One of the underlying problems of the drone industry is the lack of competitive diversity in the consumer and prosumer markets. As it has stood for years, Autel Robotics and DJI have been, arguably, the two top dogs within this section of the UAV world. Many companies have attempted to push their way into the mix, but ultimately fail to make any kind of significant impact time and time again.
However, in recent history one company rose to the top of the pile and made a real case for why they could shake things up for the “big boys” of the consumer and prosumer drone markets. I am talking, of course, about XDynamics and their Evolve series.
While the Evolve 1 came with a mixed bag of feedback (let us not forget the Ken Heron incident), XDynamics persevered and produced a formidable machine in the Evolve 2. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the specs on the Evolve 2 and tell me I am wrong:
- Sensor Size: 4/3” CMOS Sensor
- Sensor Resolution: 45MP
- ISO Range: Video – 100 to 12,800 | Photo – 100 to 25,600
- Max Video Resolution: C4K at 120fps
- RAW Photo Support: DNG
- Max Speed: 57.2mph (92 km/h)
- Max Flight Time: 33 Minutes
- Interchangeable Payload Options (In Development)
No matter what your experience may be in the world of drones, if you saw THAT specs-sheet without the XDynamics label, you would want to fly that drone IMMEDIATELY.
And really, that doubt you had when I stated that the Evolve 2 was formidable speaks to the true battle XDynamics has fought over the years – an issue of a bad reputation. The Evolve 1 did a ton of damage to XDynamics’ credibility in the industry, which is really weird considering there are wayyyyy worse drones out there that have not ruined the credibility of the companies manufacturing them.
That is why when I was put into contact with XDynamics about conducting a review for The Drone Geek and The Droning Company, I was chomping at the bit. Here we had a company that, for years, suffered from bad press on their original design. Now I had an opportunity to help them right the ship with some good press, should they be worthy of it.
I will not lie, I have rewritten this article four times and the first three versions included screenshots and audio recordings and a whole catalogue of emails that backed up my stance on how sour everything went between myself and XDynamics. After reflection (and consulting a lawyer), I opted to omit these rather damning pieces of information for fear of encountering a cornered and wounded animal (XDynamics with nothing to lose) once it was published. Just know that if anyone takes issue with what you are about to read that I have receipts for days and if push came to shove, I would not hesitate to use them to back myself up.
The following article will be broken up into two sections. The first section is a timeline of the facts. While I cannot recite the exchanges verbatim, I will give you an accurate rundown of when and what without injecting any opinions into the presentation. Everything you read in the facts section will be exactly as it played out.
The second section is my personal opinion about the interactions I had with XDynamics and my thoughts on their apparent demise as a company. When we come to this section I will include another, more formal, disclaimer to cover my own rear-end and to make it clear that the statements made in that section are my opinions alone and should not be necessarily taken as a full representation of the truth.
THE FACTS
I have tried to develop a method for delivering the factual information to you in a way that is not too cumbersome to digest. The fact is, facts are tedious when delivered honestly. There is no other way around it. So, to make it a bit more digestible, I am going to lay it all out to you in a timeline format and keep the statements as brief as possible:
January 18th, 2023
I reached out to the team assigned to assist me with questions and troubleshooting about the Evolve 2 regarding a few questions and a problem I was having with the CFast card slot not communicating with the cards I attempted to use.
A representative from the team reached out to me same-day with responses to my questions and concerns. The issue I want to focus on is the CFast issue because this is where everything after this is rooted.
January 20th, 2023
I followed-up with XDynamics on their feedback and let them know that I was still encountering an issue with the CFast slot. Again, a representative from the team responded same-day and indicated that my CFast slot may be damaged and that they would need to repair it for me so I may properly conduct the remainder of my review.
They sent me a return label and gave me shipping instructions for the drone. I packed everything up as they indicated (including the range extender antennas I purchased with my own money) and shipped it back to them 10 days later.
February 2nd, 2023
I noticed that the tracking information I received from UPS had a strange message on it regarding the progress of my shipment.
It said “Hold for Pickup Requested.” At the time I was not clear on what this meant, and reached out to XDynamics to confirm with them whether or not this was normal and to ask for confirmation when they received the shipment. It turns out that they had moved from the office they had in California and, as a result, needed to request a pick-up at the UPS facility local to them rather than attempt a delivery.
February 10th, 2023 to February 19th, 2023
I followed-up with the team to check on the progress of the CFast slot repair. I did not receive a response outside of a “thumbs up” reaction to my message.
Again, I sent another follow-up on the CFast slot repair. I was also made an administrator of the chat for some reason that is still unbeknownst to me.
A member of the team, known now as “Person A,” reaches out to me to thank me for reaching out and confirms that another member of his team would be reaching out to me soon. I left this on read without responding.
February 20th, 2023
The team member mentioned in the message sent the day prior, now known as “Person B,” reached out to me to let me know that XDynamics was discontinuing their partnerships with Evolve2 to focus on another project that was projected to be on the market soon.
Person B also indicated a team member I had previously worked with was no longer with XDynamics and provided me their email address for contact purposes.
I followed-up asking for confirmation of an email I had sent to this address shortly thereafter.
February 22nd, 2023
Person B from XDynamics sent me a voice message regarding details about the company’s status and projection for the future related to their position in the market and overall operations. In the voice message Person B expressed that it looked as though XDynamics was shutting down and moving all of their operations to Taiwan. Person B also expressed concern for his own position within the company.
In a follow-up message another team member, now known as Person C, confirmed that XDynamics was indeed moving their operation from the United States to Taiwan to reorganize and continue working on the Evolve 2 and the new drone teased earlier in the conversation.
I then responded to their messages with two voice messages of my own to let them know we (myself and The Droning Company) wanted to respect their space as they traversed uncertain waters, but still really wanted to finish the review started on the Evolve 2. These voice messages were not responded to directly on WhatsApp and communication shifted from the messenger app to email in the coming days.
In my email communication with Person B, they indicated that I would be working with a new member of their team, now known as Person D. To respect the situation these folks were facing, The Droning Company and I decided to step back and allow them to breathe and find direction moving forward. We ceased communication for somewhere around a month before reaching out to Person D.
April 21st, 2023 to May 15th, 2023
Stuart, the CEO of The Droning Company, reached out to Person D on behalf of the company, checking the temperature of the situation with XDynamics and expressing our continued interest in completing the review of the Evolve 2. To summarize the exchange that lasted several weeks with Person D trying to get confirmation about the state of XDynamics, their willingness to send the Evolve 2 back to finish the review, and the confirmation that it had been shipped.
On several occasions I used the idea of the article (and video) you are consuming now as leverage to get the drone back to complete the work I had begun on a review video. Obviously, since you are here reading this (or watching it), you can probably piece together that I have yet to receive the drone.
Now, here is where the tenor of this article shifts from factual presentation to the expression of opinionated thought.
DISCLAIMER OF OPINION
“Please be advised that the views expressed following this paragraph are mine and mine alone and are not necessarily shared by The Droning Company or any other companies within the industry to which I am currently affiliated. The views I am about to express are also not necessarily an accurate reflection of both sides of this experience and the interactions that occurred within it.“
Now that I have the disclaimer out of the way, here is the deal with XDynamics and where I stand with them as a drone professional, journalist, and enthusiast: I am not mad, I am disappointed. Ouch. That’s right…I went THERE…
While I would like to be able to parse out the reasons why I am disappointed into categories of “unfortunate circumstances,” I cannot because I do not believe most of this is driven by circumstances outside of the control of XDynamics. Instead, I walk away with a disappointed feeling because reflecting on the interaction just leaves me feeling…yucky. XDynamics had the power to work with me to combat the circumstances that were driving their company deeper and deeper “underwater” and instead chose to bail out on the whole deal. Let us talk about why I feel this way.
“Discontinuing” Partnership with Evolve 2 (but not really)…
They are hot and then cold. They are yes and then no. They are in and then out. They are up and then down. Yes, that was a Katy Perry reference, but it strikes a deeper meaning here than just getting that darn song stuck in your head.
Throughout the conversations I had with XDynamics there was this really strange waffling going on about whether or not they would be selling the Evolve 2 anymore. They claimed that they would no longer be selling them and then turn around and say they were interested in selling their backstock of Evolve 2 drones. Why is this important? The whole concept of whether or not to finish the review I had started on the Evolve 2 would be determined by whether or not they had units to sell.
While I am as honest and unbiased as I can be in my reviews, it does not matter what I score them in the end – they always generate buzz and interest in the products I am reviewing. Even if I score a drone a 3/10 overall, people will still go to investigate my claim for themselves – checking out other resources about the platform to make an informed decision for themselves. This buzz can sometimes result in enough interest to convert in a sale.
While I am honest with myself that there will never be a time in my career that a review video I create will generate a total sell-out of a product, I can confidently say that my videos have converted sales for manufacturers in the past and I think I could have at least converted one sale for XDynamics had I been given the opportunity to complete the review.
So, all that said, I am still sitting here with the same question…are they selling the Evolve 2 or not?
The Company is Shutting Down (minus two things they are working on)…
On a variety of occasions representatives from XDynamics indicated that the company appeared to be completely shutting down. Which would be true if they were not also moving their operation from the United States to Taiwan and apparently conducting research and development on a new drone platform that was supposed to be released soon (we have not even heard an announcement yet and it has been 4 months).
That is neither here nor there, the point is not even the people closest to the operation knew if they were still expected to be working or not and instead of just saying “I don’t know anything,” they just threw a hodge-podge of conflicting bits of information at me.
Was this because everyone was in the dark about the company’s situation or was it a blatant attempt at misdirection to get me off their case? I do not know for certain, but no matter how you slice it, something very shady was going on behind the scenes and the panic that ensued sent their representatives into a free-fall of contradiction.
They Appreciate What I Am Doing (but not enough to help me do it)…
Let me be clear: I am separating the people from the company — meaning that I have absolutely zero disdain for the folks who tried to make XDynamics work. They are just ordinary people trying to provide for their families by doing the best that they can at the jobs they were assigned.
That said, throughout the interactions I had with various representatives I was told that they appreciated the work I was doing and that they wanted to help…but, sike, because not really. You see, to me, actions speak louder than words. You can tell me you want to help me, but if you do not end up helping me — well, you never really wanted to in the first place.
After being told how much I was appreciated for doing the review over and over again I kept pressing on the idea of completing the review. I asked if they had intentions on selling their backstock of Evolve 2 drones — they said yes. Would that not mean that finishing the review (on which they would have scored decently, mind you) would make sense? If you were ceasing all sales of the Evolve 2, then I could see torching the review idea. There is nothing to be gained by finishing it. But they confirmed they would sell their backstock and still had no interest in getting buzz built up around the drone to get rid of that backstock.
The company is either mind-blowingly stupid or they are not telling me the whole story as to why they are not interested in completing the reivew. I would wager to guess it was the latter…
Blaming it on the Bad Economy (the classic CEO scapegoat)…
In the recorded voice message from Person B, they indicated that a large part of XDynamics’ lack of success in the market had to do with the recession we are currently suffering from in the United States. Now, I will not pretend to be an economist or that I have a firmer grasp on the state of the country’s economy than the average Joe. I do not and probably never will. What I do know though is that the economy does not seem to be effecting Autel or DJI too badly. Heck, the economy is not effecting Hubsan or EXO (who recently made their one billionth resurgence to relevance with some half-cocked ads on social media). It seems the only victim of this apparently terrible economy is XDynamics.
It sounds to me like less of an economic problem on a grand scale and more of a “we can’t make a drone that works right,” problem.
Again, I do not hold Person B responsible for this claim. It is probably some played-out rhetoric that executive leadership regurgitated in a conference call to their worker bees that takes the blame off of their dogshit business decisions and puts it on something that nobody can truly control (which also makes firing the worker bees easier on their conscience).
“Protecting” the “Reputation” of XDynamics (you gotta be kidding me)…
One of the last communications I received from a representative of XDynamics was an expression of their apprehension about the content of the review I was conducting. There were a number of times where the representative wanted to know what I would be saying in my review of the drone before agreeing to release it back to me temporarily to finish the review of it.
Let us dissect that, shall we?
On one hand, I completely understand from a PR perspective the idea of making sure your company is presented in the best light possible. I mean, they had been black-balled by the drone industry in the past, why would they not be a little wary about an honest review of their platform? Relating it to financial terms, if XDynamics’ reputation was a credit score, they’d be somewhere in the 300-400 range. No bueno.
And, to be clear, it is not abnormal for a company having me review their product to request a screening of the review before it is posted. So, XDynamics is not acting out of what I would consider “the norm” by asking about the content of the review itself.
On the other hand, I believe in today’s market that consumers value transparency and honesty more than anything else. Gone are the days where a nice man in a fancy suit comes to your house to woo you and convince you how great their vacuum sucks things up, only for you to be left alone with it and realize that your vacuum, well…sucks…but not in the way it is meant to suck. I mean it is bad at sucking. It sucks at sucking…you get the idea.
So, instead of dodging these questions of legitimacy as a viable professional UAV platform in hopes of avoiding bad press, why would they not consider riding their highs and owning their lows? This method of transparency is not going to sell a record number of units, but I will tell you what it will do. It will show you are genuine in your quest to perfect your product. When you come out and own something that you fell short on, people will tend to believe you when you come out later and say you fixed the issue. THAT is where you convert sales and where you build trust in your brand. Hiding behind a veil of biased marketing will never accomplish that if you continue to deliver a sub-par experience after purchase.
It is a tale as old as time…half-baked is never a winning recipe.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Dennis Green…
All-in-all, I cannot say I am abundantly surprised about how things played out with XDynamics when taking into consideration the company’s reputation within the industry as a whole and the opinions of many influential drone reviewers and journalists who had experience with their products. To quote former NFL coach and Harrisburg, PA native, Dennis Green:
“They are who we thought they were…”
But in this situation, we are not letting them off the hook, coach.
As of the publication of this article, XDynamics is still seemingly in operation and was most recently working to move their entire company to Taiwan. I believe they are on borrowed time though and it is all but inevitable that the company is not going to southeast Asia for a fresh start in a new environment, but instead like an old cat finding a quiet place to die.
While this might seem like a “hit piece” created in retaliation for a deal gone bad, please be assured that I sincerely hope for the best for XDynamics and especially all of the hardworking people on their payroll (or maybe no longer on their payroll). I never like to see things go this way in the drone industry. The more viable UAV platforms there are out there for professional and hobbyist use, the healthier the industry will be in the long run. But, this is business we are talking about, baby! In business there are only three things that are certain:
- There will be winners.
- There will be losers.
- And no matter who wins and who loses, the world will keep on turning…
So, if you have ever considered purchasing an Evolve 2 from XDynamics, my professional advice would be: don’t. While the camera does produce some great imagery overall, this platform is EXTREMELY flawed from top to bottom. Flight performance leaves a lot to be desired in handling; the camera suffers from a terrible jello when moving too aggressively; the UI/UX is convoluted and clunky; and hell, they sent me a brand-new unit that was defective in one of the most crucial components – the media storage.
And whatever this “smaller” platform they are supposedly working on might be will probably be the same story all over again.
I am sorry, XDynamics. I wanted you to be the chosen one I had hoped you would be…instead you took advantage of my trust in you, told me you hated me, and then metaphorically caught on fire. Wait…has anyone checked on the younglings?..
The Drone Geek 