The DJI Lito X1 Is the Drone I’d Recommend Right Now

Sep 4

People occasionally ask me which drone they should buy, presumably because I run a website called Vancouver Island Drones and not because I look especially trustworthy with expensive flying objects.

Usually, the answer involves several annoying follow-up questions. What do you want to shoot? Have you flown before? Do you care about tracking? Will you edit the footage? What is your budget? How upset will you be when DJI releases something newer eleven minutes after you place your order?

But if somebody wanted one simple recommendation right now, it would be the DJI Lito X1 Fly More Combo with the DJI RC 2 controller.

Not the cheapest package. Not the Lito 1 because it saves a few dollars. And definitely not the package that makes you clamp your phone to the controller every time you want to fly.

Buy the X1. Buy the extra batteries. Buy the controller with the built-in screen. Then go fly the thing instead of spending the next six months staring at the better version you should have bought.

No, This Isn’t a Review

Let’s get this out of the way before the internet police arrive: I haven’t flown the Lito X1.

I’ve handled one, followed it closely, compared it with the rest of DJI’s lineup and spent plenty of time flying DJI drones, including the Air 3S I use for paid work. So this isn’t a hands-on review, and I’m not going to pretend it is.

This is a buying recommendation.

I know which features I actually use, which missing features become irritating and which upgrades people start wanting almost immediately. Looking at the current DJI lineup, the Lito X1 lands right in the sweet spot. It gives most people everything they are realistically going to use without pushing them into the price of a higher-end professional drone.

It Has a Proper Camera

According to DJI’s official specifications, the X1 uses a 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor with 48-megapixel photos, an f/1.7 aperture and up to 4K/60fps HDR video. It can also shoot 10-bit D-Log M for people who enjoy colour grading instead of having hobbies.

No, a 1/1.3-inch sensor isn’t the biggest camera DJI makes. The Mini 5 Pro, Air 3S and Mavic models still give you reasons to spend considerably more money if image quality or professional work is the priority.

But the X1’s camera is well beyond the “cheap first drone that I’ll immediately outgrow” category. For travel, family trips, camping, social media, YouTube and generally showing off Vancouver Island from several hundred feet in the air, it is more camera than most owners will ever fully exploit.

It’s good enough that you’re unlikely to spend every flight wondering how much better your footage would look if you had bought the next model up.

It Has the Fancy Stuff People Actually Want

The X1 isn’t just a decent camera attached to four propellers. It has ActiveTrack, QuickShots, MasterShots, Hyperlapse and omnidirectional obstacle sensing supported by forward-facing LiDAR.

In normal-human language, it can follow a subject, perform automated camera moves and help avoid obstacles around the aircraft. That makes it far more useful—and considerably less intimidating—than an entry-level drone that depends entirely on a new pilot noticing every tree in time.

Obstacle avoidance does not make a drone indestructible. Tiny branches, wires and poor lighting can still ruin your afternoon. You remain the pilot, and the expensive little lawnmower is still your responsibility.

But having those systems is much better than discovering three months later that you really wish you had them.

Forty-Two Gigabytes of “I Forgot the Damn SD Card” Insurance

The Lito X1 has 42GB of internal storage, and I love this feature far more than any reasonable person should.

Sooner or later, every camera owner goes somewhere beautiful, sets everything up and discovers that the SD card is sitting at home in a card reader. It is a special kind of stupidity because you remembered the drone, batteries, controller, charger and probably coffee—but forgot the tiny plastic rectangle required to record anything.

With 42GB onboard, forgetting your card doesn’t automatically hose the entire outing. You can still record a meaningful amount of footage and transfer it later.

Every drone should have useful internal storage. Somehow, they still don’t.

Get the Good Controller

The DJI RC 2 has its own built-in screen, which means no mounting your phone, no cable hanging off the controller and no surrendering your phone every time you fly.

Could you save money with a phone-based controller? Absolutely. You could also spend the entire ownership period wishing you had bought the proper one.

The RC 2 makes the drone feel like a complete piece of equipment. Turn it on, turn on the aircraft and fly. Your phone remains available for phone-related activities, such as ignoring work emails and checking whether Amazon has already discounted the drone you just bought.

This is one of those upgrades that feels expensive while ordering and completely obvious once you own it.

Extra Batteries Aren’t Really Optional

DJI advertises up to 36 minutes of flight time, but advertised maximum flight time and useful real-world flying time are not the same thing. Wind, temperature, filming, returning with a sensible reserve and your own appetite for risk all shorten the number.

One battery is enough to get excited, launch the drone, find the shot and receive a low-battery warning just as things become interesting.

The Fly More Combo gives you the batteries and charging setup that make the drone useful for an actual outing. If you’re driving to a beach, trail, campsite or job site, you’ll appreciate being able to fly more than once before packing everything away.

Again: buy it properly the first time.

Why Not Just Buy the Lito 1?

Because the Lito X1 is the version you’re less likely to outgrow.

The cheaper Lito 1 may be perfectly adequate for somebody who wants the lowest possible entry price and expects to fly occasionally. But once you start comparing the better camera system, forward-facing LiDAR and 42GB of internal storage, the X1 is where the lineup becomes properly interesting.

Saving money is great. Buying the cheaper version and then spending a year admiring the one you actually wanted is less great.

The same logic applies to the controller. If the budget can handle it, get the X1 Fly More Combo with the RC 2 and remove both upgrade regrets at once.

Do You Need the Mini 5 Pro Instead?

Probably not.

The Mini 5 Pro is the more advanced aircraft, and buyers with demanding camera expectations may still prefer it. But for most recreational pilots, the X1 already covers the reasons they wanted a drone in the first place: a strong camera, intelligent tracking, automated shots, obstacle sensing, good flight time, internal storage and a proper screen-equipped controller.

There will always be a better drone above yours. DJI has built a fairly successful business around making sure we all know that.

The question is whether the next drone adds something you will genuinely use. For most people looking for a sub-249g aircraft, the X1 provides enough that the answer may finally be no.

This Is the One

At the time of writing, the DJI Lito X1 Fly More Combo with DJI RC 2 is about $879 CAD before tax on Amazon Canada.

That isn’t pocket change. But it buys a complete setup rather than the beginning of an upgrade plan.

You get the better model, the good controller, extra batteries, a genuinely capable camera, the intelligent flight features most people want, obstacle sensing and enough internal storage to survive your own occasional incompetence.

If you want the least expensive DJI drone possible, buy something cheaper. If you need a professional workhorse, start looking at the Air and Mavic lines.

But if you want a sub-249g DJI drone that you can buy once, enjoy for years and not immediately start replacing piece by piece, this is the one I’d recommend right now.

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