Autel Robotics Evo Lite+ hands-on

We’re excited to place our grubby paws on a brand new drone, the Autel Robotics Evo Lite collection is now delivery to shoppers, and we now have the Evo Lite+ mannequin in-hand for a overview.

Climate has not cooperated with us so far, subsequently, this hands-on protection isn’t our full overview. We’re liking what we’re seeing up to now, we predict you will get hyped for this drone.

Evo Lite overview

Autel Robotics introduced the brand new Evo Nano and Evo Lite drones close to the top of 2021, with the primary shipments delivering proper on the flip of the yr. On paper, it could be best to say that these drones compete with the DJI Mini and DJI Mavic drones. That’s, the Nano collection weighs in at just below 250 grams, and the Lite collection focuses on the steadiness between an excellent digital camera and a compact, folding design.

The Evo Lite is available in two variations, the usual mannequin comes with a 1/1.28-inch sensor and a brand new 4-axis gimbal, whereas the Evo Lite+ packs a bigger 1-inch digital camera.

On the floor, the Evo Lite is a folding drone, the rear propeller arms fold straight ahead, sitting just under the entrance arms that fold straight again. The digital camera hangs on a gimbal under the nostril, similar to on earlier Evo drones. The battery makes up the vast majority of the highest of the drone, sliding into spot on the again of the drone.

There are impediment avoidance sensors on the entrance, rear and backside of the drone. On the underside can also be a helpful highlight, which isn’t simply so that you can use, it helps in low-light conditions for hover accuracy.

When folded down, the Evo Lite is concerning the dimension of a water bottle, and weighs about the identical as effectively, not less than when you have a glass bottle.

You’re an enormous 6,175mAh battery, which Autel says will present as much as 40 minutes of flight. The propellers are fast launch and fold in two. They appear so just like the DJI Mavic 2 collection propellers, that I attempted swapping between the 2 manufacturers. You may power the Mavic props onto the Evo Lite, however it will be an unsafe match, and the motor shaft diameter prevents you from placing the Evo prop on the Mavic, however they’re very, very comparable.

There’s a USB Sort-C port on the fitting facet of the plane, and a microSD card slot on the left.

The Evo Lite is offered in orange, pink, and gray.

Evo Lite Construct and specs

The Evo Lite is effectively constructed, with seen heavy composite plastics, lightweight metals, and carbon fiber. The physique is wrapped in plastic, the digital camera gimbal is metallic, and the propeller arms seem like hole carbon fiber with plastic touchdown gear. General, it feels very sturdy, and has a clear match and end.

Below the hood, Autel offers the next specs:

Evo Lite digital camera

Two variations of the drone supply two cameras. The dearer Evo Lite+ has the bigger digital camera, and is promoted as being glorious for low-light seize.

Evo Lite

The Evo Lite commonplace drone packs a 1/1.28-inch sensor, set at 50MP and in a position to seize as much as 4K video at 60FPS. As with earlier digital camera sensors of this dimension, you may seize on the full decision, however will see higher pictures from the pixel-binned 12.5MP pictures. The digital camera affords as much as 16x zoom, with as much as 2x lossless zoom on a 4K recording, and as much as 4x lossless zoom when recording 1080p.

The 4-axis gimbal is a brand new characteristic. A normal 3-axis gimbal affords management for pitch, roll, and yaw. The Evo Lite provides rotation to that blend.

Evo Lite+

The Evo Lite+ affords a pleasant 1-inch sensor, set at 20MP and in a position to seize as much as 6K video at 30fps. The Evo Lite+ additionally affords as much as 16x zoom, with as much as 1.3x lossless for 4K and 3x lossless for 1080p seize. When taking pictures 6K video, you’re seeing full lossy zoom.

6K video is proscribed to 30fps, however you may shoot 4K at 60fps and all the way down to 1080p at as much as 120fps.

We had been happy to see HDR video seize on each drones. HDR reduces the utmost seize charges, however seems fairly good in our indoor checks. Although, each are restricted to 8-bit seize at 120Mbps. That is nonetheless nice, however 10-bit seize and better bit-rates could also be required by some skilled pilots.

Ought to I purchase the Evo Lite?

There are few causes to not take into account the Autel Robotics Evo Lite. We urge you to consider your wants and your price range, as there are execs and cons to all drones, together with the ecosystems wherein they belong, their costs, and extra. For us, the Evo Lite is a succesful different to older DJI merchandise, and sits properly alongside the latest DJI Mavic collection drones.

The Evo Lite price ticket is comfortably in between the DJI Air 2S and the DJI Mavic 3, which could be the deciding issue for a lot of pilots. Whereas the 2 DJI drones and the Evo Lite+ all rock a 1-inch digital camera sensor, the general picture capabilities additionally seem to coincide with their costs — that being the bottom value on the Air 2S, medium value on the Evo Lite, and the Mavic 3 coming in with the best value. We wish to get the Evo Lite into the sky earlier than we stand by this declare, so please examine again for our full overview.

The Evo Lite+ has yet another trick up its sleeve. In case you have the suitable license and clearance to fly after the solar has gone down, the Evo Lite+ has an evening mode that captures among the greatest evening pictures from the sky we’ve ever seen. A implausible characteristic, however gained’t be value spending additional on if you’re a pastime pilot in the US. At the least not this yr.

Our ultimate verdict is coming quickly. We’ve been toying with the Evo Lite+ for just a few days now, and the forecast requires a break within the wind and rain within the subsequent few days (simply as quickly as we get by means of the flood look ahead to in the present day, ick!)

(9.5)

• 40 – Minutes
• 6K – 60 FPS
• 42.5 – MPH

December 2021

Launch Date