Community Chat

[Sue98]

If so, can you recommend a good one that isn't super expensive?

[Sue98]

Well, shoot!  I was hoping someone had some advice.

[Mj12]

Hi @Sue98 sorry no firsthand knowledge, but my husband's friend has one, and we were debating getting one after seeing it in action. He brought it out on a visit and flew it all over, and it took pictures and videos and emailed to us.  Coolest thing ever and very sharp images. I did ask him ballpark how much do they generally run, he said for that one, around $900 at Costco.  The brand was Mavic.

 ETA - I see all sorts of price ranges for drones on Amazon.  But I wonder how good can a $99 one be?  Has to be a decent quality middle ground!

[GenXmuse]

I don’t have one but I’d love one for family photos and get rid of our wobbly tripod!

[ECBG]

DH made his own.  He's been working with electronics since he was in his youth and his major was physics.  He's getting his pilot's license now which is required since some people have interferred with air travel.

A good camera is several hundred dollars as is the drone.

They're very useful for real estate as well as local commercials.

Someone would have to fly it and keep it steady for a picture, so they wouldn't be in the picture.

[SilleeMee]

CNET dot com has some good info on what to look for and also their recommendations for drones, priced from about $50 to $1000. @Sue98

[qualitygal]

My husband just sold his. He had it for about a year or two and used it once or twice. I'd save the money,  but, that's me.  I knew he wouldn't use it. 

[Sue98]

Thanks to all of you for your responses!

[gardenman]

As is always the case, there are rules for using drones. If you're using it for fun/hobby you can find the rules at this website.

https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/fly_for_fun/

If you're using it for work/business there are a whole different set of rules that you can find here.

https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/fly_for_work_business/

In either case the drone must be registered with the FAA at the very least, with very few exceptions. Local states/communities often have even more rules that they apply. (I'm not sure how many drone operators comply with any of the rules, but there are rules in place.) 

[ValuSkr]

The nice thing about a drone with camera is that you can spy on the neighbors.