Drone shopping guide: What kind of drone do you need?

The entire Drone Rush team are passionate drone pilots, we enjoy all level of multi-rotor machines, and any other style of UAV. We understand that we live this stuff, immersing ourselves in the drones and technology every day, but you may not. Join us today to learn some basics and get a handle on which list of drones is best for you.

Across our site you’ll find dozens of lists of the best drones for a given approach to flight. No matter what type of drone you are looking for, you’ll find the appropriate list below.

Table of Contents

Things to know before you fly

You need your TRUST certificate (drone license) before you fly!
You must register your drone with the FAA before you fly
You must affix your drone registration number to your craft
Coming soon: The FAA will require you to pass a test before you fly your drone
You must acquire your Part 107 certificate if you are to receive any compensation for your flight
You must follow all of the FAA’s airspace rules if you are flying outdoors
Hobby flights have different requirements from commercial flights
In the eye’s of the FAA, drones are aircraft. Period.
You need to acquire authorization to fly in controlled airspace
Almost all drones over 249 grams will need a Remote ID broadcast starting April 21, 2021

International Drone Laws

Drone categories

There are a hundred ways you can separate out drones into separate categories. We’re trying to keep things simple, after all, there are only a few hundred drones out there worth buying, and even then, we’d say less than a hundred drones make our best lists. We’re always excited to find new machines.

You will see the same drones on multiple lists on the site. Our approach is to let you know what we think are the best drones in a segment. We don’t pick segments in order to promote a drone. To this end, the best beginner drone may also be the best small drone and one of the best camera drones.

Our lists can be grouped in different segments themselves. We have lists based on price, lists based on your intended use, lists based on your skill level and more. I don’t believe there is anything more to say on the matter, let’s get into the lists.

Best drones overall

No matter what you are doing, what your price is, this is our list of the best drones across all sizes, costs and uses. No limitations, this is our list of the best drones on the market today.

Best drones 2021

Best drones by price

It’s always about the money, right?

For the most part, the drone photography market and DSLR market are fairly similar right now. $500 is a good starter machine, $1000 is a high-end consumer product, then $2000+ is where the professionals live. You know there are $300,000 drones out there, right?

Best drones by use-case

Your drone needs are different from my drone needs, so what do you need?

Best drones by size

The size of your drone will greatly determine what you can do with your machine. We’ve got a few lists of smaller machines, but the majority of drones fall into the use-case situations we’ve already noted in this article.

Accessories

There is more to flying than just having a drone, you’ll need all manner of tools to enhance the experience. These tools include things like a lanyard to support your remote, a bag for transport and the best software to ensure safe and legal flight.

Drone apps

Drones by manufacturer

Finally, if you are familiar with a particular drone company, you can think of this as a sort of history for each manufacturer. From Autel Robotics and DJI up to Yuneec and ZeroTech… we only just now thought to organize them all alphabetically, oops.

If you would like to see what drones a particular manufacturer produces, our drone manufacture list can get you started.

Drone manufacturers

Best DJI Mavic drones and DJI Phantom drones

In addition to drones listed by a single manufacturer, there are now lines of drones that warrant their own lists. Two of which are from DJI themselves. Our DJI Phantom drones guide explores all the machines in that iconic drone design, and this newer DJI Mavic drones guide is more popular these days, with smaller drones that still rock great cameras.

DJI Phantoms drones guide
DJI Mavic drones guide

Best places to buy a drone

We usually start our search at Amazon, but there are a handful of other great places to go drone shopping. See a few in our slowly evolving list of best places to buy a drone.

Best place to buy a drone

Wrap up

We want to take a moment to thank you. It is your support that keeps us going.

Each time you visit the site we are inspired to create more content for you. Each time you leave us a suggestion or constructive comment on an article you help us grow. We are passionate about things that fly, but we are still learning the industry. Finally, we do not want to put advertisements on this site, but we still need to pay the bills. We do receive a small amount of affiliate commission when you use one of the links on our site to purchase a drone. Keeping true to you, we will never ignore a good drone for lack of affiliate eligibility. Your trust is our main goal.

We welcome your ideas and suggestions, we have many more lists in the works, but if you have an idea for a grouping of drones, drop us a comment and we’ll get to work on it.

Thanks again everyone, fly safe out there, and have fun!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are there so many drone lists on Drone Rush?

Over the years, we have learned that there are many reasons that pilots take to the sky. Some do it for the sheer pleasure of controlling an aircraft, others want to see the world from above and capture great photos, while others fly for work, carefully surveying a job site or working to save lives. It is true that most drones can handle most tasks, but as with anything, to be good at everything means you’re a master of nothing – simply put, there are specialized machines for certain tasks, and there are full-featured drones that happen to do one thing better than another. A camera drone would not be good on a drone race track, and a race drone would be pretty horrible at surveying a job site.

What drone should I buy?

There is no easy answer to this question. We always recommend that your first drone be a $30 toy drone, something to learn on. From there, if we assume that you’re looking to get your first machine to see how much fun it is to fly, and maybe to capture some photos and video from the sky, we’d like to suggest something like the DJI Mavic Mini or DJI Mavic Air 2. They have a similar flight experience, while the Air 2 is a larger drone with much better camera, and nearly double the price. You do get what you pay for, but either of these is a good starting point for a newer drone pilot.

Do I need a drone license?

In the United States, the FAA makes it simple: if you will be compensated for your flight, then you will need a drone license to fly. That is soon to change, as all pilots will need a license to fly within the next couple years. There are similar rules for countries around the globe. Hobby pilots that will not be paid to fly still have to follow the rules of the sky, but at least there are no current license requirements.

How do I comply with the new Remote ID rule?

Stay tuned to the site for more info, but as we write this in early January, 2021, there is no official start date for the new Remote ID rule. When it does go into effect, check with your manufacturer first, they may have a software update that can enable Remote ID on your existing drone, or a hardware solution to upgrade your drone. Otherwise, a third-party Remote ID transmission module will work, or, you can find an FAA approved flight field and join that community. Else, you may have to retire your machine and buy something new.

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