Promising 4K at 100fps, from a "flagship level" 1/1.3 image sensor, the HoverAir Aqua promises to be the world's first water-born flying camera – a drone designed for watersports – and still comes in at under 249g.
If you thought, when looking down the list of the best camera drones, that the drone market had stopped innovating, think again. That seems to be the message from HoverAir, the company behind the X1 and X1 Pro Max series of selfie drones, and is set to follow up with a quadcopter capable of landing on the surface of water – even the sea – and taking off again.
The demo reel on Instagram shows the copter being tossed into the water from a paddleboard, before being remotely turned on, then seeming to track the board.
HoverAir describes the drone as having 15+ waterproofing features on the company's site, and invites visitors to sign up for further information. This makes sense as previous X1 series models have been crowd-funded.
Amongst these, a nano-coating and hydrophobic are interesting keywords. You can see from the images that the props are angled, too, which would suggest a means of pushing itself from the water surface. Low weight may come from the use of titanium but I was interested to see that self-heating is a feature too, which would explain how the lower temperature of water is handled.
The brief video also shows what appears to be a waterproof beacon, which would make sense as a means to help the drone to track a subject, though the text also says that the camera can frame you, follow you, and fly circles around you.
Other interesting notes are that it is supposedly able to take off from and land on water (and appears to have no issues with salt water from the videos). This amphibious approach is certainly more useful for water use than requiring a land- or boat-based operator and a return trip for the drone – the only solution available at the moment.
The drone also promises Level 7 wind resistance (33 knots of wind) and a built-in color display, both of which would be firsts in this category for different reasons.
We will all know more at the promised official launch, details of which we'll share as soon as we have them.
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Check out our guide to the best underwater drones or our guide to the best beginner drones.
We also keep a guide to the best drones for fishing.
