recommendations for a beginner's drone

Fortkentdad

Senior Member
I'm having a bit of GAS (a derivative of NAS when there is no Nikon version).

Been thinking of getting a drone for a long time. Wife gave me a micro toy drone for Christmas - it was fun, but a toy.
I'm wanting a real drone - well at least one that takes images that are not toy camera like.

The DJ Spark has a lot going for it - price $700 (well $950 if you want the parts you need). And it has lots of hype. And cool colours.
But for same $700 I can get the DJ Phantom 3 (standard) and for that same grand I get the Deluxe Phantom 3 with two batteries and few other bells and whistles.
OR the BeBop for same money. And Yuneec has a Breeze ($500) ... and there are more.

I might spend up to a grand, but less is better.

My wife thinks I should spend a lot less (she'd like to see it closer to the $250 mark) to get a drone that I can learn to fly and see if I like this type of photography or not. There are a few, somewhat toy like but at least not a "nano" micro, fit in you shirt vest pocket drone.


Canada has some new Drone laws. At least not AS crazy as they were when first announced. But silly never the less.
But the key point is that drones under a Kilogram (2.2 pounds) then you can fly within 30m of "vehicles, vessels, and the public" (30m is almost 100 feet)
Over a kilo you need to stay away 75m.
All the rules here: https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/opssvs/flying-drone-safely-legally.html
I'd prefer the 30mm limit, so size matters.

But I could be convinced that bigger is better even if you have to stay away 250 feet from your subject.
. . .

Any suggestions on what to buy - or NOT buy?


 
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RockyNH_RIP

Senior Member
I have the Phantom 3 Standard and 2 pare batteries (3 total) and love it. It does all I need it to do! I really do not need 3 batteries, 2 would be plenty for my use.

Pat in GA
 
I have the Phantom 3 Standard and I is a good drone easy to fly and had a good camera. That being said I have the 3 Professional on order and it should be here in a week or do. It has a 4K camera and a range of 3.2 miles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Fortkentdad

Senior Member
I have the Phantom 3 Standard and I is a good drone easy to fly and had a good camera. That being said I have the 3 Professional on order and it should be here in a week or do. It has a 4K camera and a range of 3.2 miles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With the new laws I'm shying away from bigger (and better) drones due to the 75m min distance from "vehicles, vessels (boats) or 'public'"

But range is also now an non-issue in Canada as the new law says:


  • within your sight at all times
  • within 500 m of yourself or closer (one third of one mile)
Which means you cannot use those nifty googles as you'd lose actual sight of your drone. And you are not supposed to be looking at the phone or tablet but at the drone at all times - not sure that would be a good idea at all.


If there is a good drone under 250 grams (8.8 ounces) then the rules don't apply but not many like that.
 

PapaST

Senior Member
The Spark at 300g is a terrific option in my opinion. But it doesn't meet your 250g benchmark.

My $.02 on spending less... I've crashed a few drones in my time. I just got a DJI Mavic and I'm very happy with it. It's been my experience the lower you go in price the tougher it can be to actually fly. To me, the Phantom 3 is a sweet sport for super stable and terrific photos/videos at a great price. Once you go below that you sacrifice stability (which could lead to more crashes) and you certainly sacrifice image quality.

The way I see it, the Spark and Mavic are like laptops and the Phantoms, Yuneecs, etc are like desktops. You pay a premium for that smaller mobile design.
 

Fortkentdad

Senior Member
The Spark at 300g is a terrific option in my opinion. But it doesn't meet your 250g benchmark.

My $.02 on spending less... I've crashed a few drones in my time. I just got a DJI Mavic and I'm very happy with it. It's been my experience the lower you go in price the tougher it can be to actually fly. To me, the Phantom 3 is a sweet sport for super stable and terrific photos/videos at a great price. Once you go below that you sacrifice stability (which could lead to more crashes) and you certainly sacrifice image quality.

The way I see it, the Spark and Mavic are like laptops and the Phantoms, Yuneecs, etc are like desktops. You pay a premium for that smaller mobile design.

I really don't think that I'll find anything under 250 grams, but staying under 1 kilo is good, but the Mavic, Phantom and Typhoon all are over 1 KG.

The Spark does have a crash avoidance option and is very portable - like a laptop.

I'm thinking if I get a Spark, and like it, then a bigger one is an option if I want to upgrade image quality.
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
I really don't think that I'll find anything under 250 grams, but staying under 1 kilo is good, but the Mavic, Phantom and Typhoon all are over 1 KG.

The Spark does have a crash avoidance option and is very portable - like a laptop.

I'm thinking if I get a Spark, and like it, then a bigger one is an option if I want to upgrade image quality.

As much as I'd love to have a Mavic, I think the Spark is a great model to start off with.
 

Kevin H

Senior Member
With the new laws I'm shying away from bigger (and better) drones due to the 75m min distance from "vehicles, vessels (boats) or 'public'"

But range is also now an non-issue in Canada as the new law says:


  • within your sight at all times
  • within 500 m of yourself or closer (one third of one mile)
Which means you cannot use those nifty googles as you'd lose actual sight of your drone. And you are not supposed to be looking at the phone or tablet but at the drone at all times - not sure that would be a good idea at all.


If there is a good drone under 250 grams (8.8 ounces) then the rules don't apply but not many like that.

Goggle drone laws in Canada they have lightened up but you might have to search for them

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/transport-canada-quietly-loosens-rules-185252549.html
 

Fortkentdad

Senior Member
Goggle drone laws in Canada they have lightened up but you might have to search for them

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/transport-canada-quietly-loosens-rules-185252549.html
.

Yes - those are the revised rules.
At one time nothing close to any vehicle, vessel, building, person or animal (no word on how big said animal would need to be) ... and for good measure there was a sort of "and anything else that could be considered a problem" open ended prohibition on flying to close to something we have not yet specified.

This cop from Ottawa who has a side business of making drone videos of your sailing boat (aka vessel) has a great rant about how stupid they were.
They are now slightly better. He did a follow up to his viral "Canadian Drone Laws are crazy" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2ARvLOklg

his original rant is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qtQIa5wm3Y&t=1s

Initially it was 9 kms away from any airport, heliport or anywhere a plane (including sea planes) or helicopter may land, taken to a crazy level one could say a helicopter can land anywhere pretty much, except on open water (unless float equipped but sea planes can - so that law prohibited flying anywhere. period, when taken as laws should be taken, very literally. That's been relaxed to 5 kms for airports and 1.8 from heliports. Still have to stay clear of emergency vehicles (including air ambulances) but at least they didn't include that 'anywhere a helicopter could land'. That would come into effect if you buzzed an accident scene for example and got in the way of an incoming helicopter.

But I wonder what kind of damage even a 2 kg drone could inflict on even a smaller helicopter or cessna. These things hit birds all the time - and a bird would not shatter on impact like a drone would. Apparently no aircraft of any kind has had any sort of accident, crash or even damage due to collision with a drone.

Biggest change is the introduction of classes of drones, there are three classes, under 250 grams (no rules) 250 grams to 1 KG, can fly closer to things (30m) and over 1 kg - need to be 75m away. And the things we need to say away from now is "vessels, vehicles and 'the public'" They took out "people" which didn't exclude the operator or people participating in the drone activity (your subjects). And most notably they took out buildings and animals. Previously any structure, including that abandoned outhouse, and any animal (no effort was made to define animal). A housefly is an animal technically. Even if they said we didn't mean insects, did they mean birds? how about small rodents? Thankfully that is gone.

I was part of a petition sent to Ottawa asking them to get real with the drone laws - there was a big push back against the stupid laws.

Now they are improved.

BUT it does make drones under 1 KG much more desirable such as the Spark, Mavic, Bebop, but all the Phantoms and Typhoons are over the limit.

I wonder if waiting for Spark II to come out would give DJI time to perfect this new wonder?

....
 
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