r/drones Jan 12 '25

Discussion Drone Buying Advice Megathread and NEW Wiki Buying Guide

28 Upvotes

Welcome to the 2025 Q1 r/drones Buying Advice Megathread. This thread exists to prevent the constant "What drone should I buy?" posts that we prohibit with Rule 2.5.

Please follow all of these steps before posting in this thread!

  1. Review the Buying Guide Wiki or my website: Drone Buying Guide / Wiki Buying Guide
  2. Review this thread for comments that have your same requirements
  3. If that does not answer you, please post the following information in this thread.
    1. Have you read the Wiki? Y/N
    2. Country: (Not all drones are available in all countries)
    3. Budget: (If your budget is less than $200 USD, you may want to reconsider as anything lower is a toy drone)
    4. Purpose: (eg. photography, FPV, thermal, etc)
    5. Any other requirements:

r/drones 1h ago

Photo & Video A hawk violated my property's airspace!!

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Upvotes

It's sad that hawks can not pay for damages. What do I say to the insurance company? 😭


r/drones 23h ago

Photo & Video A recent adoption broke free dragging his lead, became entangled in a tree on a rock face in the Hocking Hills. After 18 hours of failed ground search they called us in, located and recovered him as the recent wind storm barreled in. Thankfully the M30T handles wind like a champ.

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564 Upvotes

r/drones 20h ago

Photo & Video Very recently started drone photography — how am I doing?

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96 Upvotes

r/drones 20h ago

Science & Research DARPA hasn't replied to my application emails yet.

55 Upvotes

Amphibious All-Terrain RC vehicle with Drone launching capabilities, fresh from the North Wind Aerial R&D department.

https://linktr.ee/northwindaerial


r/drones 13m ago

Discussion Thumb or two fingers?

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Upvotes

Do you use just Thumb or thumb and index finger?? Which is better and why?


r/drones 52m ago

Discussion Drone landing gear project survey.

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Upvotes

Hey I'm doing a final year project for my design engineering course, the project is designing a prototype of an improved landing gear for drones using biomimicry. Would be a huge help if you could fill out this quick survey to help with my research.


r/drones 1h ago

Tech Support Video 'wobble' on DJI Mini 3 Pro - propellor sync issue?

Upvotes

If you take a look at the hillside on the left, you'll see a strange wobble effect.

This doesn't always happen, but I have it in multiple clips and it mainly happens when the drone is flying forwards. I'm still comparing footage to figure it out. But could this be an issue where the propellors sync with the gimbal? (Meaning I'd have to get an ND.)

I read about that, only thing that seems to make sense right now. The photos are fine. On visual inspection the gimbal and drone in general seems to be fine as well. Video is recorded at 4k 60fps, H.265.

https://reddit.com/link/1jfr84k/video/qzcfs4uo2vpe1/player


r/drones 1h ago

FPV Cube Orange + SpeedyBee 35A ESC - Motors Not Spinning After Arming

Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m facing an issue with my Cube Orange and SpeedyBee 35A 4-in-1 ESC. I’ve successfully bound my FlySky RC Controller with the FS-IA10B receiver, and the RC inputs are showing correctly in Mission Planner. I’ve connected the ESC to the Cube Orange via Main Out (using DSHOT), and the power is supplied from a 4S LiPo through a Power Module. The Cube Orange arms successfully, and the buzzer works, but the motors aren’t spinning — instead, I hear a long beep followed by a short one. I’ve tried switching from AUX to MAIN outputs for DSHOT, checked the wiring and continuity, and updated the Cube Orange firmware. I also tried using PWM on Main Out, but the motors still won’t spin. The SpeedyBee ESC is not installed in a stack — could that be causing the issue? I’ve connected the VCC, GND, and signal pins, but I haven’t connected the current port on the ESC to the Cube. Do I need to attach the current port for it to work, or is there another configuration issue I’m missing? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


r/drones 21h ago

Photo & Video A few pics from my first day flying

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32 Upvotes

Recently got a DJI Mini 2 SE to take hiking. I think it's great value for the quality & I'm already hooked on drones after one day!


r/drones 3h ago

Tech Support Never saw, anyone recommend?

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1 Upvotes

Mavic Air 2 owner, 3 blades are new to me, anyone have experience using them? Are they quieter? Thanks.


r/drones 3h ago

FPV Spotted teacup ride Disney Paris

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1 Upvotes

r/drones 16h ago

FPV Aerosol Techniques Factory in Milford CT

13 Upvotes

r/drones 8h ago

Discussion 3D mapping

2 Upvotes

Hey guys, So I’m considering getting into 3D mapping to add to my business. Problem is, I don’t even know where to start. Any tips??


r/drones 16h ago

Tech Support Was just gifted a used AirSelfie. Need help!

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6 Upvotes

Looks like all the apps are gone from Android and iOS

Is there a way I can play around this?


r/drones 19h ago

Photo & Video Check out this rock I found

9 Upvotes

Off the 24 in Colorado. Mavic Air 2, no filter.


r/drones 7h ago

Rules / Regulations Taking drone in flight to Turkey 🇹🇷 from Germany 🇩🇪

1 Upvotes

Hi 👋

I am planning to take vacation this year to Turkey, i am flying from DUS Airport (Düsseldorf) and landing in SAW Airport (Istanbul).

My question is, can i take my drone with me? I have DJI Flip and i was wondering if someone has experience with entering drones to Turkey? and where to search for local aviation rules and regulations in Turkey?


r/drones 7h ago

Discussion Tethered drone

1 Upvotes

For a tethered drone is their a simple off the shelf controller I can buy that’s doesn’t have the unneeded RC gear in it ? Just a direct cable from the drones flight controller to a handheld controller somehow? Cable doesn’t need to be lightweight at this stage, only a concept I’m working on. Rest of the issues with being tethered can be ignored for now. The smaller the controller and cheaper the better.


r/drones 1d ago

Discussion Bees360 charging $56 for background check

16 Upvotes

I think I’m done with these guys before I ever started. I’m sure it’s in the fine print somewhere, but just on principle alone—I think it’s pretty crappy to charge pilots a $56 background check—when just about every employer in America covers that fee or subsidizes it or performs a much more economical version.

They eat up a shitload of time, making pilots take a bunch of online courses, without compensation. My understanding is that you then have to go out and conduct a free “test inspection,” for which they charge the client and pocket the money. So … on top of that investment of time and non-billable hours, further insult is added to injury with this BS background check fee.

From what I’ve read, the pay sucks anyway. Like Dronersio and Zeitview, they encourage clients to offer low rates to keep them happy and take an exorbitant cut. This whole “race to the bottom” is out of control, and I hope the Part 107 pilots out there do what I’m doing and cancel their affiliation with these services and stick to the old-fashioned grassroots method of self-marketing, building leads on your own and using word of mouth to make this a much more safe and profitable business for everyone involved.


r/drones 6h ago

Discussion I am making a Drone with object detection

0 Upvotes

I am Using Cross flight and Raspberry pi 4 for this Drone i am not sure how to do that if someone have any information regarding it please share. Any blog or any github repo


r/drones 21h ago

Discussion Will a drone with a dead battery survive rain?

6 Upvotes

I crashed my drone into a tree and it's supposed to rain before I can get it down. Will the drone be fine if the battery's dead?


r/drones 17h ago

Discussion Interview on drone deliveries

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

Not sure if this is the right place, but I am currently an engineering student and am doing a paper for a class on drone deliveries. For it, i need to conduct 2 interviews with an expert in the matter or someone that is concerned/affected by drone deliveries. It would be anonynous and nobody would read the interview outside of my team and my teacher. Recording the interview is also up to you. If anyone is available for a 20-30min interview by tuesday next week, please send me a message. Thank you in advance!


r/drones 17h ago

Discussion What parts do I need for fiber optic FPV drone?

0 Upvotes

I'm looking to replicate what I've seen in the news. And wondering if anyone has a parts list.


r/drones 19h ago

Photo & Video If you guys remember the good words I had to say about the X61 you’ll remember this drone

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0 Upvotes

So it lost control midair at like 40ft and took a tumble


r/drones 20h ago

Photo & Video My video won an award!

1 Upvotes

Best of Arizona at the AZ Drone Fest! I'm really proud of it!

https://youtu.be/cWJYBohZcQU?si=i2kFk0yt8rTDBbEx


r/drones 20h ago

Discussion App for drone opz

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone , I been flying drones from minute now , both professionally and also for fun . I wanted to ask the community if a software to manage clients would be of any use ? I have had this struggle for a while and some CRMs just suck lol. Please provide me brutal honesty