Drone price points

[mickb]

Fellas just wondering if there is any value in drones in the few hundred dollar range? I dont have a serious purpose in mind, in the first instance would like to fly over the nearby bush and bends in the river for general interest. Not interested in spending too much, if there isnt quality to be had at that price id probably give it a miss. Btw what is the range of these things these days? Can i check a boundary 1km distant with a cheapish drone?

[Larry]

I have tried a few from Aliexpress that have been sub $100 they work they have GPS and obstacle avoidance however they have all met their end in crash and burn incidents. It may have been my bad flying but I did fing that the responsiveness at distance to be a problem also the video seemed to cut out or freeze at distance and I dint know which way the drone was going. The return home button saved me a few times.

[Rocker]

Maybe not in the 'hundreds' ranger, but it isn't far off.

I'm not a professional film maker by any means, but some of the pro-turned-consumer level stuff by quality manufacturers is getting seriously good these days.

You'd probably know the brand DJI. Their current prosumer model is the Mini Pro 4, has collision detection, return to home, image stabilization, a remote with display, 4k video etc.

They're about $1200 or so. 3 years ago the same thing was $3k or more.

[ClaytonT88]

I was in the same market, ended up with a DJI Mini 3 "Fly More Kit" for $450 with some batteries and spare blades etc. off FB Marketplace. Very happy with it

[ederlezi]

I have the DJI mini 2 SE, for $500. And it is bloody amazing. The more you use it, the more applications you will find applications for it. It was originally purchased to check if any roof tiles had moved post a storm. At least that is what I told my wife.

[Lorgar]

I'm not a professional film maker by any means, but some of the pro-turned-consumer level stuff by quality manufacturers is getting seriously good these days.

You'd probably know the brand DJI. Their current prosumer model is the Mini Pro 4, has collision detection, return to home, image stabilization, a remote with display, 4k video etc.

They're about $1200 or so. 3 years ago the same thing was $3k or more.

I've got the DJI Mini 4 Pro. I got the pack which came with the remote with inbuilt display, and 3 batteries, so it was more expensive. Maybe $1,600 I think?

You're right about the price falling though. A mate of mine has one earlier Mavic models from maybe 4 years ago. I can't remember the exact model but I think at the time it was about $3,500.

The Mini 4 is half that now, and exceeds the old Mavic in all specs.

In a couple of years $500 drones will probably be available with all the same bells and whistles.