As a new drone flyer/Pilots, it will be better to know how to Choose Your First DJI Drone.

For most experienced drones Pilots, parameters of drones show the Performance & limit of the drones, but if you are new flyer without the experience of DJI drones, how should you Choose Your First DJI Drone?

According to the statistics of some after-sales departments of drone companies, about 70% of new flyers will blow up their drones within a month, most of the reasons are Operation Error when flying!!!

If a new flyer blows up his/her drone as soon as he/she get the drone, What is the significance of the performance of the drone? So when new flyers going to purchase new DJI drone, it is no need to consider drones with complex and very advanced parameters. The safety, stability, and reliability of drones are the most important!

*Safety of drones – obstacle avoidance

What is the most common reason for blowing drones up for new flyers?

(1)The first is that they are not familiar with the operating rules of the drone. For example, Many new Pilots will drive their new drones unscrupulously in a narrow room, then drone out of control because there is no GPS signal, causing the drone to hit the wall.

(2)Second, When flying outdoors, they do not notice the poor GPS signal when taking off, which Cause the drone to drift and hit the wall.

(3)Third, many new flyers don’t pay attention to the head of the drone when flying, lose the sense of direction when operating the remote control lever, wrong shot, leading to a wall crash.

(4)Fourth, new flyers fly the drone to the back of the building, lost the signal and then triggered the automatic return, but hit the wall because the return altitude was not enough.

To new flyers, hitting the wall when flying is the No. 1 killer in the drone flying industry.

Suggestion: When purchasing a drone, the new flyers should purchase one with obstacle avoidance capability. Although the drone with obstacle avoidance function generally has a higher price, it is better to come with a avoid obstacles than to come without avoiding obstacles.

The price is high, but it is more cost-effective than the maintenance cost after the bomber.
In addition, drones with obstacle avoidance features generally have better visual positioning capabilities. The drone can also hover stably in a room with the poor GPS signal, greatly reducing the risk of the bomber.

*Transmission of drones – stability

When buying, Many professional Pilots will pay special attention to the Maximum distance of the transmission of drones. It is true that the distance of the transmission determines how far the drone can fly, But it does not represent the true performance of the drone transmission. The distance of the transmission traveled by the manufacturer is measured in an ideal environment without interference in the wild, but the actual environment is impossible without interference. To most of the new flyers, they are afraid of when the drone fly a few hundred meters away, flying a few kilometers away is neither safe nor necessary.

Suggestion: Compared with the maximum distance of transmission of drones, the new flyers should pay more attention to the stability of the transmission.

How can I know if the drone’s transmission is reliable or not? Look at the following two points:

1/ Directional antennas can increase the transmission distance, but new flyers do not pay attention to the antenna pointing, it is easy to lose signal even at close range. The drones connected only by mobile phones have relatively poor transmission stability. Compared to a remote control designed specifically for drones, the of anti-interference ability the Mobile phone is weaker because of the Limited by built-in antenna design and transmit power limitations. So the new flyers should not buy cheap drones, it will be better to buy a drone with remote control.
2/ Coming with remote control, a drone using a directional antenna, its transmission stability is relatively poor. The directional antenna must face the drone then the signal will be stable. But most of the flyers have no idea about this, When flying the drone in a short distance, the antenna direction is not aligned with the drone, So there is a sudden loss of signal. In contrast, omnidirectional antennas are less likely to lose signals. Therefore, it is best for the new flyers to purchase a drone come with an omnidirectional antenna.
The remote control distance of the omnidirectional antenna is shorter than that of the directional antenna, but the pointing requirement is lower and stable at a close distance.

*A battery of Drone — stability

When buying drones, many people also pay close attention to their battery life. Some new flyer complain that: the phone can be used about the whole day, Why the drone’s battery life is less than half an hour? In fact, the experienced flyers know the reason: The average aerial shooting time is around 10-15 minutes. Half an hour of battery life is enough for many experienced flyers.

Suggestion: Compared with the maximum battery lifetime, flyers should pay attention to the stability of the battery.

One of the hardest problems for new flyers is not the endurance time, it also is enough for them to be able to fly for about 10 minutes. Some newbies, they insist on flying even when the battery is low, forget to count the time amount of return. Some newcomers only discovered it when they were under a low voltage warning, but it is too late to return. Now lots of drones are equipped with smart batteries, the smart battery can calculate the flight distance and judge that the remaining power is enough or not to return to the flight, promptly reminding the flyers, which will avoid the bomber.

In addition, the maintenance of the drone battery is extremely important. Mobile phone batteries are used every day, and the batteries are often charged and discharged, which is easy to maintain; However, the frequency of use and the frequency of charging and discharging of drone batteries are much lower than those of mobile phones. Many new flyers do not know how to maintain drones batteries. The battery is easily accelerated due to long-term non-use, which will affect flight safety.
Fortunately, many drones batteries now come with smart charging and discharging design.

*Three-axis gimbal of Drone — steady

When buying drones, flight performance is one aspect that should be thinking about, camera performance is another aspect. Some new flyers are not familiar with drones, but they have some understanding of the camera, knowing to pay attention to camera parameters at the first time: resolution, 4K, frame rate, bit rate and so on. But most of the new flyers don’t know that, the drone photography is very different from ground shooting: when drone photography, not only the shaking of the drone during flight will cause the camera picture to be unstable, the high-frequency jitter caused by the rotation of the drone’s propellers will also cause the jelly effect on the screen.

Three-axis gimbal with three motors can offset the drone’s jitter.

When buying drones, as a new flyer, rather than see if the parameters are powerful, it is better to think about whether this drone is suitable for you, and What is the actual flight experience of the drone.

*Suggestion:

For new flyers, when choosing the new drones, it will be better to think about the following four points:
(1)Come with automatic obstacle avoidance
(2)Transmission is stable and reliable and uses an omnidirectional antenna
(3)Use smart battery design
(4)Using a three-axis gimbal

Here Recommended: DJI Spark / Mavic Air

NOTED: The new flyers should read more several times and understand the manual, practice more, and be familiar with the flying app.
Pay attention to the practice site: should fly the drones in an open space without obstacles.

-- AMZPOW

Hi, guys, How to Choose Your First DJI Drone if you are A New drone Pilots?

Thanks for sharing!

jacksonnai Posted at 2-4 07:52
Thanks for sharing!

hope this will be helpful to new flyers

Good info
Mine decision was based on:
- Camera options
- Flight time
- Price

So I went for a second hand Mavic Pro

"According to the statistics of some after-sales departments of drone companies, about 70% of new flyers will blow up their drones within a month, most of the reasons are Operation Error when flying!!!"
I would be interested in seeing the source of those statistics.

"(4)Using a three-axis gimbal
Here Recommended: DJI Spark / Mavic Air"
You list the 4 points that you say new potential buyers must note, and then recommend the Spark which has a 2-axis gimbal ?

  

Montfrooij Posted at 2-6 09:57
Good info
Mine decision was based on:
- Camera options

I think you are a flyer with some experience of flying and photography， because camera and flight time are also in your base. Am I right ?

Harbourside Posted at 2-6 10:26
"According to the statistics of some after-sales departments of drone companies, about 70% of new flyers will blow up their drones within a month, most of the reasons are Operation Error when flying!!!"
I would be interested in seeing the source of those statistics.

Thanks for your info, yes, you are right, the spark comes with 2-axis gimbal, the air comes with 3-axis gimbal. As a new flyer, I chose the air, one of my friends chose the spark, we had Compared with these two drones (air and spark) after using some days ( about 2-3 months), we found that the spark and the air are almost the same stability, even though the spark only has 2-axis gimbal. So here I also recommend the spark.

AMZPOW Posted at 2-6 19:35
I think you are a flyer with some experience of flying and photography， because camera and flight time are also in your base. Am I right ?

I have been taking pictures since I was a kid. (feels ages ago)
Only hobby, but I think I have made at least 100.000 pictures in my life
A drone was just the thing I wanted to add to my bag to give a new option for creating nice images. (and video of course)
I am far from a pro,  but I know my way around a camera and even though the Mavic Pro has it's limitations, all digital cameras have that and you just need to know how to work with those limitations.
For me the flying part was actually more important, since I wanted to be able to fly for a long time and have enough options to change how the drone reacts to my input.
Also I wanted to be able to change all the camera settings so I can work around the limitations of the sensor as much as possible.
The Mavic Pro has proven itself als an amazing flying machine that happens to have a gimbal and camera and was just what I wanted.
Because my budget is limited, I chose a second hand one after a long search and the previous owner was disappointed in the camera and gimbal and wanted to move up to a Phantom or Inspire.
So he only flew it about 8 hours (as good as new) with only 7 or 8 recharging cycles per battery.
Since the M2P was on the horizon the demand for the  first Mavic was rather low and I could get the fly more combo plus some filters and extra acc. for a bargain.
Just what I needed to get me started with this amazing hobby.
Now I know the M2P will get me a technical better image in some conditions (probably all) but I really can't justify that cost now and am very happy with what the MP is giving me already.
One day I will upgrade, probably right before the M3P is arriving

AMZPOW Posted at 2-3 21:49
Hi, guys, How to Choose Your First DJI Drone if you are A New drone Pilots?

DJI does not produce any good beginner drone.
Too expensive to be used as a beginner/trainer drone and most of them do not support ATTI mode on demand. So, they are only good for making that dangerous dillusion of being in command.
Once, when just a slight glitch happen, you are on your own, unprepared and untrained, usually resulting in a loss of drone.

As a true beginner drone I do recommend those 20, 30 USD toy grade ones. You will learn hot to manage throttle, to hold position unassisted (so you will be steering the drone to counter winds for example), to know your drone orientation, to fly nose in regardless of drone position/orientation, to bring it back to yourself without the RTH and a lot of more.

Next step is to get heavier, but still toy grade drone for around 100 USD. Popular choice is MJX Bugs 3 and variations for example to feel a bit of inertia and how it affects flight as well as how brushless motors have more power and are more punchy and usually speedier. With heavier one you'll also learn how to brake yourself and again unassisted.

After a proper training like this... you should be able to fly anything from Spark to Inspire without too much hassle and not relying on GPS, baro, compass and other bells and whistles which can go nuts midflight.

You will also have a nice foundation and experience if you want to try true almost realtime FPV acro flying....

Montfrooij Posted at 2-7 00:28
I have been taking pictures since I was a kid. (feels ages ago)
Only hobby, but I think I have made at least 100.000 pictures in my life
A drone was just the thing I wanted to add to my bag to give a new option for creating nice images. (and video of course)

taking pictures since a kid, that is really a long-term hobby, this is very admirable, I regard aerial photography as my hobby in my life, even though I am a new flyer on drones. In the future, I will also Expand to ground photography. Photography is one of the most beautiful things in the world, it can help us leave a lot of beautiful pictures and memories.
I plan to buy a new PHANTOM within this year, then a new INSPIRE, PHANTOM and INSPIRE look amazing.
Thanks for your kindly sharing your opinion with us, Montfrooij

eYeSkYeYe Posted at 2-7 02:51
DJI does not produce any good beginner drone.
Too expensive to be used as a beginner/trainer drone and most of them do not support ATTI mode on demand. So, they are only good for making that dangerous dillusion of being in command.
Once, when just a slight glitch happen, you are on your own, unprepared and untrained, usually resulting in a loss of drone.

thanks for your sharing, eYeSkYeYe.
Yes, Now the DJI drones come with ATTI mode seems only the INSPIRE and the PHANTOM, and learning to control the drone when  ATTI mode is also important for flying. But the INSPIRE and PHANTOM is too costly for most of people,  ATTI mode is also Having some difficulty for new flyers.
You are also right, but I think DJI drones is much easier than FPV drones, if flyer want to learn the FPV drones, your opinion is one of the best way. In my opinion, dji drones not as hard as the FPV drones, so new flyers can also chose the DJI spark and air as their first drones.

AMZPOW Posted at 2-7 05:46
taking pictures since a kid, that is really a long-term hobby, this is very admirable, I regard aerial photography as my hobby in my life, even though I am a new flyer on drones. In the future, I will also Expand to ground photography. Photography is one of the most beautiful things in the world, it can help us leave a lot of beautiful pictures and memories.
I plan to buy a new PHANTOM within this year, then a new INSPIRE, PHANTOM and INSPIRE look amazing.
Thanks for your kindly sharing your opinion with us, Montfrooij

You're welcome!