Which of the DJI drone line up  would you advise your best friend (with some drone experience) to buy?

This drone is to be used as a hobby mainly with some occasional 'odd jobs' here and there

Please justify your answer in the comments and thank you for your participation!

#WhichDroneShouldIgetNext

All of the listed drones could be used to capture 4K footage for hobby/commercial flying. More information will be needed in order to recommend the best drone. For starters:

1) What's the friend's budget?
2) What kind of hobby flying will be done?
3) What kind of odd jobs will be done?

msinger Posted at 12-10 07:06
All of the listed drones could be used to capture 4K footage for hobby/commercial flying. More information will be needed in order to recommend the best drone. For starters:

1) What's the friend's budget?

Hi msinger,

1) My friends wants to spend as little money as possible. (1000€ max)

2) As a hobbyist we wants to shoot some videos of him and his family, some landscape and take nice pictures.

3) The 'odds jobs' are participation in weddings as a drone pilot, some commercial photo shooting here and there. Nothing he is pursuing as a career.

Thank you for your input so far!

If on a budget it’s well worth checking the usual secondhand/auction sites. You probably won’t find a Mavic Pro2 for a few hundred dollars but there are some very capable platforms that will perform admirably albeit with two or three year old tech.

A few examples of my recent purchases:

I recently acquired a pair of Blade Chroma’s for $250. Both in excellent condition and boxed. One was equipped with the CGO3 4K camera and the other had the Yuneec 3axis GoPro  gimbal and MK-58 5.8GHz Wireless link. Both came with a SteadyGrip each.

Another cheap acquisition was a Simtoo Dragonfly Pro2 folding drone, with 4K camera, 3axis gimbal, controller, and GPS watch. This was virtually brand new only having two flights under its belt. I paid less than $50. These Simtoo drones don’t have the best reputations but they can be made to perform very well if you have a working knowledge of Ardupilot.

More recently I acquired a Yuneec Q500, boxed with all accessories, for $150.

All of the above are using what many might consider to be old tech. However I believe that many owners bought into the Drone Goldrush a few years ago and the novelty for them quickly wore off and their purchases were just left to gather dust.

Regards

Nidge.

Nidge Posted at 12-11 06:41
If on a budget it’s well worth checking the usual secondhand/auction sites. You probably won’t find a Mavic Pro2 for a few hundred dollars but there are some very capable platforms that will perform admirably albeit with two or three year old tech.

A few examples of my recent purchases:

Wow Nidge, you've made some very interesting deals recently.

What do you do to all of those drones? Do you use them all or sell them again?

The idea here with the budget is to have a good 4K drone that is extremely portable and light.

o_laparoto Posted at 12-11 07:23
Wow Nidge, you've made some very interesting deals recently.

What do you do to all of those drones? Do you use them all or sell them again?

I’m a hoarder with too much time on my hands.  

I got into the whole multi-rotor thing back in 2012 when I was forced to retire due to illness., and it sort of spiralled out of control after that. Surprisingly my wife still hasn’t left me yet, and yes I keep them all. I also build quite a fair few.

I mentioned it before in other threads that if I wasn’t doing this I’d just end up watching Netflix all day, eating chocolate pudding, in my underwear.

Regards

Nidge.

Nidge Posted at 12-11 09:14
I’m a hoarder with too much time on my hands.  

I got into the whole multi-rotor thing back in 2012 when I was forced to retire due to illness., and it sort of spiralled out of control after that. Surprisingly my wife still hasn’t left me yet, and yes I keep them all. I also build quite a fair few.

Well it is a cool hobby like any other, so it's fair game to me.

You just need to keep it under control

i suggest mavic air to people who may or may not have drone experience but want a comparable capable drone that wont completely bust the bank. they may want to use it for something "pro" level and with mavic air its technically possible with practice and its far more capable than people assume for its size.  it a great drone for next few years for exploring and learning and dabbling into light pro work.  and its i think more portable to travel with an even the spark.

for people who think the spark is better option i argue that depends on the person.. no drone experience and is younger like below 15 years old and bound to lose it or crash it one day or something or someone who doesn't need any extra options or flight time or even range just need a point and shoot in the sky and someone wont break the bank.... yes, the spark great for that but that's after that it starts becoming more limited..   going to be hard to use it professionally..

mavic 2 pro while amazing drone.. 2 issues.. 1.. price and 2.. overwhelming to many lesser experienced people... hell my mavic pro (1st gen) when i sold it to my friend he needed lessons because he felt overwhelmed, he though he understood it because he flown before but once he started getting balls deep into flying it he realized he was at a bit of a loss what certain things mean and how to handle certain situations which seem intuitive to most of us.   like a very simple one.. focus, he somehow got it into manual focus mode and was upset and confused why its blurry and tap to focus didn't work..  simpler things that without some foundation to mount from can end up being a bigger hassle even though they are minor issues for anyone with moderate experience..

o_laparoto Posted at 2018-12-10 07:31
Hi msinger,

1) My friends wants to spend as little money as possible. (1000€ max)

Mavic Air based on those details

A CW Posted at 1-7 07:50
Mavic Air based on those details

That is what he ended up buying this DJI winter sale!

o_laparoto Posted at 1-7 07:52
That is what he ended up buying this DJI winter sale!

Good for him - great little drone for less than a grand to start out on

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-12-19 23:49
i suggest mavic air to people who may or may not have drone experience but want a comparable capable drone that wont completely bust the bank. they may want to use it for something "pro" level and with mavic air its technically possible with practice and its far more capable than people assume for its size.  it a great drone for next few years for exploring and learning and dabbling into light pro work.  and its i think more portable to travel with an even the spark.

for people who think the spark is better option i argue that depends on the person.. no drone experience and is younger like below 15 years old and bound to lose it or crash it one day or something or someone who doesn't need any extra options or flight time or even range just need a point and shoot in the sky and someone wont break the bank.... yes, the spark great for that but that's after that it starts becoming more limited..   going to be hard to use it professionally..

Thank you HereForTheBeer for your 3 very valid suggestion, which I agree with.

The Spark might be a bit too less of Pro features, the Mavic Air maybe just enough Pro features and the Mavic 2 Pro overwhelming Pro features for a less experience drone pilot.