The number of drone design, performance features and brands available in the drone manufacturing space, makes choosing the right drone for your needs tricky and confusing. “Good” drones are not cheap, therefore do your research before you buy. Buying a drone can be a hassle because of the vast choices available from multirotor drone to quadcopters. Ever since buying the Dji Mavic mini, I have seen the world from a bird’s eye perspective and I must tell you….it is really really beautiful!. Drones are just plain fun to have, they have inspired a new sport called drone racing and are used to deliver food and medicine to people remotely. The drone revolution is just starting and it’s on its way to fully complementing our lifestyle.

Do you want to buy the best drone ? I will guide you through the basic and most necessary features to look out for in a consumer drone . For beginners, I will highlight the different types of drones, the drone features available on most consumer drones, and the price point. Be rest assured you will be confident about making the right choice. Are you flying in Canada? Take a look at this before you buy a drone.

Types of Drones

Commercial use of drones include real estate, security, wedding and special events, special delivery, land surveying, agriculture and building inspections.

Irrespective of the use, the types of drones are determined by their design.

Multirotor drone

The word ‘multi’ refers to the number of rotor propeller attached to the drone. As the name implies, multirotor drone have more that two rotor for generating lift. Tricopter , quadcopter and octocopter are drones with 3 , 4 and 8 lift generating rotors respectively.

Multirotor drone use vertical thrust for lift. They are common amongst hobbyist and content creators and have applications in aerial photography, building inspections, agricultural surveys and video surveillance, emergency fire reconnaissance .They can be small and fit in the palm of your hand and can cost as low as $50 but some cost as much as $3000. The more the feature s, the higher the cost. Multirotor drone can hover at a point of interest which makes taking photos, and video interesting and fun.

Fixed Wing drones

As the name implies, they have fixed wing design like an airplane and can be hand launched into the sky. Unlike multirotor drone ,Fixed wing drones use forward motion to generate lift but they are faster and tend to have longer flight time than multirotor drone. if you have to take a picture or video of a point of interest, it becomes cumbersome because of its limitation to hover like its multirotor counterpart. Fixed wing drones tend to have a steep learning curve.

Single rotor drone and hybrid drone are other types of drone. The military developed more sophisticated drones use in warfare or surveillance . This article will only focus on the recreational and commercial drone features available to the average consumer.

Essential consumer drone Feature

The features listed here is by no means the only features available in a drone.

Takeoff weight

The weight of a drone is very important. Drones that weigh less than 250grams does not require government registration or a license to fly as at the writing of this article. Drone that weigh more than 250grams up to and including 25Kg requires a drone Pilot license before you can fly. The FAA in the United States and Transport Canada is a good source to check out before flying a drone.

Camera

The Sensor size, lens size, ISO range, shutter speed, still image size, still photography modes, video resolution, video format, photo format and supported file systems are camera characteristics worth checking when picking up a drone.

Maximum flight time

The flight time is the amount of time the drone can carry out its function of a full battery charge. The flight time of various drones vary from 5mins to 35minutes. Some high end drones have flight time in excess of 1 hour.

Autonomous tracking

This is allows the drone to perform specific pre-programmed function initiated by the pilot. The drone can be made to track a subject continuously while it maneuvers obstructions in its path. This is a must in any drone of choice.

Control modes

Some of the drones has dedicated remote control without the need for phone attachment. Phone attachments serve as a live view for the drone pilot.

Maximum Transmission Distance

The maximum transmission distance is the far away your drone can be from the controller during a flight and still maintain control of the drone. The transmission distance on each model of drones available in the consumer space. It depends on how much you are willing to spend on buying a high end drone.

Maximum Speed

The maximum deployment speed during ascent or decent vary from drone to drone. Maximum ascent speed for DJI’s Mavic Air 2 is 4m/s while the DJI Mavic 2 Pro has a maximum ascent speed of 5m/s

Gimbal

A gimbal provides stabilization to the camera on a drone. It keeps the motion of the camera stable around a 3 or 2 axis namely: pitch , roll and yaw. It also allows control of the camera direction and also maintain stable footage while filming or taking photo.

Obstacle Avoidance

There are sensors on different positions of the frame and body of the drone. The more the sensors, the more safe and precise the drone is. The location of the sensors is at the top, front, sides, back, and bottom of the drone. The number of sensors at each location may be one or two. Sometimes, sensors might be missing at some locations. The various prices reflects this features . The Skydio 2 is unmatched in obstacle avoidance with respect to price and performannce.

Best drone for the money