NEW 2 QUADS

[new2fly n]

Hi everyone, new here....I googled and found this forum so I did not know where to start so this looked like a good place.

i have owned a small toy grade drone and I recently bought my daughter a drone from harbor freight ( it was the big one that is black and green), it had a controller that you held in the palm of your hand. We took it outside and I let her have the controller and as soon as it took off it gained altitude fast and went away from us fast and she could not get it to stop or return so we just had too stand there and watch it go about 100 yards above some trees before it hit one and got stuck there, I looked for it for about an hour and finally found it I got it down and took it home put it back in the box and took it back to harbor freight...and have been doing research on drones for about 2 weeks...wow.... there is a lot out there..... wow.

Now for a little about what I would like to get:
gps, good range, don't use cell phone ( cause my andriod is not great) return to home, altitude hold, camera
would like to stay under $300.00 perferably $200-$250....and yes I know this is a lot for this price range but dont want to go too high for a first good drone.
I have been strongly looking at the Hubson brand the the 501ss x4 pro with the better controller.
Any advice would be great because all I know is what I have read on internet and watched on youtube. SORRY I guess this should have been posted in the introduction section.

THANKS ,
new2fly n

 

[holtneil]

Hi welcome Hubsan are good quads they can be a little hard to set up with new software , but as long as it works out of the box I would not mess with software
DJI are really good but for your price range your have to look second hand , DJI come out with the new spec others copy to keep up
Look around and if you find a quad with the spec you want and right price pop a link on here and the guys will soon tell you if it's not a good buy

 

[gregb49]

It also depends upon what you want to achieve with the drone, ie video and photography might have you looking for a 4K camera option.
I'm also assuming that, wherever you are, you don't have a 250gm take off weight limitation.
If it is just for low level fun flying, then maybe a CineWhoop type drone would suit you better. Captain Drone has been assessing some recently on his UTube channel looking at their FPV capabilities, but some seem to work OK just using a controller..
Or maybe just a more stable fun toy drone. Mine increased my tree climbing skills no end until it decided to make for pastures new one day, never to be seen again!

 

[wafflejock]

Yah have heard good things about Hubsan things in general but if the thing falls out of the "support window" where they no longer find it worth maintaining then you are a bit SOL (this is a big reason I'm a fan of the DIY/open source based things even if it costs a little more... or to be honest a lot more). Closest thing I can think of that fits most of what you're asking for except the price that I've seen positive reviews on recently is this guy:

Explorer LR 4 V2.2 HD Micro Long Range FPV Ultralight Quad Bnf ( GN405 FC )

Main Changelog V2.2 Using the latest GOKU GN405 Nano FC Explorer LR quad is the masterpiece of the collaboration between Flywoo and #micro long range original creator Dave_C . #Micro long range is a brand new field, and we will explore more fun in this field with Dave_C in the future. Features...

flywoo.net

By itself the price isn't crazy out of reach but then gotta keep in mind still need to buy FPV goggles/video receiver (modules or standalone) which can range from like $50-$1000, and need a transmitter (suggest some kind of OpenTX based thing like T16 or T18 variants) usually around $150. There is a built in cam as well but you'd usually want something higher quality for footage to save/share so then an action cam can run anywhere from $100-$800 or so too (like I said it can get expensive). Not to mention chargers and soldering gear if you don't have any of that already too which can all add up to a few hundred as well. Essentially think the thing to consider is how long term you expect to be in the hobby how much it's worth going the "DIY route" vs trying to find things off the shelf that will do the job until they break or again fall out of support then buy something new (buy nice or buy twice).

 

[davidhk129]

@ new2fly n

I am totally ignorant in Hobby Drones.
I, however, did spent quite a bit of money and time with Toy Drones. So, I feel comfortable to offer my suggestions.

You want camera but do not want to use cellphone. That leaves you only one choice. 5.8g camera which has a special display screen for image transmission. One will have to search real hard for toy drones that come with 5.8g camera.
I had installed one in my Bugs 3 but that was additional cost.
You have your eyes on Hubsan X4 H501s, but prefer a "better controller". Unfortunately almost all toy drone controllers have little "bells and whistles."
However, that drone has another version, a big brother........ H501ss Pro.
It costs more but well within your price range.
Here is the link which is from Amazon.com (USA site)........

HUBSAN X4 H501ss Pro​

You want GPS. Not sure why you want it. If you want all those fancy features such as Follow Me, Way Point, Auto-return Home etc etc, then I have nothing better to suggest.
However, if you want GPS just because you want to learn to fly without worrying the drone crashing to ground, then I have an alternative for you........... Drones with Optical Positioning feature.
I have one that uses 5.8g camera and Optical Positioning. I own one and it sticks in mid air if you put down the controller. It never crashes to the ground.
But see what you think about the H501ss Pro first.

P.S. I do not own a H501ss. I don't know how well it behaves. I had read a year or 2 ago that some users were having issues updating the controller.

 

[gregb49]

@ new2fly n
...You want GPS. Not sure why you want it. ...

One important use of GPS is that many GPS drones have a Return to Home (RTH) feature, that kicks in if the drone looses the controller signal, on demand, or the battery is getting low. Having lost one drone to a "Flyaway", RTH is a feature that is a 'must-have' for me.
I have found optical positioning to be very poorly implemented in some cheaper drones.

 

[wafflejock]

Yah GPS only reason it's useful in betaflight is for RTH option too, with iNav can do some more advanced things with the GPS and compass, but don't really know many people who use that with quadcopters (sort of sucks the joy out of flying it yourself but could be useful for industrial things or just experiments/data gathering). If we ignore the GPS requirement my suggestion would go more towards something like a tiny hawk 2 as a starter down the DIY path. There are some kits that come with tiny hawk 2 and goggles+transmitter, but would still suggest research those individually and get something middle of the road, don't need performance tuned to last 100yrs, but don't want it to suck on the first day and get worse from there.