Quality budget drone?

[scro]

Does anyone know of a decent budget drone? I've had a friend ask me and my recommendation was the Tello. I have one and I know it flies really well, takes good photos/video for what it is, and can cope with light winds. However, this was a little beyond their budget so it would need to be cheaper than a Tello - probably in the £60/$70 region There are literally hundreds of budget drones available and the vast majority of the feedback I've heard for them is they are not even worth wasting money on (very unstable flight, short flight time, very poor video/stills etc). Perhaps there are some hidden gems in amongst the dross?

Main things they're looking for are easy stable flight and acceptable stills/video. They'd like to fly outside in light wind too.

 

[Lastrexking]

Blimey, on that budget they’ll struggle for stable and good quality images. Maybe a second hand Tello?
I always recommend anything made by Hubsan for people thinking they might like to get into the hobby, but they’re fairly basic At that price.

This gets decent reviews on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/SIMREX-Pos...1&keywords=Hubsan&qid=1607508902&sr=8-39&th=1

 

[eaglesurfing]

The hardest part is trying to get Quality and Budget together but with drones you get what you pay for.
Any drones at that price is going to be a problem and you will be throwing your money away.
This is my opinion after having a drone that cost the much and I give it to my granddaughter so it can set in her room to collect dust. It was a total waste of money.
I read the reviews on the one that was posted and all I can say is..... Good luck.

 

[old man mavic]

@scro unfortunately at the prices you mentioned you are not going to get anything worth a mention ,the internet is swarming with hundreds of budget drones ,which offer this that and the other ,when in reality as a way into the hobby ,they are not worth a toss
the old adage you,get what you pay for has never been more true ,than in the world of drones
they have an edited video showing it flying, and it looks like it is a wonderful thing for the money ,when in truth it turns out to be anything but ,sorry if i appear to be very negative ,but i know several people who have purchased cheap drones only to crash them or have a fly away the first time they use them ,unless you can afford a decent around the £200 to £350 drone as your first one , then you will be disappointed with a cheapy

 

[scro]

Thanks for the feedback so far! ?

Very much in line with what I expected: There's basically nothing cheaper than a Tello that I could honestly recommend spending money on.

I think I may tell them either their budget or their expectations need to be adjusted. ?

 

[icecoldgin]

I would not write off these cheap drones. I started that way.

Good for a first feel. Take off, land, spin it around, get to know how to manuever, or just have basic fun.

If it crashes, then it is no skin off your back.

A nice test to see if you want to stay in the hobby and upgrade - slowly but surely.

Except for the Mini, I still have my cheapo drones and these still fly. ?

 

[old man mavic]

I would not write off these cheap drones. I started that way.

Good for a first feel. Take off, land, spin it around, get to know how to manuever, or just have basic fun.

If it crashes, then it is no skin off your back.

A nice test to see if you want to stay in the hobby and upgrade - slowly but surely.

Except for the Mini, I still have my cheapo drones and these still fly. ?

i too started off with cheap budget drones ,but my reply was based on the OPs post about the price and it capability to take video , those two things would not be possible in the price range he mentioned

 

[dirkclod]

Look around in another of our forums. Might see one in there .

Drone Pilots Community

Drone Discussions, Forum and Help for Syma, Altair, Blade, Eachine, Hubsan, Holy Stone, Potensic, JJRC, Snaptain, Walkers and Xiaomi Drones

dronepilots.community

 

[A.O.]

i too started off with cheap budget drones ,but my reply was based on the OPs post about the price and it capability to take video , those two things would not be possible in the price range he mentioned

I too started off with a cheap drone ($100) Almost talked me out off ever trying a real drone.. it was a DroneX and almost completely un-flyable ! Took me over a year to try one again.. a $800 MA2... LOVE IT!

 

[Barbara]

I'm with Scro in looking for an inexpensive drone. I just want it for some indoor flying over the winter, so optical flow control is a thing for me. The SImrex X900 that Lastrexking suggested would possibly fit the bill, but Amazon doesn't offer it for sale here in Canukada . The Tello also comes to mind, but it's $130, without a controller.

Ahh the trials and tribulations......

 

[StantonZ]

I too started off with a cheap drone ($100) Almost talked me out off ever trying a real drone.. it was a DroneX and almost completely un-flyable ! Took me over a year to try one again.. a $800 MA2... LOVE IT!

This is actually the "hidden problem". My first drone was a (not so cheap) Propel, and that experience (temporarily) killed my desire to get into drones. It's already been said, but you really do get what you pay for.

 

[dave canada]

if your lucky you will get an glimpse of it as it flys away

 

[Barbara]

if your lucky you will get an glimpse of it as it flys away

Only ever use my little toy drone outside if it's absolutely wind-still. Even then I've had to chase it down after flying it into a tree behind our yard. It has such terrible stability flying it indoors is a real workout.

 

[icecoldgin]

Here is one that is within the budget but no real report on quality though: https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/fpv-mini-drone-with-hd-4k-cameras-a9-wifi-foldable-drones-with-cameras-hight-hold-mode-mini-rc-quadcopters-dron-i1263566456-s4895220961.html?spm=a2o4l.order_details.just4u.4.25193e17WSGkfv&&search=0&clickTrackInfo=6bce7058-c71c-4a08-876f-84e0b2f39605__1263566456__20908__i2i__171996__1.5979999__4.4746294__0.0__0.0__0.0__4.4746294__3__null__null__null__null__null__null____3299.0__0.4243710215216733__3.888888888888889__27__1899.0__92577,89491,12005__null__null__null__null__null__14025

Cost around £40 only. Specs seem decent and acceptable enough for a beginner droner - just to get the feel of piloting.

You are not going to cry if you lose or total this ?

 

[nhgill960]

The first thing that came to mind for me was a sky viper or sharper image drone. I know that they are hardly any good and are toy grade, but some of them may have cameras. I’ve seen them in Walmart before. I have heard of a drone called a “beast” (I forgot the designation) which is around $200 with a 3 axis gimbal. I have a friend who owns one and he says it works really well. Not sure if your friend is going to find much under $100?‍ best of luck though!

Forgot to mention this: I bought a drone a couple of years ago on Amazon called a Visuo (once again forgot the specifics) but it was around $80. Flew well and had a 720p camera.

 

[dave canada]

Only ever use my little toy drone outside if it's absolutely wind-still. Even then I've had to chase it down after flying it into a tree behind our yard. It has such terrible stability flying it indoors is a real workout.

before my first spark i knew nothing so i bought a drone that was about 10 percent of the spark until i got my spark i had know idea how dumb that was my first flight with spark and it was so easy , good thing my practise drone made about three flights and crashed 9 times always upside down and the only budget drone as you say that i knew where it was after the first week fun times and there went another 100 super x blah blah so my first buy was the budget drone 4 years ago and sold two days ago for 2 3rds of original price with lots of extras

 

[NOLADG]

Before I had my Mavic Air and Spark, I had a few indoor non-camera drones for $10-20. They saved my Spark during one of my first few flights as my Spark began to fly away and I couldn't figure out what was going on. (Later discovered it went into Atti mode) Though the error started when the drone was close, it got waaay far away, before I figured out I just needed to fly it like the cheap indoor ones and I landed it back at my feet. So having those cheap ones wasn't so bad after all.

 

[Chrislaf]

The best decent budget drone is the Tello. I got my Tello boost combo (3 batteries, prop guards, 3 port charging hub) for US$99 two years ago on the DJI Christmas sale. Their sale starts on the 12th so maybe it will be offered again. The Tello only with one battery was $79.

There are so many advantages to the Tello. You can fly it with your phone or a controller and there are a variety of 3rd party apps to increase its functionality (Follow/Tracking), and its programmable.

Chris

 

[DanMan32]

Drone Valley did a review about a year and a half of his favorite 3 drones under $100. The Tello was his most favorite but most expensive of the three.

That's what inspired one of the members in my drone workshop to get the Tello, and I followed suit a few weeks later. We also ended up getting controllers.. Great for flying indoors. Has issues in breezes though, but one can learn how to compensate.

I forgot the other two. Perhaps check out the video.

 

[DanMan32]

P.S. Tello doesn't currently seem to work with the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. Controls work, but no video. Tried official app and Tello FPV.