Drones for Groomsman Gifts

[HTX41]

Hey everyone,

I am new to drones and have been trying to do as much research as possible on drones. Unfortunately, information is all over the place and in my experience, the best place to go is the knowledge and experience of others.

I am looking to buy some drones for my groomsman as their gift and am overwhelmed with information on how to proceed. These fine gentlemen are located all over(Denver, Midland and Houston). Therefore the uses would be rather wide ranging from recording high mountain vehicle trails and hikes/skiing, recording hunts to perhaps carrying bait out into the gulf 100-150yds(payload bearing).

Having to buy 5 of these things obviously limits my price range. That said I'm hoping to capitalize on any black Friday/cyber Monday sales... But I'd be looking for something in the $200-$300 range for each.

I have read a couple threads on here and have looked up a number of reviews. Some of the products that I have found which would be good are as follows: Syma X8PRO, Ryze Tello, Holy Stone HS300, Force 1 F100 Ghost, Upair One, Parrot Bepop II, Contixo F18 and Yuneec Breeze.

As you can see I'm still all over the place.

I'm hoping someone here can help me fine tune my search and help me reach the ideal drone.

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[wafflejock]

Not to be a negative Nancy, but going to overall down vote the idea, will explain why.

Like you've noticed in trying to narrow this down there are many quadcopters available and different ones fit different niches/purposes and different demographics/target audiences. Due to this difference I don't think it's worth getting anything more than a simple toy grade quadcopter for a group of people with different needs/desires/aptitudes. With a "toy grade" (something probably brushed motors probably less than $100) isn't going to be a huge loss if/when it gets destroyed and the person you bought it for shouldn't and probably won't really feel too bad about it getting destroyed.

I pulled up each of the quads you listed here and like you said they vary quite a bit in price/quality/features, but based on reading 1 star reviews and seeing the number of them for all of these I can't say I'd personally bite the bullet and buy into any of them. Long story short is they are giving you a lot of bang for your buck if you have technical know how and are willing to troubleshoot issues and be your own customer support, but most of the quads in this price range are basically going to be lacking in the quality assurance and customer support angles, both of which you'd want for an expensive gift.

I'd say if you're going to get something "high end" go all the way and get a DJI (even refurbished I believe the community support and company will back the products more than most of these other no name brands, nothing against Syma, HolyStone etc. for toy grade things, and Parrot had a pretty good name but the BeBop II has really bad reviews even on their own site, at least their honest or lazy I guess). Or alternatively go with something just cheap and fun don't worry about the video etc. and go toy grade.

Also couple of notes, some people might just want scenic shots that the DJI products will provide, if you have more technical or tinkering friends then they would probably enjoy something made for zooming around, but not as much a nice camera on a gimbal, that takes some more know how to get into the Kopis 2 is a pretty good ready to fly option, but requires a separate transmitter to be purchased (tack on another $100 for that and again only good for people who want to dive deeper into the hobby). One more note, I believe you aren't allowed to fish with quadcopters at least in most states in the US so would check into that if it's a legitimate use case, not sure if carrying bait out counts (would also suspect you'd want an "acquatic quadcopter" with everything waterproofed and floatable, they exist if you search).

 

[Dugdog47]

I think it's a great idea after suffering through a wedding to receive a drone. I know I would like one lol . This one looks awesome:


Eachine EX2mini Brushless

You can get the drone, camera, goggles and fpv screen all for $108. Brushless motors and 5.8gg vtx, a LOT of bang for the buck. Just google banggood.com.

 

[HTX41]

Wafflejock,

I honestly appreciate this input. If I were to change philosophy and get a quad for the guys in Colorado and then a different one for the guy in Midland and again another for the guys in Houston would I then be able to find something in my price range? Even the DJI spark is $350 but I doubt on the big shopping days they offer that much of a discount. I am open to anything, just limited to my overall budget...

Dugdog47, that is a very interesting idea. Especially for the price. Looks like it would be ok for the mountains and hunting pictures... agreed?

 

[Dugdog47]

Oh yeah mountains, hunting, I also think it would be great for carrying bait out onto the serf if you could rig up some kind of way to carry it.

 

[Dugdog47]

Here is footage of mine in the foothills, keep in mind that a drone at that price is going to have a range of 300-400 meters:

 

[RENOV8R]

Waste of money, it's like buying someone a puppy as a gift

 

[LoneRCRanger]

My groomsmen received a flagon of Jack Daniels each. They were each happy with the idea.

 

[LoneRCRanger]

puppy

A rabid pit bull puppy can be fun.

 

[Tentoes]

Yea. I'm thinking these guys are right.

But then, what else? Aftershave probably wouldn't be my scent.