With my past experiences in mind, I decided to take a look at the Veenix V11 4K drone because after doing a little research, it seemed that it might be a better choice for motorcycle travel than my Mavic Pro. Let’s take a look at this new drone and I will show you some of the things I like better.

First, the drone comes with this really nice carrying case that includes everything you need to fly the aircraft for up to 70 minutes (using two batteries). While this case has a slightly larger footprint, it is very well organized and easy to get the drone and its controller out and set up. Everything is very well protected, organized and it fits nicely in one of my side cases, or in my top box.

Another thing I really like is that the batteries can be charged without special equipment. My Mavic requires that I carry this rather elaborate contraption in order to recharge the batteries. In contrast, the Veenix batteries can be plugged directly into any USB equipped charger. This keeps things simple and simple is always good for motorcycle travel.

In my pre-review research, what got me to agree to take a look at the V11 drone, was not the drone itself, but the controller. As I mentioned, I did not like how much effort it took to set up the Mavic drone. The controller had to be coupled with your cell phone and in order to do that, you either had to modify the controller or remove the cover for your phone, which was a pain in the ass.

But with the Veenix V11 controller, I can more easily mount even my large Galaxy S21 Ultra. I did need to change my case, replacing my very thick Otterbox, with a more streamlined cover from Crave, but once I did that, everything worked very easily and quickly. The phone is held by the controller much more securely than it is with the DJI controller and I have even figured out a way to mount it to my motorcycle, which I will share with you a bit later.

Before we continue, let me tell you that the Veenix V11 is not a toy, it is a real camera drone that lists for $639. You can of course find various sale prices and I will include links to purchase in the description of this video as well on my website. If there are any discount codes I will also supply those.

In contrast, my Mavic Pro back in 2018, cost me over $1000 and today a Mavic 3 Pro runs around $3000. There are of course several different versions of the DJI drones in a wide price range, and there are a couple versions of the V11, such as the V11 Mini and new V11 4K that I have here.

Some of its features include:

• FAA Remote ID Compliant

• Flight lights

• 2-Axis gimbal with a 4K Camera

• Digital transmission up to 3000 meters or 9800 feet away.

• As I mentioned, two batteries for up to 70 minutes of flight time

• Several intelligent flight modes including:

  • Image follow

  • GPS follow

  • Circling a location

  • Point to point flight

• Auto, return to home

One thing it does not include is obstacle avoidance, so you will need to pick your flight path carefully. 

Veeniix has done an excellent job of creating video instructions on how to fly the drone, so I am not going to spend a lot of time covering that. I will link to those videos in the description of this short film. I will say that, operation is pretty standard when compared to other drones and I have found the Veenix Fly app to be well organized and easy to use.

Let’s take a look at some footage and show you how the intelligent fly modes work, because those will be of particular interest to we motorcycle travelers.

High Flight:

First here is some footage from the drone in general flight. This is 4K footage that I have resized down to 1080 for this video. 

Low Flight:

Not only can you fly this drone from up high, you can also have it skim the ground.

Circle Me (Point of Interest):

Setting the drone to “circle me” mode, you can position the aircraft over something you are interested in, then set the radius of the circle and the drone will revolve around a central point.

Follow Image:

You can also have the drone follow an object by drawing a box around your focal point and then it will keep pace with that object.

GPS Follow Mode:

The other way that you can have the drone focus on an object, is to use GPS follow mode. In that case, the drone will follow the controller as it moves across the landscape. This is particularly useful for me motorcyclist when documenting our adventures.

Point to Point Travel:

There is one more intelligent flight mode that I have not been able to try at this point, that is point to point travel using a map. In this mode you can literally place points on a map and the drone will fly from point to point.

As you can see, each of these flight modes works very well and the drone takes great images. I look forward to using this in the field, so to speak during next year’s riding season.

A Few Quirks:

There are a few quirks that you should be aware of before buying this drone. None are a big deal, but just things you should be aware of.

• Every time you start the drone (even after a battery change) you will have to go through a GPS calibration routine. You will have to rotate the craft horizontally and then vertically. This process takes just a few seconds.

• The drone takes an SD card up to 128GB and it will save your footage to that card. I did have trouble getting the card to work at first. I formatted the SD card on my computer (FAT32) but still would not be recognized by the drone. Ultimately, I ended up formatting the card in the drone and then it worked properly. 

• Even if you use an SD card, the drone will still save copies of your photos or videos on your phone. The videos on your phone will be in 1080P resolution while those saved on the SD card are 4K. 

  • The videos are saved on your phone in the DCMI/Veeniix Fly folder. You will need to watch this folder and make sure to clear it out in order to manage the available drive space on your phone.

• When using the “return to home” function, the drone might make several attempts before finally settling on a landing point. This most likely has to do with the surface it is landing on. When out in the soccer field, the drone took a couple of tries before finally setting down.

Even with those quirks, I have found the Veeniix V11 4K drone to be both easy and fun to fly. Now let’s take a look at what I came up with to use this aircraft while traveling by motorcycle.

I added a second RAM ball mount to my handlebars and then placed a GoPro snap mount to the bottom of the drone control. On Amazon, I found a ball mount that clicks into the snap mount. Now, I can use a RAM extension to attach the drone controller and phone as a unit to my handlebars. This will make GPS follow much easier and safer, rather than trying to hold it while moving, as I have seen a few YouTubers doing. We’ll see how all of this works as I am able to try it more, next season.

So summing all of this up, so far I really like this drone. It is easier to use that my Mavic Pro drone and comes with a great case. The Veenix V11 seems to take very good images, has some great intelligent flight modes and is very well priced for what you get.

Of course, I have only been able to use this a few times, so the jury is out on its durability and longevity. I will let you know those things after I have been able to use it over the course of a trip of two.

As always, don’t take my word for anything, always do your own research.

If you want to purchase this Veenix V11, please do so by using the links I have provided in the video description or on my website. I will get a little commission that will help to keep these videos coming.

Ride safe my friends!