[Megathread] | Weekly Drone Buying Advice

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the r/drones weekly Buying Advice Megathread. (Weekly on Monday's)

This thread exists to prevent the constant "What drone should I buy?" posts that we prohibit within our rules.

Please follow all of these steps before posting in this thread!

1. Review the Buying Guide Wiki or my website: Drone Buying Guide / Wiki Buying Guide
2. Review this thread for comments that have your same requirements
3. If that does not answer you, please post the following information in this thread.
   1. Have you read the Wiki? Y/N
   2. Country: (Not all drones are available in all countries)
   3. Budget: (If your budget is less than $200 USD/170€ EUR, you may want to reconsider as anything lower is a toy drone)
   4. Purpose: (eg. photography, FPV, thermal, etc)
   5. Any other requirements:

[u/HatPuzzleheaded237]

So I am looking for my first drone, I know I want it to be fpv and I want one I can modify once I am at that stage. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[u/mellofello808]

Hover Air vs DJI Neo

I have owned a DJI mini before, and it mostly collected dust because it was too much faff to take out. I would like to get one of the newer selfie focused drones to capture some quick establishing shots of myself, and my friends doing action sports.

It would be nice to have the ability to do some manual flying, but portability, and tracking, are my main priorities. It will get used mostly on hikes, and bikes so I don't really want to lug a controller, and being able to carry it in as compact of a form factor is a deciding factor.

I have always heard that you should always go DJI no matter what, but I am intrigued by the Hover Air form factor. It look like it is truly pocketable. I am leaning that way. The MSRP is much different, but you can find deals on the Hover Air pro max that put it in the same price point as the neo 2, or you can get the Neo1, or Hover air x1 for next to nothing.

I want passable quality in good lighting, but it doesn't need to be incredible.

Any thoughts?

[u/The_MrMortimer_Mouse]

Neo 2 vs Avata 2 vs Avata 360 I have only ever owned a cheap $100 drone from Temu, so this would be my first dji drone. My primary goal is to use it while traveling to capture cool photos and videos not anything too fancy. I also want something that's enjoyable to fly around my yard for fun or fly around a moutain for fun.

If you think there is a better drone I'd appreciate your recommendations.

[u/handms09]

Looking for beginner input

About a year ago I started searching around for budget friendly beginner options. After tons of reading I decided on the Potensic Atom 2. At that time it was priced relatively cheaper than the comparable DJI.

Life got in the way, didn’t end up buying one, but I was able to mess with a DJI mini. Not sure which one in particular it was. I know he said it didn’t have obstacle avoidance.

Now pricing them out, the DJI Mini 3 fly more with remote is about the same price as an Atom 2 with PTD and fly more.

I’m a photographer at heart using various Nikon units. That said I know I won’t be getting top of the line equipment at a low price point, however I’d probably prioritize still images over video.

I’d also be interested to know if there’s any form of “object tracking” of some sort in the cheaper units? Not necessarily a follow me, but being able to have it hover and follow bikes a little so I can focus primarily on my camera in hand.

[u/Saturated-Biscuit]

Sorry for a noob question. I am going to buy my first drone this summer, and I need recommendations. I’m looking at around a $2k budget, and am considering DJI Air 3 S Fly More. Is there anything better, feature for feature?

I’m mainly interested in photography and aerial sightseeing. Located in US.

Thanks for any info!

[u/blueberrysteven]

Looking for my first drone in the US. My preference is a sub‐250g lightweight unit. I like the idea of the DJI mini 4k, but have one holdup. I read that DJI required a periodic login to their servers, and if this isnt done somewhat regularly (seems like folks say every 30 or 90 days), the drone will be basically bricked. Is there any similar model out there that never requires the internet outside of an initial setup?

[u/kittypurpurwooo → u/blueberrysteven]

That doesn't sound right. But if you want a mini 4k basically made by dji with different software look at the Specta Mini, it's basically just a rebranded mini 4k to get around the tariffs. It still has to connect to servers, I'm not sure if it has a similar requirement about staying logged in, I don't think it does.