Should you buy a cheap drone to practice on first?

[willhay555]

No, you shouldn't.

I bought a Syma for £32.00 [about two US dollars, I think] and it was a constant battle keeping it steady.

It was a complete waste of money but absolutely bulletproof, I'll say that for it.

My point is simply that, as a responsible adult, I gained absolutely nothing from training with a cheap quadcopter.

It takes a minute to work out the mavic controls and the features built in prevent you from doing the things you need to learn on a cheap device.

Flying the Mavic for the first time was easy, if you can't fly the Mavic Pro you'll never, ever be able to fly a drone.
Ever.

Take it steady, you'll be absolutely fine

 

[Mavic Maniac]

I say a resounding YES! Blade makes some amazing, stable, fun quads for under $100. I've never bought a Syma product so I can't say anything. The reason we see all of the thousands of posts about "my drone flew off" and "I crashed my new drone in my house" are 100% because they've never flown something else first. You can crash a Blade Nano 1000 times and not hurt it. Cost to repair if you find a way to break a blade or arm is under $10. The Mavic is much, much more complex.

 

[Gary cato]

i bought a 200 dollar hubsan first and that taught me a lot it had all the very basics of GPS and atti and headless for the nervous plus basic 720 camera range was 300 metres so gave me some confidence building, fought and lost in the winds many times so it taught me how to guage winds and when i crashed it and had one severe fly away it taught me how not to panic, gave me confidence in trying new features and it saved me from experimenting with a brand new 1000 pound drone.

Other things it gave me were confidence, so that i already had that when i first flew the Mavic, and how to handle the Mavic if it switches to atti mode in flight. As you cant do that on the Mavic until it does it.

On saying that it was bulletpoof so i had no worries crashing it the props were dirt cheap to replace and later i gave it away to a kid who loves drones but cant afford one.

left him smiling for days and he still is.

well worth the investment for me

 

[maxfaxdude]

YES! YES! YES! -- Buy a "cheap" drone and actually LEARN how to navigate and fly. That way, when the Mavic goes into Atti mode (and ONE day with 17 satellites on lock it will) you actually can fly back safely without relying on GPS/GLONASS instead of having to post "my drone just flew away"!!!!

 

[Bunny Too]

I had a cheep drone first and I am glad for the experience, the main thing it taught me was situational awareness, I am always scanning and looking for hazards, where is my drone.., where is the other guy... etc..
Regards,
-d.

 

[mfarris2]

No,...no,...no! As previous responder stated, a total waste if money. I purchased three cheaper drones from $50 - $175.00. All three were me battling trying to keep them stable. If you do want to go cheap,...then at least buy the DJI 3 standard. A super stable drone. Just be aware of the distance limitations with the Phantom 3 and slightly lower camera resolution. Truth be told,. The Phantom 3 is slightly more stable in the wind,...and if I had to do it again,...i would purchase the Phantom 4 Pro. But of course it would not be as portable as the Mavic Pro.

 

[Millanrose13]

I bought a
HUBSAN H502E X4 DESIRE DRONE for under $100 and helped me a bit before using the Mavic. It wasn't necessary but for those who are extremely new to flying a drone and afraid of crashing or doing something stupid with your $1300 drone, I'd say start off with this kind of drone. DO NOT buy those smaller ones since they don't mimic the same controlling as the Mavic. At least with the Hubsan, you're able to get an idea of manouviring it left, right, up, down, back, forward and hovers above u like the Mavic. The smaller one is way too complicated to try to control. The Mavic is easier than you think.

 

[rcharrette]

This DJI Mavic was our first drone.We've had it for about 2 weeks. I fly it (45yr old) and my 11 yr old Son flies it as well. Neither of us have any trouble handling it.

 

[Vimlossus]

Absolutely YES! I have a Dromida Ominus that I learned to fly with, and I don't regret one minute of it. It taught me how to be light on the sticks trying to get a stable hover. It also showed me how to constantly be aware of everything around me while I was flying, because if I wasn't paying attention to it for one second, it crashed.

Yes, the Mavic is an amazing quad, but what is going to happen when the "safeties" fail, and you have to fly that thing home on your own? You will have no clue how to do that, and you have just lost your Mavic. I equate it to flying an airliner. I'm sure most of the procedures are automated, and they can probably fly themselves, but I feel a whole lot better knowing there is a PILOT in control just in case something does go wrong. Spend $80 on the Ominus and crash the hell out of it, but learn how to fly with no GPS, stabilization, or safety features. Then, and only then will you be firmly in control of your Mavic.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

You guys saying no, are completely missing the point.

Sure, as long as the Mavic stays in GPS and everything performs fine, it's a breeze...

... Until that day you loose FPV, or it goes into ATTI with a little wind and it is a long way out. Then you are going to appreciate that stick time, and actually learning to FLY, on the cheap multirotor.

That cheap Syma might just have saved you a Mavic.

 

[Robbyg]

I bought a
HUBSAN H502E X4 DESIRE DRONE for under $100 and helped me a bit before using the Mavic. It wasn't necessary but for those who are extremely new to flying a drone and afraid of crashing or doing something stupid with your $1300 drone, I'd say start off with this kind of drone. DO NOT buy those smaller ones since they don't mimic the same controlling as the Mavic. At least with the Hubsan, you're able to get an idea of manouviring it left, right, up, down, back, forward and hovers above u like the Mavic. The smaller one is way too complicated to try to control. The Mavic is easier than you think.

+1 with mixed emotions.
The really cheap ones are not even comparable to the Mavic in Atti Mode. They move up and down by several feet in one second, they move so erratically to stick movements that you end up oscillating around the controls in an unproductive manor. The best learning tool that I had at the very start was my Sons Sigma 107 Helicopter. It was fairly stable and was enough to get my fingers moving from an RC plane mode to getting use to Drone mode 2.

 

[Wombat55]

No, you shouldn't.

I bought a Syma for £32.00 [about two US dollars, I think] and it was a constant battle keeping it steady.

It was a complete waste of money but absolutely bulletproof, I'll say that for it.

My point is simply that, as a responsible adult, I gained absolutely nothing from training with a cheap quadcopter.

It takes a minute to work out the mavic controls and the features built in prevent you from doing the things you need to learn on a cheap device.

Flying the Mavic for the first time was easy, if you can't fly the Mavic Pro you'll never, ever be able to fly a drone.
Ever.

Take it steady, you'll be absolutely fine

I got my daughter an inexpensive drone for Christmas about two years ago. It's a lot of fun to fly, although we have to wait for days with very little wind to use it. You really get the sensation of flying with an inexpensive, non-GPS, non-ATTI drone because you're constantly aware of wind conditions and the proper amount of power that you have to apply to keep the drone steady. You're really flying.

The Mavic, on the other hand, is so stable and simple to use that I don't think that operating it should be called "flying" or "piloting". It's more like operating an elevator: Push lever and drone goes up and stops precisely in a stationary hover with GPS stabilization. Push lever opposite direction and drone goes down and stops. Push another lever and drone moves left and stops. Push lever and drone moves right and stops. How much simpler could operating the drone possibly be?

The Mavic is great as a camera platform, but when we really want the fun and sensation of real flying, we still take my daughter's inexpensive quadcopter out to fly. I also feel that my experience flying this inexpensive quadcopter gives me some experience and preparation in case my Mavic were to fall out of GPS-mode or ATTI-mode and I were to have to fly it manually.

 

[Wacker2611]

No, you shouldn't.

I bought a Syma for £32.00 [about two US dollars, I think] and it was a constant battle keeping it steady.

It was a complete waste of money but absolutely bulletproof, I'll say that for it.

My point is simply that, as a responsible adult, I gained absolutely nothing from training with a cheap quadcopter.

It takes a minute to work out the mavic controls and the features built in prevent you from doing the things you need to learn on a cheap device.

Flying the Mavic for the first time was easy, if you can't fly the Mavic Pro you'll never, ever be able to fly a drone.
Ever.

Take it steady, you'll be absolutely fine

I can't agree with you there Will. I got interested in the flying bit before the photography bit a few years ago, and wasn't remotely interested in DJI products. In that time I've built up quite a collection, everything from a 20 quid Hubsan (which I still treasure) up to some more expensive racers. There's no denying that they are a handful to fly, and I've lost count of the amount of times that the skills I learnt flying these 'lesser craft' have helped me out of many a potentially sticky situation. Seriously , there's no substitute for good orientation skills, no matter how advanced the flying machine is.

 

[gixxerbill]

I flew dromida first (loved them they were fun) then when I decided to buy a mav and put it on my card there was a 5 weeks wait. So I bought the hubsan 501s really fun drone but not that far of a range on 300ft. or so. But it did teach me about gps and fpv.

 

[Gary cato]

I flew dromida first (loved them they were fun) then when I decided to buy a mav and put it on my card there was a 5 weeks wait. So I bought the hubsan 501s really fun drone but not that far of a range on 300ft. or so. But it did teach me about gps and fpv.

501 300 feet i got mine to 238 m in Altitude and was getting 200 to 300 m in range. My first drone and i will remember it fondly it cost me a huge hole in my leg and one in my hand jumping over a spiked security fence to get it after it went nuts on me. (50 feet up and 75 feet out it decided to do a nosedive with a triple somersault and a few tumbles for good measure). most fun and scary drone i have ever flown but actually the RTH was pretty good on it.

 

[Baldy]

I've owned a number of drones, but the one I use the most is a cheap £30 Hubsan x4 that I fly around the house. Even when I can't get out to fly, I find a quick 10mins of flying around with a drone that is even more unstable, compared to atti mode. Means that I quickly learned orientation and controls for all drones.

It keeps my stick control fresh and made my CAA PFCO test a breeze.

Plus the thing bounces of walls well (with prop guards).

 

[gixxerbill]

501 300 feet i got mine to 238 m in Altitude and was getting 200 to 300 m in range. My first drone and i will remember it fondly it cost me a huge hole in my leg and one in my hand jumping over a spiked security fence to get it after it went nuts on me. (50 feet up and 75 feet out it decided to do a nosedive with a triple somersault and a few tumbles for good measure). most fun and scary drone i have ever flown but actually the RTH was pretty good on it.

did you still have video at that far? mine starts to fail and looks like a max headrom music video then black screen.

 

[Gary cato]

did you still have video at that far? mine starts to fail and looks like a max headrom music video then black screen.

yea i have some when i hit cloud lol and yes drone haters i was in a very safe place to take it that high. but i got pretty good feed most of the time i dont remember a black screen ever, except after the nosedive thing lol

 

[ElGuapo]

The first drone I owned was a Syma, I'm so glad I owned it at some point in my life. Perhaps I acquired the best lessons and experience of drone flying by owning it. It did not have GPS, on windy days it would drift sideways. I spent countless hours / days learning how to compensate for the wind to keep it steady. Who was to say that years later this kept me from losing my DJI Phantom 3 Advanced from a fly away when it went in Atti mode.

I think it is good to learn to fly in Atti mode, like one of the members pointed above, this is hard to do with the Mavic because it does not have the option it just does it. But on my Phantom 4 Pro I have the option to set it to Atti mode.

 

[aesculus]

Simply put, you can't learn to fly a drone using the Mavic. That's because you aren't really flying a Mavic while it's in GPS or OPTI mode. The drone is literally flying itself; all you're doing is pushing it around with the sticks. If you've ever flown a traditional helicopter, or even an airplane for that matter, you'll know that without a computer onboard keeping you out of trouble, you need to be diligent and skillful to fly an aircraft.

If you want to gain an understanding of the dynamics of a solid object pushing itself off the ground and hovering using a recoil of air, happily drifting in any direction the air currents push it, unaware that walls and trees are the way, willing to crash without pilot input, then a cheap drone is just the ticket. You'll experience the feeling of slight panic when it's headed upward toward overhead branches and drifting backwards into the woods and has its nose pointed toward you and pushing right makes it go left instead and you bump the left stick forward intending to bring it forward out of trouble, but instead you caused it to climb higher and in your disorientation all you can do is listen to the props tangle in the branches and watch the drone tumble to the ground.

And you're not terribly upset because you didn't spend $1000 on this drone.

You might say, "Well, I don't need those skills to fly a Mavic."

No, you don't. 99% of the time. But these sophisticated machines are prone to an occasional hiccup. And those occasional hiccups can make your Mavic temporarily behave like a cheap drone. And this is the root cause of many frustrated posts on this forum claiming "My Mavic just flew away!"

Not only does flying a lesser drone provide you with valuable skills to deal with emergency situations, it's just plain fun! It's very satisfying to bring in an aircraft under less-than-ideal conditions, knowing your piloting skills won over.

Even a $30 micro-drone that you fly around the house will teach you many valuable skills.