drone for beginner/kids

[plio7]

Hey guys, wondering if anyone has any input on a good drone for a beginner/kid. my boy has been asking for one for year and thinking maybe he's ready. he's almost 10 but also very mature and smart when it comes to building and operating things like that. just wondering if anyone has any recommendations.

 

[teeroy]

Find a used DJI Mini. Should be a couple hundred for a decent one. New are around 5-600

 

[arff]

A DJI Mav mini. easy to fly.
Does he have a cell phone or you need one with a built in screen.
You can also buy the hack to remove all the pre sets. Like distance and height etc.
I added landing gear and prop protectors on mine.

 

[arff]

Mini has prop protectors.

 

[ABMax24]

Ive got a DJI Mini 2. To be honest the novelty wore off very quick, the stupid things are so locked down these days it's a real PITA. Seems everytime I go to use it it won't work, not logged in to my account, or needs an update, real fun 50km out of cell service.

If I had more time I'd get into FPV drones. Lots of guys custom build their drones, boards, motors, chassis, controllers, solder it all together. Would be awesome father/son bonding time if you have the time to dedicate to it. Lots of how to videos on YouTube.

Kinda wish I had one this summer, would have been nice to fly up the Matterhorn like this guy did.

 

[arff]

Definitely need to remove the lock downs.
Setup the account with the bypass code

 

[ABMax24]

I guess FPV probably isn't the best place to start for a 10 year old though, forgetting that part.

 

[plio7]

A DJI Mav mini. easy to fly.
Does he have a cell phone or you need one with a built in screen.
You can also buy the hack to remove all the pre sets. Like distance and height etc.
I added landing gear and prop protectors on mine.

Not to worried about lock outs as I want him to be fairly reigned in with it. But out at the lake he could fly it around and have some fun. Much like everything else kids want he’ll be bored of it in a few months but will be pumped to get it. How do they handle wind etc? And does it have the home button in case he loses control?

 

[ABMax24]

Once you get past all the locks and safety features the DJI Drones are pretty much foolproof to operate. As long as you're logged into your account and the drone is fully updated before leaving cell service (which I always forget). DJI drones are all gyro/GPS/vision stablized. They don't require active input from the operate to hover or fly, the drone takes care of that, you just use the controls to point them where you want them to go.

The Mini is the best starter option as they are 249 grams, because at 250 grams you're supposed to register the drone and possess a license to operate them, these regs don't apply to the mini. They're good to 38km/h wind speed. They have the return to home function as long as a GPS fix was attained prior to liftoff (only takes about 30 seconds). You can restrict maximum height and distance from the operator in the settings. If it looses signal it ascends to a predetermined height setup in the settings and flies home (or you can push the return to home button). If the battery starts to go too low it will force itself to return home as well. Some versions of the Mini have obstacle avoidance, and some don't, although they can still be crashed with the obstacle avoidance.

One thing to consider is if you live or intend to fly near an airport. I need an authorization code just to fly the drone in my house because of my proximity to the airport. Here's a map with that info.

DJI FlySafe

fly-safe.dji.com

As much as the "safeguards" frustrate me, the Mini SE is a great starting point for less than $500. From that point a person could branch out to more complex cinematic/photgraphic drones or into FPV. The propellers are sharp, and the prop guards as arff suggested are not a bad idea, they can slice the skin when spinning.