Looking to buy a Drone

[jack10525]

Hello All,

I bought a Syma X5C drone just to mess around with. It was cheap and I just wanted to see if I would enjoy flying one. I saw a bunch of positive reviews saying this was a good starting point. It was fun but I killed it after a couple of weeks. Crashing tends to do that. What would be a good 2nd drone to buy? I am not into racing. Just want to fly around and possible capture video. I also want it to be able to fly in slight wind. The X5C couldn't handle a tiny breeze. Price range is $200 max. I prefer RTF.

 

[rockyboy]

I was going to recommend this one until you mention the $200 price target

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper



But more seriously, I'd recommend checking out some of the recent RTF quad reviews over on the RC Saylors youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRcSaylors

They have covered a couple in the last few months that should fit the bill.

Good luck!

 

[Crazy Goats]

I was going to recommend this one until you mention the $200 price target

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-9_Reaper



But more seriously, I'd recommend checking out some of the recent RTF quad reviews over on the RC Saylors youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRcSaylors

They have covered a couple in the last few months that should fit the bill.

Good luck!

Haha! Oh, I want a Reaper too!

 

[jack10525]

I CHECKED OUT RC SAYLORS AND THE DRONES THEY HAVE THERE ARE WAY TOO SMALL. ISN'T THERE A DECENT DRONE OF ABOUT 20" IN MY PRICE RANGE THAT DOESN'T SUCK? SEROUSLY IS THIS HOBBY JUST TOO EXPENSIVE? I'M NOT INTERESTED IN BUILDING MY OWN. TOO HARD.

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

It will take some cash to get into flying (especially multirotors.) A decent quad BUILD is attainable with the given parameters, but it won't have a camera/FPV setup (probably) and it won't do a lot of the automated stuff like DJI products.

Honestly though, a small quad is definitely the right way to start out. you WILL crash, and you WILL break things. It's just so much cheaper to do with a small quad than on a large quad. I'd recommend that you pick up an inductrix FPV RTF if you want to get into FPV quads as it's within budget and easy to fly.

Best of luck, and don't get discouraged. There's always the RCgroups classifieds, there's a chance you could come across something there that ticks all of your boxes.

 

[jack10525]

I found quite a few set ups on Hobbyking that are in or near my price.

 

[PsyBorg]

Just remember when ordering from China.. you get what you pay for and the parts for repairs can take for ever to get when shipped on the rowboat from China.

Flite test store has some quads in your price range to start with. The blade nano is one that many have started with and will handle some wind within reason. Same for the Alpha 110's. A DJI style platform leaves you in the syma category and they will all be the same light and under powered for any real out door flying in anything but very mild conditions. Unfortunately once you start getting into carrying cameras to film with you leave the "Toy" range and get into "Hobby" range or "Professional" range gear.

As for the hobby being expensive.. it is far less so then it used to be. You do have to research everything you buy. Most importantly taking the cheap route is not necessarily the best way to go as you will spend more in shipping and repair parts costs then if you had done some more research and went with a mid level gear to start. Building what you want is the only real way to get a good product in an economical way.

I suggest you might look into the versa copter or an electrohub where you get a good solid product that is easy to set up and build (you cant get much cheaper then wooden arms to mount motors on) using the suggested power packs you get a combination of electronics that is tested and designed specifically for that set up and proven reliable many times over.

 

[tmack]

You can get a Blade 200 qx off eBay around $100. It will do 3D when you are ready or strap a camera to it for FPV.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

https://www.amazon.com/Nighthawk-Qu...=UTF8&qid=1477537845&sr=1-1&keywords=emax+rtf

 

[usaflyer]

Will that drone fly 2000 yards away and stay in one place for say 15 minutes at a time for a few hours? Do you need special training for it or can you teach yourself to fly it?

 

[FlyingMonkey]

You can teach yourself, but you're going to crash, a lot. This one is pretty durable though.

Flight time on this style is about 6 minutes, so I'd have to say now about your duration question.

 

[jack10525]

Well after all the searching and questions I finally broke down and bought the versacopter. I found a great deal on a new v2 kit including power packs and fc. Thanks all for the help and suggestions to guide me. I'm sure once I start the build I'll be back asking more questions.