About 3 months ago I lost my drone which presumably flew into the side of a hill due to my miscalculation of altitude. Quite a disappointment and I was reluctant to make another purchase when an investment might be lost due to pilot error. I was rewatching some of my previous video creations and saw that the addition of some small aerial scenes really helped in the presentation. I especially liked to add the drone shots for introductions and endings.
So, I decided to enter the drone hobby again at a reasonable price. I wanted to get another Mavic Air 1, as I already had 2 batteries and other small accessories. After some research, it seemed the going price for a used drone was in the $300 range. There were other choices a little cheaper but did not include the full kit or were advertised as “For Parts Only”. “Offer Up” showed several for sale but nothing in my local area. I wanted to see the drone fly before my purchase if possible. I saw a few offerings at a low-ball price and realized these were just scams when I was asked for my credit card number during communications. I have used “Offer Up” previously and this was my first bad experience on the site.
Consequently, I searched on eBay. I did find several drones for sale but I have never gone through the bidding process. On the first attempt, I missed the winning bid by about $5. Trying again the next day on a different unit I was able to make the purchase for $310. The process was rather interesting, but it would seem that you need to be active during the very last minutes of the listing in order to place the winning bid?
The package arrived within 5 days and was well wrapped. All advertised items were included. A short video is also posted here with the results. This was Red Rock Canyon ( again) but I hope to find a few more different locations for photo and video in the coming weeks.
As always, comment welcome!
