The Hover Camera Passport foldable drone was launched a couple of years ago and it was very well received. The successor has now been unveiled. Hover 2 retains the foldable form factor of its predecessor and also comes with advanced obstacle avoidance. Like its predecessor, it’s meant to be a selfie drone that’s used best for taking pictures of you against stunning backdrops.
Hover 2 has a robust carbon fiber enclosure while the foldable form factor makes it easy to carry. It’s powered by an unnamed Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and is capable of recording 4K 30fps video with face and body tracking.
The flight time is almost double than its predecessor, 19 minutes compared to 10 minutes of the original Hover drone. The weight is consequently almost twice as before. The Hover 2 weighs 1.1 pounds. There’s a new 12 megapixel 1/2.3 inch main camera sensor with a 2 axis gimbal and a pitch range of -90 to 0 degrees. Electronic image stabilization is supported and there’s 8GB of internal storage with microSD support of up to 128GB.
The “Optical Radar” is a new addition to the drone. It comes out from the top of the body and uses the stereo cameras to power advanced obstacle avoidance in any traveling direction. It can detect obstacles up to 10 meters away at speeds under 7 m/s. This means that the drone can fly with much lower risk of crashing into something. It retains the predecessor’s downward obstacle detection feature as well.
The Kickstarter campaign for this drone is now live. It’s being offered for $399 during the crowdfunding campaign but will have a $699 retail price once it hit stores.
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