Beginner with a budget

[Rackminster]

Over the weekend I attended a DartDrones flight basics course in Quincy, MA and we covered Phantom and Inspire drones, along with some air time with each. While I really loved flying the Inspire, I can't justify the purchase of something like that (yet). The Phantom was nice, too - but I felt it was still on the expensive side for someone with no actual goals yet aside from thinking "Drones are cool!"

After some searching and talking with the instructor, I'm looking closely at a Mavic. Aside from just having fun flying, I'm almost 100% positive that I really want something I can carry in a backpack out onto a trail or while biking. The Mavic seemed perfect, and our instructor loves his - but tends to use his Inspire more for fun with the Mavic reserved for things like close quarters (he works for a local Police Department and his drone is sometimes used to find suspects in buildings before anyone enters).

I've been poking around on Amazon and seeing kits for Mavic Pro for around $1000, including a backpack, spare batteries, and a lot of other accessories. The Mavic Pro 2 seems to run $1,600 to $1,900 for full starter kits. The $1000 price tag feels more like an acceptable entry point for someone with no big plans or prior experience - and I've always been fine using "last year's best stuff bought new" instead of paying the "cutting edge" tax. Now, my wife has opened the bank account and basically said "Hey, you get whatever you think is best" without putting real stipulations on it. I could probably go to $2,000 if the Mavic Pro 2 was simply worth it - but I don't have the experience to say that, and staring at numbers and reviews may not help.

I think there may be a hitch in my owning a Google Pixel 1 (not 2), but believe there's a split opinion on whether or not it works with these drones. Some folks said they had no issues, others said they had to touch up the USB settings on the phone (updating it to USB Debugging mode in settings), and some claimed it simply wouldn't work.

I wanted to tap the expertise of the folks on this forum before continuing down the rabbit hole.

What would you get if...

• You were a complete beginner with 20 minutes of flight time logged.
• You were interested in, but not married to, the concept of a Mavic Pro.
• You had an approximate $1,000 budget for a total package, not just a bare drone with one battery.
• You had a Google Pixel 1 running Android 9.0 Pie
• You wanted to be portable, deploying the drone from a backpack after a long bike ride.

I appreciate any assistance you can provide, and look forward to future posts about flying my own drone soon!

 

[AirBear]

I found a very nice Mavic Pro with 3 batteries and small extras for $500 in the classified section here. Very transportable in backpack or in your case, perhaps a rack mount bag. I also found a Spark with extras for $250 on eBay. It's not a foldable design, but a great tag along drone to have fun with decent video and pictures. Or, if not married to the idea of a DJI product, check Autel Evo. Autel Robotics - EVO Drone | eBay

 

[Idrach]

If crowd-funding is acceptable, you might want to look at the Extreme Fliers Micro-Drone 4 - on Indiegogo for a $145 contribution. You aren't going to get it immediately, though. Shipping isn't due until June.

 

[Rackminster]

I'd probably shy away from KickStarter or other crowd-funded projects for my first drone - though it's interesting to learn what's coming down the line.

I'm looking over the Autel EVO drone.

 

[Alberta Pro 2]

I bought my first drone ever last week. Went with the Pro 2.. I approached it with the way I buy most of my electronics. I don't need the very best but I don't want entry level stuff that I'll "outgrow" in a short time. For me, the Hasselblad camera is what got me hooked over the slightly cheaper models.

 

[AirBear]

Some good YouTube videos of the Evo. I couldn't find a used one and had a slightly lower budget than the $1100+ for an Evo kit with extra batteries new.

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I like Rick's drone videos.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Hi Rackminster,

I was in a similar situation to yours. I met 3 1/2 out of your five requirements. I had virtually no experience with drones and was looking really hard at the Mavic Pro Platinum. I did a lot research and discovered just enough limitations and small problems that people were experiencing that stopped me from pulling the trigger on the purchase. Then the Mavic 2 came out and the heavens opened and the angels sang. It improved upon every single mild concern that I had with the Mavic PP. All the reviews and owners experiences were good so I bought the Mavic 2 Pro as a Christmas present to myself last year. To minimize cost, I bought just the drone and one extra battery figuring I could add other accessories after I gained a little experience flying and knew what extras I needed (or wanted).

Now, my relationship with my financial auditor (my wife) is a little bit different than yours because mine is a bit more based on asking for forgiveness than permission but I nevertheless went with the more expensive option (and caught a tiny bit of flack), but don’t regret it even one iota. The Mavic 2 Pro is easy to learn to fly (still learning) for a first time drone pilot and takes stunning video and stills.

Bottom line, if you can afford it I would recommend the Mavic 2 (Pro or Zoom). I know there are a huge number of original Mavic owners out there that are extremely happy with their drones so you can’t go wrong with owing one of those as well.

Good luck with your decision.

Ken

 

[Rackminster]

I ended up getting the Mavic 2 Zoom. It seemed like a fair compromise in price, and has some nifty photography features. My wife let me know she would like me to make sure I could work with her on the trails and get shots of her with her dogs while adventuring.

I looked at the Micro drone, and micros in general, but they seemed too light weight (?) for me. I checked up on the Autel EVO, but while it had some great reviews online - the Mavic 2 reviews seemed to be weighted higher.

After a lot of reading, I think the flight characteristics are the same as the Mavic 2 Pro, and the only difference is the Zoom capable camera. I've read that, should I choose to, I could buy the hasselblad camera gimble for the Mavic 2 Pro and swap it out on the drone.

I also looked at thermal imaging - but am nowhere near there yet. I'd need the dual camera from the Enterprise model to do that, along with a lot of training to be useful with it. I think there are three tiers of certification for thermal imaging, each costing $2,000 to attain? I'd research it more when I got there.

What kind of sold me was having a lot of options ahead of me if I so choose, but on one platform I could easily transfer my developing skill to without needing to relearn controls and flight characteristics.

I appreciate the help!

 

[CharlieBrown]

Great choice, you won't be disappointed.
I'm south of Boston, just got my 1st drone the beginning of the year; ended up with the M2Pro, and loving it.
Where will you be flying?

 

[AirBear]

You should be very happy with that choice for a long time. Glad you went with a quality drone, stretching that target budget figure will be less expensive in the long run.

 

[Rackminster]

I'm up in rural Maine. I haven't found a big goal yet - but my smaller ones include...

1. Checking the roof of my house after winter!
2. Getting some great footage of the bog on my property in all seasons - lots of smaller wildlife there
3. Getting some nice aerial footage of the woods over my property.
4. Exploring, via drone, the trail my wife and I carved through the woods around the property, as training for later, in Step 5.
5. Non-national parks that permit drone flight, where my wife will be running with her dogs
6. Trying out "Follow Me" or "Follow Object" modes with me on my bike.

That's all I have in mind so far. I'm tempted to look at contract gigs, but I'm not licensed commercial yet and can't make any money with my drone.

You should be very happy with that choice for a long time. Glad you went with a quality drone, stretching that target budget figure will be less expensive in the long run.

That was where my mind went when I started learning that the Mavic 2 is a platform with multiple options. The Zoom is like the "bottom line" model - but can be built upon with less investment.

 

[Shon]

I couldn’t decide between the Mavic Pro 2 or the Zoom. Ultimately, my heart was really set more on portability than picture quality, and combing through hours and hours of comparison videos, I just couldn’t justify paying twice the price for one of those drones over the Air.

I hope I don’t live to regret my decision.

 

[paulatkin73]

if you do not care of new mavic 2 pro 1" sensor and a first ever compact drone camera with controllable aperture blades - i would say that to get a used older mavic pro is a very cost efficient path.
just make sure you get your used model from a reputable seller. it is indeed a possibility now to get a complete working set for a $500 or sometimes even less.

as of non-dji brands - you may be fine with some, but, well, you better be sure what it is you are doing.

 

[Rackminster]

It's probably a wildly silly question, but how "essential" is the Care Refresh offering through DJI?

I assume everyone makes a mistake from time to time, but are drone repairs expensive enough to warrant the $139 cost?

 

[CharlieBrown]

It's probably a wildly silly question, but how "essential" is the Care Refresh offering through DJI?

I assume everyone makes a mistake from time to time, but are drone repairs expensive enough to warrant the $139 cost?

Very much worth it!
From what I hear, State Farm may be a better option if you can get it. Not available in MA, so I'm S.O.L.

 

[Shon]

It's probably a wildly silly question, but how "essential" is the Care Refresh offering through DJI?

I assume everyone makes a mistake from time to time, but are drone repairs expensive enough to warrant the $139 cost?

Many folks have indicates they can get a much cheaper stand alone policy with State Farm, no deductible required. Also, if you lose your drone in a forest or body of water, you don’t have to show them the drone.

I don’t have either. If I crash, I’m either paying the repair bill or buying a new drone.

 

[paulatkin73]

Many folks have indicates they can get a much cheaper stand alone policy with State Farm, no deductible required. Also, if you lose your drone in a forest or body of water, you don’t have to show them the drone.

I don’t have either. If I crash, I’m either paying the repair bill or buying a new drone.

have there been at least a singular occurrence of somebody getting a payout from state farm to replace a whole cost of a brand new mavic?

 

[Shon]

have there been at least a singular occurrence of somebody getting a payout from state farm to replace a whole cost of a brand new mavic?

I’ve read of specific examples. Haven’t experienced it myself.

 

[paulatkin73]

I’ve read of specific examples. Haven’t experienced it myself.

i hope it will remain. there was a similar thing with car racing - a car insurance policy from, hmm, actually also state farm, as i recall, that was not discriminating against damage received on a racing track, if that was a non-timed event. a lot of folks doing DE events were getting it... from what i recall from porsche forums it took 2 incidents for the state farm to alter the verbiage post-factum to avoid all future payments.

it just sounds unrealistically good for a major insurer to sell for $60 a policy to replace a whole $1400 value that has such a high 'mortality' rate as a dji drone.
my only point here is - it is great if such policy exists, currently, but i would not hold my breath on for how long it will remain.

 

[Coskier]

From a statistical standpoint, it must not have a high mortality rate, else they wouldn't offer it. I have it on my new M2P.