My folks live inna woods and my mom wants to get my dad a decent quad copter as a general purpose toy but can be used for a purpose. Budget is $500+/- and she wants a decent camera to surveil their property. At times I'd like to use it to harass wasps who like to build nests in the nooks/crannies of their roof.

Mostly it'll be for giggles but they do have people who sometimes poach at a nearby hunting camp and abandon dogs on the dirt road that their property is attached to. And occasionally some jackass teenager likes to do donuts up and down the road which wrecks the surface. (I told her to watch her distance and be discrete if she's trying to surveil deer poachers, there's not that many houses on this road and it wouldn't hard to pick up on a likely origin point if they spot the drone.)

Before she grabs any ol' product off the shelf from Best Buy I figured I'd consult the oracle. Any thoughts?

DJI is the distant leader in drone tech. Pick one from their range of models that fits your budget and needs. As you spend more money, the camera, battery life, radio range and available flight sensors improve.

In that range, I would consider the DJI Mavic Mini or Mavic Mini 2 (new release?). Costco has the DJI Mavic Mini bundled for a discount now.

Echo the Mavic line from DJI.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
DJI is the distant leader in drone tech. Pick one from their range of models that fits your budget and needs. As you spend more money, the camera, battery life, radio range and available flight sensors improve.

In that range, I would consider the DJI Mavic Mini or Mavic Mini 2 (new release?). Costco has the DJI Mavic Mini bundled for a discount now.

What he said. Any DJI product for the win.

I’m flying a Mavic Air 2 currently.

-Rob

Also the DJIA Mavic line. They take some amazing footage. Get the package that includes and extra batteries, a few extra rotor blades/parts, and dedicated controller that your phone fits into. The fly more package. They have a great sale on the Mini fly more combo and it's $449 sale ends November 30th. I think on DJI's site is a better deal than costco as it comes with 3 batteries and the controller etc.

https://store.dji.com/product/...-sale-2020&vid=84651

Here are a bunch of beautiful videos in the Exumas, Bahamas we've taken with the DJI Mavic

https://www.youtube.com/channe...i3QylFKug-1JQ95Z0-TQ

Shiny, thanks guys.

Let's see,
What could possibly go wrong when a criminal with a gun meets up with a drone?

I guess if you scoped the road way first and got a vehicle description and even a plate number.

I'd get insurance on the drone,anyway

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Let's see,
What could possibly go wrong when a criminal with a gun meets up with a drone?

I guess if you scoped the road way first and got a vehicle description and even a plate number.

I'd get insurance on the drone,anyway

Eh, most drones these days are softball size, have flight radiuses of a half dozen kilometers and flight ceilings of 1000's of feet (not legally, mind you...but possible). Unless you are flying low over private property intentionally picking fights over someone who is belligerent enough to shoot at something that didn't belong to them, I wouldn't worry about it.

My drone is FAA registered, and I pilot under an FAA license . I imagined some hick shooting at my "aircraft" would be in some serious shit.

Newer drones are better at returning to home in case of equipment malfunction, and have more and more collision sensors. Equipment insurance is becoming less relevant. At some point, if you bust a drone, you are kinda glad to get a chance to go out and buy a better cheaper one.

Another vote for DJI, my Mavic Pro is amazing, and also easy to fly.

I have a DJI Mini and carry it in my fly fishing pack for recon of rivers and their tributaries. 25 minutes of flying time and great features. easy to fly and lots of videos on how to get started.

DJI is definitely the leader right now and offers tons of different options. I am currently flying the Mavic 2 Pro but I've had several others that have all been flawless.

One thing you may keep in mind is that if you stay under 250 grams in all up weight you do not have to register it at all. It's only $5 to register your drone but some people have an issue with it over principle.

Also keep in mind that if you go with one of their lightweight options that the wind can really blow them around. Even when it feels like it's a calm day once you get up 300-400 feet it might not be so calm.

We came across this church yesterday that was going through a restoration and I happened to have my Mavic in the trunk so I stopped and took a quick pic.

A few thoughts of mine... disclaimer, I don't own a drone... yet.

New regs rumored to be out by the FAA for drones in December. Some of them are pretty concerning. I have been looking into a drone for months but will likely hold off a little longer. One of the proposed new regs is the requirement that all drones carry a transmitter that broadcast it's registration info including the owners name and address and the real time GPS location of its operator. This info will be available to anyone with a cell phone app. That one is called "Remote ID" But hopefully that will take years to roll fully out.

Drone tech is rapidly evolving. Personally I am leaning towards a DJI Air II, with the "Fly more kit" it will run about 1k. Also of note is the much more affordable Mini II.
The "II" versions of those both came out in 2020. Don't confuse them with now cheaper original versions. The upgrades would be well worth it IMO. For example the mini II is faster and thus noticeably more wind resistant, it also uses a much more robust communication link between controller and drone.

DJI has had a strong marketing philosophy. From what I have read they have more people in R&D and spend more money on R&D than most others entire budgets. They then dole out just enough of the new tech as required to quell the competition. Word is they have put more than one drone company out of business that way.

There are tons of YouTube vids reviewing and comparing... search them out.
Here are a couple I follow.

Captian Drone

Ken Geron

Billy Kyle

Jell Sibelius

I got a new DJI Mini 2 and have put some time on it during the last week. Priced right, really good 4k video and good photos. No zoom.

Handles a breeze pretty well, but keep in mind winds aloft can be very different than at the surface. Depending on the airspace you're flying in, you will max out at 400" AGL. (Not going to go into details about flying above structures here.) Would be very difficult to see the drone above you at that altitude unless you've got strobes and it's dark. In some areas, you may be limited to lower altitude, mostly if you're close to an airport.

quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:
Echo the Mavic line from DJI.

This!!!

For what you are asking... the DJI Mavic Mini 2 will do what you want and more... just be sure to get the package with extra batteries....

For what she wants a couple of game cameras would probably work better.... keep in mind all these drones usually have a 30 minute max flying time and that is stretching it... also when they get down to 25% battery level they start warning you and at 20% they attempt to return home. this is done by the drone climbing to 200ft then going back to directly over where it took off and then straight down. (this doesn't work well if the initial take off had to go up and around tree branches) There is also the several minutes it takes to start one up.... and get it into the air.