Are DJI Drones Easy To Fly?

There are tons of different drones on the market and that number has continued to increase over the years. Despite this rise in competition DJI drones are still considered to be the best of the best. 

When people think of drones they think of DJI but are DJI drones easy to fly for beginners? Would it be better to start with a cheaper, simpler drone or is starting with DJI the better option? 

DJI drones are incredibly easy and simple to fly for beginners. Despite their ease of use DJI drones are still the drone of choice for advanced users as well. 

However, despite being super easy to use DJI drones are NOT the best drones for beginners! That is simply because of how expensive they are and how likely beginners are to crash a drone multiple times no matter how easy it is to use. 

Just like you probably wouldn’t want your 16 year old to have a super expensive car for their first vehicle, you also likely don’t want to have the most expensive drones as your first one either. 

It takes a while to learn the controls as well as learn exactly how the weather conditions such as wind affects drones and the last thing you likely want is to break a $1,000+ drone! 

Learning on a drone that has a few less features but that is affordable (such as the  Snaptain S5C found here) is a much better option and will allow you to learn the ropes and take chances with your new drone while not risking tons of money everytime that you take off. 

To see how easy it is to control a DJI drone check out the video below. 

Which drone is easiest to fly?

If you are brand new to flying a drone then you will certainly want to find one that is easy to control and learn on but with so many amazing drones at such varied prices it makes knowing which drone to buy very difficult. 

If you are a beginner buying a drone that is easier to fly is certainly preferred while you are learning the ropes at least. 

Most drones are actually about the same difficulty to fly when you are looking at drones that are the same size. Beginners should avoid micro drones or oversized drones as those are harder to control. 

Beyond that you can really pick virtually any normal sized drone to start with and it will be just as easy to fly as the next as long as it has some basic stabilization features. 

As a beginner it is also good to have a return home button so if you find yourself losing track of the drone or not being able to figure out how to fly it back a simple button press will get it back to you. 

The Holy Stone HS120D (found here) has some great features for beginners including one button take off and landing as well as a fail safe to automatically return home if the battery is getting low or it loses connection with the controller. 

It also won’t break the bank which is important for a starting drone. 

Are bigger drones easier to fly? 

When learning how to fly a new drone it is important to pick out a drone that is easy to use (like the one mentioned above) but are drones that are larger easier to use and fly? 

When compared to micro drones, larger drones are certainly easier to control and the additional features that they offer makes flying them easier as well. Once you get to an extremely large drone it becomes more difficult to maneuver again. 

However, most recreational sized drones that are larger than micro drones will all  be about the same difficulty to control. For example, the smaller DJI Mavic Air will be about the same difficult to fly as the DJI Phantom 4 will be. 

Are small drones hard to fly? 

If you have never owned a drone before you might be wondering if a drone that is smaller is easier to handle or harder to fly. Afterall, smaller cars, bikes, etc. are easier to use so it makes sense that would apply to drones as well. 

Small drones are actually considerably harder to control than their larger counterparts if you are talking about micro drones. Once you get to the normal drone size range then drone size doesn’t matter as much. 

As mentioned above the smaller and larger DJI drones are about the same difficulty to use but once you get down to tiny or micro drones the difficulty goes up considerably. 

One of the first RC vehicles I ever used was a micro drone and I promptly got it caught in my daughters hair and crashed it multiple times breaking it. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get the movements right as a beginner so you should NEVER buy a micro drone for your first drone! 

How large can a drone be? 

So now we’ve discussed small drones and large drones and how easy each of them are to fly but how large can drones really get? 

Certainly recreational drones only go up to 55lbs (according to the FAA) but obviously military drones will be larger than that, so what are the largest drones? 

One of the largest drones made for use in the USA is the Boeing CAV which is 17.5 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 5 feet tall. However it is dwarfed in size by the Global Hawk military drone that is 44.4 feet long, 116.2 feet wide, and 15.2 feet high! 

The reason I mentioned the Boeing drone first is it is actually designed to be used on US soil for transporting cargo while the military drone is designed to carry out missions overseas. 

Also the Boeing drone much more closely resembles the recreational drones that we are used to seeing while military drones resemble airplanes much more than traditional drones. 

Conclusion

When drones first came out they were too expensive and too hard to control for the average person to own one but with the continued advances in technology drones have continually become cheaper and they have also become easier and easier to use. 

Tiny/micro drones are still incredibly hard to control (especially the cheap models) and the largest drones (military type) also are extremely complex to use. Between those two extremes most recreational drones can be used by just about anyone and learning to fly them is relatively easy. 

I would always recommend that a beginner start with a less expensive drone than a DJI model but DJI drones are really easy to fly and have tons of great features as well. 

For most people it is best to start off with a drone that is $50-$150 and then once you get the hang of using that drone you can resell it on Craigslist or Facebook and then buy a better DJI model.