Have been doing some serious homework, since I am considering not only getting into it as a hobby but also maybe building a business out of it.
First, go buy the Ominus. It's like $200. Learn to fly it first. Very good quad so far for the money. It has a camera that has FPV (First Person View). It actually works pretty well too. It's size is comparable to the bigger drones. Just a tad bit smaller. The battery time isn't but about 12 minutes but that's ok. Takes about 30 minutes or so to charge. Charges off a USB port so that's kewl too. If you can fly this thing the nicer drones should be no problem.
If you are serious about drones and want great video and pictures then these are some for you.
Phantomn2 Vision+
It is affordable at about $1,300. Has GPS and pretty much all the bells and whistles. The camera is pretty damn good. It isn't 4k but not many are. I think it's 1080 @60 FPS. The FPV is through WIFI so it can be laggy at times. For the money there isn't much better out there.
Yuneec Q500
It's pretty much the Vision+ competitor. Has everything the Vision has with an added "Follow me" feature. You click a button and walk and it follows you. You don't have to use your smart phone for the camera because there is a screen built into the transmitter. I like the look of it a little better than the Vision. Also it "feels" a little more durable then the Vision although the DJI stuff is solid. DJI is the company that makes the Phantoms and Inspire (which is next)
Inspire1
If you are really really serious and want to go to that next level of having really professional grade video and photography this quad is for you. It has retractable landing gear. In a really really cool way! The gimbal rotates 360% so you get that view unobstructed because the body and camera are below the landing gear. The camera! It shoots 4K at 30-40 FPS, 1080 @ 60 FPS. It also shoots RAW. All the reviews rave about the camera. It also flys by GPS but has the added feature of some sensors that can read the surface movement and pretty much eliminates any drifting by the drone. It is so stable you can fly it indoors or where there is no GPS. You can get two transmitters and dual control. You make one controller the Master/pilot and the other the Slave/cameraman. That is awesome if you are really needing to move while filming or in tight spots. You can use line of sight while piloting and your camera man can concentrate on getting the shot. The only drawback to the thing I think is flight time. About 18 minutes which is pretty average. They do have a bigger battery I think that should add to that. Well make that two drawbacks. The other is price, $2,900. But this is a next level machine. This thing is the bridge between toy quads and novice drones to big time $10,000 real deal drones. This is what I'm going to go with!
Plexidrone
Very kewl design. It snaps together and has a very neat backpack for it. Retractable landing gear. Doesn't come with a camera but the price is under a thousand. So if you have a GoPro4 then this might be a good deal. But I assume you don't have camera controls like the Inspire or even the Vision has. It isn't out quite yet so there really aren't any reviews on them. I would let these come out and be on the market for a little while before buying.
Just thought I would put out what I have learned.
First, go buy the Ominus. It's like $200. Learn to fly it first. Very good quad so far for the money. It has a camera that has FPV (First Person View). It actually works pretty well too. It's size is comparable to the bigger drones. Just a tad bit smaller. The battery time isn't but about 12 minutes but that's ok. Takes about 30 minutes or so to charge. Charges off a USB port so that's kewl too. If you can fly this thing the nicer drones should be no problem.
If you are serious about drones and want great video and pictures then these are some for you.
Phantomn2 Vision+
It is affordable at about $1,300. Has GPS and pretty much all the bells and whistles. The camera is pretty damn good. It isn't 4k but not many are. I think it's 1080 @60 FPS. The FPV is through WIFI so it can be laggy at times. For the money there isn't much better out there.
Yuneec Q500
It's pretty much the Vision+ competitor. Has everything the Vision has with an added "Follow me" feature. You click a button and walk and it follows you. You don't have to use your smart phone for the camera because there is a screen built into the transmitter. I like the look of it a little better than the Vision. Also it "feels" a little more durable then the Vision although the DJI stuff is solid. DJI is the company that makes the Phantoms and Inspire (which is next)
Inspire1
If you are really really serious and want to go to that next level of having really professional grade video and photography this quad is for you. It has retractable landing gear. In a really really cool way! The gimbal rotates 360% so you get that view unobstructed because the body and camera are below the landing gear. The camera! It shoots 4K at 30-40 FPS, 1080 @ 60 FPS. It also shoots RAW. All the reviews rave about the camera. It also flys by GPS but has the added feature of some sensors that can read the surface movement and pretty much eliminates any drifting by the drone. It is so stable you can fly it indoors or where there is no GPS. You can get two transmitters and dual control. You make one controller the Master/pilot and the other the Slave/cameraman. That is awesome if you are really needing to move while filming or in tight spots. You can use line of sight while piloting and your camera man can concentrate on getting the shot. The only drawback to the thing I think is flight time. About 18 minutes which is pretty average. They do have a bigger battery I think that should add to that. Well make that two drawbacks. The other is price, $2,900. But this is a next level machine. This thing is the bridge between toy quads and novice drones to big time $10,000 real deal drones. This is what I'm going to go with!
Plexidrone
Very kewl design. It snaps together and has a very neat backpack for it. Retractable landing gear. Doesn't come with a camera but the price is under a thousand. So if you have a GoPro4 then this might be a good deal. But I assume you don't have camera controls like the Inspire or even the Vision has. It isn't out quite yet so there really aren't any reviews on them. I would let these come out and be on the market for a little while before buying.
Just thought I would put out what I have learned.
