8 Best Drones for the Money

1. Best Budget: Holy Stone HS170 Predator Mini Drone

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Editor’s Rating: 4.6/5.0

The Holy Stone HS170 Predator is a competent mini-drone that’s affordable and fun. It’s the ideal craft for first-time pilots who need a flexible little quadcopter to develop their flying skills.

• Best feature 1: Three speed modes
• Best feature 2: 6-axis gyro stabilization
• Plus points: Easy to fly, headless mode, 3D flips, propeller guards, colorful LED lights
• Minus points: Short flight time, not good in the wind

Mini quads make excellent training drones. The headless mode is a helpful feature for first-time users. Headless flying lets you concentrate on the controller and not the orientation of the craft. More experienced pilots benefit from this drone as well. Expert users can fly the HS170 to maintain existing skills and develop new ones.

Flying the HS170 Predator Mini

Holy Stone’s HS170 Predator comes with three speed modes from Beginner to Advanced. Speed control is also valuable for different flight situations as well as skill levels. It’s an easy drone for novice users to learn with, and it offers challenging flight maneuvers for experts.

The tiny quad uses 6-axis gyro stabilization to make it more stable and responsive. A simple button push, for example, and the drone performs impressive 3D flips and rolls with instant recovery. It can stand up to a few knocks as well. The propeller guards do a decent job of protecting the rotors and user’s fingers. The HS170 Predator has bright, colorful LED lights for flying in the dark.

The Not So Good

The flight time is only eight minutes, and that’s in optimal conditions. Charging is fast, though, and should take less than an hour. Most people buy a few extra batteries so that they can continue the fun. Just remember to allow the motors to cool down for a few minutes between flights. Also, be mindful that this is a small quad that only weighs a few ounces so keep it indoors on windy days.

2. Best Value: Contixo F18 HD Camera Quadcopter

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Editor’s Rating: 4.7/5.0

The Best Value choice is Contixo’s F18 drone. It’s a lower mid-range, feature-packed, First Person View (FPV) quadcopter. The FPV lets pilots view the camera’s footage on a screen in real time.

• Best feature 1: Integrated First Person View (FPV) camera
• Best feature 2: Powerful brushless motors
• Plus points: 6-axis gyro, one-key return, altitude hold, smartphone/app control, LED lights
• Minus points: No camera gimbal, spotty WiFi, long charging time

The Contixo F18 is a superb camera quadcopter for folks moving up from toy-like drones. The built-in 1080P live view FPV camera displays its footage on a regular smartphone screen.

Flying the F18 Camera Quadcopter

Flying drones is tremendous fun. Viewing, filming, and photographing from the sky is even more rewarding. This model has a decent 20-minute flight time on a full battery and a long 1-mile flight range. The powerful brushless motors and Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs) make the craft super-fast, ultra-responsive, and agile. Brushless motors are quieter and last longer than brushed ones.

Some of the standout features include a 6-axis gyro, one-key return function, altitude hold, and bright LEDs. The Android/iOS app is a free download that offers a plethora of easy-to-use flight controls. Fingertip visual controls always make flying more interesting. Another nice touch to this deal is the purpose backpack. It’s a stylish bag that’s comfortable to wear and water-resistant.

The Not So Good

The built-in camera doesn’t have gimbal stabilization. That means the footage won’t always be a shake-free as it could be. There are some gripes about spotty WiFi on occasions as well. My biggest complaint with this drone, though, is the 4+ hour battery charging time. A spare battery or two becomes a necessary extra cost.

3. Best Pick: DJI Phantom 4 PRO+ Camera Quadcopter

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Editor’s Rating: 4.8/5.0

It’s no surprise that a DJI camera quadcopter has made the Top Pick. The Phantom 4 PRO+ (PRO Plus) bundle is an incredible drone that comes with an entire kit of must-have accessories.

• Best feature 1: Obstacle sensing in five directions
• Best feature 2: Controller w/ integrated touchscreen display
• Plus points: Intelligent flight modes, 4K 60fps video, phenomenal range, long flying time
• Minus points: Patchy firmware updates, manual needs revising

Obstacle avoidance is one of the must-have features with a costly quality quadcopter. The Phantom 4 PRO+ has Obstacle Sensing in five directions when flown in Beginner and Tripod modes.

The Phantom 4 PRO Plus’s Dedicated Controller

This quad comes with a dedicated remote controller that has a bright integrated 5.5″ touchscreen. That means you don’t have to use a smartphone to control this puppy. The 2.4GHz/5.8GHz compatible controller uses DJI’s GO software. Its rechargeable battery lasts around 5-hours with regular screen use. The physical controls include dedicated buttons for full camera operations.

Flying the DJI Phantom 4 PRO+

This is an easy drone to fly despite its state-of-the-art sophistication. The Intelligent flight modes certainly make light work of piloting. Reverse TapFly is a simple control that takes incredible selfies and group shots at the tap of a finger. DRAW is an ingenious feature where you draw a line or path for the drone to follow—and back—while capturing footage as it flies.

Gesture (hand) controls proved popular with the DJI Mavic Pro. That’s why they rolled “Gesture” out to the Phantom 4 Pro+. There are often situations when users want to fly their drone close by to capture something, someone, or someplace on impulse. Getting the drone airborne and camera ready in an instant using hand waves is the ideal solution.

The advanced return-to-home features ensure the quad always navigates back to its home point.

Aerial Photography and Videography

Aerial photography and videography with the DJI Phantom 4 PRO+ never fail to impress. The drone is as steady as they come in the air. It produces breathtaking gimbal-stabilized 4K 60 fps video and incredible 20-megapixel stills. The camera has a large 1-inch 20MP CMOS sensor and a mechanical shutter. To put that into perspective, it’s four times the size of a quality GoPro HERO 5 action camera.

The long 4.3-mile (7 km) range and 30-minute flight time are other invaluable attributes. It means you have time and distance on your side to access and film otherwise impossible-to-reach locations. There’s a plethora of spectacular YouTube videos that illustrate this point beautifully.

The Not So Good

One of the main gripes with the DJI Phantom 4 PRO+ are the firmware updates. Not everyone has issues, but there are enough reports to know they can be buggy for some. The manual for this drone is also in need of an update. My advice is to go online and make sure you have the latest PDF version.

4. Force1 UFO 3000 Mini LED Quadcopter for Kids

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Editor’s Rating: 4.3/5.0

Force1’s mini quadcopter is especially appealing to kids with its unique UFO design. It also stands up well to those beginner prangs. Its durable design makes it a great first time choice for newbie pilots.

• Best feature 1: Unique durable design
• Best feature 2: Two speed options
• Plus points: Easy to fly, neon-style LEDs, 1-Key 360° flips, bonus battery, customer service
• Minus points: Short flight time, hard for younger kids to master

This UFO type quad is a lightweight yet sturdy model. It has an ultra-stable frame and decent propeller guards to protect the props and pilots. It’s a good choice for flying indoors or outside on calm days.

Flying the UFO3000 2.4G Quadcopter

The UFO 3000 Mini comes with two available speeds. The slower pace gives youngsters the time and confidence they need to practice stress-free flying. The slow speed is also preferable for indoor flights. It’s one of the simpler drones to fly in its category. That’s why it’s so appealing to first-time pilots.

The neon-style bright LED lights add further to the quad’s attraction. The vibrant lights look super cool and allow for flying in the dark. Kids get to impress their friends with fancy 360° flips and stunts. These one-touch tricks are so much easier to perform than they look. The quad comes with some useful extra parts as well. These include a spare set of propellers and a bonus battery.

The Not So Good

It’s just as well there’s a bonus battery in the box with the abysmal 7-minute flight time. Charging takes 90 minutes, so that’s on the long side compared to some rival quads. This drone is fun and easy to fly but may prove difficult for some preteens without adult supervision.

5. RyzeTello Quadcopter Drone (Powered by DJI)

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Editor’s Rating: 4.6/5.0

The RyzeTello drone is for anyone who wants fun while learning about quadcopters. It’s a feature-packed little drone despite its affordable price tag. Best of all is that it’s powered by DJI technology.

• Best feature 1: Affordable indoor training quadcopter
• Best feature 2: Built-in HD FPV camera
• Plus points: Throw & Go, auto takeoff/landing, app/phone control, stunts, learn & create
• Minus points: Useless in windy conditions, needs extras to exploit full potential

Consider the RyzeTello if you want to explore the world of aerial photography and videography. It comes with a built-in 5MP 720p MP4 HD FPV (First Person View) camera. Those are hardly award-winning optics. Still, the footage is decent enough to enjoy and practice one’s aerial filming skills.

Flying the RyzeTello Quadcopter Drone

All it takes to launch this cute little camera quadcopter is a simple toss into the air. It’s what the makers call the Throw & Go feature. There’s even a bounce mode to get you comfortable with palm launches. The drone simply flies up and down (bounces) from your hand on autopilot. There’s also the single-tap take-off & landing and precision hovering. These are all fun and easy flight functions.

The free Tello app has a user-friendly interface and plenty of touch-friendly controls. The app works with both Google Android and Apple iOS devices. You can also control the drone with Bluetooth controllers. Flight time is around 13-minutes on a single charge. That’s not long, but it’s a tad longer than most other quadcopters in this price category.

There are a couple of failsafe features with the RyzeTello. One is the battery alarm that lets you know once it gets low on power so that you can bring it home. The other failsafe feature is auto-landing. It works by safely bringing the craft down if it loses connection. That’s valuable as it prevents the dreaded flyaways and inevitable crashes that some drones experience.

The Not So Good

You can fly the RyzeTello indoors and outside—on calm days. It’s not wise to fly it outside in winds that exceed 8mph. The other disadvantage is that the quad needs extras to exploit its full potential. These include a remote controller and goggles if you want a fully immersive First Person View (FPV) experience. These two things would likely add another 80 dollars to the price—if you want them.

6. DJI Spark Alpine White Camera Drone w/ Controller

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Editor’s Rating: 4.5/5.0

DJI’s Spark is a well-made camera quad. It has a plethora of smart features and flight capabilities.The drone is only the size of a regular smartphone, and that makes it an excellent travel companion.

• Best feature 1: Gimbal stabilized camera
• Best feature 2: HD Wi-Fi Video Transmission
• Plus points: Hand gestures, TapFly, ActiveTrack, DJI GO 4 app, intelligent flight modes
• Minus points: Not foldable, low average battery life

The Spark boasts a tiny impressive gimbal-stabilized 12MP camera with a 1/2.3” sensor. The 2-axis mechanical gimbal and camera sit flush with the craft for added stability. The video shoots at 1080P and produces cinematic quality aerial footage. Best of all is that you can edit and upload all footage to social media in seconds. That’s thanks to the easy templates and filters from within the DJI GO 4 app.

Flying the DJI Spark

The high-quality build of the DJI Spark is noticeable the moment you take it out of the box. The controller is equally as impressive. It feels great in the hands and has a foldable clamp to accommodate Android or iOS smartphones. Connecting a phone to the controller is a doddle. Anyone at any level can fly the DJI Spark despite it being a high-tech and feature-rich quadcopter.

You can launch the drone from your hand using its FaceAware (face recognition) technology. Simple hand gesture control is an easy way to fly the Spark. Hand gestures are perfect when you don’t want to use the controller and mobile device. There are flight and range restrictions with hand gestures, though. Use the controller with a phone for full flying features and First Person View (FPV).

Flying this small-sized camera quadcopter is straightforward stuff. None of the features and piloting takes long to grasp, not even at the beginner level. That’s half the appeal of DJI’s Spark.

The Not So Good

The DJI Spark fits easily into a small bag, but it doesn’t fold down like the DJI Mavic series. It would be even easier to pack if it had foldable arms. The battery life (flight time) is another disappointment. You could get 16 minutes by flying at a constant speed on a windless day, but who does that? The reality is closer to 12–13 minutes, so most folks add extra batteries to the cost.

7. DJI Phantom 3 Standard Camera Quadcopter

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Editor’s Rating: 4.4/5.0

The DJI Phantom 3 Standard is an incredible mid-range camera quadcopter with a lot to offer. It’s an excellent introduction to anyone serious about looking into aerial photography and videography.

• Best feature 1: Automatic Flight Assistant
• Best feature 2: First Person View (FPV) 12MP Camera
• Plus points: 3-axis gyro, dedicated controller, app/smartphone control, long flight time
• Minus points: Instructions not beginner-friendly, plasticky remote, app eats battery

Some pilots see the DJI Phantom 3 Standard as a pet drone as it fits in well with lifestyles. It’s a user-friendly, fully-integrated camera quad that’s ready-to-fly (RTF) right out of its box.

Flying the DJI Phantom 3 Standard Camera Quad

Connect your Android or iOS mobile device to the controller to fly the DJI Phantom 3 Standard. You’re then set up to receive a bird’s-eye view from the sky straight to the mobile screen. Seeing the HD live view for the first time is an unforgettable experience, and it never dulls. The remote/phone combo provides a wealth of fingertip controls for the drone and its camera.

The drone incorporates a built-in GPS and DJI’s intelligent flight system. These things combined give user’s peace of mind as they pilot this capable quad. The auto hover and return-to-home features reassure users each time they take to the skies. The flight time is a decent 23 minutes with a transmission range of around half a mile. The Phantom 3 Standard also has Intelligent Flight Modes.

Intelligent modes include ‘Follow Me’ and ‘Point of Interest.’ The latter circles and films around a set point or subject. The waypoints let you set altitude and speed on a flight map. You then tap GO, and the drone follows the waypoints leaving pilots to concentrate solely on the camera.

Filming with the DJI Phantom 3 Standard

Traditional handheld photography can never be the same again. There’s no going back once you’ve experienced the incredible aerial footage from a DJI Phantom. No more boring holiday or event snaps or shaky amateur video. No one needs to be an expert anymore to produce professional grade video and photos. That’s the beauty and flexibility of this easy-to-use, quality quadcopter.

The included camera shoots crisp 2.7K Ultra-HD video at 30 frames per second (fps). It captures 12-megapixel (MP) photos in JPEG and RAW file format.

The Not So Good

There are three shared gripes for the DJI Phantom 3 Standard. The first is with the instructions. It’s an easy camera quad to fly, but for some reason, the guide is unnecessarily complicated. And the controller does an excellent job, but some complain that it feels cheap and plasticky. It’s reliable, but poorly made compared to the drone it supports. And finally, the app tends to drain the battery fast.

8. DJI Mavic Air Fly More BundleFoldable Drone

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Editor’s Rating: 4.7/5.0

The DJI Mavic Air offers something for everyone at any skill level. The small foldable design makes it ultra portable, but it’s also as capable as it is cute. This review looks at the Mavic Air’s best features.

• Best feature 1: Ultraportable, foldable design
• Best feature 2: 3-axis mechanical gimbal w/ 4K camera
• Plus points: Foldable controller, flight time, obstacle avoidance, built-in storage, ActiveTrack
• Minus points: Noisy, poor access to MicroSD slot, no side sensors

This bundle includes the DJI dedicated, ergonomic foldable remote controller. The controller has a device clamp to accommodate a regular smartphone.

The DJI Mavic Air’s Camera

It’s a small and portable drone but big on features and an excellent travel quadcopter. The camera may be tiny, but it’s not short on power. Footage is shake-free thanks to the 3-axis stabilized tiltable gimbal. It captures detailed 12MP stills and shoots spectacular video in 4K Ultra-HD up to 30 frames per second (fps). There’s an option for slow-motion Full-HD (FHD) video as well, up to 120fps.

It’s fair to say the Mavic Air records more detailed footage than its rivals of similar size. The lens is a sharp, wide-angle 24mm piece of quality glass with an 85° field of view (FOV).

Flying the DJI Mavic Air

DJI’s Mavic Air takes lots of the best bits from other DJI drones and packs them into a tiny body. The company says it’s a work of art that produces works of art. It has potential in the right hands for sure. It’s undoubtedly a user-friendly quadcopter that has plenty of simple flight and camera controls. The first thing new users notice is how stable the craft is as well as being light and agile in the air.

This little drone can stay up for at least 20 minutes on a full battery. It has an impressive range of 2.4 miles (4 km). That means it can go places the user would not otherwise be able to reach let alone film. It’s fast too and copes remarkably well in windy conditions and at higher altitudes. Other impressive features include front and rear obstacle avoidance technology and built-in card storage.

Impressive Flight features

The new ActiveTrack is incredibly smart as it features multiple object detection. And the Air’s QuickShot modes include Circle, Boomerang, Asteroid, Dronie, Rocket, and Helix. All it takes to activate any of these are simple tap commands. SmartCapture gives pilots the convenience of gesture control. Hand gestures are ideal when you want to shoot close by without a smartphone or controller.

The Mavic Air is available in various colors and backed up by an entire suite of smart accessories. It should make the shortlist of anyone who’s looking for power and portability in a quality drone.

The Not So Good

This little quadcopter makes quite a racket when it flies, and sounds like it’s straining. There’s nothing wrong with it—it’s just that the sound becomes annoying after a while. It’s especially irritating when flying up close and personal using hand gestures. Another common gripe is how difficult it is to access the MicroSD card slot for folks with larger hands.

The Mavic Air has decent obstacle avoidance for the front and rear of the craft. There aren’t any side sensors so be mindful of that fact when flying this otherwise near-perfect bird.