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4.7 star rating
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Electronics
Drones
What are the best personal drones under $500?
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May 9, 2022
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Best personal drones under $500
Price
Weight
Max Speed
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Yuneec Breeze
$399.99
386 g
18 km/h
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DJI Spark
$499
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Yuneec Breeze
My Rec
ommendation
for
Yuneec Breeze
My Recommendation for
Yuneec Breeze
All
20
Pros
10
Cons
9
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Decent camera quality, better than most budget drones
Overall, the Breeze's camera offers better image quality and color reproduction than most budget drones. It can shoot in 4K at 30 fps, but it can also shoot in lower resolutions, up to 120 fps. Photos are shot in 13 megapixels, and have roughly the image quality of a picture taken with a medium-range smartphone. The field of view is wide, covering 117 degrees and it is possible to swivel the camera up or down for great landscape shots. You can also view a live feed of what the drone is capturing.
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Top
Con
•••
Flight range is insufficient for advanced users
By default, the drone can fly up to a maximum height of 30 feet and a maximum distance of 300 feet from you. While this is enough for most casual uses, professionals and film-makers will definitely be left wanting more.
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Specs
Weight:
386 g
Max Speed:
18 km/h
Mobile App:
Breeze Cam app
Shutter speed:
1/30 - 1/8000 s
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to control on a smartphone or tablet
This drone is easily and conveniently operated via an app on an iOS or Android device (no need for a physical controller). It is very easy to use it, as the controls are very basic. You need to keep in mind that on small devices, the controls will obstruct the video on the screen.
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Top
Con
•••
If users want a physical controller, they need to buy it separately
While the mobile app is easy to use, some may find it a bit frustrating and would prefer a physical controller, which is only available if bought separately.
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Top
Pro
•••
Batteries are cheap and easy to charge
Extra batteries for this drone are rather cheap and only take 40 minutes to charge. This is an important point, given that a Con of this is drone is it's short battery life (only 12 minutes).
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Top
Con
•••
Unable to keep up with fast moving objects
This drone's top speeds are enough for following a walking/running person, but insufficient to keep up with anything that moves faster. In fact, this drone tops at around 11 mph, with an ascent rate of 1 m/s.
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Top
Pro
•••
4 easy to use and convenient automatic flying modes
Yuneec has equipped the drone with 4 different auto modes: "selfie" mode makes it hover from a specified distance and await a command to take a photo or video; "orbit" makes the drone orbit around the controller; "journey" mode makes the drone to follow a previously set path; and "follow me" mode tells the drone to follow you using the GPS or the camera.
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Top
Con
•••
Can’t automatically avoid obstacles
There are no additional sensors that monitor the surroundings around the drone, so you need to be careful while operating it not to crash it against anything. This is true even when the drone is set to any of the automated modes: it can crash while following or orbiting you.
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Top
Pro
•••
Automated takeoff and landing
The drone can take off and land automatically with just a press of a button on the controlling app. It uses GPS to remember the place where it took off from, so you can tell it to land in the same place. Even if connection to the mobile device is lost, the drone can still use those coordinates to safely land.
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Top
Con
•••
Almost no hardware upgrades available
The Breeze is basic and, excluding the prop guards, there are no options for any sort of upgrades on the drone.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy to share your captures
The app you use to control the drone can also be used to share your moments on social media. Once you have captured a video or photo, you can simply select the social network profile that you want to upload to and you’re done. No PC or video editing software necessary.
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Top
Con
•••
Rather disappointing battery life
This drone’s flight time, due to the small battery size, is not great: it can only stay in the air for about 12 minutes (if there are no strong winds), before it force-lands. On the plus side, it ships with two batteries, so you can quickly swap them. It takes about 40 minutes to charge a battery.
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Top
Pro
•••
Solid and well built
Despite having a plasticky cheap look and feel, it is actually very well built and can withstand minor crashes without any problems.
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Top
Con
•••
Memory can't be expanded
You can’t expand this drone's memory, as there is no memory card slot. It has a built-in 14 GB memory that can store about 40 minutes of 4K video.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy to carry around
Thanks to its foldable propellers, low weight, compact design and clever camera integration, the Yuneec Breeze is very portable and you can take it anywhere with little effort.
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Top
Con
•••
Can't control the camera's focus settings
You cannot control the camera’s focus settings, even though you can adjust other settings, like white balance and shutter speed.
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Top
Pro
•••
Guards minimize the risk of injuries of damage to the propellers
Beginners can fly the drone indoors with great confidence, since the risk of injury or broken propellers is low, due to propeller guards.
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Top
Con
•••
Videos may look shaky
Unfortunately, there’s no gimbal stabilization, so the videos may look shaky, due to strong winds or sudden maneuvers. It does make up for it with electronic image stabilization, but this doesn’t work when shooting in native 4K.
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Top
Pro
•••
For easier control, first-person view goggles and controller mount are available
For a small price, you can get first-person view goggles and a controller to put your phone in. The controller is easier to use than the in-built controls on the mobile app.
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$399.99
Recommend
2
--
DJI Spark
My Rec
ommendation
for
DJI Spark
My Recommendation for
DJI Spark
All
10
Pros
5
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Good quality for a very affordable price tag
The majority of quality drones are much more expensive than the Spark. It's remarkable that DJI was able to offer such a good product, with such an interesting set of features, for this price.
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Top
Con
•••
Doesn’t come with a remote by default
The Spark doesn't come with a remote by default. If you get the more basic version, you have to control the drone via an app installed on your smartphone or tablet. If bought separately, the remote costs $149. Getting the Spark's "Fly More" Combo, which includes the remote, among other accessories, costs $699.
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Specs
Video:
1080p 30fps
Flight Time:
15+ min
Photos:
12MP
Top
Pro
•••
DJI offers a free hour of training
If you purchase a Spark, DJI offers you one hour of flight training. However, this is limited to some cities within the USA (as of June 2017, these are: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas).
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Top
Con
•••
Short flight time
This drone's maximum flight time is 16 minutes, which can feel quite short.
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Top
Pro
•••
Beginner-friendly
It's easy to learn how to control the Spark, since it has simple controls. It also has an automatic stabilization system and anti-collision sensors that help prevent impact that can cause permanent damage.
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Top
Con
•••
2 axis gimbal
The Spark's gimbal only has 2 axis, unlike those with 3 axis of high-end drones.
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Top
Pro
•••
Very portable
The Spark is light (300 g) and small (143 x 143 x 55 mm), making it a very portable drone, perfect for carrying around. On top of that, it's propellers are easy to assemble and disassemble and a box, for convenient storage and transportation, is included.
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Top
Con
•••
Camera is not of professional quality
The Spark's camera can't be compared to the cameras of more advanced drones. For example, it's not 4K and it only has 12MP.
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Top
Pro
•••
Controllable with gestures
This drone can be controlled via physical gestures, which can be especially useful for beginners, since it provides an intuitive way of controlling flight.
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$499
Recommend
2
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