I’ve whittled my choices down to 5 drones...

[DavidRansier]

I’ve been reading a lot! I probably have about 1-2 hours fight time on various toy drones and have decided its time to get serious about learning. My ultimate goal is video and photography. I don’t have an unlimited budget so I’m trying to buy smart. I could afford to buy a Mavic Air or Pro but then wouldn’t have money left to buy a low cost training drone.

I’m thinking I want a “training” drone first, but I’d like it to be able to do some FPV flying. I don’t care about ‘tricks’ like flips, etc. My current favorites include a Syma X5C-1 as a cheap training drone, but there’s no FPV. Next choice is a Hubsan H501S X4 which does have FPV but video is pretty poor, so this would be just a training drone and cut into the budget for my “real drone choice.” At a price point between the two previous drones is the DJI Tello, then more expensive is the Spark. My concern with these is no FPV and there is so much automatic features, would these be very usable for training basic flight skills? Then the high price option is the Mavic Air. Here the question is “Am I putting too much money at risk for traininng, even though this drone would probably be a good long term solution for the next year or so.

I think, for training purposes, I want a drone that has a controller that is reasonably close to the Air or Pro, so I’m learning with familiar equipment. Since I want to build skills for Video and Photography, I think it’s important the trainer can do FPV.

My brain is playing ping pong with these choices

 

[Meta4]

I’ve been reading a lot! I probably have about 1-2 hours fight time on various toy drones and have decided its time to get serious about learning. My ultimate goal is video and photography. I don’t have an unlimited budget so I’m trying to buy smart. I could afford to buy a Mavic Air or Pro but then wouldn’t have money left to buy a low cost training drone.

Although you might see people recommending a training drone, they aren't necessary and your money and effort would be better spent on a quality drone.
DJI Mavics are going to be easier to fly than any trainer drone and you can put the effort into learning how they are programmed, what can go wrong and how to make sure those things don't happen, rather than making the effort learning to fly something quite different from the Mavic.
Just do your learning in a large open area, well away from obstacles like trees and buildings which are involved in most crashes.
If you fly out in the open where there's nothing to hit, it's hard to get into trouble.

 

[Drone_guy]

Just buy a Mavic Pro and use the "Beginner Mode" till you get the hang of it. The thing practically flies itself...no need for a training drone. Just fly cautiously and out in the open like Meta4 suggested.

Oh...that and you probably shouldn't post this kind of stuff in the classified section....you're neither buying nor selling.

 

[Kilrah]

Still good to have something to train ATTI on, or the day your marvelous DJI machine loses signal you're likely to lose it completely.

 

[Meta4]

Still good to have something to train ATTI on, or the day your marvelous DJI machine loses signal you're likely to lose it completely.

If you lose signal, atti flying skills won't help you.
All you can do is hope that the RTH height is appropriate and there isn't a strong headwind for RTH to fly home.

 

[Kilrah]

I obviously meant GPS signal/compass error, not RC signal.

 

[KiwiNed]

First drone I ever flew was a DJI Inspire - never had any problems learning how to fly it. Then progressed to a Mavic Pro. They are great to fly and dont see why you would need a training drone first.

 

[macoman]

Well I already have a Mavic Pro Platinum but I wanted a drone with FPV capability integrated. I bought a bepop 2 power FPV and let me tell you is a good training FPV flyer and racing training as well if switch to sport mode.

 

[Kilrah]

First drone I ever flew was a DJI Inspire - never had any problems learning how to fly it. Then progressed to a Mavic Pro. They are great to fly and dont see why you would need a training drone first.

Well at least you can flip the I1 in ATTI manually. Still believe DJI not allowing that on the new models is a safety issue.

You obviously don't read all the posts around here of a siginificant number of people panicking and doing very "stupid" stuff when they begin.

 

[AnchorageAk]

You do know this is the classified? Might get more response in a different section.

 

[Wilbur&Garth]

If you want to fly FPV, remember that you can do that with pretty much any drone. Just buy a little camera and goggles, attach the camera to a cheap $30 drone, then BOOM! Cheap, fun, FPV setup. Also, no need to worry about crashing in FPV when you're flying a cheapo. Then you should still have money to buy a legit drone as well.

 

[Mister Pink]

Yeah, I thought to be careful and buy a training drone but then I flew my Mavic 2 for the first time (first time ever flying a drone) and man, it's super easy. It's very intuitive. As soon as you fly one, you'll know exactly what I mean.

It certainly helped that I'm used to playing video games, so reverse-controls, when it's flying toward me, wasn't an issue. Any panic, just let go and it hovers. Simples.

Pick a 30 squid drone up first if you like or try a drone sim app for your phone.

If you go with the best drone, you wont have any regrets, for not having a training drone. Dude, as soon as Mavic 2 is in your possession all that wishful thinking will fly-away.

If you get a your 2nd or 3rd favourite because you want to buy a training drone, then realize it's easier than expected, you'll regret not getting the number 1 choice.