This drone has a great camera, long battery life (as drones go), and is so compact that you’ll actually bring it to the places you want to shoot. The Mavic 2 Pro takes photos at 20 megapixels and shoots 4K video, which is plenty of resolution for even serious YouTubers. That camera is so powerful that you don’t really need to consider buying one of DJI’s bulkier Phantom drones.
Among the reasons DJI has absolutely dominated the drone market are its smart flight features. You can set the Mavic 2 to hold its position even in strong wind, autonomously follow a target, or respond to gestures from the person being filmed. It also has sensors that help it avoid obstacles, preventing crashes that were an inevitable part of drone ownership even a few years ago. The Mavic 2 Pro also beats other drones for battery life, with over 30 minutes of flight time per charge.
The Holy Stone HS110G might be the better fit if you want something more portable (not to mention more affordable) for travel or everyday use. You’ll get great, stabilized 1080p video, along with all the obstacle avoidance and automated flying features you’d expect from a high-end drone. Battery life does expectedly drop with the drone’s smaller size (up to 26 minutes according to Holy Stone), but its lower price makes carrying a few spare batteries a more palatable option.
There may be a handful of clear favorites when it comes to higher-end drones, but things get quite a bit more confusing if you’re just looking for a cheap drone to try your hand with before investing in something more serious.
While there’s still no mistaking it for a pro-level piece of equipment, the Ryze Tello benefits from a partnership with DJI that gives it some decent capabilities for the price, and those willing to invest the time can get even more out of it thanks to its support of the Scratch programming language.
Tuned similarly to the high-test race drones used in the Drone Racing League, the 101 kit comes with everything a novice racer needs to start learning how to fly fast. The goggles are low-latency, and the Shark drone can go fast enough to last as you level up your skills.
The Spark sacrifices the Mavic 2’s photo and video quality to gain convenience. The Spark only takes 1080p resolution videos at 30 frames per second, but it can be flown without a controller and set to automatic flight modes like circling or quickly zooming out from a subject. It can also be controlled with gestures (for example, hold up your hand and walk forward to tell it to back up), and obstacle avoidance. If you want a drone primarily to take awesome photos of yourself while hiking, this is the one to get.
