best drones under 500

The Best Drones Under 500$ To Buy in 2019

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How to pick the Best Drone Under 500

Getting your ideal drone is never an easy task. It gets even tricky when you want something that fits in the category of best drones under 500 dollars that is just perfect for you. In other words, something that gives you surpassing benefits without straining your pocket too much.

Fortunately, the intense competition among drone producers over the years has grown to the point that we have a stunning array of choices which can defy your imagination. The best part of it is that prices continue to come down as a result.

So whether you are a novice or a veteran in the game, you can be sure that your dream drone with all the fantastic features included is within reach, just awaiting your discovery.

Your needs, of course, may fall in many categories. Maybe you are a beginner and just want to mess around with a simple but cool machine that lets you learn the ropes. Or you could be a serious project guy who wants to capture great scenery with vivid detail and span.

Whatever the case, you want to get something that serves your purpose well while considering your limited budget.

With all that in mind, what are the best drones under 500 dollars that you can find in the market? The best drones under 500 dollars that you can find are the following, in which I feature the three top drones selling on Amazon.

DJI Spark

This is one of the best pocket-friendly drones that you will get, often swinging anywhere between $500 and $400 (and sometimes dipping below $400). It also rates as one of the most popular with Amazon customers consistently giving it their thumbs up. DJI Spark’s superior qualities and performance speak to what we have to come to expect from the famous DJI brand with its great slew of technologies.

Spark was built to unleash your creative energy to its maximum, giving you an almost inhibited access to great scenery, control, and fun.

Spark will get you speeds of 31 mph and keep that up for 16 minutes when it is fully charged. Its has a  range of 1.2 miles. The camera sits on a two-axis gimbal, which gives it rock steadiness, providing you with stable focus shielded from shaking by the wind.

For control, you use either a controller (which is not included and needs to be bought separately)  or your phone. Spark even has some autonomous navigation ability thrown into the deal. You can achieve control simply by making gestures with your hand.

Sparks easily earns big marks for ease of use and convenience. It is easily foldable and convenient to carry in your backpack, which makes it great for using on the fly, especially when vacationing, vlogging, or capturing memorable outdoor events.

For the best drones under 500 dollars, you won’t get another drone that gives you more accurate and stable footage.

With all these features, this isn’t a drone you want to waste your pity on. Instead, it deserves our respect and a place among the best drones under 500.

Features at a glance

  • Weight 300 g, lightweight
  • Uses a controller, not included
  • Camera resolution 12 MP
  • Battery size 1,480 mAh
  • Range 1.2 miles
  • Using Face Aware, Spark remembers your face before taking off to the air. It acts quickly upon launch, achieving take-off and hovering within seconds.
  • Simple Control
  • Create with ease
  • Edit and share

Here are Sparks full other features:

  • Obstacle detection
  • GPS tracking
  • Vision positioning technology
  • Auto return

Holy Stone HSI00 GPS VFP

Holy Stone is an outstanding product produced by an astounding company.

 Perfect for beginners who want to explore cinematic drone photography, this nifty gadget offers users a great experience which in many ways even beats DJI Phantom 3.

Despite its lower price range, expect to be pleasantly surprised and even momentarily confused into thinking that it’s high-end.

It can achieve remarkable long-distances up to 1 km. It will travel so far out of your sight and yet come back up because of is auto-return function.

Holy Stone has a brushed motor camera which makes it inferior on that account to brushless motor drones.  Nonetheless,  in this category, it reigns as the best you can find, especially if you consider that it has a 15 minute time of flight.

Holy Stone also surprises by having a battery that shows the charge level. That is normally the preserve of drones that are double its price, so this earns Holy Stone top marks.

Holy Stone enjoys some of the most positive customer reviews on Amazon, coming in with a 5-star rating. It isn’t likey that this comes from gaming the review system. These plaudits received by Holy Stone appears to be well deserved based on its strengths as a  product. For this reason, I have no hesitation in listing in among the best drones under 500 dollars that you can find in Amazon.

Features at a snapshot

  • Sensors: Inbuilt GPS, barometer, gyroscope
  • Flight time: 12 to 15 minutes
  • Flight range: 500 m at 120m height
  • Weight: 700 g with battery included
  • Dimensions: 50cm x 50cm x 80cm
  • Stabilized HD camera
  • Large battery
  • Camera
  • VFP mode
  • VR mode
  • Altitude hold
  • Adjustable speed

Drocon U31

Lastly, to make this list of best drones under 500 dollars is this versatile brand. Even though it isn’t quite as impressive as the other brands in the list, it is a hugely popular product, particularly with beginners or those with minimal piloting skills. It is also ultra-cheap, so those with a limited budget can try it to have a taste of flying with drones.

The focus of this unit is to get people with next to zero piloting knowledge to get those skills before they can use more advanced drones like a DJI Mavic.

If you want to fly a drone over many people, such as when filming a wedding, you need to know how to do it safely to avoid hurting people. This is where Drocon U31 can come in handy in helping you hone your skills to handle such situations without embarrassment.

The Drocon U31 HD camera will give you wide angles. It is ideal for taking selfies but will not give you a good experience with other kinds of recording. Moreover, its 720 HD resolution is well below the industry standard of 4K UHD but is nonetheless fine with newbies who want to practice their skills.

Drocon U31  comes equipped with rotor guards, which is a special feature designed to make it safe and ideal for first-time users of drones. In case of a crash, the propellers are protected from damage

Other additional features that enhance safety with newbies in mind include an altitude high mode and one key take-off and landing. It also features a headless mode, freeing you from the need to know the direction which the drone is facing.

The unit has special alarms for enhancing safety or exercising caution. It will sound an alarm, for example, if it is out of range so that you can get it back to its range. You will also get an alarm if its battery power is low so you can recall it.

Just because it is cheap and targeted at newbies doesn’t mean that Drocon U31 has no advanced features which include high altitude mode. This allows you to take selfies taking advantage of the fact that the camera is positioned at the front of the drone.

Drocon U31W can be flown using a remote controller or a smartphone in a first-person view. This can be a thrilling experience, providing a rare and rich perspective to a newbie on drone flying. Even more exciting experiences can be had with 3D VR headset (virtual reality).

In this mode, you fly your drone without seeing it from the ground. While this makes it harder, it is an excellent way of building your piloting skills.

Features at a snapshot

  • Dimensions    18.3 x 19.8 x 4.3 cm
  • Weight       85 gm
  • The maximum length of flight    7 minutes
  • WIFI distance;  30 m ( can be operated indoor and outdoor)
  • Battery capacity          350 mAh
  • Camera  Lens
  • Video recording modes
  • Great app support downloadable from Google Play Store
  • Fight modes control, e.g., Virtual Reality,

Conclusion

All the products I have featured here come in the category of best drones under 500 dollars so they should be available to you with this limited budget.

With such affordability coupled with the great features and functionality, you don’t have to leave the skies solely to jumbo jets, military aircraft, and the birds. You too can claim a stake of this exciting part of our atmosphere. Go out and grab a drone for yourself from Amazon.

Nonetheless, don’t let your fun with drones get you in trouble, so make sure to follow the regulations in your area or country to avoid legal trouble.  That could mean staying well off other people’s property and areas like airports. Fortunately, the drones featured here offer apps that map out for you where it is legally okay to fly.