What kind of drone would you recommend for an absolute beginner?
Depends on what you want to do with it and how much are you willing to spend, in terms of time and money.
In terms of time, you have to factor in learning stuff (how to fly, maintain, repair, or even build), ranging from low where you have to just get a permit/insurance (depends on where you live; in the EU an afternoon is enough to get your basic permit and insurance is instantaneous) and other stuff is negligible, to high, where you'll have to get multiple permits and follow mandatory courses just like with your driving license, and extensive pre-flight setup, maintenance, upgrades, editing (for video), etc.
In terms of money, can go as low as free if you can convince someone to lend anything to you, to tens of thousands of euros for custom built drones with custom payloads.
On the cheap side you can start with a couple hundreds, on average may be 500 to 1K, and on the high end over 2K spent to start the hobby.
I recommend you search around for actual drone usages before asking what should you get, as it's really a broad question without a real answer: it always depends.
Once you have an idea, here's a break down of usages and what you should get:
Cool, get a toy drone. Any will do at your local store. Even better, get a drone simulator off of steam. There are free ones too, like the Orqa something FPV. For a better experience you can buy an actual RC drone controller and play with that to get a feel on actual hardware, but be sure to check compatibility. If you decide to buy an actual real 3D drone you'll most likely be able to use the same radio for it (like a Taranis Q x7) .
- Is it for fun but you're a grown adult TM ?
Get an FPV kit, like
this.
- Do you need to film stuff?
Low time/money -> a DJI Mini used, can go for as low as 200€;
Low time/high money -> DJI Mini 3, 800/900€;
High time/money -> Autel EVO II Pro 6K or something similar, over 2K;
High time/low money -> build it yourself. Get a frame on aliexpress (like an f450 clone), motors, props, escs, a flight controller, radio transmitter and receiver, a couple batteries and a charger, a basic gimbal (optional tbh) and a camera, following specs from maybe something older, like a Cheerson CX20. It can be a deep dive into electronics, or if you can find something used to fiddle with, all that can be had for 100 to 150€. There are plenty of online guides on how to build and configure a drone, mostly on YT and such. I recently found
a blog and it gives solid advise on the build process.
- Do you need to film moving, action packed stuff?
No such thing as low time here, so:
High time/money -> DJI FPV or something like an iFlight Nazgul 5, a nice RC (Radiomaster TX16s, there are multiple trims) and DJI goggles, well over 1K.
High time/"low" money -> go used. Get a cinewhoop, any will do really, as long as it can hold something like a Runcam Thumb. A cheap RC, cheap goggles/video system, batteries and charger and you're set for under 500€.
I'd suggest you do as above, just skip the camera. If indoor a 2.5" cinewhoop is fine, outdoor i'd suggest something a bit larger (3.5"+ props size).
Same as filming with high money, just make sure the frame says "freestyle" on the box. Otherwise a racing drone can be stretched to do freestyle.
I'm skipping other stuff because it's kind of covered under the "build it yourself", and i bet you aren't interested in farming drones.
