Everything you do in life has a beginning and getting involved with drones is no exception. If you are a newbie, looking for the proper device that will give you everything you need as a drone beginner, this is the right place for you.
This guide will help you find the best drone for beginners and introduce you to the important aspects of a drone that will make a major impact on your overall user experience. Don’t waste your time and get ready to rumble, but before you do, pay closer attention to the following details.
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Last update on 2023-10-11 // The links above are affiliate // Images from Amazon
How to Choose the Best Drone for Beginners
When choosing for your first drone ever, pay attention to the following details:
Durability
When you are a beginner, the durability of a product becomes one of the major issues, and drones are no exception. Choose a drone that is made out of quality materials that will stand a lot of “knockdowns” and free falls, and protect you from fatal drone accidents as much as possible.
Ease of use
Even the more experienced drone users don’t like things to be too complicated, so why would you? As long as you can easily maneuver and land your craft, you are fine. Don’t go after too complicated devices and, if it is possible, go after the devices that will give you automatic functions, such as auto-return when a battery is low, or allow for the setting of a precise flight path.
Camera and FPV
Although they aren’t essential, camera and FPV functionality can give you a lot of fun and allow you to post interesting videos online and livestream your drone adventures. Therefore, choose the drone with FPV functionality and the best possible camera and have nice fun.
Best Drones for Beginners
DJI Mavic Mini
Excellence in a Compact Package
DJI Mavic Mini is a fairly-priced, lightweight, mini-drone, with the excellent overall quality that makes it one of the best drones for kids and general use.
It weighs only 250 grams; it is compact and can stay in the air for about 30 minutes, which is how long its battery lasts.
DJI Mavic Mini is equipped with a 12MP sensor and can shoot very smooth and high-quality 30fps 2.7K videos. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support 4K, like its sibling DJI Mavic Air; however, it produces photos, with great clearness, and excellent level of stability that comes as the result of its 3-axis motorized gimbal.
When talking about its performance, its speed is around 46km/h, which is far from the top of the class; nevertheless, it will give you more than enough movability, especially if you are a beginner in the drone field.
DJI Mavic Mini also comes with the dedicated DJI Fly App that is compatible with iOS and Android devices and more importantly, offers excellent user experience due to its intuitive interface and ease of use.
In other words, if you want the optimal drone option that will give you everything that a beginner needs, DJI Mavic Mini is, without a doubt, a great choice.
- Compact
- Lightweight
- Easy to use
- Fairly priced
- Excellent battery life
- Can’t film 4K videos
Ryze Tech Tello
A Drone that Screams “Fun”
No matters if you are a beginner, or an experienced drone user, Ryze Tech Tello will enchant you with its fun side. This gizmo is made with one purpose in mind and that is to give you hours and hours of pure joy.
Nevertheless, be aware that the quality of its camera, as well as captured videos and images, is mediocre. One of the reasons for that is its 5MP sensor that is able to deliver only 2592 x 1936dpi photos and 720p videos.
However, the biggest reason is its Wi-Fi connection that is responsible for both the transfer of image and video files to your mobile device (there is no storage option on the drone), as well as the remote control of the device itself. In other words, its Wi-Fi connection gets overwhelmed with the traffic that it cannot handle, resulting in pixelated and blocky videos. For that reason, Ryze Tech Tello is better suited for kids and beginners than experienced drone users.
You should know that this quadcopter can stay in the air for about 13 minutes and can achieve a speed of some 29 km/h. It offers micro USB connectivity and allows for full control over the Tello app that is compatible with both Android and iOS devices and allows for both remote control and control with the help of coding blocks that need to be dragged into the mobile device app.
All in all, Ryze Tech Tello is an affordable and easy-to-use mini drone under $100 that will satisfy every thirty, forty, or fifty-year-old “teenager” and their youngsters.
- Affordable
- Easy to use
- Can be programmed with the help of Scratch
- Automatic flight modes
- Small
- Not the best image quality
- No GPS
- A bit clunky controls
Holy Stone HS270
A Highly Capable and Feature-Rich Drone
Holy Stone HS270 is a fairly priced and feature-rich drone that is able to withstand windy conditions, thanks to its stable and quality build, allowing for great user experience.
This drone comes fitted with numerous auto-control functions such as Waypoint (it follows a custom path), Orbit (it automatically hovers over the certain point), Follow me (it follows your movement), as well as Automatic Return functions that are easily activated, by the press on the button.
Holy Stone HS270 comes equipped with the 3500mAh LiPo battery that allows it to stay in the air for around 18 minutes, and it is fitted with a GPS receiver and an SD card slot for storing your freshly made videos and photos.
This drone comes with a built-in 2.7K wide-angle camera (it has a 90°adjustable angle) that provides great photo and video clarity when the footage is stored on the SD card. However, when you are using its 5GHz wireless connection for their transfer to the mobile device or for social media streaming, their quality significantly reduces and you are able to capture them only in 720p resolution, which certainly isn’t the ideal combination. Luckily, their quality is still highly usable, but not perfect.
On the other hand, Holy Stone HS270 has a 400m transmission range and 600m control range and weighs around 600 grams, which means it needs to be registered if you live in the States, UK, or Canada, and it can be fully folded, allowing for its easy transfer.
In other words, Holy Stone HS270 has so much to offer and certainly presents one of the best outdoor drones for beginners, giving you much-needed ease of use and an excellent level of quality and overall user experience.
- Built-in GPS
- Easy to use
- Excellent stability
- Feature-rich
- A bit bulky
- The camera lacks the stabilization feature
SANROCK U52
Great Affordable Drone for Beginners
If this is your first time buying a drone, you can’t go wrong with the Sanrock U52. The drone retails for less than $100 currently, and it’s made for adults, which means it’s not foldable, and comes with a full HD 1080p camera, capable of Wi-Fi FPV video for broadcasting cool images from above.
The drone also has various modes of operation, including headless mode and altitude hold. The good news is that you get a gravity sensor, which means you can control drone flight by using your smartphone via gestures.
Now, getting back to the full HD camera and the Wi-Fi FPV feature, the camera has a 90° adjustable angle and it’s capable of transmitting video feed in real time on your smartphone via a free app. All the clips and photos are also saved automatically on a micro SD card, and you can even edit HD footage and directly upload it to social media from your iPhone or iPad.
You can also define an exact flying route on the App map and control the drone by moving your smartphone up or down, and if you want a stress free experience, just enable Auto Hovering and see about your business (take photos and videos).
- Up to 15 minutes flight time
- Auto hovering
- One key start/landing
- Gravity sensor
- Full HD camera
- Not foldable
DEERC D20 Mini Drone
Great Mini Drone for Beginners
The DEERC D20 is marketed as a drone for kids, but truth be told, it can also make for a great gift for a beginner-adult. The point being, the drone has its obvious limitations, which are mainly due to its small dimensions and affordable price tag, but it definitely makes up for its hardware limitations in the “fun” department.
For example, even if the tech specs are not impressive, i.e. a 720p camera on board with FPV, headless mode, altitude hold, and one key start/speed adjustment to name just a few, you will be flabbergasted by how easily it flies and the impressive heights it can reach for such a tiny and compact drone.
Another cool feature for adults is the voice control thing, as well as the free app which allows you to take videos and photos with your smartphone.
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a small and cute drone, but capable of “full size” fun, the DEERC D20 will definitely fit the bill.
- FPV transmission
- Live video feed via smartphone app
- 4 propeller guards
- Foldable and solid
- 10 minutes flight time
- 720p camera on-board
- Nothing really at this price
Potensic D58
Solid 4K Drone for Beginners
If you’re looking for a capable drone at an affordable price, the Potensic D58 would make for an interesting option. It must be noted from the beginning that even if the D58 is marketed as a 4K capable drone, it cannot record 4K video out of the box. The video capability tops out at 2.7K, which is pretty good for the price; stills are taken at 4K resolution, which is nothing to write home about really.
So, you’ll end up with 2688 x 1512 resolution videos for two hundred bucks give or take, which is not a bad deal actually all things considered. You can get to 4K if you upgrade the drone to the latest firmware via 5G Wi-Fi though, but we had to mention this.
Build quality and presentation out of the box are quite impressive, as the done looks and feels like a premium product.
The D58 comes with a high capacity 3000 mAh battery, which is good for 30 minutes of flight time, and has a LED powered charge level indicator. The controller is well designed and ergonomic, , and has its own rechargeable battery built-in.
The camera to smartphone video feed uses Wi-Fi technology and the control range is claimed to be up to 300 m, but in real life, you should expect 100 m tops. All the necessary features are there, things like GPS auto-return, altitude hold, one key take off and landing, 3 speed modes, and follow-me/orbit mode.
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a cheapish drone to get comfortable with the concept, and you like to keep things simple, just go for it and thank us later.
- Premium build quality
- Impressive autonomy
- 4K video after update
- Responsive controls
- Easy to setup
- No image stabilization
- Relatively short range
Cheerwing Syma X5SW-V3 Drone
A Basic, Affordable Drone for Beginners
Cheerwing Syma X5SW-V3 WiFi FPV Drone is a basic and durable drone, perfect for beginners. It is easy to use, cheap, and offers pretty good performance for the price.
However, its features are kinda limiting and involve not that great 0.3MP camera, as well as a 500mAh battery that gives only up to seven minutes of flight time.
On the other hand, Cheerwing Syma X5SW-V3 WiFi FPV Drone also offers 6-axis flight control, Wi-fi FPV, and compatibility with iOS and Android devices. Moreover, it is fitted with one key 360° roll; it offers USB charging and in general, delivers pretty good value for the money.
Overall, Cheerwing Syma X5SW-V3 WiFi FPV Drone won’t impress you with its achievements and features. Nevertheless, if you are a newbie and looking for the right device that will introduce you to the drone world, be sure that this is simply the best drone for beginners you can find on the market.
- Cheap
- Easy to use
- Durable
- Low, 50 meters, range
- Low-resolution camera
Conclusion
Are you ready to have some fun? If you’re new to the drone world, you don’t want to break a super-advanced and expensive gadget… right away, right? Instead, go for a beginner drone and learn the ropes – then you’ll be ready to move on to bigger things!
In our list, you can find some of the best beginner drones on the market. Choose your companion and let’s get this party started!
