran out of space when I looked UP at myself because it was already at max up)
Oh wow, thats a interesting thought "Evolution of the Q500" did not see that, but some of the geometry, like the forward camera, heck even the ability to dis-mount the front mounted camera is definitely along the same lines. and you could say, a controller with build in monitor, and running android like the Q500. more parallel's than I noticed at first. good call sir.
I would to ask your opinion. Between the Mavic 2 Pro and the Evolve. Which one do you prefer? Before this video I had the Mavic in mind. I knew and inexperience.
Nice looking bird reminds me of the Yuneec Q500, obviously higher built quality. For the price point I feel they should have gone with a 1" sensor on the initial camera offering to better compete with the Phantom. Flight time is also on the low side I think they would have better served going with 6s batteries. Very interested in hearing how the lidar system performs. Also no obstacle avoidance maybe an issue for a lot of potential buyers.
Kinda agree on the 1" sensor, however the price point is more driven by the interchangeable camera, very cool thermal-kit option to clip in, and or a m43 camera, honestly I would not bother buying and traveling with the big box for anything less than the m43. specially with phantom 4pro and mavic2pro out there, they should skip straight over the standard camera and probably consider the m43 the new standard unless people really insist on a smaller than m43 camera. *but thats just my opinion.
It's about time somebody's coming around to actually give DJI some competition. from what I understand they're even going to have a thermal camera which from what I see with this drone and the other people I've talked to about it this is going to be what everybody needs. It is at least what I need doing search and rescue and for other video missions
+1 to that, the evolve is really growing on me. and YES there is a thermal gimbal in the cards, I should be getting permission to show it later this morning hopefully, so there should be a video on the evolve thermal solution coming up pretty soon. they have gone a bit of a unconventional route, but getting you a very competent thermal option at a very respectable price point.
The price point with no obstacle. 20 minutes of flight time avoidance makes this a bomb. The detachable gimbal , lidar and the remote with the two screens are nice. but sadly this drone nothing to change the Monopoly that one company has over the industry
I feel that is a lot of money, for a bird that doesn’t even have any obstacle avoidance sensors. And when will be on the open market. Will it be one of those one hit wonders and 2 years are so the company has folded up there tent and left town?
Price is right as its comparable with my inspire1 X5 kit, have the iPad build in. and gets a bit more flight time with the m43. *Im not terrible interested in the stock camera. More importantly for me, there is a thermal camera package. Well. honestly, I don't know the finances of xDynamics, but from what I understand they are going to be around for a while. guess thats something we just have to wait and revisit in 2028 ish. :-)
basically the map will tell you the type of airspace you are in, however will not keep you from flying. They simply expect you to be a responsible human being, knowing your situation and if you are say a part107 who can fly in this airspace etc.
Hey Brendan, its supposed to be shipping shortly, that said, as most drones i would not be surprised to see launch date slip a little as they are still refining the firmware. Im guessing a couple months.
Its intended for commercial work, and the price reflect that its build to lift a thermal or m43 camera. If outright range out of box is the goal, go grab a mavic2
Great review Bo; Once you have these new good cameras to fly with, you also need to use the SAME camera to do your on ground filming. So XDynamic need to offer a handheld camera like OSMO from DJI with the gimbal, battery and etc. so people can use ONE camera for everything. This is one area DJI is ahead of many.
DJI is ahead in a lot of areas, they have been at it a lot longer, however birds like the EVOLVE and and EVO shows that the other guys are catching up lately. Yeah agree on a hand grip for that camera. *specially the m43 they are making is really cool specs ;-)
Hello my friend. I'm absolutely in love with this drone. Mainly because of the build quality and controller is the nicest I've seen to date. Did I miss the approx price? Can you tell me around what this bird will cost? Thx much Michael
Hey Michael, I touched on the price for this bird at the end of the video, you are looking at $2499, the 3 main added value points being the "tablet" in the controller, the connex video downlink and m43 camera mount. oh and the awesome build quality. :-)
Yes - actually done a lot of flying with the unit - however it was a bit soft being a pre-production unit, and was recalled by xDynamic's before it got a final firmware, they have not returned the upgraded tester and I have never seen the LIDAR altitude system actually working, which means a bit harry landings. Soooo until further notice, i can only say, that I have never seen a working Evolve that can do a figure-eight at 1km range.. if you need the bird for work out to 300m its brilliant and I want the m43 unit.. I would not buy it for the stock "1inch type" camera, ONLY for the m43 camera and or the thermal cradle. and for 300m range work at this time.
I think they have shown the shape a couple times, its finally getting ready to ship, I did first become aware of the EVOLVE in January this year at CES 2018 in vegas, you may remember my video where I called it the sexiest drone of CES 2018.
Meganeura* It uses Amimon technology, they also make wireless HD systems for broadcast and cinematography, their systems automatically adjust to maintain reliable connection.
Meganeura* I don't know of any systems that feature mountain penetration at any frequency! You can always better position the operator ;) There is also connex-lr-receiver with what looks like high gain antennas
Hey Meganeura* penetration is definitely a issue, and probably part of why they are rating this at 1000m, Im very much expecting to see people mod the radio to have external long range antennas, after all there are always somebody who put big antennas on never new bird :-) that said, xDynamics are targeting this to video production users, and im not sure there will be that much of a requirement for more range in that group.
Yeah and nah. basically the EVOLVE is a single-operator bird, its not intended for 360 camera moves, more for yawing the camera with the bird and dampen the camera yaw moves as it follows the bird.
EVERYTHING is right about this drone. See how the arms are up and the props don't get into camera? The gimbal is solid. BTW, where do you put in the memory card for the camera? And how high in memory can you go up?
on the under side of the camera. smartly they made the gimbal lock so you can still access the micro-SD card with the gimbal clip in place. Yes agree, lot of good design moves here, high props, wide landing-gear foot print for stability. and HDMI out from the controller.
Have not seen this drone flown yet. All the reviews about this drone is only limited to show and tell but no true action of test flight. Strange deal going on here with all these reviewers.
Hey Urs, like I said in the review, this is PROTOTYPE hardware, and several of the features are still beta level only, its simply not fair to post a flight review being that some of the features would show as "problems" when in reality they are simply not turned on yet. I promise you there will be flying, next week im swapping this unit for the next iteration of hardware which have a bunch of hardware improvements. hopefully all the problems have been fixed, but that is why we fly prototypes, to make sure the unit you get is awesome.
It is a great looking shelf model. There isn't one video posted that I can find of this extremely expensive drone in test flight. Totally useless to review something without proof it does what it says. Someone is getting paid to market this before production.
