What did yoU pay??

[Rchawks]

With the release of the M3 and the ensuing sticker shock that this purchase involved, just how much did you pay for your Drones back in the day, just for a sense of reference.

 

[Tufargon]

Autel XSP I got for $400 used with only one flight on it and 3 batteries. Autel still warrantied any issue I had. I sold it for $450 about 4-5 years later.
Mavic Air 2 FMC I got for $938.60 with a family discount from the vendor for $49.40 because I found a flaw on the website that had a popup offering 15% discount on orders. They did not honor the 15% discount but gave me the $49.40 family discount because I notified them of the issue. It was from an approved vendor on the Autel forum.
Edit: Also an approved vendor here in this forum.

 

[dirkclod]

How far do you want to go

 

[Rchawks]

How far do you want to go

LOL, I guess what I'm wondering is if the drones of yesteryear were in about the same price range of the M3 standalone package.

 

[dirkclod]

How far do you want to go

Just tryed to go back in PayPal to 2014 and can’t get there but was a 2014 FC40. Wasn’t cheap then but would be considered now

 

[dirkclod]

LOL, I guess what I'm wondering is if the drones of yesteryear were in about the same price range of the M3 standalone package.

Noooooooo
If not mistaken and is very possible I paid close to 1K the next year for a P2 vision.

 

[howardK]

SkyViper V2400 i got new for about $75.00. I got my SkyViper Journey new for $59.95. I got my SkyViper v2900 used for about $100.00. I got my first DJI Mavic Pro on Ebay with two batteries, charger, several filters and extra props for $575.00. I have no idea how many flights it had on it but it still flys flawlessly. I got my second Mavic Pro from a local pawn shop for $500.00. It cam with two batteries, soft carry case, charger and extra props.

 

[Vic Moss]

With the release of the M3 and the ensuing sticker shock that this purchase involved, just how much did you pay for your Drones back in the day, just for a sense of reference.

My first drones were Phantom 2s with GoPros. Each entire set up was in the $2000 range between gimbals, batteries, GoPros, and monitors.

People complaining about the cost of the M3 don't get it. We're talking about $1000 more for a similar set up with magnitudes better reception, image quality, flight characteristics (even w/ the M3 issues) and cameras. We're also talking about 2014 dollars and 2021 dollars. Not a long time, but a lot has happened since then.

Honestly some people just like to complain. No other company can come close to putting a 4/3 sensor on a drone for $2200.

I still believe the M3 was prematurely released, but firmware updates are soling some issues, and making others more bearable.

$3000 for the Fly More package is incredibly fair priced.

 

[hiflyer201]

"Back in the day" is not that far back and there have been huge developments.

 

[dirkclod]

"Back in the day" is not that far back and there have been huge developments.

Don’t seem like that far back , just how to balance props would be
as long as some of these threads we have now

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yeah, when I think of the phrase 'back in the day' I think of things we did in the previous century.

Like mentioned above the early drones were really just crude machines by today's standards. All you had was a controller that flew the drone - no camera controls, no screen to see what your doing - you simply hit 'record' before flying and after landing you could put the card in a computer and see what you captured. Time to charge the TX? Nope just go buy some more AA batteries and make sure you don't fly the too much since you have no idea what the voltage is.

If you wanted to actually see a live feed you bought a separate TX and RX and wired it into your drone yourself and had to get a separate monitor and battery for the receiver and even then, you had no camera controls and only basic telemetry.

I still have that setup that I put over 2K into and to see what that buys today? In terms of refinement and capability of something like a Mavic3? Drones are getting cheaper when you compare similar capability from the past to now.

A Mini SE is six times less expensive than DJI's Original Phantom fitted out, and produces video that is four times better while having longer range with better connectivity, 40% longer flight times, has far more advanced control over the camera in all phases, and overall flies much better and; has built in features that original drones never had. All in just 7 or eight years.