So many choices, which Drone is right for me? Drone 101, the buyer’s guide.
Whether you want or need a drone, the choices have expanded exponentially as 2017 approaches. Drones come in more varieties than ever and the technology and durability keep improving, too. Manufacturers are really upping their game when it comes to drone technology. This year brings the addition of larger batteries, greater range, collision avoidance, object recognition, and automatic take-offs and landings (just to name a few).
Where do you start? You need to ask yourself some questions.
- What is your budget?
- Is it for fun or are you looking to make money with your drone?
- Do you want to take photos and videos from the drone?
- Do you want indoor/outdoor flights?
- Do you want to assemble a drone or fly it right from the box?
Adorama drone prices range from $19.99 to $31,700. The vast majority of us will fall the below $2,500 range. The average spent on a drone (registered with the FAA) is $650. Pricing can be misleading because the cost of technology falls so quickly in this industry, so spending less does not mean you are getting less.
The areas that affect price are centered around:
- Size of the drone
- Number of engines
- Lift capability
- Support for cameras
- Pilot assist from onboard computers
- Build quality
The Beginners Circle
Let’s start with the beginner or entry-level drones. Your first drone will give you your first impression of how hard (or easy) it is to fly. Entry level drones, normally under $80.00 do not come packed with flight computers to keep you level or prevent you from hitting things, and for these reasons they are a great learning tool to develop your hand/eye coordination. Most beginner’s drones are best flown indoors while a few will let you fly outside in light winds. Be sure you know the limitations before you are running down the street chasing your drone in a breeze. What I like about the entry-level drones is they are light and often made with durable plastics so you don’t have to worry about destroying it the first time you fly. The other side of that coin is if you do break something, parts for the entry-level drones might be hard to find. But short of hitting the concrete, you can take some bumps.
I have literally flown hundreds of drones this year, thanks in part, to attending many drone conferences and it is easy to get stick time on the entry-level of drones with the manufacturers at these events. I was impressed with a few that stood out and what I look for the most in this level of drone is ease of use and how well it responds to inputs.
Hubsan X4 H107D 5.8GHz Mini FPV Quadcopter
It comes with a low-resolution camera that shoots in 480p and it includes a transmitter. This little guy actually has a computer to help hold altitude for you and has a nice radio with a screen. It has beginner and advanced mode to grow with your ability. The X4 can fly indoor and outdoor. All these things for under $100….a fun purchase!
This one is a great upgrade from last year. It can record video to a Micro SD card with a live video downlink. I found the power was good for indoor and outdoor but no prop guards, so keep fingers clear! You will notice FPV in the title, which is First Person View, so you can see what the pilot would see, making it great fun for under $200.00!
Intermediate
A good way to know you are intermediate is after you have done dozens, if not hundreds of successful take-offs and landings and you are comfortable with transition flight and can make changes to your aircraft via the radio without much panic. Drone companies DJI, Yuneec, 3DR solo, Parrot and many others have made a huge advance in the improvement of existing systems and introducing some amazing new technology.
The DJI Phantom seems to be the standard by which other drones are measured. It is easily the most recognizable drone on the market, it is the best seller, and caters to all levels of operation. With several flavors of the Phantom available, the intermediate drone starts with the DJI Phantom Standard at $399 and goes up to the DJI Phantom 4 Pro for $1,799. They share the same frame and both offer fully stabilized video and still photography, altitude hold, assisted take-off and landing. Beyond that, the Phantom 4 is simply packed full of higher end technology and gear. The Phantom 4 Pro can fly longer (5 minutes longer), fly faster (10 mph faster), longer radio range (2 miles further) and can shoot video in 4k, well above the HD camera on the Standard. The Phantom 4 has some collision avoidance built in with the help of sensors, so using the head home function and flying past the end of line of sight just became much less stressful. The Phantom has a few versions between these two, so make sure you look at all the Phantoms to see what is important to you.
Yuneec Typhoon H Hexacopter with GCO3+ 4K Camera, $989 at Adorama.
Yuneec makes some excellent drones that are keeping DJI on their toes. Comparing price and capability, the Yuneec Typhoon H is was one of the most anticipated drones this year and many wanted to see if it would unseat the Phantom. This drone has two more engines than the Phantom, but flies much slower and it weigh more, so that might come into play. It’s also blessed with some collision avoidance sensors, home function and other bells and whistles. Both will give you some great footage from the air and can cater well to any prosumer.
Not all drones have rotors. Parrot put out a fixed wing drone that is pretty cool. Parrot Disco Fixed-Wing with DH camera is a flying wing that is packed full of great features, but right away know that this requires much more room for take-off and landing. It does include an auto-take-off function, but you’ll have to actually throw it to get it up in the air, but don’t worry, they made it easy. The Disco has a higher air speed and will stay in the air for up to 45 minutes…that is huge! You can have it loiter in the area via the onboard computer (named CHUCK) and the built-in camera will capture all the fun. You need to point the aircraft at what you want to take pictures of, so you can’t just rotate the camera like a helicopter-type drone. You can expect a learning curve if you have never flown a fixed wing before, so hook yourself up with experienced users to help learn this drone.
Advanced
The word “advanced” really applies to the pilot too because it is knowledge and experience that one must harness before flying drones that cost between $2,500 and $30,000. I know those numbers sound high, but this level of drone is intended for users with very specific tasks in mind. Most likely the last car chase scene or establishing shot in a Hollywood movie you saw was filmed by one of the drones we will talk about next. $2,500 -$30,000 is a large gap and that number narrows once the operator has a clearly defined mission. Flight time, stability, camera type, flight control options, number of operators and the mission all come to play when entering this arena. The one drone that most people check the internet often to see is the DJI Inspire 2.0 and for me, it’s the Inspire 2.0 with Zenmuse X5S camera. This version is priced at $5,999 and once I added more batteries, extra charger, case and other options, I was nearing the $11,000 mark. I would love to shoot an extensive review soon, but for now, know that this drone has moved the benchmark for aerial photography and video. With a unit with this much power, control and video production capability, AND is ready to fly out of the box, it is worth looking in to. Chock full of failsafe systems, like collision avoidance, return home (this return home will select a different path home if it determines the current path is blocked) and it can hover in place without the need of GPS thanks to a new system from DJI called Vision Positioning System. The Lightbridge enabled remote will let you control it just over three miles away. Remember to keep it in line of sight when flying in the United States. (Check laws where you fly).
360-degree visibility is also starting to get traction. You can find many videos on YouTube that allow you to move the camera around in real-time during a prerecorded video. It’s not sci-fi anymore. With ten….yes, you read that right, with ten cameras, the Janus is a new level in “viewmanship.” Drone Volt Janus 360 Virtual Reality 360 Degree Quadcopter comes in at $15,000 and harnesses the power of 10 GoPro cameras and uses built in software to seamlessly stitch all the video feeds together and create a 360-degree view. I think the real-estate world, film production, virtual tours and vacation videos will all go to the next level with this system. You get a flight time of about 15 minutes and plan on lots of hard drive space because you can bring back 150 gigs of video after that flight.
Each level of drone has dozens of options and the ones I mentioned are simply the ones that stand out as excellent systems. I encourage you to search Adorama.com for the many drones available to you. Please feel free to fire off questions to me or even request a response in writing or video. We like to do it all!
After you purchase your drone and the Adorama box arrives, don’t forget to go the FAA webpage, https://registermyuas.faa.gov to see if you need to register. If your drone weighs between .55 and 55lbs you must register and learn all the current rules. The rules are evolving in August 2016, so check in often here at Adorama.com to stay in the know! Also use common sense when flying and stay safe. Smart droning is easy and better for everyone near you!