The following list is in no particular order, but I’m sure you’ll find that we represent a few different categories of fliers, including toys, photography drones and high speed racers. Without further ado, here are some of the best drones you can pick up for under $500.
DJI Phantom 3
Available in a few configurations, the Phantom 3 is, obviously, the drone that paved the way for the Phantom 4 and the Mavic Pro after that, the best drone that DJI has to offer today. The models include the Standard, for the beginners in the crowd and those looking to stick under today’s $500 mark, then there’s the 4K for those that just want a bump up from Standard in video quality, then the Advanced, which is the closest to the Phantom 4 with 4K recording, 3 miles of range, and up to 720p live view video streaming back to your smartphone.
DJI SPARK
DJI recently announced the DJI Spark, a very compact quadcopter with folding propellers, made to go with you and fly in the moment. Controllable by hand gestures alone, Spark has a few built-in flight modes as well, you get the best of drone flight with the least amount of effort and skill possible. Billed as a selfie drone more than a compact flier, you may stand in front of this thing more than you do behind a controller.
Introduced with the DJI Spark, we hope DJI Quickshot autonomous flight features make it to other drones as we go. Fly by hand or with the optional controller.
Walkera F210 3D
As far as an out-of-the-box solution goes in the racing world, the Walkera F210 3D is one of the best drones you’ll find today. It packs both normal and night vision cameras, a sturdy build, simple customizations and a lot of thoughtful longevity features. Not saying it won’t break if you crash it, but they’ve done what they can to protect core components and make the rest easy to replace.
Best of all, you can tweak the flight characteristics directly, adjusting the flight controller to your specifications. The F210 3D is lightweight, we hear it is extremely agile, particularly in those demanding corners of technical courses, and is fast enough to keep up.
We can’t guarantee you’ll win races with the Walkera F210 3D, but if any ready to fly drone purchase was going to get you there, this may be it.
Parrot Bebop 2
We recently recognized the Parrot Bebop as one of the best drones on the market, so it stands to reason that the second rendition of the unit should garner some attention. With an optional VR helmet that puts this drone above our current price bracket, the quadcopter alone hits the right price point. You’ll be flying using the accompanying mobile app on your phone.
