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I know some of you are drone enthusiasts here. We would like to get one for our 13 yr old grandson. He is intelligent and responsible so we don't have a problem getting him a decent one.

We saw some cheap drone kits that come with a camera and I'm sure he'd like that. Maybe an option for linking with an iPhone too.

Anyway...ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
Does he fly already?

Although many birds fly themselves now with RTB, follow, waypoints, virtual fences, auto-land, etc., etc., etc., there's no substitute for eye-thumb coordination when the SHTF - especially when prices soar right past $1000.

Would it make sense to start him with one of those little $39 things to become proficient while both of you research the must-have features and ratings for the one you really want? Or maybe two of them to have skill contests and races.

I fly everything, and even the most pipsqueak little toy quads are a blast.
 
Does he fly already?

Although many birds fly themselves now with RTB, follow, waypoints, virtual fences, auto-land, etc., etc., etc., there's no substitute for eye-thumb coordination when the SHTF - especially when prices soar right past $1000.

Would it make sense to start him with one of those little $39 things to become proficient while both of you research the must-have features and ratings for the one you really want? Or two of them to have skill contests and races.

I fly everything, and even the most pipsqueak little toy quads are a blast.
Thanks for asking. He has had a couple if the little drones and is proficient. Battery life is irritating with the cheapos, and one of his reached about 100' vertical and drifted off into oblivion.

Mrs308 and I were thinking of upgrading him without breaking the bank. The idea was to get something that functions well and doesn't take off and disappear because there are too many things to go wrong. The Parrot BeBop2 is pretty trick, but the 1-star reviews worry me a bit. I'm sure the 1K Mavic would be perfect, but I'm not really willing to dump that kind of $$ on a gift. If the boy wants to evolve to that level, he should do it on his own. We just want to get something reliable he can practice his skills on and not have to worry about if @#$$ up and taking off into the forest never to be seen again.
 
Personally I'm a DJI fanboy, but I've played with a bebop and they aren't to bad. Most people don't follow the directions and have issues. Drones are a in a extremely fast evolving state right now, new and better stuff coming out almost every day. There is a learning curve and some people just don't get it. Part of the reason DJI is leading the pack is they are extremely user friendly
 
Personally I'm a DJI fanboy, but I've played with a bebop and they aren't to bad. Most people don't follow the directions and have issues. Drones are a in a extremely fast evolving state right now, new and better stuff coming out almost every day. There is a learning curve and some people just don't get it. Part of the reason DJI is leading the pack is they are extremely user friendly

several (or more) of those recent (this year) one star ratings say their bebop just 'flew away', that doesn't sound good
 
several (or more) of those recent (this year) one star ratings say their bebop just 'flew away', that doesn't sound good
Again people not following directions, I've seen 2 myself. One was a person who didn't charge their controller prior to flying. The second was a person flying near high voltage power lines :confused:
 

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