Planning to buy a drone this year? But can’t decide the right one for you among a flood of choices out there. Don’t worry! We have got you covered.
We at Airsight tested every drone in the market today and listed the top 10 drones to buy in 2018 in this post. We looked at following 5 criterias to select our top pick:
(1) Your requirements
Before you invest hundreds of dollars of your hard earned money in buying a drone, you need to figure out why do you need it in the first place?
So, Are you:
(2) Battery Life
Flying a drone for only few minutes before bringing it down to recharge again can be very frustrating, this is where the battery life of a drone steps in.Unfortunately, this is a case of you get what you pay for.
Yes, the drone technology has come a long way in recent years. But still, the manufacturers haven’t truly found a way to build a drone that can fly for hours on end just yet.
The cheaper drones in the market can fly for only 5-8 minutes before needing a full recharge. The best ones, however can fly for 30 minutes or so before they have to be recharged again.We can expect the battery life of a drone to improve significantly in coming years.
(3) Level of Experience
Are you someone who is just starting out or you have some experience flying a drone in the past? This is an important factor to consider before buying a drone.
If you’re a novice, you don’t want to get overwhelmed early on while trying to get your head around a drone’s complex features. You would be much comfortable handling a drone equipped with auto features and landing features that makes them easier to control and navigate.
Similarly, if you’re an experienced drone flyer, you don’t want to get stuck at a beginner’s level. You would want to work your way towards a more advanced level and make the most of every feature available in a drone.
(4) Ready To Fly (RTF) versus needs a bit assembling of parts
There are 2 types of drones:
If you’re looking to avoid assembling or buying extra parts for a drone before you can fly it, ready to fly (RTF) out of the box drones are a better option for you.Most of the drones are RTF but there are a few that requires a bit assembling or needs additional parts for you to have a better flying experience. For Example, Yuneec Breeze at $399 comes without a dedicated remote and you’d have to spend an extra $70 to buy one.
(5) Video Quality and Viewing the Footage
For most, video quality that a camera-attached drone can record is of utmost importance.
Luckily, there are many inexpensive drones available that can capture high resolution 4k footage. If you’re planning to record a lot and can’t compromise on the quality, then you should be looking to buy a drone that comes with a camera capable of capturing high resolution motion picture.
Next to consider is HOW do you want to view the footage?
With all of these points in mind, let’s look at the 10 best drones to buy in different categories in 2018.
Category: Best Drone for Beginners
Winner: Syma X5C
If you’ve zero experience flying a drone and probably don’t want to spend much cash upfront, then Syma X5C at just $42.99 is your best option.
X5C is light, inexpensive and easier to control. On top of that it comes with a 720p HD camera and 2GB memory card that allows you to take stunning aerial pictures and videos. Quality won’t be up to the mark but hey, at this price what do you expect?
For someone who is flying a drone for the first time, you don’t want to crash it every 5 seconds. That’s where it’s six-axis gyro stabilization comes into play, it makes sure X5C has the maximum stability during its flight time. It’s wind resistant build allows you to fly it both indoors as well as outdoors.
Syma X5C takes into account that being a beginner, you’re bound to crash and damage its parts. That’s why it comes with 4 spare propellers and 4 spare blade guards with no extra cost.The only drawback is it’s battery life of 7 minutes upon a recharge time of 100 minutes.
Runner Up: Yuneec Breeze
Are you someone who is just starting out or you have some experience flying a drone in the past?This is an important factor to consider before buying a drone.
We at Airsight tested every drone in the market today and listed the top 10 drones to buy in 2018 in this post. We looked at following 5 criterias to select our top pick.
A close runner up in the category Best Drone for Beginners is Yuneec Breeze.
With $324.99, it may not be the cheapest drone you can buy as a beginner, but considering you haven’t flown a drone before, you would want one that is ridiculously easy to fly. Yuneec Breeze pass with flying colors in this regard with it’s 5 flying modes.
Yuneec Breeze is relatively small and light compared to other drones which makes it easy to carry around.
It is equipped with a camera capable of recording 4k footage and capturing stunning 13 megapixel pictures.
The propeller protectors allow it to safely navigate any objects on its way and prevent crashes. This is particularly important for first time flyers when they will be looking to minimize the number of crashes.
There are many downsides to Yuneec Breeze as well. A flight time of only 12 minutes may not allow you to do many things in one go. You will find the video footage to be unstabilized. Lastly, without a remote, you’re left to control it through the app.
Category: Best Budget Drone
Winner: Hubsan H107C + HD
We at Airsight tested every drone in the market today and listed the top 10 drones to buy in 2018 in this post. We looked at following 5 criterias to select our top pick.
I get it, you don’t have enough cash to throw around on a drone. You just want to have fun, learn to fly a drone and take spectacular aerial pictures.
If all of the above things are on your list, look no further than Hubsan 107C + HD. At just $36.88, Hubsan 107C is the best drone to improve your flying skills without breaking the bank.
While a flight time of 7 minutes on a 40 minute recharge time may not be much but considering other expensive drones offer the same flight time on a more recharge time, Hubsan 107C is your best bet at this price point.
The additional features like Altitude hold and 6 axis flight control system allows you to control the drone rather smoothly without any hiccups while it is in the air.
Runner Up: Syma X5SC
At just $49.95, Syma X5SC is your second best option provided you’re on a tight budget. If you’re a newbie who is hesitant to spend hundreds of dollars on a drone just yet, even better.
Syma X5SC is packed with features designed to especially help inexperienced ones but let’s first get the negatives out of the window.
To start off, Syma X5SC is immensely light, it weighs just under 0.24 pounds.
That’s helpful when you’re travelling with it or plan to switch locations. But, you’ll have a hard time controlling it while flying outdoors because of its extremely light weight.
Although, it says that it offers HD video and pictures, a 2 MP camera offer less than average quality. 6-8 minutes flight time upon a 2 hour recharge can be very annoying. Battery of 500mAh should be upgraded.
Now:
The 2 features that makes Syma X5SC perfect for starters with very little money to spare:
Category: Best Value for Money
Winner: DJI Mavic Pro
DJI Mavic Pro is hands down the best value for your money.
DJI needs no introduction. The company has long been serving to drone lovers across the world with quality drones. With 540+ 5 star reviews on Amazon, DJI Mavic Pro is the #1 choice for anybody looking for an excellent drone that serves all purpose.
It offers an outstanding 4K camera along with DJI’S self built video transmission system Ocusync, which allows you to transmit HD video direct to your phone or laptop.
The one area where this drone beats others on the list easily is it’s flight time of around half-an-hour. This gives you ample time to take incredible aerial pictures or live stream high quality footage in one go.
The drone also moves unbelievably fast with a top speed of 40 miles per hour. Not only that, a front collision detection system installed in it allows you to move past the on-way hurdles or objects easily.
It is somewhat pricey compared to other drones with it’s $899 tag. But if you’re looking for quality, this is the ONE investment you’ll never regret.
Finally, You must be wondering:
Is the drone too big to carry around? You’ll be taken aback to know that DJI Mavic Pro can slump to the size of a water bottle making it highly portable.
Runner Up: DJI Phantom 3
Runner Up in the category for Best Value for Money Drone is DJI Phantom 3. 880 people have already given their thumbs up to this drone with their 5 star reviews on Amazon. It offers a 720p HD video quality of the live footage that you can stream straight to your mobile phone.
With a camera of 12MP built inside it, you can take beautiful pictures of yours or capture stunning aerial view in high quality stills. Phantom 3 allows you to live stream footage or pictures upto 5 miles away directly to your phone or tablet. An 8GB Micro SD card also comes along with it for you to capture enough pictures.
Phantom 3 also features a GPS navigation system that allows for a smooth and collision free ride. That’s not all it’s intelligent battery gives you an excellent flight time of 25 minutes, a big improvement on other drones on this list that hardly stays 5-10 minutes in air.
Category: Best Camera Drone
Winner: DJI Phantom 4
DJI Phantom 4 is without a doubt the BEST CAMERA drone out there. The built in camera captures 4K ultra HD videos at 30fps. But what truly stands out is it’s gimbal stabilization technology and hover function that supports the camera to record smooth and clean footage.
The GPS technology allows the drone to take off itself and return home safely. The App gives you all the options to control, monitor and navigate the Phantom 4 easily.
It is capable of flying up to 45 miles per hour and 4 miles above the ground. DJI has installed a powerful 5,350 mAh battery that will give you around 28 minutes to fly the Phantom 4 in air. Moreover, you can use DJI director software that has a built in video editor to add text or audio to your recorded footage.
DJI Phantom 4 justifies it’s $869.69 price tag.
Runner Up: DJI Spark
The runner up in the category of best camera drone is DJI Spark. DJI Spark comes up with a mechanically stabilized camera that can record steady footage and capture shake free photos.
It’s built in gesture controls system allows you to control the drone with your hand movements. It is also equipped with an object detection feature that prevents the drone from crashing into objects like trees, birds or wires when it is in the air. This allows you to record or live stream HD video uninterrupted.
If you’re looking for a more cheaper drone than Phantom 4 without compromising the camera quality, go for DJI Spark ($540).
Category: Best for Professionals
Winner: DJI Inspire 2.0
If you’re a professional who doesn’t care about money and wants the absolute best, look no further than DJI Inspire.
DJI Inspire is the top pick for professional filmmakers, aerial videographers, concert organizers or news stations. A respectable flight time of 27 minutes is taken care of by it’s dual battery setup that powers all the built in components like cameras, obstacle detection sensors and stabilizers.
It can fly around 60 mph and up to 16,400 feet in the air. Because of the height it can achieve, you would be required to register Inspire 2.0 with the FAA before flying it outdoors.
The obstacle avoidance mode limits it’s top speed to 45 mph to ensure the drone doesn’t collide with any objects when it is up in the air. The speed and incredible height Inspire can achieve is supported by a powerful hardware. Carbon fiber propellers makes the drone very durable if in case a crash happens. Likewise, to make sure rotors don’t come off when the drone is in it’s top seed, a new prop locking system is used.
A $5,199 price tag may come across as too much especially if you can get all the features with other drones that are in a $1,000 range, but if you’re a professional looking for a drone, DJI Inspire 2.0 will not disappoint.
Runner Up: Yuneec Q500 4K Typhoon
The 2nd Best drone for professionals is Yuneec Q500 4K Typhoon. It features a three-axis anti-vibration CG03 gimbal camera and optimized fixed focused lens which allows the drone to record and capture some stunning aerial view.
The 4K camera is very stable during the flight time and can record 1080p video at 120 fps. The steadygrip camera captures 12MP photos.
Yuneec Q500 4K Typhoon is given a sleek, sharp and modern design. The drone comes with a ST10+ ground station joystick that not only lets you control the drone but it also allows you to have a control over it’s camera, so you can see what the camera is seeing in real time. The attached levers control the drone flight speed and camera pitch.
Following modes are available in Yuneec Q500 4K Typhoon:
Q500 gives you only 15 minutes of flight time, considerably less than DJI Phantom’s 30 minutes but if you’re a professional who is looking to try out a drone first before spending big, then Q500 at $699.99 is the perfect fit.
Hope you enjoyed. Happy shopping!