DJI Lito 1 review: The best beginners’ drone that DJI has ever built at a price that may surprise you

It feels as though hardly a month goes by without DJI launching another new product, whether it be an action camera, a stabilised camera, a portable power station, a remote microphone, a robot vacuum cleaner or, far more commonly, a new addition to its huge roster of amazing camera drones.

In fact, as of writing, there are currently eight categories of drones in DJI’s ever-expanding catalogue, and one of them was added only a few months ago. It’s called the DJI Lito, and there are two models in the range – the Lito 1 we’re looking at here and the DJI Lito X1, which we have already reviewed.

In a nutshell, the Lito range was designed to make drone flying more accessible to the masses by offering two compact, highly capable models aimed at beginners and content creators who want impressive aerial footage without the cost or complexity of a high-end professional drone.

The Lito 1 and Lito 1X offer remarkable value for money, packing impressive flight performance, capable cameras and many of DJI’s cleverest features into two resoundingly affordable packages. For the price, beginners get an extremely polished drone experience that makes aerial photography and videography far more accessible.

DJI Lito 1 review

Price and availability

The DJI Lito 1 starts at £299 in the UK and comes with the RC-N3 controller and a single battery, and that’s all. The Fly More Combo, meanwhile, costs £429 and comes with two extra batteries, a charging hub and a few other accessories.

The Lito 1 is available now from DJI and major retailers including Amazon – where it’s shifting for an even more attractive £254 – Argos and Currys.

Specifications

• Dimensions (L×W×H): 183×251×79mm (unfolded); 149×94×62mm (folded)
• Flight time: 36 mins (typical 23-25 mins)
• Max transmission range: 15km‌
• Max flight speed (Sport mode): 40mph / 65km/h
• Max Wind Speed Resistance: 24mph / 38.5km/h (Level 5)
• Built-in GPS: Yes
• Obstacle avoidance: Omnidirectional monocular vision system
• Intelligent QuickShot modes: Multiple
• Tracking: Yes
• Internal storage: No
• Camera sensor: 1/2-inch CMOS
• FOV: 79˚
• Max aperture: f1.8
• Max photo resolution: 48MP JPG
• Max video resolution: 4K (3840×2160) at 60fps (horizontal); 2.7K (1512×2688) at 60fps (vertical); Slow Motion 4K at 100fps
• Image stabilisation: 3-axis mechanical gimbal (tilt, roll, pan)
• Connectivity: WiFi / Bluetooth

What's best for you? DJI Lito 1 or Lito X1?

Before we get down to the nuts and bolts of this incredible little budget drone, I should point out that DJI has also released a slightly upgraded version that retails for just £70 more. It’s called the Lito X1, and you can read all about it in Matt’s review (linked in the intro).

The DJI Lito 1 and Lito X1 share the same compact sub-250g design, flight performance and raft of intelligent features, but the X1 gains a slightly larger 1/1.3-inch sensor for better low-light performance, HDR, 10-bit D-Log M video, forward-facing LiDAR for improved obstacle detection in low light and 42GB of internal storage.

The cheaper Lito 1 uses a smaller 1/2-inch sensor; it doesn’t have LiDAR, and it relies entirely on microSD storage. Both drones are incredible value for money, but which one floats your boat?

If you’re a total beginner, especially an adult who simply wants a drone to take on holiday for a few videos on the beach, snap a few aerial shots of your home – perhaps checking the condition of the roof while you’re at it – or occasionally video a family gathering with no real plans to fly it at night or edit any of the files into a seamless video, then the Lito 1 is your best bet and you’ll save yourself some money, which could perhaps go towards an extra battery.

Its ultra-low price of just £299 is an absolute bargain given all the things it can do, and you won’t feel too worried about losing it, especially if you take out DJI’s reasonably-priced Care insurance package.

Careful pixel peeping on a MacBook Air, on the other hand, does show a slight improvement in video quality from the Lito X1, but it is much harder to notice when watching the footage on a phone screen.

However, the Lito X1 is definitely better at low-light shooting and obstacle avoidance when the sun’s gone down. It also comes with 42GB of internal storage, which can be a godsend when you arrive at a great shooting spot only to discover you forgot to bring a MicroSD card.

If you think you’ll benefit from the small amount of upgrades the X1 offers, including shooting at night and not having to worry about packing a MicroSD card, then opt for the X1.

Design and features

To give you some idea of just how far DJI has advanced in the sphere of camera-carrying drones, a decade ago this writer and a mate spent a ridiculous £5,000 on a DJI S-900 – a monster drone designed for carrying DSLR-style cameras.

This six-bladed drone had no mobile app integration. Instead, it came with a crap monitor that produced a very glitchy, low-res video stream from a not-very-good Sony NEX-7 camera.

It also had a huge, delicate gimbal, more wires than a BT street box, and a massive strap-on battery that kept the whole package aloft for just 15 minutes.

The whole package had to be transported in a box big enough for a lawnmower, and it took about an hour to set up. Flying it was terrifying, and it was compounded by the fact that we crashed it on its very first flight.

Fast forward to today, and the comparatively tiny sub-£300 Lito 1 I’m reviewing here annihilates that hulking pile of Meccano in every conceivable way, including image quality, believe it or not. That’s progress for you.

The DJI Lito 1 weighs just 249g, which means anyone can fly it with an easy-to-obtain Flyer ID and Operator ID (those under 12 need to be in the presence of a guardian aged 16 and above). At 149×94×62mm when folded and 183×251×79mm when unfolded, this drone is easy to pack and therefore more likely to be taken with you regularly.

For a drone at such a low price tier, the Lito ships with a veritable banquet of amazing flight features normally reserved for much higher-end models.

Sure, there are some omissions like gimbal settings – which I admit to missing most of all – and some other deep-dive flight parameter adjustments, but everything’s so well dialled straight out of the box that it’s very hard to complain. You can even set this drone to automatically turn on or off as you open or close the propeller arms.

The Lito 1 even comes with omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, which is just about the best thing for any beginner because it will simply come to a halt whenever it detects a large obstacle in front, behind, below, above and side to side.

However, I wouldn’t rely on any obstacle avoidance system to avoid tree branches when not in leaf, since the drone’s obstacle detection might not spot a branch in its path. I’ve learned that the hard way.

I discuss the camera in more detail below, but one of the main differences between the Lito 1 and the cheaper DJI Neo 2 is that the Lito 1 has a proper 3-axis mechanical gimbal, while the Neo 2 has to make do with a 2-axis gimbal plus digital stabilisation. Mind, I’m not especially keen on the Lito 1’s fiddly gimbal and camera protector.

To keep costs down, the Lito 1 ships with the older-style DJI RC-N3 remote controller, which requires you to dock your phone (iOS or Android) and use the DJI Fly app. However, the drone also works with the DJI RC 2, which has a built-in screen.

The RC-N3 provides all the key functions to fly the Lito 1, including screw-in joysticks, a gimbal control wheel, instant access to the three main flight speeds – Cine, Normal and Sport – a photo/video capture button and a function button to set your own preset, like instant gimbal tilt. This tried-and-trusted control system works as well as most of DJI’s other controllers.

I’ll leave this section with a shout-out to DJI’s R&D bods for creating one of the quietest drones I’ve ever tested. One shouldn’t underestimate the importance of having a quiet drone when flying it anywhere within earshot of other people.

Some folk won’t mind at all, but there are plenty of others who see drones as a scourge, and they will stomp over to berate you for either spying on them, creating a racket in a peaceful setting or possibly accuse you of breaking the law.

Thankfully, the Lito 1 is so quiet that you simply can’t hear it once it’s 20 metres in the air, and that means you can fly it safely in the knowledge that you won’t attract any unwanted attention.

Flight performance

The Lito 1 delivers impeccable flight performance that feels remarkably polished for such a compact, affordable drone. Normal mode offers smooth, predictable handling, Cine mode slows everything down for more controlled cinematic movements, and Sport mode unlocks an impressive maximum speed of 40mph (65km/h) for fast, dynamic flying.

For a sub-250g drone, it also handles wind surprisingly well, as I discovered when flying it in winds of up to 25mph. Battery performance is also impressive, with DJI claiming up to 36 minutes of flight time, although real-world results naturally vary. I managed to eke 30 minutes of flight time out of it, though some of that was spent hovering in one spot while I took some photos of it.

As is the case with all DJI drones, the Lito 1 also sports rock-solid video transmission – up to 8 miles (15km) in low-interference areas like open countryside – with zero issues to report.

If you're a complete beginner looking for a lightweight travel companion, you can stop right here because this little air tyke is just so confidence-inspiring – and reliable – once it’s up in the air.

Camera performance

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The DJI Lito 1 delivers impressive camera performance for its price. Its 1/2-inch 48MP CMOS sensor features a wide f/1.8 aperture and captures surprisingly detailed stills and sharp, vibrant 4K footage at up to 60fps, while its 4K/100fps slow-motion setting adds extra creative flexibility.

Likewise, the drone’s 3-axis mechanical gimbal does a sterling job of keeping all video footage hummingbird-steady, even in a gusty crosswind.

The Lito 1’s camera can also be used in vertical profile mode (2.7K at up to 60fps) for those of you who love using this hideous format in your social media circles. Please stop this and stick to landscape mode, as the eyes see the world.

No, the Lito 1 cannot match the larger 1/1.3-inch sensor of the DJI Mini 4 Pro or the superb 1-inch 50MP sensor in the DJI Mini 5 Pro, particularly in challenging low-light scenes, but that is hardly surprising given the size of the camera's sensor and the drone’s low price.

DJI LITO 1 VIDEO QUALITY TEST - YouTube

Watch On

For everyday aerial video and photography, however, the Lito 1 punches well above its price point. After setting its exposure compensation to -0.3 to prevent the sky from blowing out, I snapped some great shots of our local church and the images and video straight out of the drone were pleasingly sharp with excellent colour rendition.

Although you will inevitably notice some degradation when pixel-peeping on a desktop computer, I think the video and stills quality from this drone is sharp and dynamic enough for social media and ideal for viewing on a phone, tablet, or laptop.

Autonomous QuickShots

Aside from DJI’s popular ActiveTrack function, you also get a cornucopia of intelligent shooting modes with the Lito 1 that make cinematic aerial footage remarkably easy to capture.

Its six QuickShots include Dronie, which flies backwards and upwards from the subject; Rocket, which climbs vertically while pointing the camera down; Circle, which orbits the subject; Helix, combining an orbit with an ascending spiral; Boomerang, following a sweeping oval flight path; and Asteroid, which creates a dramatic rising shot before transforming the scene into a tiny-planet-style effect.

It also comes with DJI’s impressive MasterShots sequence, which takes automation even further by performing a series of cinematic flight movements before producing a fully edited sequence.

MasterShots is an impressively simple way for inexperienced pilots – and many pros – to create polished, dynamic footage without requiring advanced flying skills. Believe me, pulling off these types of shots manually is very much a hit-and-miss affair.

Verdict

The DJI Lito 1 is a stunning little drone that punches way above its bargain price point. It’s incredibly easy to fly, impressively stable and packed with loads of big-boy stuff like omnidirectional obstacle avoidance and the sort of clever automated shooting modes you’d normally expect to find on much pricier DJI models. True, the camera won’t trouble the DJI Mini 5 Pro, but for beginners and budget-conscious flyers, this drone is exceptional value.

T3 doesn’t hand out five-star accolades willy-nilly but, having tested this drone extensively over the past two weeks, I think it definitely deserves the highest praise, especially given the amount of tech onboard and, of course, the attractive price. At this rate, could we feasibly see a similar drone next year for the psychologically magic price of £199? Go on, DJI, you can do this.