Hey, i'm completely new to drones. When i was young me and my dad would race nitro rc cars at a local track until it shut down and i think this could be something he can get into. He just retired and has all the time in the world and he has always been interested in rc helicopters but always had bad luck with those. I'm looking to get him, my brother and myself a fun little drone for christmas that can hold up to the crashes and might be able to spark an interest into the world of drone racing. 
Any suggestions? preferably RTF but its not a deal breaker but i can't really afford to spend more than 100$ on each one

hey hi,
$100 is hard to get the all things you need for a entry level
FPV quad
so many good small RTF quads
some under $50 like the JJ-1000 or the DM003
and very durable and just good fliers
or a bit bigger style with gear driven props like the
Syma x5 or the Q7 (FY326) usually these take a beating and still fly.

you should always make sure you down throttle if there is a crash in your
immediate future.. your quads will last much longer.
do check out quadcopter101 or andyrc or frequent flyer on youtube
they review lots of them. also although he is very humble, the fellow that runs
this forum is very knowledgeable and will pipe in with all his experience.

hope you have fun here i just signed up too and these guys & gals(yeah lady pilots!) are very
helpful and don't look down their noise at anyone no matter the question or your experience
level

Hey Jagkh,
Trying to find a Ready to Fly (RTF) 'proper' brushless FPV quad for under $100 is pretty much impossible, I'm afraid!
You can expect to pay around $40 - $50 for a *cheap* transmitter, (Ideally spending an extra $50 to get a Taranis QX7 will mean years of flying without ever feeling the need to upgrade) FPV goggles are generally going to be a bit, or a LOT more, for high end goggles you are looking at over $250. I use the Eachine Goggles Two which are retailing at $125, these have 1920 x 1080px screen and an HDMI input to display your simulator, so you can practice flying through your goggles too... Slightly cheaper and sacrificing the Hi Def screen and HDMI input is the EV800D, these have a built in DVR to record your flights, which is a bonus.

I have been looking at this 2S brushed RTF (Eachine FlyingFrog) to buy for my little brother, this has acro mode and self stabilizing modes, and the TX vibrates when the quad reaches low voltage. At about $90 for quad, TX and goggles is a pretty good bundle deal, but the TX won't work with other models, however it IS compatible with simulators which is a nice touch, I'm pretty sure the FPV goggles are not going to impress though. Also just came across this H122D from Hubsan at $120 with TX and goggles, its also very affordable, very new so there are not yet any video reviews showing flight performance. In fact I can't actually find out if it has acro mode or not...? It does however have a 720P camera, I would guess that there is a DVR on board the quad as well, otherwise a camera of this quality would just be a waste. I cannot confirm this though...

I was thinking that if you were to get something like this so you, your bro and your dad can learn and share, then you could amalgamate the remaining budget to get something more 'high end' like the Lizard 95, ($99  without TX or goggles, but  includes 1 x 3S battery) that you could all move up to? Then  you can all see how much you get 'intoFPV' and start working on your own builds from there?

Anyway man, welcome to the forum, any more question don't hesitate!

Hey Jagkh, welcome to InfoFPV!

I think these guys have already pumped out some pretty good advice. Overall under 100 probably wont get you very far into the hobby necessarily but it should get you some decent toys! If you're willing to start with line of sight then you should be able to find pretty good toy-grade quads under the $100 range

i forgot to and i see no else said anything about wifi FPV....
while most serious FPV'ers wouldn't get caught dead flying wifi...
there are some available for under $100
the $79 Hubsan X4 STAR H507A comes to mind it has all you need
to wifiFPV you just need your android phone but no TX or googles.
https://www.banggood.com/Hubsan-X4-STAR-...rehouse=CN

(20-Dec-2017, 09:40 PM)buzzjob Wrote: ... most serious FPV'ers wouldn't get caught dead flying wifi...

...and there is a very good reason for this...

WiFi is just too slow to be able to fly FPV with any kind of confidence. The delay between where the copter is and the video that is being displayed gets larger, as you go faster, and you really do not have to be going very fast to be too far behind 'real-time' to avoid obstacles.

Saving $40-$50 getting a FlySky i6X rather than an FrSky QX7 is easily forgivable, but saving $5 and getting a WiFi FPV quad, over a 5.8GHz FPV quad is just pointless!

some guys do it , not me of course for the very reason you say
and i just tossed it out as a option and trying to help the guy out
i should know that zealots or purists might have some kind of a conniption fit
or get their eye bruised .
sorry i offend ye

oh btw what can you buy for $85 that is complete ?

Welcome to the forum!

A tiny whoop clone, FlySky I6 and entry level box goggles will get you in to the hobby for around $150 and you will learn most of what you would learn with the larger quads...while being able to fly indoors without destroying your home. Batteries are inexpensive and the 1S cells will give a solid 2 minutes of flight.

The Whoops are not "brushless", but the goggles and controller will carry over to bigger things as you progress through to faster things. I love flying Whoops as they are small and quick when tuned well. They can be great learning tools that will not break the bank. While working up your skills, you can take some time to learn about constructing a nice starter aircraft that is brushless.

Just some thoughts, though a little off from what you originally asked about.

(21-Dec-2017, 01:26 AM)buzzjob Wrote: sorry i offend ye  

Haha, not at all, Just wanted to make sure to include the reason why WiFi is not the way to go.

Quote:oh btw what can you buy for $85 that is complete ?

The Eachine Flying Frog is actually $87.99 all inclusive, or $62.99 without goggles.




Its the same goggles that come with the eachine E013 @ $65 all in, but the Q90C has larger 8520 motors, runs on 2S voltage, has a 1000TVL FPV camera, acro mode, it is also configurable through betaflight and the  TX can be used to control sims.

Check this vid, for 5 full mins of acro flying, very impressive, not so much the flying but the flight time!

thats not too bad for someone just starting out..

(21-Dec-2017, 05:17 AM)Tom BD Bad Wrote: The Eachine Flying Frog is actually $87.99 all inclusive, or $62.99 without goggles.

Pretty good find there! I do wonder how long it lasts before it falls apart though...

Not long in the hands of my little bro, I'm pretty sure of that!

Welcome to the forum,
if you are on the budget... and want to "get folks on" x3 i'd go with the brushed motors, low cost... full package... like so: https://goo.gl/pJ5FgC
i've recently got it for my kid (now 7 yo) and he still struggles a bit but trains hard on it... (if you get it get addtional batteries, yes you have to)

and here you will hear all the whining:
- it is brushed,
- it doesn't have acro,
- it is not a speed demon
- blah blah blah...

all of that it true, what it does have is ... completeness of package... you got everything there... quad with fpv, transmitter, googles (micro size), battery etc
and from here there are two options onward...
1. blue pill - they don't get infected.. money stays at the wallet and everybody goes back to their lives as they know
2. red pill - you start to explore how deep is the rabbit hole, you lose the content of the wallet, credit card is in debt everyone starts looking at you as they are all in the system - but you don't care... all you want is to fly..


as for the blue frog - i don't like how the protectors are made... i prefer "if it is 'safe' to be fully ducted" - so far my kid found ceiling more than few times... and guess what... floor was on the way too... not to mention... frame of the door, walls etc...


ps. i expected my kid to do what he does with majority of the new "toys" play for 2 days ... forget about it... and i'd have something small to carry with me... my master plan has failed...