r/HoverDrone

Bought the Aqua a couple of weeks ago off their website, to be a graduation gift for my wife, who's just learning to wingfoil. Perfect timing, I hope, to take advantage of this new waterproof drone tech, and to hopefully get some great training and self-coaching footage for her, as she progresses in the sport.

After a couple of test / practice sessions with the Aqua in our driveway, here are my experiences so far:

• Good purchase experience / fast shipping / good tracking
• Potentially overpriced, even with the supposed 20% off deals currently available, but I guess that's what you get when you want such a new product, especially one with no competition yet.
  • extra for basics like wetsuit and carry bag
  • only one usb cable included, when you need 3 to power drone, lighthouse, charging station, simultaneously
  • no AC adapters (typical these days)
• Batteries self-discharge fairly quickly. Apparently they are not LiFePO, maybe that's typical for drones, I don't know.
  • 100% to 59% after 7 days in storage
• Constant lighthouse disconnected/reconnected. Every time accompanied by a voice alert
• No User Manual available, perhaps still too new / they're working on it?
  • Quick Start Guide included
  • Website guides only provide the most basic info, but read too much like marketing materials / best case scenario, and completely fail to address real-world common issues (at least, common for us)
    • HOVERAir AQUA Beginner’s Guide: Everything You Need to Know – HOVERAir Official
    • The Ultimate Guide: How to Use the HOVERAir AQUA Lighthouse – HOVERAir Official
• Charging with high-power PD-compatible power bank
  • Aqua announced it was overheating after 15 minutes of charging. Switched to a slower charger.
• Very inconsistent initial results from driveway test flights
  • Lighthouse keeps disconnecting and reconnecting
  • Trying only basic modes, 360 spin, bird's eye, hover
  • Many flights inexplicably land shortly after launch, like 50%
  • Many takeoffs inexplicably self-abort. Counts down / beep sequence runs but rotors fail to spin-up. "takeoff timed-out" voice alert. No indication why
  • No guidance in above guides or videos suggesting what to do in these circumstances
• Many unanswered basic questions
  • Does the lighthouse need to be connected to use these basic pre-programmed flight modes?
  • When the lighthouse disconnects, does the flight abort, or is there a timeout period where it will wait for reconnection and, if successful, continue the flight
  • When the user manually enters control inputs during pre-programmed flight modes via the lighthouse, does that now cancel the pre-programmed flight plan? Does it pause and wait and then continue afterward? Something I could test myself, obviously
  • How long after takeoff does the Aqua need to initialize itself, get its bearings, lock-on to lighthouse, GPS/RTK/OmniTerrain, and proceed with the flight mode? 0 seconds? 15 seconds?
  • Does the Aqua use visual tracking at all to follow, or strictly via RF / lighthouse?
• Android App control seems pretty solid
  • Is there really no way to launch anything except manual mode via the app?
• Beacon and Joysticks
  • TBD

Updates to follow.