How to Buy a Drone: Drone Buyers’ Guide

Transcript

– Are you wondering, should I buy a drone? Mmh! What is the best drone to buy? If so, this video is for you. I once was in your shoes, I wanted to know like what’s the best drone to buy and I ended up buying one that was recommended, but later I ended up selling because it was not what I needed in the end. So I’m here to save you some time and provide you with the best tips to look for if you’re thinking about, should I buy a drone? If you’re thinking about, you know, best drones for beginners, all of that, this is what this video is intended for, it is a drone buying guide. And yes, I could give you a list of drones to buy, and that’s gonna come later on, so make sure you subscribe to this channel, All Things Drone, I’m Kim, the creator, and I’m gonna be talking about all that stuff, all things related to drone, to help you with being a better drone flyer, to help you with purchasing your first drone, all of that. Just know that I’m based in the U.S, and this is my experience in rules and regulations for flying within the U.S. I wanna start with the basics of what you should look for before you buy a drone, because you don’t wanna get in my shoes where I’m like, dang, this drone does not do what I needed to do and it’s only because I didn’t pay attention to the specs, and what is it comparison to other drones and things like that. So let’s talk about things to look for and how to buy a drone and a drone buying guide. First thing you need to consider is your budget, and understand the drone range cost. Of course, when you start to spend, you know, the base price of maybe 100 bucks, you’re gonna get what you pay for. But know that drones can go up to thousands of dollars and knowing that helps you understand what you need to budget for, and exactly if a drone is for you. But if you want something that’s lower cost, you have to consider, you might be sacrificing things like quality of the video, quality of images, battery, all that stuff, and we’ll get into it. But definitely consider your budget and weigh that against the cost. And if you don’t have the budget for a new drone, you can also find drones on eBay, but knowing these things that I’m gonna tell you, that will help you be able to find, you know, ask the right questions before you purchase a drone. So definitely pay attention to cost and budget that you’re comfortable with. Another thing to pay attention to is the weight of the drone. So when you’re looking at specs, pay attention to the drone weight. Because if it weighs above 0.55 pounds or 250 grams, you have to register it with the FAA and pay $5. So understand the weight, and of course, when you’re thinking about weight, if you’re wanting something light, you have to kind of understand that something that’s under 250 grams is more along the size of what you see in a DJI Mavic Mini in the 1 and 2. So definitely pay attention to the weight, and just so you know, as far as different regulations can take place within different states and local municipalities, as far as what the weight must be, so pay attention to the weight and going forward when you do research on where you can fly. Another thing to consider before purchasing a drone is the camera, you wanna know the camera specs, does it shoot in, you know, 4K, 8K? What does it shoot in? When I first brought my drone, it was a Mavic mini and it only shot up to 2.7K, which was okay for at the time but my cell phone, my GoPro, all of that shot in 4K. So if I have footage from, you know, a trip, I’d have to kind of rearrange it so that they would all be the same quality when I make one big video. So that’s just something to consider. And then with the camera specs, understand as far as for photos, make sure it actually takes photos too, and that you’re pleased with that quality as far as the mega pixels. And then you also wanna understand if you can shoot footage raw and that’s important because if you’re someone that’s going into, you know, maybe print your photos or do something, you’re able to edit raw footage, raw camera footage for photos and raw video footage better when you have that. If you don’t have that raw capability, it’s gonna be hard to edit some of those footage that you get. So if you’re shooting in a cloudy day or shooting something that’s not raw, it’s gonna be hard. So you wanna pay attention to if you have the capability to do raw footage. You know, 4K is really great to have, especially if you intend to use that footage in the future for professional paid things or stuff like that. Another thing to consider is if the drone comes with the gimbal, which is, and here’s the drone right here, and this is the gimbal. But basically you wanna understand if you have a two access or a three axis gimbal, it helps with keeping your video steady, it just helps to have a gimbal period so that you’re not having just like an electronic stabilization. Another thing to pay attention to is the flight time. So you wanna know what can you get with one battery? Because most of the times, if you buy a standard drone, it comes with one battery. And that can range as low as 10 to 15 minutes or 20 to 30. And when you’re just starting out 10 to 15 minutes isn’t long. By the time you get that in the air and fly it a little bit further away, it might be time to bring it back. So pay attention to the flight time and look at the specs for that. This drone that I use gets anywhere from about 25 to 30 minutes per battery. You wanna know the range that the drone flies. So if the drone basically how far away it can fly away from you without losing signal. So that’s important because if it’s something that’s on the smaller scale, you know, that might not be good for you because you’re not able to fly at far and not get, you know, any good shots. But at the same time, just because it’s a drone that flies far away, you don’t wanna just lose sight of the drone. You’re never supposed to lose sight of the drone. You always wanna keep sight of that so that you don’t lose your drone, that’s a very important. You can harm people, buildings, you can get in a lot of trouble if you lose sight of your drone, not to mention, if it gets lost, you have just wasted basically a lot of money. Another thing to consider is safety measures that are in place. So for example, there’s a thing called obstacle avoidance. And that is where the drone can actually avoid obstacles. I have the DJI Mavic Air 2, but I know that the Skydio drones are really supposed to be kind of taught for obstacle avoidance. This one does pretty well, but I did not know about obstacle avoidance the first time I brought a drone, so I brought a Mavic Mini the first one, and it doesn’t have obstacle avoidance. I thought all drones had that, but they don’t. So you’ll see here in this footage where the drone actually flies into the tree because I thought it had obstacle avoidance, and I was using one of the quick shots, which you’ll learn about later as you start to become more familiar with drones. So you wanna pay attention to obstacle avoidance, as well as being able to detect if other aircraft are in the area. I liked that my drone has the ability to tell me like aircraft is entering my altitude, so my airspace, so it’s like a helicopter, anything. But don’t just rely on all of these things, you wanna pay attention and judge and assess things for yourself. Another thing is GPS. Does the drone have GPS? So GPS, plain and simple, being able to basically keep track of your drone is imperative, especially if you do happen to lose your drone, there’s features that you can do as far as find my drone, and also just GPS being able to fly back home. So there’s a way that you can fly your drones back to the starting point, and that’s all made possible with GPS. OcuSync is one feature of DJI, which helps create a better transmission frequency between the drone and the controller. So that’s another important thing because you don’t wanna lose connection to your drone and just suck up in the air, and you don’t know what’s going on. That’s happened to me sometimes on the Mavic Mini, the first one. The DJI Mavic Mini 2 does have OcuSync. And the other thing to think about before purchasing a drone as of June of this year, which is 2021, you have to take a trust test, and this is for everyone. In the past, tests were only two people that wanted to become licensed drone pilots what I am, and make money professionally with the drone. But if you’re a recreational flyer, you must take the trust test, and it is like a 30 minute course, and you have to take the questions at the end, to learn more about the drone. So you get proof of that at the end, so that you can show to anyone that ask, you know, if you’re stopped by a police or whatnot, you have that, you must take that going forward. Also consider warranties and insurance before buying a drone. I have the DJI Refresh, which is suppose to replace my drone, even if I lose it or it crashes, that is something you need to consider if you wanna do that or insurance. Because if you’re spending, you know, some of the high-end drones, you wanna be able to protect that from crashes and things like that. And also you wanna pay attention to wind resistance. The drones, you know, they’re rated for being able to withstand certain winds up to X amount of miles per hour. You wanna pay attention to that because that’s something you’re gonna wanna know when you’re flying, and if you’re someone that lives in a windy area or you’re buying it during a windy time of the year, you know, you just wanna understand that before you plunk money down. So these are just a few things to consider before you purchase that drone. I wish I had known that, I started out with a Mavic Mini, and it just wasn’t for me, the one, it had only a low quality of, you know, video footage is 2.7K, this is the first one, the second one has better quality, but two, it was like too light for me. So it didn’t withstand some of the winds that made me comfortable with even just flying around the beach water, stuff like that. And it made me nervous how small it was when I was flying around seagulls and birds near the beach. So it just wasn’t for me, but I just wish I had known these things to look for, so that as I grew and become more comfortable with drones, I, you know, could have started with something different. I don’t see any problem with starting with the Mavic Air had I known. But if you wanna learn about, you know, which are the best drones for beginners, do me a favor and drop a comment and say, yes, I wanna know more or, you know, something along those lines in the comments, make sure you’re subscribed and turn on the bell for notifications, so that you will know when I post that next video about the best drones for beginners. And then there’s a link in my description that gives you a checklist of more things that you can look for before you purchase a drone. So it’s simple, quick and easy. So you have it with you when you’re, you know, going through online and looking at different drones. Again, my name is Kim, and I’m the creator of All Things Drone, and I’ll see you next time.