What drone under $50 can I use to learn to fly, or is a simulator better?
Next up in our “Ask Drone Girl” series is about finding a drone under $50 to learn to fly. If you have a question for Drone Girl, contact her here.
I really want the new DJI Mini SE, though I don’t want it to be a learning drone. My fear is crashing it or getting it stuck in a tree and losing $300 before I’ve solidified the basics of flying. My question is, what drone under $50 would you recommend to be just a flight learning drone only?
Or now that I have a Windows PC, is there a top-notch, affordable drone simulator you’d recommend instead that I can pair an affordable game controller with that will accurately teach me to fly?
We are on the same wavelength! I definitely do not recommend the first drone you fly to be something you can’t afford to lose. While the new DJI Mini SE is an incredibly safe, easy-to-fly drone, I still wouldn’t want to make it the first thing I touch for a few reasons. Here are two reasons why I recommend you start flying on a cheap practice drone:
- Cost: Even if this is one of the easiest-to-fly drones, our mindset can get the best of us. We might panic, shoot the sticks sharply in one direction and crash the drone. You don’t want to go into your multi-hundred drone with a mindset where you might crash.
- Learning value: Every current DJI drone for sale these days can basically fly itself. All of them takeoff and land automatically, can hover in place, and have some level of return-to-home capabilities with varying degrees of accuracy. Most can fly pre-programmed flight paths, and again, the intricacies of them varies by drone.
That’s all good, but it’s imperative you know how to fly a drone itself in case the failsafes, well, fail. Cheap practice drones are hard to fly and don’t have anywhere near that degree of automated flight, which is why I recommend you learn on them. Train for the hardest scenario, so you are fully confident in the easy scenarios, which is most of the time when you’ll be flying DJI drones.
The best practice drone under $50
And with that, I recommend you get any cheap, practice drone you can find at your local toy store. And quite frankly, you don’t need to worry if it’s good, because it’s just a practice drone. It being tough to fly is a feature, not a bug!
That said, I do really like the Potensic Upgraded A20 Mini Drone. It’s about $35, and I frequently see additional coupons for this one on Amazon (10% off is fairly common). Pair it with an Amazon Prime Rewards credit card if you have one for an additional 5% savings.
A couple reasons it stands out:
- Well within your $50 budget
- Comes with three batteries. Most toy drones only have ~5 minutes of life per battery, which can be annoying in cutting training sessions short. With three, you’re looking at 15-18 minutes of flight time per training session. By the time you take off and land, expect to be able to train for at least a half hour using this drone.
- The drone can fly in headless mode. Some drone pilots prefer to fly in compass mode while others prefer headless mode. You now have the ability to train both.
What about simulators?
There are two simulators that I recommend because they’re either free, or under $10.
The Drone Racing League Simulator
The first one I recommend is actually more geared toward leveling up your FPV (first person view) skills and is from the best in FPV drone racing, the Drone Racing League. DRL’s simulator, called the DRL SIM, costs $9.99 and is designed to help complete newbies learn the basics. It takes you through training missions that’ll take you from player-to-pilot in a few hours. While it’s primarily designed with FPV drone racing in mind, it’s a well-made, engaging way to learn controls, which apply to all drones.
The DJI Flight Simulator
This downloadable simulator has a free trial version compatible with certain Mavic drones, specifically designed for situations like yours where you want to hone your piloting skills without the potential risks and costs associated with real-life training. Since it’s made by DJI and you’re looking to train for flight on a DJI drone, this will likely give you the most realistic, simulated flight training. DJI’s simulator software tries to account for real world settings, such as flying in wind, and it can also simulate crashes.
The problem with this: you want to get a DJI Mini, but the free trial won’t be compatible with that. The free trial version is only compatible with these drones:
And more specifically, these controllers:
- Mavic Air
- DJI Smart Controller
Alas, unless you upgrade to a fancier drone, this won’t work from you. That said, I think flying a cheap, toy drone is really your best way to train for flying a DJI Mini anyway. And of course should you upgrade to a fancier drone, the DJI Flight Simulator is always there for you!
Is there another drone under $50 that you’d recommend? Share your advice in the comments below!