Sunday, October 22, 2017

Top 10 drones you can buy for less than $100 [2017]

Today we are talking about top 10 inexpensive drones that can be bought for less than $100! Of course, you cannot expect these models to perform like high end ones. But, despite that, they are still uniquely good in their own right. If fun is what you’re looking for and you don’t want to spend a ton of money, these next 10 drones are definitely good enough to satisfy you.

Table of Best cheap drones under 100$ :

Name Image Camera Range Time Best Price
10. SYMA X5C1 2MP 60m 8 min See best offer
9. SYMA X8C 2MP 200m 12 min See best offer
8. BLADE NANO No 100m 7 min See best offer
7. Syma X5UW syma-x5uw 2MP 100m 8 min See best offer
6. JXD 509 1MP 80m 7 min See best offer
5. HOLY STONE F181 2MP 100m 8 min See best offer
4. Tarantula X6 tarantula-x6 No 100m 10 min See best offer
3. UDI U845 2MP 100m 8 min See best offer
2. Hubsan X4 hubsanx4 2MP 100m 8 min See best offer
1. UDI U818 HD+ 2MP 100m 8 min See best offer
Drones on this list

Drones Under $100 – Table of Contents

Some prices may have changed since publishing this article. We are giving our best to regularly update our list of cheap drones with camera.

NOTE: if you don’t find what you’re looking for on this page, I suggest you reading our article about Best drones under $200 or Drones under $300. Follow us as we take on the sky! It’s time to find out what’s the best drone under $100 you can buy:

10. Syma X5C1

Syma X5C1 drone is the upgraded version of the X5C, one of Syma’s greatest successes, often called best budget drone.

Ready-to-fly out of the box, a highly recommend cheap quadcopter and one of the most bought ones on the market. Its 7x20mm four motors give him enough power to transport small lightweight objects when the camera is removed.

The camera is 2MP and as mentioned it is easily mountable, not using it increases the quadcopter flight time from 5 to 6 minutes. This is due to the X5C1 using battery power from its 3.7V 500mAh available to both maintain the quad and the camera. As you can tell, the battery is not that powerful but considering the drone’s price tag, it doesn’t bottleneck. Syma X5C1 is perfect for indoor and outdoor flight. This is great pick for all of you looking for an affordable but still quality drone.

Come to think of it, Syma X5C1 is probably the cheapest drone with a camera. Since it comes with prop guard in the box, you can fly it indoors too. When you learn how to fly it, I suggest removing prop guard, camera and landing gear. Drone will lose some weight that way and flight time will increase while motility will be much better. Many people will agree Syma X5C1 is one of the best cheap drones with camera.

 

9. Syma X8C

Syma is a drone brand known to us all, their previous successful products have gained them a high credibility in the industry. Even though they mostly concentrate on low-end part of the market, the folk over at Syma still enjoy quite a bit of respect from the competition.

One of their most recent products is the Syma X8C quadcopter, a large quad aesthetically resembling the DJI Phantom.

It is a somewhat heavy quadcopter, 601g with the battery and camera installed. To withstand all this weight, X8C has big propellers and uses a large 2S 2000mAh battery to power its brushed motors. All this power gives him a 12 minute flight durationand a flight distance of up to 200 meters. As expected of a quadcopter this size it is ultra stable, wind resistant and has durable shell. Packed with a 2MP low-performance camera, it flies better without it, a mobius or 808 camera is better instead.

To conclude, Syma X8C is definitely a drone worth checking out. If not for its specifications and generally decent performance, then surely for the bragging rights since people will mostly think you’re flying a Phantom. It won’t hurt anyone if you keep the fact that it’s actually a cheap knockoff solely to yourself.

 

8. Blade Nano

Blade’s Nano drone is the perfect example of what an entry level miniature drone needs to look like. With an incredibly sleek design that sports a bi-color, white/yellow scheme, there is no doubt this little fella is very easy on the eyes.

But, the design is not everything Blade nano has to offer. If we want to find out what exactly are its main virtues, we will have to take a closer look at it!

One of its key features is SAFE technology, patented by blade. It stands for Sensor Assisted Flight Envelope and helps with overall stability and agility of this little drone, ensuring it is safe to fly in both outdoor and indoor scenarios. When it comes to flight time, Blade Nano stands solid with roughly 7 minutes. While that might seem bad to some of you, keep in mind that we are talking about a miniature drone. On the bright side, the charge time is less than half an hour which is outright awesome!

Unfortunately, the biggest downside of Blade Nano is the fact that it’s not a RTF model. Instead, it’s BNF which stands for Bind and Fly. This essentially means you will have to provide your own controller/transmitter and bind it to the Nano. But, for those of you who already own a BNF transmitter, I’m sure Nano will seem like a solid option. It’s insanely fun, that’s for sure… especially when paired up with FPV goggles that will give you a massive boost to immersion.

 

7. Syma X5UW

Syma X5UW is one of the better looking quadcopters in this price range. This is one of the newest drones on this list, Syma has announced it only few weeks ago.

Because of that, it comes with some “advanced” features such a altitude hold, mobile app control and FPV. It is not one of the most stable quadcopters, but once you get the hang of it, on maximum yaw rate it becomes very fast. Its motors are a bit noisy on high-rates but it’s not that big of an issue in the long run.

The frame is very durable and it should survive most of your crashes. Battery that comes with this newest Syma drone is “Phantom like”, just take a look at photos and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

From what I know, that’s one of the most advanced batteries on cheap drones. Battery capacity is 3.7V 500mAh and it should provide you with 6-10 minutes of flight time.

Syma X5UW has a control distance of 80 meters, which is average and similar to other drones in this price range. Although it comes advertised as both indoor and outdoor flyer, for beginners’ indoor flights are not advised until you are able to fully control it. We don’t suggest indoor flights because this is not a small drone, trust me, I’m saying from my own experience.

Syma says this is the best low-cost drone, do you agree with that? After you catch flying basics I suggest removing prop guards and camera. Weight will decrease and you’ll get more flight time and better motility. If you want, you can remove landing gear too. Drone will look weird without that all but it’s worth it in some cases. Try it yourself!

 

 

6. JXD 509W

6th place on our list of top 10 drones under $100 is reserved for JXD 509W drone. The 509W is a WiFi version of extremely popular 509G drone.  It is made of ABS plastic and the propellers are flexible for 90ยบ, ensuring it won’t bend or break easily when hitting and crashing.

I do not have to explain how important this is, especially to beginners. They aren’t used to operating flying vehicles so there is going to me more than a bunch of crashes in their first couple of test flights.

Luckily, JXD 509W has the capability to endure it. Moving forward, it is also noteworthy to add that it has a professional look to it and packs great features as well as competitive specifications. All that for such a small price tag! Featuring Altitude Holder, One-Key Home Return, Headless Mode, Automatic Landing, there is no other quadcopter within this price range with so many useful features. FPV is decent quality as well and it is nicely paired up with good controlling range.

509W drone covers all you need for amazing and fun flights at the lowest cost possible. Do you agree this is the best drone under $100? Share your thinking with us using the comment form below.

 

5. Holy Stone F181

Holy Stone’s F181 is currently the bestselling entry level drone on Amazon. It has close to 2,000 reviews, most of them incredibly positive ones. As a matter of fact, the overall review rating is 4.5 stars which just proves how excellent this little fella is. But, what can you expect from it? Well, why don’t we check that out real fast!

Starting off with features, you will be happy to know it sports One Key Return to Home, headless mode, altitude hold and One Key Flips. Even though it technically isn’t a feature, the extra batter you will get inside the package is still a noteworthy addition.

Moving forward to the specifications, F181 by Holy Stone ranks pretty good with other similarly price competitors. Depending on interference and weather conditions, it can go as far as 100 meters (but realistically, you’re looking at 80 max in day-to-day usage). Battery-wise, roughly 8 minutes of flight time is more than decent.

Lastly, it’s important to say a thing or two about its built-in camera. It incorporates a 2MPX sensor that can effectively shoot in HD resolution. Still, the sensor isn’t light-friendly which means there isn’t enough light coming into your frames. While that might not be an issue during the day, you can forget about night shots.

 

4. Tarantula X6

Tarantula X16 is a neat quadcopter with a different design to what we are used to see. It comes without camera, but you can buy one separately. It has also enough power to lift up some random action camera such a GoPro. Tarantula X6 was one of the best selling drones in 2015.

There are many reasons why’s that so. First of all, you can easily fix it by yourself (in most of cases). For an example, motors can be replaced easier than on any other drone. Now you’re probably wondering why would anyone want to replace its motors. Well, that’s because RC motors can burn out sometimes.

When it happens, you can easily order new motor from Amazon for few dollars and replace it by yourself. There are many tutorials on youtube so you should be fine with that. The 7.4V 1200mAh LiPo battery powers up to 10-12 minutes of flight time.

Besides that, Tarantula X6 has a control range between 80 to 100 meters. Very solid and quality drone in my opinion. It’s no surprise this drone has many “followers”, there are tens of groups on Facebook related to this best budget drone where owners exchange their experiences and opinions.

 

3. UDI U845

As you could see for yourself, the upper portion of this list was heavily dominated by Syma drones. While down here, in the top 3 spots are 2 UDI ones with excellent characteristic. The worse of the two is U845 which is a rather unique looking drone.

The first thing that will come to your mind once you take a look at it is – It’s a UFO! That’s because it sports a centerpiece around which you’ll find a total of 6 propellers (yes, this is a hexacopter and not a quad) surrounded by durable frame.

This UFO sports a HD 2MPX camera with FPV support. That’s always a huge plus, especially to people looking to take their drone piloting fun to the next level. In terms of battery life, you are looking at roughly 8 minutes, after which you’ll have to take a 2-hour pause for the battery to recharge.

When it comes to features, UDI U845 drone incorporates headless mode, FPV and 360 flips with one key press. The bright spot of this one is surely the LCD controller that works like a charm. Unfortunately, it is not rechargeable – works with 4 AAA batteries. Still, you can purchase rechargeable AAA batteries along with a charger which will significantly reduce your expenses in the long run.

 

2. Hubsan X4

hubsan x4Hubsan X4 drone is one of the cheapest and best performance small quadcopters you can acquire at the moment. Many people will say this is the best inexpensive drone, would you agree? Well, one thing is for sure – if it’s not the best one, it is definitely among them! Let’s check it out and see what is it all about!

Not only does Hubsan X4 have an amazing 100 meter range distance (better than any other low-cost quadcopter this size) but it also comes with a 2MP mountable camera, which again is unusual for affordable micro quadcopters. Consequently, it has a flight time of 6-8 minutes, on the other hand only takes about 30 minutes to recharge its 3.7V 380mAh battery.

The battery is built-in and like the camera not removable. Perfect for indoor flights or to take on the park when is not windy. LED lights and painted propellers makes it easy to determine drones position when in air. Camera & FPV quality is better than you’d probably expected for a drone of this price.

Hubsan X4 is well known for its 4.3-inch screen on transmitter. It works very nice, FPV range is somewhere around 50-100 meters which is more than enough for most beginners out there. All in all, I believe you agree with me when I say that it’s among the best cheap drones currently available on the market.

 

1. UDI U818 HD+   –> Best cheap drone?

And finally, meet UDI U818 HD+ drone. This under $100 drone has everything it needs to be at the very top of the food chain. It is easy to handle, reliable and extremely durable with its prop guards that go all around the entire frame making sure it’s durable and crash-resistant. With all that on mind, let’s take a closer look at UDI U818 HD+ to see if all this hype is justified!

Let’s start off with the features! This little fella sports headless mode and one key 360 flips that will surely amaze everyone watching. Unfortunately, as far as features go, in addition to those two mentioned above, UDI U818 HD+ incorporates only Low Battery Alarm and LED lights. But the lack of features is compensated with more than solid HD camera. More about it down below.

UDI U818 HD+ camera records in HD at 30 frames per second. Needless to say, it is by far the best camera option in this price range. Still, there’s no stabilization which might cause that annoying jelly effect from time to time. All in all, UDI U818 HD+ is an awesome entry-level model, capable of delivering ton of fun for everyone playing with it.

READ NEXT : Best drones below $500 / Best drones below $1000

 

Who are these drones ideal for?

The obvious answer might be to beginners, but is that really so? Well, it’s true to an extent that these cheap models are great for people who are trying to get into drone hobby. I remember my first steps – I destroyed my Traxxas Aton in just a week while learning the controls.

My ego was too big to put it in beginner’s mode… So the combination of my negligence and Aton’s speed (yes, Traxxas Aton is incredibly fast) resulted in me having to buy another drone after just a week.

The second answer would be for children! There’s no need to purchase a $1k drone for your kids to play with. It’s practically throwing money in garbage. They don’t know how to use them correctly and they will most likely break them pretty fast. It’s like buying a bulldozer for a man who only operated a forklift in his entire life…

What to expect from these cheap drones?

When you are buying such a cheap drone (while we’re at it, it’s not just when you’re buying cheap drones but virtually all cheap gadgets out there) the key is in having realistic expectations. If they are set too high you will end up really disappointed and that will greatly ruin your drone flying experience. On the other hand, if you don’t expect it to be any good, it might even surprise you and provide you with a ton of fun. Who knows, perhaps you’ll want to buy a spare one as well…

The drone industry is developing remarkably fast; new low cost drones are coming to the market with new features and at lower prices. Nowadays it is easy to find and purchase an inexpensive drones, so today we will talk about best budget drones that can be bought for less than $100.

From toys to professional quads, soon everyone will own a quadcopter as the world embraces this new useful and fun technology. To help you decide what’s the best inexpensive drone for your needs and budget, we bring you a list of the top 10 drones under $100 you can acquire online.

The post Top 10 drones you can buy for less than $100 [2017] appeared first on DronesGlobe.com.

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