Drone recommendations, and a couple of clarifications
I have owned, or used in my classroom (I taught high school aviation)
DJI Phantom 4 - By far, my favorite. It is big, and clunky to carry around but can fight through heavy winds and gives you a built-in frame to grab if you are landing on a boat. Every time I see someone try to catch one of the smaller drones I tighten up my bottom a bit because I have seen what those small blades can do to a hand or arm. DJI doesn't make these anymore, so you have to get them 2nd hand. I have bought a couple off of ebay with good luck but I prefer to buy them from facebook marketplace so we can do a test flight. The batteries for this one, and all DJI drones I have use, are smart batteries (and expensive). Check the batteries for swelling before you buy, if they start to swell consider them trash and buy new ones. I have purchased off-brand batteries for my Phantom 4s with no problem
DJI Mavic Pro - My drone of choice is a Mavic Pro. They came out in 2016. The Mavic Pro has 4K video and a pretty good flight time. The reason I choose this one over the Phantom 4 is it's size. It folds down to a camera case size. It has been replaced by the Mavic 2 series, but I just didn't see the benefit in upgrading. There is a Mavic 3 out that has double the flight time (almost), but until the Mavic Pro dies I see no reason to upgrade.
DJI Mavic Air - Great drone, but lighter than the Mavics. While that seems like a benefit I am usually flying in wind so I prefer the heft of the Mavic Pro. Very responsive, but if you don't require a smaller drone I would look at the mavic Pro.
DJI Mini - These are small and great for no-wind environments. With any wind, they are pretty squirrely and burn through their battery quickly trying to stabilize. Most people I know that buy these end up buying a different drone because these are more toy than tool.
Parrot - They made a LOT of Bebop and Bebop 2 drones. These are fun to fly but the cameras are weak, and the drones have a history of just falling out of the sky. 2 of ours just died and fell, so I sold all of them. Parrot sells higher end drones now, I don't have any experience with them. Don't get sucked into refurb deals on Bebop 2s, run away.
The best way to learn to fly in challenging environments is to get a cheap drone with blade guards, then fly it in a room and learn to kiss the walls. have the drone face away from you, then fly to just barely touch each of the walls in the room, then spin the drone 90 degrees, and do it with the forward perspective facing to your right, then spin it 90 degrees and do it with the drone facing you, then spin it 90.............You need to get to the point where it is natural to visualize which way the drone is pointing and how you need to shift your controls based on drone positioning.
Don't practice with micro drones, they are way too squirrely.
I buy these for my students.
https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Stone-W...mzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc The cameras suck but they are tough drones that are great for learning to kiss walls.
Once you are done kissing walls, start working on depth perception. Go to a place with a lot of light poles (we use the school parking lot) and practice going around light poles in the distance. then spin it 90 degrees, and do it again.
Also, never rely on using your phone as a controller. Too many problems. You phone will connect to most controllers (with a wire), which is great. But dont fly with phone alone.
Don't listen to people telling you about regulations concerning drones. They are usually only 50% right. The only real authority is the faa, and the message is still a bit muddy. Their site is nowhere as friendly as it should but you can go here and get the info you need
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started
You can fly drones under 55 pounds without any big problems. If the drone is over 250 grams you need to register the drone. Registration is simple and costs $5 for 3 years. There are lot of trick sites that look official but aren't really faa registration, go here
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/register_drone
Lastly, everything above is for recreational flyers. There is an app called b4ufly that will help you understand where you can fly.
If you intend to monetize the flight in any way, you need to get what is called a part 107 certification. Even if you put something on youtube that is eventually monetized you have broken a federal law (FAA) if you are not a commercial drone pilot (107 certified). The 107 test is fairly tough, about 60% of what you need for your written private pilots test. If you are interested in getting one reach out, I am happy to share some resources with you to help you pass.
Any questions, feel free to reach out.
