Drone / quad copters....

[Martin]

I've been thinking of buying a drone for a while, nothing too flash or pricey but I do want the GPS, Return to home & Follow me features with plenty of fly time ... I do have two action cams but the quad I'm looking at has a 1080 inbuilt camera..
All for under£300

I've kinda narrowed it down to the Hubsan H501s-S (pro/advanced) model.

Does anyone have any experience of the afore mentioned - it's the February 2017 later spec I'm after.

Cheers guys

[Andy B]

Personally I wouldn't consider any drone without a camera gimbal.
You'll get pretty fed up with shaky, unusable footage and the Hubsan isn't able to be reto fitted with any sort of camera stabilization.
The earlier model did have a lot of trouble with flyaways!
This had a lot to do with the fact that the controller used 8 AA batteries and got through them pretty quick!
I think the newer model has a lipo battery in the controller. It's the FPV screen that eats up the battery life.

Like all things it's a question of choice and the old adage of you get what you pay for stands true here.
If £300 is your budget then Personally i think you'd do better with a second hand DJI Phantom II than with a new Hubsan.
They market them as a good first drone, which in it's self is an admittance that you'll soon want something better???

[enzo200500]

I've had the Mavic Pro for about 3 months now.

In a slightly different price bracket though!

You get what you pay for I'm afraid.

[Andy B]

I've had the Mavic Pro for about 3 months now.

Brilliant piece of kit
And so portable.....

[warder54]

I have the 501s, great video quality and I've not found shake to be a major problem. Battery life is pretty good. RTH works well as does follow me mode. I avoided the Pro version and added the range extender antennae for a tenner, I now have a 1/4 mile or more range.
In the controller I removed a small plastic bar and made room to fit a small LiPo battery which has so far lasted around 15 flights on it's first charge.
This YouTube vid is of my 1st ever drone flight, any jerkiness is down to my poor and erratic use of the control joystikcs and not knowing how to combine stick movements to produce smoother turns.
I've yet to manage out on the boat with it as winds have been too strong!
https://youtu.be/zXEbLhEyZ_E

[albasmac]

Have you looked at the new Dji Spark. (The mavics little brother) It's more expensive at £520 for the drone or £699 for the combo pack.
I,m considering it but it's still a fair bit of money for a toy!

[Martin]

Thanks Warder, I was certain someone on here had bought one. You appear to get quite a bit for not a lot compared to the big names, I know they're never going to be of the quality of the big names but it is as you say a toy at the end of the day.

Think I'll be ordering one up this week.
I'd deffo be greatful of any info you can share for the li-po conversation.

Many thanks

[James]

I have the parrot bebop. It works pretty well

[Martin]

Cheers guys,
I've gone ahead and ordered the quad I first mentioned. It ticks all the boxes for me.
The bebop 2 looks great James and tbh that was on my list too until I realised there was no tx with it and to buy one would put the price sky high

So it's the Hubsan for me..
fingers crossed I've made the right choice

[Captain cod]

I've just ordered a second hand dji phantom 3 standard. I should get it on Monday I'll try and take some videos and pictures and post the results

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