Hints and Tips Discussion Questions prior to buying first drone

I'll let some of the more experienced FPV guys chime in - BUT....
that seems like a nice model, however still a lot of money. I'd rather buy something for less for learning and get deeper into the hobby for a while before making a decision to spend 2K.

For example, you could consider the eachine 250 which can be purchased for about $300 complete from Banggood...
Or, if you don't find fitting a bit of the FPV gear, one of the Armattan models - you'd spend about $500-600 for a setup.

Why do you want to strap a GoPro on? The FPV cameras (either analog - which are quicker...or Runcam/Mobius) are decent quality and weigh less...and, you are out $60 when you crash badly as opposed to much more.

 

The basic problems is that no model, no matter how much you spend, can survive high speed crashes. Think of it like a car or an airplane.

The Armattans are known for being fairly bulletproof. The Eachines are pretty good and parts are available worldwide (for both and others)....

That's probably about the best you can ask for - that you could get repair parts. Armattan has some models with aluminum frames that you can simply bend back into position after a crash.

But, to my knowledge, none of these things is going to survive heavy-duty crashes unscathed. As far as plane travel, that's the easy part. Remember to bring ALL batteries as carry-on. They have enough energy to bring down a plane (fire!).

 

Yes, that's what I understood. These travel fairly well in any kind of soft or hard case. I traveled with my Phantoms which are quite fragile (gimbal, etc.) and had no problems because they were in a padded case in the overhead.

Usually you just have to take the props off and the battery is a good idea to remove and to put into a LiPo safe bag.

As a reminder, do not put any batteries in checked luggage - even "gate check". A fire can result in the baggage area of the plane!