Drones for Beginners

[nybirdman]

A friend's wife purchase and "inexpensive" drone;he still looking for it!My nephew has a DJ Phantom purchased used off E-Bay;very easy to fly and difficult to loose ;.Video is in real time using a notepad.

 

[Doofy]

The Wife wanted one for Christmas so she is getting a dji phantom 3 professional. She is a photographer and outdoor Critter Nut so wanted a new perspective. Her Father lives next door and has been flying a dji drone for 3 years. Plenty of skill and knowledge there to share.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

1000$ would be impossible for me to justify for in my usage, a toy, but since it's almost Christmas and some folks will be getting the lates n greatest, maybe there will be some deals on higher end ones

 

[ovrszd]

1000$ would be impossible for me to justify for in my usage, a toy, but since it's almost Christmas and some folks will be getting the lates n greatest, maybe there will be some deals on higher end ones

You will definitely see an increase of "used" drones for sale. It's an acquired taste. Many drones are bought new, flown a few times, then stored away in the closet. It's becoming more common to see drones at 70% of new price with a handful of flights. The intelligent drones track their history. That record should be requested when considering purchase.

 

[bunyip]

Good point, I forgot about the log which in my case goes back to DJI in case of a fly off/crash that involves a warranty claim, I imagine Autel would be the same.
A friends wife is an estate agent in rural properties and is getting one for doing property inspection and appraisal and was impressed after having a play with mine (the drone).
I still shoot horse events and wonder if I can use it but suspect the sanctimonious organisers would find something to complain about, they have told me that the light reflecting off the lens spooks soooo many horses but in 20 years I have never seen it happen.
The other point with cheap vs expensive drones is the flight time, I get 27 minutes whereas the smaller ones only get about 5 minutes, then there is the range, mine is 7KM, my cheap one is 30metres but we are limited to sight flying by our authorities, I can see the rear light at 1KM.

 

[kcflhrc]

I should have expected this to get way off track like always.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I should have expected this to get way off track like always.

Sorry KC if I helped derail it??

The title picked my interest because they are something I have thought about but have no experience with.
I see that the folks on here that do are all saying stay away from the cheap ones, and the ones that did start with the cheaper ones all went rapidly to higher end ones.
Seems like a lot of good advice here on your thread.

 

[two_bit_score]

So I think I want to get a Drone with a camera and maybe VR goggles. I'm a beginner so I want something relatively inexpensive. Lets say under $200 at the very most. I have 10 acres so I will just be flying it on my property. Any suggestions. Looks like Walmart has a few starting at $99 up to $179 for a ProMark Brand.

I should have expected this to get way off track like always.

Looks like the collective wisdom on this thread is saying to stay away from the cheap stuff.

 

[Garandman]

I'd go ahead and get the cheap one. That way when your neighbors use it for target practice, you're not out much cash.

Did you miss the part where he intends to fly it over his own 10 acres?

What puzzles me is that EVERY drone thread here attracts such comments. But the government has satellites that can read your license plate; drones that can follow you 24/7, or kill you; back doors in a lot of network equipment; currently can request location data from your cell phone carrier without a warrant; and regularly harvested your cell phone metadata (who called who, when).

But people here for some reason instead worry about what a neighbor might be doing with a hobby drone.

 

[bunyip]

Just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean that there is not someone out there trying to get you