Best GPS Drone
In the last several years, the popularity of drones has enjoyed tremendous growth in both the commercial and private sectors. High-tech, feature-packed drones are now well within the price range of everyday affordability and many are appealing (and very tempting!) to even the most budget-conscious buyer. Regardless of whether you’re looking for your Best GPS Drone or your next drone for a specific purpose that you have in mind, the discussion below should help you decide, or at least provide you with a good start in the right direction.
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Which GPS Drone Should I Get?
Well, that depends on your flying skills, intended uses of the drone and whether you want to try your hand at getting a side gig flying it. Is this your first drone? Is this an upgrade to the type of drone you already have? Most of the drones that we will discuss here are equipped with a camera, so ask yourself what kind of photo and / or video capabilities you might need. Do you need a high-end photo / video setup with the intent of doing aerial cinematography or detailed photographs for mapping, or do you just need something that will take great shots and post them to a social network while you are out on a day hike?
Let’s look at some of the GPS drones out there and maybe one or more of them will be a good fit for your needs, or at least be a starting point in your search for the right drone.
Phantom 4 PRO V2.0
If you are seriously looking at a high-end system that you can use to at least start practicing for possible side gigs, this drone is more than capable of handling it. The Mavic 4 Pro is geared for an advanced user who wants to do some intricate flights both outdoors and indoors and still get the best shots and videos possible. New fliers will probably find the Mavic 4 Pro somewhat intimidating and awe-inspiring at the same time, but with features that go largely unused when all they want is to be able to post a great vacation video to Facebook.
Some of the specs and features of the Mavic 4 Pro V2.0 include:
30-minute flight time
1″ 20MP CMOS sensor, 4K HD 1080p 60fps capable at 100Mbps rate with dual coding and mechanical shutter
6-camera navigation, infrared sensors, ultrasonic rangefinders and redundant IMUs for real-time views
Controller has built-in screen and 5.5-hour battery life with a range of 4.3 miles
5-direction obstacle sensing and 4-direction obstacle avoidance
Top speed of 45mph outdoors in Sport Mode, 31mph indoors with obstacle avoidance
The Mavic 4 Pro does have one of the longest flight times compared to many other drones. Note that the controller also has a good battery life and a range of just over four miles, great for those times when you want to get in a good long video or set of still photos and still have plenty of battery life left for any editing you would like to do before you share the video or photos. You can reduce charging time by equipping yourself with the best drone battery charger on the market, which will help you charge faster and can charge more batteries at the same time.
The 20MP camera with its dual coding is advanced enough to let you get high-definition shots and video which is almost instantly picked up on your screen and the high-speed mechanical shutter will let you get some highly detailed shots and even slow-motion shots that are almost distortion-free.
Feature
Its dual-vision sensors, infrared sensing system, rangefinders and redundant Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), compasses and obstacle sensing / avoidance mean that the Phantom 4 Pro has a real-time view of its environment and can locate itself within a self-created 3D map of its environment. With a sensor range of 98 feet, infrared sensing up to 23 feet and a feature called Narrow Sensing mode, flying outdoors and indoors just got a whole lot more interesting. This is great for people who want to take their drone out into the wilderness and take video inside their home for a realtor, create video that can provide a viewer with a virtual tour of an indoor venue or outdoor adventure, create instructional videos, etc.
This drone is no slowpoke, either, with a top speed of 45 mph outdoors and an indoor maximum speed of 31 mph – amazing for outdoor cinematography and cool indoor effects if you happen to have some crazy-good flying skills, but not good for someone with the bad idea of zipping through the house “at city speed” which most likely will end up in a very unimpressed family member trying to swat the drone out of the air with some type of household implement.
In short, the Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 is good for advanced users who want to try their hand at commercial ventures or cinematography, but new users may be somewhat overwhelmed by all the bells and whistles that accompany this drone.
DJI Mavic Air 2 –
Mavic Air 2 Aircraft, Remote Controller, Intelligent Flight Battery, 3x Low-Noise Propellers (Pair), RC Cables (USB Type-C, Lightning, Standard Micro-USB), Control Stick, Gimbal Protector, Battery Charger, Manuals, AC Power Cable, Type-C Cable.
The DJI Mavic Air 2 have a good lineup of features, including:
Up your game – The Mavic Air 2 camera drone takes power and portability to the next level. It combines a powerful camera with intelligent shooting modes for stunning results. Push your imagination to its limits because aerial photography has never been this easy.
Next level content – Capture impressive 48MP photos with a 1/2-inch CMOS sensor while the 3-axis gimbal provides 4K/60fps video. The secret to incredible HDR video is a high-performance Quad Bayer image sensor. OcuSync 2.0 has a video transmission distance of up to 6.2mi / 10 km and can also deliver 1080p FHD resolution livestream directly from the drone’s camera.
improved flight – An impressive flight time of up to 34 minutes allows you to pull off epic, fast-paced shots. Obstacle sensing in three directions makes it extra convenient for beginners and improves safety for your Mavic Air 2.
intelligent tracking – Mavic Air 2 features intuitive shooting functions that make aerial photography easier than ever. Spotlight 2.0 keeps the camera locked on a subject while you fly freely. ActiveTrack 3.0 keeps subjects centered. POI 3.0 tracks moving subjects like people and vehicles.
App compatibility – The DJI Fly app requires iOS v10.0, Android v6.0, or above. Compatible devices include: iPhone (11 Pro Max, 11 Pro, 11, XS Max, XS, XR, X, 8 Plus, 8, 7 Plus, 7, 6s Plus, 6s, 6 Plus, 6), iPad Pro (9.7’’), iPad Air 2 (9.7’’), iPad mini 4 (8’’), iPad Pro (10.5’’), iPad Pro 2018 11’’, iPad Pro 12.9’’, Samsung Galaxy (S20, S10+, S10, S9+, S9, S8+, S8, S7 edge, S7, S6, Note10+, Note9, Note8), Huawei (P30 Pro, P30, P20, P10, Mate 30 Pro, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 10, nova 5, nova 4, nova 3e, nova 2, Honor 8X, 10, 9, 20 Pro, Magic 2, Mi 8, MIX 2S, MIX 2, Redmi Note 5, Oppo Find X, R15, Vivo NEX, X27, X21, X20A, OnePlus 7, 6T, 5, Pixel 3 XL, 2 XL, 2, LG V20, LG G6, Sony Xpeial 1.
Parrot Anafi
The Anafi is another new drone model that just became available this summer. Parrot is a large French corporation based in Paris and is the leading European drone manufacturer. It also has an impressive lineup of business solutions for a wide range of industries, ideal for companies that need a drone’s capabilities but do not have the time to learn the drone skills necessary for their application.
Parrot’s new Anafi is ultra-portable, folding up to about the size of a bottle of water and weighing in at about three-quarters of a pound.
It also boasts some more great features:
25-minute flight time
4K HD 21MP camera, 180o total tilt, capable of 1080p and 720p
Top speed of 34 mph
Flight range of 2.5 miles
Wide range of video framerates
If you happen to be a newer flier or a practiced one and want to take your drone with you almost everywhere you go for some great dronies and videos, the Anafi is great. You also won’t have to take a bunch of extra gear, as the Anafi doesn’t come with a charger. What?? It’s true. No charger. Instead, it charges via USB cable right from your smartphone, computer or power bank. And both the drone and the controller charge up in less than two hours, so you can take a break from your activities without waiting forever for them to charge.
The nose-mounted camera can take upward shots, which a lot of drones cannot do. That allows it a full 180-degree range of motion for cloud-to-ground shots. This feature also allows the drone to take shots of whatever is above it. You can live stream your video at 720p, so family and friends can enjoy what you happen to be doing as well. You can also find the best framerate from several available with the Anafi, as well as get some 1080p slow-motion video. It also has a dolly zoom feature, which means you can capture some cool hyper lapse videos.
The only caution on the Anafi is that it does not have any obstacle avoidance features, so it will quite merrily fly into whatever may be in its path. Line-of-sight flying will therefore be important with this drone, especially for new fliers, and you’ll need to make sure that there aren’t any obstacles along the way if you go into follow-me mode.
Mavic Pro
The Mavic Pro is another foldable drone suitable for beginners and advanced users alike. It also has the convenient feature of allowing the user to fly the drone using just their smartphone, which is great for those who just want to take the drone out for short selfie trips or just some great shots along their way. The “fly by phone” feature does have some height and distance limitations, of course, with a maximum height of 164 feet and a maximum range of 262 feet, but it is still decent for tons of great shots. Speed and battery life are good and despite being lightweight, it won’t be tossed around in a light breeze.
The Mavic Pro sports the following features:
Flight time of 27 minutes
Top speed of 40mph
4K 12MP camera, 1080p and 720p video streaming
Obstacle sensing up to 49 feet
Max range of 4.3 miles
Wind resistance of 19-24 mph
So, you can see that this is a speedy drone capable of taking great high-definition shots and videos, with the options of live streaming at both 1080p (short-range) and 720p (long-range). It will sense objects up to 49 feet away and the DJI GO 4 app allows it to be flown indoors in “tripod” mode. Beginners learning to fly will benefit from the “tapfly” mode, letting them fly in a straight line pretty much right out of the box.
You can also control it with hand gestures for getting all the dronies you want, and when you decide to go for something different, changing between flying by phone and using the controller is done by a simple switch on the drone itself. The Mavic Pro also has four vision sensors which it uses for obstacle avoidance, precise hovering and for flying either in places that do not have GPS or for flying indoors.
If you can spring for the extra cash the DJI Mavic Pro 2 was recently released and will get you few more minutes of flight time and has some other great features.
Mavic Air
The Mavic Air is another highly-capable foldable drone. The controller is also foldable, plus the control sticks are removable so that they don’t get accidentally broken off during transport; the sticks are stashed inside the controller, so they won’t be lost. It also sports a high-end camera with a lot of photo / video options and capabilities.
This is a good drone for beginners and veteran users alike, with features such as:
Flight time of 21 minutes
Top speed of 42mph
4K UHD 12MP camera, 1080p and HDR capable
Charge time of just under an hour
Interestingly, this drone comes with 8GB of internal storage on the drone itself, giving you the option of storing photos and videos on the drone for downloading or editing later, or if you forgot to pack a micro SD card (or just can’t find it in your bag now). The charging time is faster on the Mavic Air, so by the time you stop for lunch and to get a memory card, you’ll be back in business.
It packs a lot of camera into a small drone. The camera is capable of more than just taking dronies or aerial shots. It also has four different panoramic modes in addition to taking 4K ultra high-definition video. The slow-motion option exists as well as the ability to take HDR shots, which will automatically give you the right exposure settings for your photos.
This drone can also be controlled with hand gestures in addition to its “fly-by-phone” and controller modes. It will also track your group if you want it to follow everyone while you are out hiking, biking or just enjoying the sights as its “ActiveTrack” feature will simultaneously track up to 16 subjects.
DJI Spark
The Spark gps drone packs a lot more than what one would expect from a mini drone. Not only is it set to take some good pics and videos, it can be controlled by hand gestures, smartphone or the controller. Since it can be totally controlled by the smartphone app, there is no controller automatically included in the box when you get it unless you order the “Fly More” package. On the other hand, the Spark does have some good features and capabilities:
Flight time of 16 minutes
Top speed of 31 mph
12MP camera, 1080p and 720p photo / video, lots of options
Maximum range of 1.2 miles
Obstacle sensing range of up to 16 feet
Lots of hand gesture control options
It makes a great little drone for both casual users and beginners. More experienced users may want a drone that has a longer flight time and greater range, but even these users may find the Spark a useful addition to their lineup with its wide range of photo and video options, especially if they want to get some quick shots or video while their primary drone is charging. It is also a good drone for young people who are interested in learning how to use a drone without the large expense of a drone that is geared for more advanced users. It also gives them the freedom to use the many photo / video options with just their smartphone by downloading the app.
The photo / video options include various panoramic shots as well as high-definition streaming video by a better camera than one would expect from a mini drone. The one-inch focal length gives highly-detailed shots and video with several flight modes so that the user can perform some maneuvers such as tracking a subject, spiral, rocket upwards, tap flying and other flight modes to get the type of videos and photos that you want. All in all, the Spark is a good buy for new and casual users, with some options and features that seasoned users will also appreciate.
Conclusion
Best GPS Drone has a lot to offer for new fliers as well as veteran pilots. Many of them have the latest camera sensors, flight modes, resiliency and immersive experience that drone operators are wanting. There is also certainly a lot of competition as far as styles, features, operations, accessories, and pricing. The latest, greatest and fastest drone might not be right for you, for your budget or for your needs and perhaps none of the GPS drones in this discussion will be the right one for you, but a careful search will help you find the one that is right for you.
Finally, once you’ve conquered the drone and feel more passionate about it, invest in something better. The article ” best drones under 500 ” will help you choose the best drone to show your drone control ability
