The Best 10 Drones for Beginners

KIKE CALVO

8 years ago

Parrot-Jumping-Sumo-drone-and-rolling-spider-drone ON KIKE CALVO BLOG

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This post is the latest in the Drones and Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Special Series, which profiles interesting information, thoughts and research into using drones, UAVs or remotely piloted vehicles for journalism and photography, that Kike learns about during his travels.

1. Hubsan H107D FPV X4 Mini RTF Quadcopter: With 6 Axis Gyro Stabilization and immersive FPV flight, it allows you to record flight video into an SD Card.

BUY: Hubsan H107D

2. Nano QX RTF with SAFE: This little mini-copter received the 2014 Editor´s Choice – Innovation of the Year by Airplane Magazine. Its tough and light weighted, and its airframe comes with blade guards. It features exclusive SAFE technology with stability and agility modes. The Nano QX RTF comes with a radio. You don’t need to buy one. But be aware you will need to buy separately a DSMX compatible radio if you get the BNF version (bind and fly.)

BUY: Nano QX RTF with SAFE

3. Walkera Ladybird V2 Lady Bug RTF Quadcopter Drone Quad with Devo 4 Transmitter: This copter is the smallest Quadcopter with ladybird canopy. It comes ready to fly with a Devo 4 Radio, receiver, battery and a charger. It features a Walkera 6 axis gyro control system.

BUY: Walkera Ladybird V2 Lady Bug

4. The Hubsan X4, an Old Time Favorite: Along with the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Quadricopter, this 4 Channel 2.4GHz RC Quadcopter helped me polished my flying skills on my early beginnings. Need some skills? Get a Hubsan X4 today.

BUY: Hubsan X4 / Parrot AR.Drone 2.0

5. Jumping Sumo with FPV: The Parrot MiniDrone Jumping Sum jumps over 2.5 feet high and always falls back on its wheels. Its equipped with a wide angle camera that streams live immersive views on the piloting screen. I am sure the Parrot MiniDrone Jumping Sumo will bring lots of fun to your home.

BUY: Parrot MiniDrone Jumping Sumo

6. Syma X1 4 Channel 2.4G RC Quad Copter – UFO: With a dual fly mode Indoor/Outdoor and a 2.4GHz Radio control, it provides stabilty and agility in flight, allowing you to experiment with 3D maneuvers like pirouettes 3D fun flips and rolls. Controlling distance is about 35 Meters.

BUY: Syma X1 4 Channel 2.4G RC Quad Copter – UFO

7. Parrot MiniDrone Rolling Spider White: An ultra-compact drone with amazing stability and speed, indoors and outdoors from the creators of the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0. It allows you to take aerial shots, so selfies from the sky with its embedded vertical mini-camera are now possible. The wheels are removable, so it can roll across the floor, up the walls or across the ceiling.

BUY: Parrot MiniDrone Rolling Spider White

8. Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Elite Edition Quadricopter: This copter was my first approach to the world of remote control quadricopters. It even came in my photo bag to CERN in Geneva while I was part of a multidisciplinary team at Yale University working on he project ¨Discovering the Higgs through Physics, Dance and Photography.¨ It is controlled using an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, capturing 720p high-definition live video, that is stream & recorded into your smartphone or tablet while you are flying.

BUY. Parrot AR.Drone Elite Edition

9. DJI Phantom 1 Quadcopter: With a maximum horizontal speed of 22 miles/hour (10 meters/second), the Phantom is a complete quadcopter and remote transmitter, pre-tuned by the factory and ready in minutes! Outdoor flight is made possible by advanced GPS positioning that compensates for light wind.

BUY: DJI Phantom 1 Quadcopter

10. Estes 4606 Proto X Nano R/C Quadcopter: Sometimes good things come in very small sizes. This copter, made of a plastic body, has a detail LED light that indicates front and back of the machine. It also helps the pilot fly low light. It comes with a 2.4GHz Radio.