YDQA 7

John Dickow: [00:00:00] What should a beginner be looking for in a drone?

Sally French: I sort of separate beginner drones into two categories. A great quality drone that I would truly recommend that you use and fly as a beginner. And then there's like this other class of drones that I kind of consider like trash drones, but they are actually something I recommend.

John Dickow: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Your Drone. Questions Answered today. I'm with Sally French, also known as The Drone Girl. Thanks for joining me, Sally. Thanks for having me. So Sally, can you just start off by kind of giving our viewers just an introduction of yourself, your background with drones, particularly as the drone girl.

Sally French: Yes. So I started the Drone Girl back in 20 13, 10 years ago, and like many of you listening who want to know how to get into drones, 10 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing, and I was looking for the best drone. [00:01:00] The best one available was a dj. I. Phantom, and I'm talking the old school Phantom with no camera attached to it.

Um, and it was a lot of trial and error. Really difficult to fly these days. It's so much easier and there's so many more options. I think we're gonna talk about that, but especially 10 years ago, I was trying to figure it out myself. So many people knew I was interested in. Figuring out drones and people started messaging me questions.

I started my blog simply to post my own drone videos. But all these questions started coming in from people wondering, what drone should I buy? Where can I fly? Do I need a license? What are the rules? And so the Drone girl evolved in response to those people to answer those questions. Now, I post news, I post reviews, and I love answering questions like these, what beginner drone should.

John Dickow: Okay. Well then I'm glad you're here. You are the perfect person to answer this question. What should a beginner be looking for in a. You

Sally French: think it sort of comes down to like what we want to define a beginner as, and [00:02:00] so I sort of separate beginner drones into two categories. There's sort of like a, a great quality drone that I would truly recommend that you use and fly as a beginner.

And then there's like this other class of drones that I kind of consider like trash drones, but they are actually something I recommend. Um, and these trash drones, they cost less than a hundred dollars. Honestly, they cost less than $30, and I call them this. Because if, if you trash them, it's not a big deal.

It's $30. Um, these drones are really difficult to fly. They're honestly a huge headache to fly. Um, but that's why I like them. So I mentioned that my first drone that I started flying was a DJ I Phantom, and they didn't have all these fancy features that drones have now. There was no. Return to home, there was no press a button and it automatically takes off.

You couldn't even see what the camera feed was seen in real time. You had to land the [00:03:00] drone and then just like kind of crapshoot hope that like the drone was angled at the right angle and then you would watch your GoPro footage after the fact. Um, and I think this made me a better pilot because it was such a rough experience that now I fly one of these better drones and I'm like, I can do anything.

And so very similarly, I actually recommend that people just go wherever you buy stuff, which is probably Amazon, just search for drone, look for like the cheapest one. And there's no great recommendation. I have like honestly, cheaper is better. Um, and toy around with it because if you crash that drone, first off, it's not a big loss.

It's, you know, 20, $30. You don't wanna crash. 200 or $2,000 drone into the pool. Um, but it's, it's a really good way to truly be comfortable flying drones if you can fly one of these crappy $20 drones. Absolutely. Once you go to buy a drone from a company like D j [00:04:00] I, you'll be totally good.

John Dickow: You mentioned just kind of cheap, under $100 kind of drones.

What kind of, what companies make those sort of drones? Yeah,

Sally French: I mean, honestly there are no like real brand names. Um, okay. It's, it's typically like these, these like almost fly by night companies and they're like really sketchy, but like, that is fine if you're just getting into drones, especially, you know, if.

Running a, a school program and you're like handing these drones to kids. Like often these drones are really, really light. So if they do crush them, like it's not really a big deal. It's not gonna hurt anything or like ding up the walls. Um, and so, so like, Literally anything you can find. Um, but then, you know, we start to get into sort of higher tiers.

So kind of like the lowest quality drone that I would recommend that has a brand name is the tele drone. So that is, From a company affiliated with D J I, DJ has basically endorsed them. They use DJ I [00:05:00] parts, um, and it's from a company called rise. The tele drone is really interesting because it typically costs a hundred dollars.

So even if you're like brand new and you're like, I, I don't even know if I wanna commit a hundred dollars, that's still a lot of money. You don't necessarily need to go for the Tello, but if you do wanna have kind of that better quality experience, The tele provides that it's got the camera with the realtime feed back to your phone so you can see exactly what the camera's seen.

It is reliable, it is safe, and there are a lot of other features with the Teleo that make it really appealing. I mentioned, uh, kids in schools. Uh, the Tello actually has software integration. That allows you to program it in a sense. So it's a really great STEM tool that you can kind of program the flights on your computer and then the drone will fly that route.

Um, so I recommend that for beginners. I recommend it for especially people who, who want to like learn a little bit more about stem. [00:06:00]

John Dickow: Great. Great. And that's an interesting point too, cause I know I've obviously, with a lot of drones and especially the nicer drones, you can program routes, uh, which seems like a safety feature in some ways, but you gotta also know how to use it, right.

Sally French: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and then so once you've kind of like progressed past the tele drone, because even that's not something that when someone says, I'm going on my trip to Hawaii. I want a great drone to be able to photograph me on my hikes for my beach. Um, I probably wouldn't really recommend a tele drone for that.

It's so small, it's not gonna hold up in the wind. You're not gonna wanna fly that drone over the beach. Um, so that's when we start to get into. Better quality drones. So you asked like, what's the best beginner drone? And like the reality is, DJ and Mavis are so easy to fly. Now these are great drones. If you're someone who's interested in photography or sort of like an entry level enterprise [00:07:00] use case, um, these drones, like you don't need to be scared to fly them.

I would be way more scared trying to fly the $30 drone than like something like a DJ Amatic. Drones now 10 years ahead of when I started. They're easy to fly, they're safe to fly. They have so many features and the higher end the drone, the more safety features they have. So something like a MA is going to have sense and avoid.

So if you're flying into a tree and you keep gassing it and you keep telling it to go, um, a drone with a sensor is, is going to actually stop and it's not going to fly into the tree. Even if you gas it all the way it. Going to kind of hover there. Um, and so, so the reality is a more expensive drone is, is going to be the best for beginners, of course.

I think the big question that everyone has is, I'm a beginner. Why should I spend more than a thousand dollars on a drone? And, and the reality is, if you're a beginner, cost is a [00:08:00] huge consideration. If you have millions of dollars, first I wanna be friends with you, but second, uh, you should be buying the ma if you don't.

Um, there are are different DJ drones in particular that are really easy and safe to fly. You're looking at something like the MA mini line. Um, the Maverick Airline is a little bit cheaper. Um, and that's where I would recommend a beginner go into, especially with beginners. I see a lot of people who are really excited about drones to get into it, and I'm so excited for them.

But then that excitement sadly wanes and there are a lot of reasons for that. Maybe they realize that, you know, it's just too, too takes too much time to edit. You know, the footage, post the footage online, they're not interested in it. Maybe they realize like they're going to have to, you know, get licensed to do.

Official photography work and sell that, and they don't wanna do that. Um, they're gonna have to register their [00:09:00] drone if it's over 249 grams. Maybe they don't wanna do that. Maybe they didn't realize that they live near an airport. Um, you know, a lot of people surprisingly, don't realize like what a radius really is from the airport, that you can't fly drones.

Um, or you just live in some other place that you can't fly. You might think I've got this great park, and then suddenly the park has this rule that you can't fly drones there. And a, a private park is allowed to make whatever rules they want. Um, and so, so there are a lot of people who end up not flying drones as much as they thought, which is why I would discourage you from investing in this a thousand plus dollar drone and going for something a little bit cheap.

John Dickow: That makes a lot of sense. And so, I mean, to answer, to answer the question, you, you, there's drones like the ma, the d i Mavi, which is a great drone, great for beginners, has a lot of safety features built into it. But there are kind of some nuances to that and, and really do you wanna spend that much for something you may not use or despite all the safety features, I'm sure [00:10:00] you could still go crazy and accidentally crash that drone.

And so it's good to practice on a beginner cheap.

Sally French: Yeah, I remember when the first DJ Phantom four came out and it had a sensor in the front, um, but it didn't have sensors on all sides the way many Madic drones, or even like something like the California-based scoo drone has, um, they have more comprehensive sensors so they can see all around them.

Um, but I had gotten. Phantom four, and my friend had never flown a drone before and I said, Hey Helen, you should fly this drone. It's super easy to fly. You can't crash it. It's got a sensor in the front, so there's no way you can crash this. I hand her the controllers and immediately she gases it to the right.

The drone flies all the way to the right and crashes right into a tree. Um, so I was like, darn it. But these days drones do have sensors on more sides. Of course, the more expensive the drone, the more sensors they're gonna have. Likewise, a really cheap [00:11:00] drone probably won't have sensors. So I actually.

Recently looked at the best drones under $500 because I kind of feel like that's a really good price point for a beginner. Again, unless you have like infinite money, you're probably not spending more than $500 on a brand new hobby. Um, and so at kind of the cheapest price point you have, the d j I at mini se, this drone starts at $300.

It does not have any obstacle. Sensors. If you're flying in just like big open parks, you're just flying over the beach, there's nothing you're gonna crash into. That's totally fine. Um, you just have to be aware that if you're flying with your friend Helen, and she gases it all the way to the right and doesn't take her finger off this dicks, it is going to crash into something.

But for a beginner, it's got a great quality camera. Um, it shoots 2.7 K video, which isn't as high as the 4K video that we're used to seeing, um, with some of the better [00:12:00] quality drones. But if you're just posting your videos to, you know, TikTok or Instagram reels, 2.7 K is more than enough of, of course, you know, if you're like actually taking videos for some sort of like documentary or something like that, you're gonna want 4k.

But in that case, you probably want something better than a beginner drone. Well that

John Dickow: makes sense. And so you're really balancing, considering cost with safety features, plus the cool features that everyone's looking for in a drone.

Sally French: Yes. And so actually DJ recently launched, um, the d i Mini two se. That drone is really interesting and I think it kind of strikes that balance of being affordable while having better features than the DJ I mini se, which I just talked about.

Any other

John Dickow: points that someone should be considering as a beginner when they're buying their first

Sally French: drone? Yeah, I think you should just be really realistic about what you're using the drone for and what you're looking for. So if you are a videographer and you think like, I wanna shoot films that are gonna go like up [00:13:00] on YouTube for a class project, something like that, and you want it to be high quality, you might wanna up opt for that 4K video, in which case you're gonna have to pay more.

Um, the D G I mini two offers 4K video, but. $450, but again, could be worth it. Um, I would also, you know, really just think like, do you wanna start off with that toy drone just to kind of get the feel of controlling it in your hands. Um, I think it's totally worth just like spending the $30 initially to, to try to fly your first drone for the first time.

Um, realize that it is going to be frustrating in it. Have that knowledge that when you go to fly a better expensive drone, it's going to to be that much easier. I get so many people who ask for a drone under $500 that is less than 249 grams that is made in America. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like this is an impossible task.

If anyone has that, like that would be amazing. Um, but there are always trade offs. If [00:14:00] you do want a Made in America drone, though, the best American Drone Company. For consumers, uh, is Skydio, they're based in California. They've got a really great follow me drone. Um, so it's, it's got great sensors to avoid objects on all sides.

It's cool, it can like literally follow you, especially if you're doing something like action sports and you want it to, you know, follow you on the surfboard, around the waves, all that. Um, it can do that. Um, and it's got an excellent camera as. A lot for our

John Dickow: audience to consider, and it really is. It sounds like it's up to the individual.

What's more important to them? The Drone Girl. You can catch her@thedronegirl.com for more information on this. Thanks again for joining me, Sally. Thanks for having me. And you can still submit your question about drones, uh, and we'll get it answered for you. Just go ahead and submit it@ydqa.io and we'll get it answered.

Until then, we'll just see you in the sky.