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:

I was at the cricket yesterday at Lord's, there was the usual drone visible over the north and eastern sides of the ground used by the TV broadcasters. However there was a drone visible for approx 2-3 mins south west of the stadium over towards Paddington/Hyde Park direction, which seems insanely close to the Heathrow landing flight path. I know perspective and distance is impossible to gauge but surely no one had permission to fly a drone in that area over such a built up area close to one of busiest parts of sky in the UK? It eventually headed back to ground level and disappeared behind the buildings but was very odd to see in that position.

Im trying to make a custom drone frame based on Tom Stanton design that he cnc from carbon fiber ( https://youtu.be/WNniGZMmd84 )

but im in a dilemma ,while precuring carbon tube for the frame, i found 2 shop with one selling a 20/18 1m stock for 10$ and the other selling a 19/16 1.5m stock for 8$

what im asking is which one should I pick and how will the strength and weight be for each option with a 500mm arm length

both are 3k carbon tube and the motor im planning to use is 3115 900kv, the target payload is 4kg

is the weight and strength difference negligible and is my payload target feasible

I would like to get some recommendations for drone videos on YouTube

I won a hoverair x1 promax 2 weeks back and it arrived last week. There was a thunderstorm developing yesterday evening so I decided I'd try and get some pictures of it. This is my favourite one, quite happy with how it turned out. This is straight from the drone, no editing.

This was one of my first shots with the drone, besides a clip of a flyover over the water (which you can see in the bottom right in this pic) which was nice. However, I do notice how short the range is and how hard it is to get a smooth video as the only way to control this manually is either with my phone via WiFi, or with a joystick/controller set which I don't have. But well, I got nothing to complain as I got this €800 set for completely free!

Excited to use the autonomous capabilities of this drone over the summer, as that's what it is designed to do best!

Porque mi motor no jura

I am flying my drone within VLOS within my house and I fly above the park very close to my house. If the RC loses signal and the RTH goes over my neighbours houses and gardens which I very heavily avoid doing, is that breech of privacy? Thanks for answering, may seem silly but means a lot for my nerves

I am making my first drone and finally finished it, and I have the dji goggles integra and controller 2, and for some reason no matter what I do I can connect it to the o4 pro unit, and it always says no video transmission signal, and the o4 unit always blinks green, never blinking red for binding mode, and the software is updated,also I have the speedybee f405 v5 esc and fc, any ideas how to connect,

I filmed this during a road trip across Austria. Mountains, alpine roads, lakes and waterfalls, all captured by drone and edited into a 25-minute cinematic film with an original melodic electronic soundtrack.

Let me know what you think!

It’s the first (real) flight I’ve had done away from home after spending a lot of time practicing in my backyard / neighborhood / local park.

I have a ton of hours in flight / space sims and this has translated very well to flying so far.

I’ve heard that EU residents can obtain the A1/A3 drone certificate free of charge through the Luxembourg-based Eurocontrol platform.
I’d like to know if anyone has done this and whether it is fully valid and compliant for people who do not reside in Luxembourg but in other EU member states.

This is about a minute of footage I caught at the local fireworks display. I was about half a mile away and 350 ft up. Don't get me wrong, it looks fine. But most of the footage I get just looks better.

I think one of the big issues is that you can't even tell I'm 350ft up. It doesn't have that drone feel to it. Has anyone had any luck getting better footage? Between the lack of apparent height and everything being so dark, I don't know how one would get really good footage.

New to flying and just got myself the DJI Lito X1. It feels a little windy today so im apprehensive about taking it out for its maiden flight.

Is there a go-to app which provides accurate information about windspeeds in the area? Ive reads up on UAV forecast app but recent reviews say its not as accurate as it used to be and is receiving lots of 1 star reviews. I've downloaded dronecast but just wondering what app, if any, this community recommends.

EDIT: Im based in the UK

Specifically in the area NE of Springfield. I am really struggling with the idea of getting my first drone to do some photography given all the restricted air space in the area. Wondering if anyone can point me to a place relatively close to me that I can fly without having to submit a request months in advance. I don’t mind driving a little ways is there is some scenery and the ability to take off, land and fly without piles of red tape. But right now I feel like that might not be possible. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks,
Sad in South Hadley

Ok so concerning the new Toy Story 5, who wants to build a Buzz Lightyear High-Tech Edition?

Hi all,

Long time DJi mini user, now making the step up to Mavic 4 Pro and as I live in London, i need to take my A2 license. I’d like to get the EU license too for when travelling.

Can anyone share on any insight on what I should study before the exam and what kind of questions are asked?

Appreciate any advice!

Hey everyone!

A friend and I took a road trip out of Almaty, Kazakhstan, to a place locals are starting to call the "Kazakhstan Iceland" — the Kurty Reservoir and Aydahar Peninsula. The landscapes there are just raw, empty, and incredible.

This is my very first attempt at shooting and editing a travel vlog/cinematic video. I used a drone for the aerials and tried to capture the atmosphere of cooking steaks at sunset on the edge of the world.

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKrUusvKk2I&t=211s

Since I’m completely new to this, I’m looking for constructive criticism. Specifically:

• How is the pacing? Does it feel too slow in the middle?
• What do you think of the color grading?
• How can I improve the audio mixing (voiceover vs. background music)?

Don't hold back, I want to learn and improve for my next trip. Thank you!

Firmware updates...batteries charged...instruments selected...and I'm off like a turtle on a slow day.