Best Drones Under $300 in 2019- my top 5
The “under $300” price category when it comes to drones was quite empty for a long time now, as there really weren’t any good ones I could recommend.
Recently, more companies are focusing on this price range and that’s a good thing.
At this price level you can already start expecting things like:
- gimbals
- electronic image stabilization
- longer range
- brushless motors
- GPS
We’re already getting more high level components, compared to what we saw in the Under $200 category and although there aren’t that many drones worth mentioning, companies like Xiaomi have recently released drones that are more than worth it!
At this price level you can already start expecting things like:
- gimbals
- electronic image stabilization
- longer range
- brushless motors
- GPS
Transmitter
You should be looking for a hobby-grade transmitter with antennas and good stick gimbals.
Battery life
Battery life in this price range is already usually over 15 minutes.
Range
Flight range in this category will be over a few houndred meters, even over 1km sometimes.
Build Quality
The plastic the drone is made from is already better than cheaper versions and even the accessories get better.
Image stabilization
Image stabilization is usually done by a 2 or 3 axis gimbal at this price or even just EiS
GPS functions
Drones at this price range almost all have GPS. You should look for things like Return to home, follow me, circle around features.
This table is not necessarily ordered by what’s the best one, as I tried to put a variety of different quadcopters that can appeal to a wider audience.
Therefore make sure you choose what you like best, as they’re all pretty much in the same range of quality.
Battery Life
16min
Range
1000m
Image stabilization
2 Axis Gimbal + EIS
Camera
1080p
The Xiaomi Fimi A3 is a drone released in 2019 by one of the better companies out there.
The design isn’t foldable unfortunately, but it’s considerably slimmer than its bigger brother the Mi4k drone.
What I’m most excited about in this drone is the FPV option, as it has 5.8ghz transmission and you can connect a cheap pair of goggles to it.
Besides that, the huge 1km range, the super stable video and long battery life make it the best choice in my opinion for this budget.
The build quality is also fantastic, as we’ve been used from Xiaomi in all their products.
The drone doesn’t come with flight modes like waypoints, circle around and so on, as it doesn’t connect to the phone (which in my opinion is a benefit, lol).
Battery Life
15min
Range
300m
Image stabilization
None
Camera
1080p
This drone is exactly the same as the MJX Bugs 5W, but usually is cheaper. Just check out their prices.
The Drone is WAY under the $300 mark for this article, yet it competes with some of the most expensive ones, coming with:
- Great GPS
- Flight functions like Waypoints, follow me, etc
- Moving camera( from controller)
- great range
- brushless motors
Just keep in mind it doesn’t have a gimbal for image stabilization, but the image is stil pretty good thank to the more than average 1080p camera.
- comes with a good controller
- everything you need in the package
- you can mod it for better range
Battery Life
19min
Range
500m
Image stabilization
None
Camera
1080p
Although prices similarly compared to the previous drone, the Hubsan H501s can’t change the camera angle, as it’s fixed.
Even so, it does have some really cool advantages. It’s a very popular drone and for good reasons, the image quality is pretty good.
It can be modded to reach greater ranges and it comes with two versions of transmitters.
Both types of transmitters do the same thing mainly, but one is fancier and has a slighter bigger range.
One really big advantage is that it sends 5.8ghz signal to the controller that comes with an included screen. This means there’s not gonna be any lag in the transmission and you can also connect it to FPV goggles.
Battery Life
18min
Range
800m
Image stabilization
2 Axis Gimbal
Camera
2.7k or 4k
The Upair one comes in a few versions, including 2.7k and 4k cameras and even a newer version called “plus” that works by connecting the phone, instead of the included FPV monitor.
It comes with a 2 axis gimbal, which makes the footage more stabilized and the signal is also in 5.8ghz which means almost no lag, compared to drones that use phones wifi.
It’s a strong reliable Phatom-like drone with powerful brushless motors, good GPS and quite a lot of Range.
It’s only drawback compared to the others on this list is that it’s kinda big for 2019, the year of the foldable drones.
Battery Life
14min
Range
600m
Image stabilization
2 Axis Gimbal
Camera
1080p
The C-fly dream is probably the best DJI Spark alternative for people who have a lower budget.
Keep in mind the camera quality isn’t as good as the Spark, but because it comes with 2 axis image stabilization, a pretty good GPS and even some flight modes, it can be enough for some people to enjoy flying.
The transmitter is also pretty good quality and simple to use. The app is going to contain all the detailed settings, including the option to do circle around, follow me and so on.
In my humble opinion, this definitely looks really good and it’s quite a breath of fresh air to see something else than standard quadcopters.
