I don’t seem to be able to go very far on YouTube these days without seeing the latest overpaid YouTube star either buy or talk about buying a drone. Whilst this might seem like a reasonable thing to do, the drone of choice tends to be the DJI Phantom 4 pictured below which comes in at a whopping $1,3999.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t have any issue with people that can afford these things buying them only to break it or lose it within the first week of ownership. What does worry me is that many people who can’t really afford one will still buy one because “how cool do they look man!”. I was guilty myself when I saw how much fun Casey Neistat was having with his drone I thought to myself “I need this in my life” luckily I couldn’t afford one and probably never will. However I was left relieved and a little bit smug after the weeks rolled by and Casey had destroyed or lost yet another drone. I believe at last count he was on drone number 7.
I know what your thinking surely this is an isolated case, I mean they promote these things as being super easy to fly with obstacle avoidance technology and all those other ‘you have to buy me’ marketing gimmicks implemented by a company that wants your hard earned dollar in exchange for their latest and greatest creation. Unfortunately it’s not though and from my research at least half of those that buy one of these will end up either smashing it to pieces beyond all recognition or losing it within 3 weeks of ownership.
You would be forgiven for thinking that I’m anti-drone or god forbid it Anti Casey Neistat. Both couldn’t be further from the truth, firstly I used Casey as an example because most people will know him and he appears to have owned more of them that the average drone owner. Casey takes some amazing footage with his drone and you can see his skill with the device progress with every flight and piece of footage shot but the point remains he’s worked hard and is successful and is able to afford to do this. I just want to highlight the likelihood that if you buy a DJI Phantom 4 you should be very prepared and comfortable with losing your $1,399 investment from either loss or damage.
If you want to own a drone I highly recommend starting off with something simple and not to expensive. Yes it might not have all the bells and whistles of the DJI Phantom and in someway will be harder to fly but it will make you a better drone pilot and won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Thanks for listing.
