Are cheap drones good for new pilots?

On sites including Temu, Amazon, Ebay, Banggood, and Ali Express there are hundreds of listings for cheap drones priced from $30-100, but are they any good? And could this be an option for a new pilot that is unsure if they really want a drone?
FPV Drone kit used in this video:
Transmitter/Remote: Radiomaster Boxer ELRS: amzn.to/3ZBpoyt (the ELRS version, the CC2500 and 4in1 are also options on the page)
Radiomaster AG01 gimbals: amzn.to/3Z4b81b
TBS Crossfire Micro Module - amzn.to/3Pkh3d3
TBS Tracer Micro Module - amzn.to/3ANHaoO
Radiomaster Pocket: amzn.to/3Zrbpwg
The "yellow" shell: amzn.to/46fZxiE
18650 Cells: amzn.to/45SQvIN
Goggles: DJI FPV Goggles 2 - amzn.to/3URfWWo
Goggle Antenna: iFlight Crystal/Lumineer Stubby Antennas (amzn.to/3w6UjW2)
HDZero Goggles: bit.ly/47IMxm5
TrueRC antennas for HDZ Goggles: bit.ly/3HnC592
Drone: Custom Built drone with a DJI O3 Air Unit - amzn.to/3OuS9II
Freestyle 6s - amzn.to/3nUUTT1
Ethix P3 Peanut Butter & Jelly: amzn.to/3Y7sMzX
Ethix P3.5 Radberry: amzn.to/3kBUsz1
Action Cameras:
GoPro Hero 11 Mini - amzn.to/41zIfeX
GoPro Hero 10 Black: amzn.to/3HgRKWP
DJI Action 2: amzn.to/3xnVXTV
Camera Butter GoPro Hero 9/10/11/12: bit.ly/3LMHglt
Camera Butter O3 ND filter: bit.ly/45hNLU4
Backpack - amzn.to/3ayrFGw
The links in this post are affiliate links. For purchases made through these links, I may receive a small commission that will go to supporting and growing the channel. No organization or individual has any influence over my recommendations. All products included in review videos have been purchased by me.
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Website: www.nathanjadam...
#dronestagram #drones #dji #fpv #fpvdrones #creative #gopro #Actioncamera #DJIAction2 #insta360go2

[@Mayday.Aerial]

"Manufactured E-waste"....I have never heard it put so simply, bravo.

[@Nathan_Adams]

Thank you. I first heard it from a teacher I had for IT and computer programming in high school. He was talking about printers being junk and disposable, but I feel more and more like it applies to current products like this drone.

[@TwinARMYdad82]

I bought a drone from temu for $60 ..It was great to learn how to fly ..now I fly a fpv nazgul 5...v3 5s with emacs motors..love it..

[@Nathan_Adams]

I love the Nazguls, my first freestyle drone was a Nazgul v2!

[@GR8SCOTT]

I can't agree with you on this point. There are brushless ones that are about $25-30 now, with batteries that are only $3-4. It's good practice, good battery life, and you get a little experience without risking a $500 drone. Then you can move to a $200 package deal that will give you a controller(that you can use with other drones & use for sim training), goggles(that you can use with other drones), and a drone that has full acro capabilities when you're ready. You'll also get the range and better camera footage. Or you can add a RunCam 4k. They're less than $80 now.

[@Nathan_Adams]

I agree with you and we are on the same page on that one. Hubson makes a few drones that are 40$ and are quality products that can have parts replaced and teach new pilots how to fly line of sight and those are excellent. You also hit another point that I love, you can get a full setup for FPV at the 200$ ish price point and is a way better deal than something like this temu drone. the issue I wanted to point out is all of the mavic (and other popular drones) clones that are in the $50-100. The product like the one that I got are not just bad products, they can be dangerous because of their issues like lack of proper software and hardware safeguards to keep the pilot and those around safe. Nothing will kill the hobby quicker than a few personal injury cases because of drones.

[@serenestateofbeing1062]

I love videos comparing cheap drones. Ive always went all in seeing as i bought the mini 4 pro as my first drone and then spending 500 building my first fpv 5 inch. I always wonder how much fun you could have with cheap drones.

[@Nathan_Adams]

For long-term fun, there's not much a cheap drone. But I'm very excited to smash my Demi bot through that temu drone. If only our local model airfield would dry up after all our rain and snow!

[@coldspring22]

There used to be cheap drones with SD card slot for DVR such as Eachine E58 and E520S. I have both and yes DVR is nice to have for flying my drone over the house to inspect roof and gutters. For my use Eachine drones are good enough, and I don't need a mavic and don't want to spend that kind of money. unfortunately these cheap Eachine drones are no longer made.

[@Nathan_Adams]

Eachine still makes some cool drone products and FPV goggles, but I think they got cought in-between the sub $100 cheap drones and the $300-400 DJI mini and saw their market share and sales just erode. It is kinda tough to make a solid product in the $100-250 these days. I have a strong feeling it has more to do with terrifs and military customer demands driving more significant demand and profits when compared to consumer drones.

[@maddogtank8425]

the thing about these cheaper drones for me is less about them sucking and more about them being actually dangerous because while they are sub 250 g a 249 gram drone that randomly decided that today was its last day of living is not something I want flying around a DJI drone will rarely if ever just randomly fall out of the sky most of the time you will have multiple warnings of something being wrong before that happens for that reason alone I could not recommend a cheaper drone to anybody

[@Nathan_Adams]

You hit the nail on the head. These things scare me because it just takes one crashing into a family on a picnic because it loses control link.

[@LoveItDirtyOffroad]

Aww no fair, DJI gets the rockin' music lol

[@Nathan_Adams]

🤣 🤣 🤣 I was really tempted to put the Curb your enthusiasm music over the Temu drone footage but got hit with copyright claim.

[@lambo_drives]

Fun little demo ✌🏻 but TEMU.... that's just cheaper than cheap 😳 uht oh.... 17:45 someone's going to pull a Bot vs Potensic it sounds like

[@Nathan_Adams]

Yeah, I am curious about hitting it, but we have an idea if it survives a few hits

[@lambo_drives]

@@Nathan_Adams lol - can't wait to see the fun ✌🏻

[@stktenioudakis]

I bought an e-88 off temu the moment I got a bit confident with it I flew it like upwards at about 10 meters and it was 3 meters in front of me positionally, lost control and it kept rising, wind was kinda strong so with it no longer bound by me kept rising and moving off, ignored all the button functions and didn't seem to care or realise it was out of range...this comment might be used against me in the court of law but ye, don't buy this. Legit will remember it's last command if it gets slightly out of range and will full speed go away from you or up, both bad results, with a 6 min fresh battery in it, it probably went up to 300 meters + if I had to guess, good thing is it starts descending when it's battery is low at least so I probably won't hurt anyone, but I m justy hoping and coping, also at that height descending will take too long battery will die, it weighs like 80g so I doubt it will hurt someone even if unlucky enough to hit someone

[@stktenioudakis]

It's strictly an indoor toy if you're thinking about drone wise it's not a drone

[@Nathan_Adams]

Yeah you seem to have had the same issue I had where the RC disconnects. It is super scary and especially for a new pilot who may not know what to do next (or panic), It makes us a really bad choice for first drone.

[@Nathan_Adams]

With its open prop design and size, not to mention it's vague controls, indoor flight seems like a bad idea. I am just picturing the slowest collision into picture frames or a television.

[@Eddiedji]

I try to tell people the same thing when they want a cheap drone. Great video!!

[@Nathan_Adams]

Thank you 🍻 I made this after Christmas and answering two questions constantly "I want a drone but don't want to spend more than $100?" Or "why would you spend so much on a drone when you can get one for $50 that does the same thing?".

[@Eddiedji]

@@Nathan_Adams I am now subscribed to your channel. Also the next time someone asks or on a page, I am going to drop them a link to your video. It is spot on!

[@Nathan_Adams]

@@Eddiedji thank you 🍻

[@VladVortal]

Nice

[@Nathan_Adams]

Thank you 🍻

[@Catdaddy17]

Some people can’t afford to pay $500 for a toy. You get what you can afford. Because to someone else your $500 drone is s… because they have a $5000 one and so on and so on. So instead of down talking it and comparing it to an obviously better model, show benefit to someone who just wants to participate and encourage. Because I would never waste the money on your dji, I’d just put my money into another EVO2.

[@Nathan_Adams]

I agree that $500 is a lot for a non-essential item, I was just using the Mini as a point of comparison. I mentioned other options in the video for affordable drones, I'm always recommending used since you can find some excellent deals on drones including Autel drones like the Evo. The important point I was trying to make in the video was that many cheap drones don't really let you participate or engage with hobby. If the $50 drone in this video was my first experience, I probably wouldn't have seen the allure and wanted to engage further. I started with a hubson x4 that I ripped around inside and outside for hours. While it is the same cost as the drone in this video, the flight performance, durability, and quality are far better since they are not trying to copy a DJI Mavic or Autel Evo.

[@holisticaustralia]

Well it did get you 5 minutes of content 😂 and an extra sub.. 🍻

[@Nathan_Adams]

Thank you 🍻

[@brisbaneinsider7139]

In my humble opinion DJI is Chinas most impressive company at the moment. Great video mate.

[@Nathan_Adams]

Thank you and I agree, their tech is so impressive, from drones to wireless microphones, few match their performance and even less match their value!

[@Todd_G_FPV]

Love my potato, everyone else hates it lol

[@mariomedina311]

i just need a stability drone to recover my fpv drone from treer or roofs.

[@Nathan_Adams]

You want something like an old used phantom or original mavic pro. They have a ton of power, atleast enough to pick up most 5-inch drones. They only downside is that if the drone is stuck in a tree, you will most likely get the recovery line stuck 2, leaving 2 drones stuck in the tree. For tree recovery, I would highly recommend an arborists rope (a 2ish kilogram beanbag weight on the end of a stick) or a Nerf vortex football. If you have the budget, the retractable drone recovery pole is another fantastic tool for tree recoveries.

[@ArneLeoBertoia]

How do u think the remote is talking to the drone? WiFi or black magic?

[@Nathan_Adams]

If we are talking about the Temu drone, it is using WiFi from the controller to the drone and the same 2.4ghz band WiFi back for the video. That is why the control link and video link drop almost together. DJI for Ocusync may be using Black magic, I have no idea how they get the range and clarity that they do

[@Catdaddy17]

By cheap to learn and beat up then upgrade. Your first car shouldn’t be a rolls Royce. Nice little Honda will do.

[@Nathan_Adams]

I agree, never go crazy if you are not sure this is a hobby you will like and never spend more than you can affod for a hobby. The comparison I made in the video is more akin to comparison a nice, used, Honda Civic to a non-functional vehicle.

[@johnnymac26]

Spot on review 100% small mini cheap drones to fly around the house are good for learning orientation of the drone etc but these temu drones are flying turds ..anyway subbed from bonnie scotland.

[@Nathan_Adams]

I actually have been working on line of sight flight with my fpv drones, I lost video and nearly lost a quad because I flipped forwards and backwards in my head. Line of sight skills are great to have in an emergency!

[@jessjoshwyatt3571]

Horrible comparison, I mean duh! There are some 300 dollar drones that compare and are possibly better

[@Nathan_Adams]

It is more of a cautionary tale not to spend money on the temptation of a $50 drone. I agree, there are several drones that are a better feature comparison, but for value, the Mini series is really tough to beat.

[@surfart5448]

buy a cheap drone practice cause your going to crash!

[@Nathan_Adams]

I think you may not learn enough from this type of drone to make it worthwhile. If you want to learn to fly line of sight, hubson makes a far better option that does not attempt to be a cheap mavic. But they are really fun to crash 😂😂

[@Todd_G_FPV]

​@Nathan_Adams man, my hubsan took a beating and the x4 without a cam was my first ever drone and that thing was fun af! Crashed the hell out of it before I had to start learning to repair lol

[@Nathan_Adams]

@@Todd_G_FPV i gave mine to my nephew and he is still smashing it around. It is a great little craft to learn to fly!