Unfortunately, I never shaped up to be the type of snowboarder who had drone operators clamoring to capture my riding with their flying cameras. Truthfully, my snowboarding skills have never really warranted bird’s eye footage filmed by another human, it wouldn't be worth their time and energy. But those unfortunate truths never nullified my feeling like I’d really enjoy having some drone footage of myself snowboarding. So, when I was offered an opportunity to test out the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX, an 8k flying action camera that can follow and film me all on its own, I jumped on the opportunity. Then I jumped onto my snowboard with this little mechanical bird in tow.
192.5 grams of action cam in the palm of my hand. The HOVERAir X1 PROMAX, featuring 8K/30fps and 4K/60fps videos, 48 MP photos, two-axis gimbal stabilization and the ability to track a moving athlete all on its own.
Initially I was intimidated to work with any sort of drone. I’m not very savvy with this sort of tech—my first experience was in the mid 2010s at my friend’s house using a twitchy “practice” drone that I promptly crashed into the ceiling of his bedroom. Although, with the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX, I’ve had a relatively easy time getting the camera in the sky and recording what I want it to. From what I’ve managed to record over the span of a few various days with the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX, I’m impressed with what this little user-friendly drone can do.
This winter I took it over to my local skatepark and nearby street spots to capture both follow-cam and static shots. The HOVERAir X1 PROMAX has over 15 different flight and shooting modes, from Hover to Follow, Bird’s Eye, Skiing and more. In Follow mode, it uses AI and optional beacon tracking to follow a subject. I popped it into Follow mode, let it take off from my palm, then dropped in with this thing zipping along behind me. It opened the door for exciting new angles that would have been difficult or even impossible for a friend to film via traditional snowboard follow-cam maneuvering, all without even needing someone else to take time out of their day to film me go medium. After completing the trick, I unstrapped, walked towards the hovering drone and placed my hand a few inches underneath it. Putting your hand beneath the drone activates a sensor on the bottom of the drone, which then shuts down the propellors and lands the drone back onto your palm.
I never imagined being able to self-film my own follow-cam. I love getting clips of myself snowboarding and am often working with my phone and a tripod to make it happen. The HOVERAir X1 PROMAX opens up a whole new world of possibilities and angles.
There were a few times in which I hit a trick only to discover the drone was still hovering near the drop-in. For whatever reason, whether it be an improper focus or what have you, the follow-cam function doesn’t always work as it should. Or, perhaps it was user error. Whatever the case may be, because I was keeping the riding during this drone test relatively relaxed, this wasn’t a huge deal. I simply walked up to the drop-in and started the process from the top. But this would obviously be less than ideal if you just came ripping down a big backcountry line and it missed the shot. Fortunately, if you long-press the beacon’s function button, the drone will return to you, so you don’t have to hike back up to retrieve it. But this tracking issue is something to be mindful of. It’s important to know what it looks like when this thing is properly focused in Follow mode and how to use its return-to-home function before you go dropping in on steep lines with this thing. That said, I’ve seen examples of this drone capturing incredible footage of folks charging powder. I’m personally more than satisfied with the 4K to 8K footage I’ve had it capture of me dorking around in the streets and look forward to bringing it into the backcountry the next time I'm out west. Also, although I wasn’t keeping count, I’d estimate this Follow fluke happened only once every 10 or so drops.
A look at the bottom of the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX. That camera and sensor combo is what the drone uses to land back onto your hand when you're done flying it.
The HOVERAir X1 PROMAX comes with this beacon. The beacon provides remote control capabilities, shows you what the drone is seeing while you're flying on its OLED screen, records audio, acts as a dedicated tracking target for the drone, and like that.
Closely following up Follow mode, my second favorite way to use the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX is putting it into Manual mode and controlling it with my phone using the Hover app. When the smartphone and drone are connected via Bluetooth, the smartphone screen shows what the drone sees. On the bottom corners of the touchscreen are directional pads to operate the height and positioning of the drone, as well as its tilt. It all feels very user-friendly and easy to operate, even for a fish out of water like me. And, yet again, with Manual mode I was able to capture some never-before-seen angles on classic spots that I’ve filmed tricks on dozens of times prior. I’m looking forward to continuing using the Manual mode in this regard for street snowboarding, and for still photography and videography outside of snowboarding in the months and years to come.
If you don't want to use the beacon, you can connect your HOVERAir X1 PROMAX to your phone. This will allow you to remote-control the drone with directional pads that appear on your device's screen. This selfie of me and my copilot, Tindy, is a screenshot that I took on my phone while I had the drone facing me during one of our first test flights.
A fresh take on a spot that's been filmed hundreds of times, but surely never before like this. I filmed this by putting the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX into Manual mode, flying it up to this desired top-down angle, and letting it hover while I snowboarded. It took me two tries to land this boardslide. I just let the drone continue to hover and record the whole process. The video footage is recorded horizontally. After I hit this boardslide I was happy with, I downloaded the video file, exported it to my phone's photo library and then cropped it into a vertical video, all while I was still at the spot.
Aside from the occasional fluke in Follow mode, one of the biggest challenges one faces when working with the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX is its 16-minute flight time. Although, considering there are camera drones costing roughly $2,500 that average 30–45-minute flight times, I guess this $700 drone’s 16-minute flight time ain't half bad. The HOVERAir X1 PROMAX comes with an additional battery, so you’ve got roughly 25-30 minutes of use (more like 20 if it’s very cold) to get your shot. This isn’t great for filming a trick that a rider is battling for, but it’s more than sufficient for capturing something a rider has on lock and can do in a couple of tries. It’s also plenty of time for capturing a backcountry line. Whatever the circumstance may be, I’d suggest throwing a portable power bank in your bag so that you can recharge the batteries while you’re at the spot, on the skin track on your way back up for more lines, etc.
Another challenge, at least with street snowboarding, is collecting good audio. The beacon collects audio. At first I was riding with it in my pocket, but that produces terrible sound quality for obvious reasons. I saw a video where a backcountry skier was ripping with the beacon strapped to his wrist, and I imagine that sounds rather windy albeit better than the pocket approach. Although, I'm not about to put the beacon on a wrist strap when I'm jumping around on concrete. My workaround to this challenge will likely be to record tricks from two angles, one with the drone and one with the phone, later extracting the audio from the phone shot to overlay with the drone shot. (Say that 10 times fast.)
A static shot recorded at my local skatepark using the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX in Manual mode.
A follow-cam shot recorded with the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX in Follow mode.
All in all, I’ve been having a grand ole time with the HOVERAir X1 PROMAX. I can foresee myself regularly using it for both video and still photography, for fun and for work.
I’ll be sure to share the love when it comes to pointing it in others’ directions, hooking the homies up with bird’s eye angles of their snowboarding. Because these days, everyone who wants it should have some drone footage of themselves snowboarding, even if their level of riding didn't lead them to feeling like it warranted it before.
The HOVERAir X1 PROMAX retails for $699.
For folks looking for a slightly cheaper alternative, the HOVERAir X1 PRO retails for $499.