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My dad's 65th birthday is coming up and I decided to buy a drone for him. He's an engineer that likes to tinker and has actually brought a RF helicopter in the past, but those proved disappointing. The objective is to have something fun, as well fairly durable and reliable. My budget is about 200$, although prices may vary for Hungary.

The drone should have:
- roughly 10 minutes flight time.
- Swap-able batteries (that can be charged separately)
- general ability to repair and expand with buyable parts.
- Stabilsed flight and altitude-locking (stabilizing? it keeps itself at the same altitude when turned on) to help prevent accidents
- Preferably a camera that can be seen with a smarphone, does not have to be very high resolution.
- Low-battery alarm

My first question is what brands are recommended?

Question - is your budget $200 or is the $ a typo and you meant to say a 4 figure price for a drone (since most people put the $ at the front, not the back).

Because for $2000 you can buy a lot of consumer drones. For example the dominant drone maker in the North American market is DJI. Their flagship drone for enthusiasts is the phantom four, and more casual use is the Mavic. From memory they would certainly have the criteria for stabilised flight, cameras, and flight time. I am unsure if they have drones for $200.

However if you want a customizable drone, you might be better off finding some website for drone racers where people build their own.

PS - I am not a drone expert. I only have a selfie drone (since I travel alone most of the time, and it does allow me some pics where a hand phone won't). However I did do a little bit of research on drones prior to purchasing.

200$ as in $200 or two-hundred dollars (roughly). It's not big, I know. I would have an easier time if I could afford that much.

mr friendly guy wrote: ↑2017-09-26 09:20am Because for $2000 you can buy a lot of consumer drones. For example the dominant drone maker in the North American market is DJI. Their flagship drone for enthusiasts is the phantom four, and more casual use is the Mavic. From memory they would certainly have the criteria for stabilised flight, cameras, and flight time. I am unsure if they have drones for $200.

You beat me too it. DJI is highly recommended across the board if you look up "best drones for 2017."

I have been looking at getting one myself; the DJI Phantom 3 Standard is good enough for me and my budget.

If he is an engineer with lots of spare time, then maybe he'd like to build his own from scratch? There are plenty of drone building guides and tutorials out there, but I have no idea really.

I did see in the electronics store some drones within that price range by zero -X which are within the price range. Cannot vouch for their quality though.

http://zero-x.com.au

Perhaps a bit out of your price range, but I got a Parrot Bebop drone for Christmas a year ago and I was not disappointed. It is extremely steady, even in strong wind, and holds altitude on its own. The camera is excellent, but the range is somewhat limited. Make sure you keep the receipt; my first one came apart midair after a few hours, but they replaced it free of charge.

Battery life of ~25 minutes, and they sell extras to keep you in the air longer. If you do go for this, I would recommend buying a controller. You CAN fly it off your phone, but I crashed mine because of a damn Apple touch screen. A controller is better.


Hope this was helpful.

I have already brought a drone. Not as good one as I hoped, but one I think will do for fun. It is a Syma (don't recall exactly which model). I only regret that I didn't buy another modell that used 5Ghz rather than the supposedly laggy 2.4Ghz. It mostly fits my requirements beyond that, including that there is a shop that sells spare parts.