DJI NEO 2: Why This Little Drone Is About to Become My Four-Year-Old’s First Co-Pilot

Pocket-sized drone, big memories. This is why we wanted the NEO 2

The DJI NEO 2 has a ridiculous amount of capability for its size and price, and that’s exactly why I’m picking one up. I’m not buying it to replace anything in my current setup or to compete with the prosumer drones I fly for work. I’m buying it because it’s the perfect first drone for my four-year-old son, and because the NEO 2 brings a mix of features that make it fun, safe, and actually worth using on our family adventures.

For starters, the voice and gesture controls are perfect for a kid. Blake can literally talk to the drone. He can wave at it. He can tell it to go up or come back, and the drone actually listens. That’s a pretty incredible way to teach a young kid how flight works without throwing them into full manual controls right away. It removes all the friction and makes learning feel natural. The follow-me tracking is another big deal for us. Blake is four and full throttle all the time, whether he’s running around the playground, riding his bike, tearing down a trail, or just being a maniac in the backyard. Being able to pull a drone out of my pocket, speak a command, and have it track him while he zooms around is unbelievably convenient, and it gives us shots we could never get otherwise without firing up bigger gear.

The NEO 2 also brings real safety features, which matter when you’re teaching a kid. You get full obstacle sensing, palm takeoff and landing, and the kind of durability that means a bump or two isn’t the end of the world. The original NEO already had a reputation for surviving “oops” moments, and everything about the NEO 2 suggests they’ve improved that even further. I want Blake to learn without worrying that every mistake is going to cost me a fortune, and this drone makes that possible.

Teaching the next generation of pilot — one ride at a time.

Then there’s the camera. For the size and price, 4K video up to 60fps (and even 100fps in certain modes) is honestly wild. No, this isn’t meant to replace a prosumer drone for paid aerial work, but that’s not what we’re using it for. This is for family clips, quick moments on a trail, spontaneous shots on a beach, and, most importantly, documenting Blake learning to fly. It’s more than good enough for YouTube, social media, and the kind of personal content we create together.

This little drone is going to be a huge part of our upcoming long-format YouTube series where I teach Blake to fly. That’s something we’ve talked about for a long time, and the NEO 2 is the perfect tool for it. It’s simple enough for a kid, smart enough to avoid disasters, and capable enough to capture footage that still looks great. We’re going to get plenty of behind-the-scenes moments, lots of teaching clips, and a ton of genuine father-son content out of it. It fits our workflow and our brand perfectly.

The bottom line is that for the price, the DJI NEO 2 is an absolute no-brainer if you’re a parent who flies drones and wants to bring your kid along for the ride. It’s fun, it’s safe, it’s capable, and it opens the door for kids to learn in a way that feels exciting instead of intimidating. For us, it’s going to be a great teaching tool, a great storytelling tool, and a great little drone to have in our pocket when Blake and I head out on our next adventure.