New to drone flying - Pudsey.

Introductions
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Hi everyone from Pudsey I’m new to all this can anyone recommend a good starter drone around £250-300

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Hi @KENNYCBR and welcome to Grey Arrows :wave:t2:

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Welcome once again!

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This thread : Alternatives to DJI for £250? : has info in relation to a similar question.

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Not far from me, over here in Laisterdyke!!!

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Hi @KENNYCBR - welcome to GADC :+1: :+1: :+1:

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@KENNYCBR welcome! :wave:

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Ref my ‘Alternatives to DJI for £250’ topic menyioned above, I eventually went with a DJI Mini 2SE, which was an excellent drone that I found easy to fly and take photos & video from, for £249 new. Since then, DJI have reduced the price of the Mini 4K to £269, effectively the same drone but with a 4K video camera over the Mini 2SE’s 2.7K. Both are great value for money.

These prices are for the basic pack of the drone, remote controller, and one intelligent battery (giving 31mins fly time). Most people would reccomed the ‘Fly More’ combo pack, which has two spare batteries and a charging hub, but is more expensive of course of course, by some £52 but the batteries are £35 each as separate items.

Sadly, my 2SE was killed by seagulls, and has been replaced with insurance payout with a Mavic Mini, not as good and an older model. But I’d unreservedly reccommend both the Mini 2SE and the 4K.

Then there is the newly-introduced DJI Neo, at £167. This is without a controller, as some automated functions can be selected on the drone and basic flying can be done with the DJI smartphone app. Or you can choose more expensive packages with various controllers, up to FPV virtual reality goggles. It is not as suitable for outdoor flying as the minis, being smaller, harder to see, and less capable of handling stronger winds. It is in some senses the perfect beginner drone for selfies in it’s automated basic form, not even needing a phone or a controller.

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Welcome to the group from another (ex) Loiner now resident in the North of the County.

How’s the air quality now out that way? we were taught from being nippers that the ducks in Pudsey fly backwards so they don’t get muck in their eyes :wink:

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Hi @KENNYCBR and welcome to GADC :+1: :+1:

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Hi mate, welcome from the Black Country.

As above, the Mini 4K at £269 is a good buy.

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Hi neighbour. I’m in Apperley Bridge. I’ve just ordered a DJI 4K from Amazon. Check out the many YouTube videos on it. It gets rave reviews

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I have a Potensic from Amazon with 3 batteries just over 300 my son in law has a Holy Stone again off Amazon. Must say i am really impressed

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Mini 2 Combo, secondhand on ebay £300 ? Fantastic toy !!

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Welcome to the group from about 3 mile away :rofl:

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ALAW

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I have a DJI mini 3 for sale if interested. Only used 6/7 times, couple months old.

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Have you thought about advertising it in the For sale & wanted :+1:

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Hi and welcome. When people mention drone they always think DJI, there are others out there that are just as good for less money. Take a look at the Potensic Atom. You can pick this up as the Mini 2 fly more package for a lot less money. With the 3 batteries as standard you get around 90 mins flight time. We all know that the specs aren’t 100% acurate but they aren’t to far away. It has a great review.

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DJI have been phenomenally successful in dominating the world market in hobby drones; I’ve seen figures of 70, 80, even 90% of it in various places; they are certainly well ahead of any competition. This why to a very large extent drone = DJI. This is despite the flood of cheapo sub-£100 drones available from Amazon and Temu, some of which purport to have comparable features to more expensive stuff. My only connection with DJI is as a satisfied custormer, and with Amazon/Temu cheapos as a very dissatisfied one!

There are good value drones out there that are not from DJI, with the Potensic Atom being one of them. But a drone that can maintain a hovering position or fly to a bearing accurately while holding a steady position for camera work is a big ask; the gps must be top-notch, and the motors must respond instantaneously and very accurately to any drift, as well as the gimbal which must be a very delicate piece of engineering to do it’s job effectively. An Amazon/Temu cheapo will not cut the mustard even with gps except in dead calm conditions, and cheapo obstacle avoidance might sell drones but often upsets the station-holding to result in drifting. Once one of these horrors starts drifting, it will over-correct repeatedly until any effective control is lost and you have to land to start again.

So, sadly, there is no such thing as a good cheap drone. Whatever make you go for, you will have to pay about £250 for an effective sub-249g camera drone, with fly-more combos over £300, and DJI have somewhate upset the applecart with the new Neo, £167 for the basic kit but a lot more expensive if you want more than the set-piece trick flying or phone control.

I’d say these drones are marvellous value for money, but they are not cheap, and there’s a good reason for that! I am suspicious of cheapo 5* reviews, and those that are along the lines of ‘great value for the money’; a £75 gps drone with all the bells & whistles might look like a bargain, but will be a dissappointment when you come to fly it if you expect image steadyness and quality to be anything like the photos or videos you’ll see on this forum!

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But they are ?

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