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Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ Drone Review: A Great DJI Alternative?
Updated on October 16, 2024
Discover if the Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ can truly stand up to DJI’s dominance in the drone industry.
This blog post will feature its camera quality, design, flight performance, pros & cons, and usage. This will also show why it’s one of the best drones for photography and filming in 2024.
We aim to provide all product information to help you decide if it perfectly suits your preferences.
Quick Glance
The Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ is one of the best DJI alternatives in the market right now. It boasts unique and outstanding features that will certainly amaze anyone.
This is a quadcopter drone that weighs 816 grams (1.8 lbs) with dimensions of 4.8 x 3.7 x 8.8 inches. It is also a medium-size folding drone with 3 different color options: Arctic White, Autel Orange, or Deep Space Gray.
The drone’s camera captures stunning 6k resolution videos and 20MP still resolution. Its transmission range reaches up to 24km keeping a stable 2.7k/30fps quality.
Moreover, it supports Night Scene Mode and Intelligent Moonlight Algorithm to capture impressive quality night sceneries and make them sharp & vibrant.
You can choose from many shooting modes to fit your preferences: Single, Burst, AEB, Timer, HDR imaging, Night, and Panoramic.
This drone features a rare adjustable aperture (f2.8-f11), letting you control the amount of light entering the lens.
Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ has 150° Three-way Obstacle Avoidance, which adds extra safety for this adorable drone.
One of Dji’s best rival for camera drones
Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ Rating
These are the results of our personal tests & challenges given to the drone with the consideration to its camera, flight performance, structure, design, and price range. Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ got an impressive overall rating of 93%.
Structure and Design
Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ is a medium-sized folding drone with 3 different color options: Arctic White, Autel Orange, or Deep Space Gray.
This drone weighs 816 grams (1.8 lbs) with 4.8 x 3.7 x 8.8 inches dimensions. Due to weight restrictions in the US, owners of this drone must take the Trust Test and pay a $5 FAA Registration Fee,
The Premium Bundle provides 2 additional batteries, 3 extra pairs of propellers, an excellent charging hub, USB cords, and a carrying bag
Additionally, it has a comfortable and intuitive remote controller with a game-pad style. You can attach your smartphone here and at the same time, connect it to the Autel Sky companion App.
This will allow you to see a live video feed from the drone’s camera. The app will also aid you with your flights and setup, making things easier and more convenient.
This drone needs to be registered as per the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) drone weight regulations. Learn more on how to register your drone.
Camera and Video Quality
What’s so special about the camera of Autel Robotics EVO Lite+? Well, it consists features that are rare and non-existent even to the well-known DJI drones.
These features include Defog Mode (which captures high-quality photos and videos even when light is insufficient) and Intelligent Moonlight Algorithm (ISO can reach up to 64000).
Due to this, it can perform Night Scene Mode and produce HDR images. All the low-light scenes in this mode become sharp and vibrant!
Moreover, it has an adjustable aperture from f2.8 to f11 (very rare) plus Restore Natural colors feature which automatically balances out overexposure and underexposure when shooting scenes containing too much/low contrast.
This camera has a 6k video capture resolution coupled with 20MP still resolution. It offers up to 24km of video transmission range with 2.7k/30fps quality.
Furthermore, it supports multiple shooting modes such as Single, Burst, AEB, Timer, HDR imaging, Night, and Panoramic.
This drone also supports one-touch camera features, including 4k Surround Hyperlapse (which speeds up time and movement) and SkyPortrait (which automatically follows and captures photos of you and your companions).
Important Reminder: This drone only has 6GB of internal storage which is pretty decent for photography but in 6k video, it’s a different story.
It fills up quickly and I suggest, you get at least 64GB of microSD card so you’ll have plenty of space for those incredible aerial moments!
Flight Performance
In this Premium Bundle, this drone comes with 3 high-quality performance batteries. Based on Autel Robotics, each battery provides 40 minutes of flight time.
During our drone test, the Autel Evo Lite+ lasted 35 minutes of undisturbed flight time. This is very impressive, considering many drones in this price range don’t last that long.
This drone can reach a maximum speed of 68km/h coupled with 150° three-way obstacle avoidance (forward, backward, downward) that accurately locate obstacles.
However, unlike drones in the DJI Series, Autel Evo Lite+ isn’t smart enough to go around obstacles and instinctively avoid them.
Another key aspect of this drone is the lack of Geo-fencing. This feature is responsible for limiting drones where to fly (found in some DJI drones).
This will allow you to fly freely in any airspace you want, as long as you follow the rules and regulations implemented in your area.
Don’t forget to connect it to the Autel Sky companion App because it helps display the information you need during a flight such as position on a map and battery life.
Usage of this Drone
The Autel Robotics Evo Lite+ certainly has remarkable camera quality, decent structure and incredible flight performance.
Therefore, you can use in variety of recreational activities such as aerial photography and videography, exploration, sightseeing, hobby flying, social media content creation, and many more.
With all this all-around perfromance from EVO Lite+, I highly recommend this to photographers, filmmakers, drone fanatics, content creators and hobbyists.
Features and Details
| FEATURES | DETAILS |
| 6K Video Capture Resolution & 20MP Still Resolution | What’s better than 4k and 5k? You got it! With this amount of resolution, camera quality steps up to a whole new level. |
| Night Scene Mode & AI Moonlight Algorithm | Night sceneries are just so underrated! Coupled with this Moonlight Algorithm, all low-light scenes become sharp and vibrant! |
| Shooting Modes | You can choose different styles of capturing aerial sceneries such as Single, Burst, AEB, Timer, HDR imaging, Night and Panoramic. |
| HDR Mode | Capture several photos with different exposures and combine them creating a photo with more contrast and dynamic range. |
| Defog Mode | This drone has built-in one key haze removal function that cuts through the haze with a fog penetration function. This will then let you capture sharp photos and videos even in this kind of scenarios. |
| Dynamic Track 2.1 and SkyPortrait | EVO Lite+ can automatically follow any person, animal or vehicle so you can focus on your activities. SkyPortrait automatically blurs the background to add cinematic effect, with one-key press, this drone will lift into the air and capture a photo. |
| 150° Three way Obstacle Avoidance | Freely fly into the skies as this drone is built with obstacle sensors that functions in front, back and bottom part. |
| F2.8 to F11 Adjustable Aperture | Feel free to adjust the aperture of the camera from f2.8 to f11. Remember, the lower the aperture, the more light it allows on the lens. The higher aperture, the lesser light it allows on the lens. |
Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
Specifications
| Brand | Autel |
|---|---|
| Model Name | EVO Lite Plus |
| Age Range (Description) | Adult |
| Color | Orange |
| Video Capture Resolution | 1080p |
| Connectivity Technology | USB |
| Skill Level | Beginner |
| Control Type | Remote Control |
| Media Type | SD |
| Wireless Communication Technology | Wi-Fi |
| Battery Cell Composition | Lithium Polymer |
| Are Batteries Included | Yes |
| Remote Control Included? | Yes |
| UPC | 762917121307 |
| Product Dimensions | 2.76 x 1.97 x 4.33 inches |
| Item Weight | 2.2 pounds |
| ASIN | B0B19TBQ97 |
Conclusion
In this Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ review, we have certainly seen that it could rival the DJI for the best drones for photography and filming you can find out there.
The camera quality is outstanding which is very crucial for taking high-quality photos and movie-like videos. It certainly brought aerial sceneries to a whole new level!
Additionally, it supports different shooting modes such as Single, Burst, AEB, Timer, HDR imaging, Night and Panoramic.
EVO Lite+ also supports Night Scene Mode that is further enhanced by Intelligent Moonlight Algorithm (where ISO can reach up to 64000).
However, it also has its downside like the obstacle sensors aren’t smart enough to go around obstacles and the need to purchase bigger storage microSD.
All things considered, I would personally recommend this drone to photographers, filmmakers, drone fanatics, hobbyists, and social media content creators.
