A lot depends on your friend's perceived FUTURE needs and his willingness to part with differing amounts of money.
Without question, the best buy in the drone industry today is the DJI
Air2s. The Flymore Combo will cost around $1300 but will do everything your friend would want today... and tomorrow. Next in line is the DJI Mavic
Air2 (not s).
Your friend can get a refurbished
Air 2 flymore combo for $850. He should not be afraid of refurbs as they are indistinguishable from "new" in every way down to the packaging. I bought a refurb
Mavic 2 pro with combo pack and saved over $500 and can't believe that it wasn't "new", even after a year of flying it.
Lastly is the
Mini 2. The main two advantages of the
Mini 2 are weight/size and price. $600 for the
Mini 2 flymore combo. But IMO you get so much more drone with either of the previously mentioned drones. If price is an issue and size/weight is not, I say go for the
Air 2 refurb. If size/weight price is not an issue the
Air2s beats almost everything out there, except for some features on the
Mavic 2 pro.