If you’re thinking about buying a drone this winter, there are a few things you should consider before making a purchase, from battery life to built-in safety features, great camera quality and that all-important insurance to protect your new purchase. Before we get started, if you’re looking for the latest best drone to buy this year or a list of the best drone prices, then this article might not be for you. This article is for those who want to get a good understanding of what they should look for in a drone before making a purchase, and because of that, it’s well-suited for drone pilots of all ability levels, whether you’re a beginner or just looking to brush up on your knowledge about drones.
Is it Worth Buying a Drone in Winter?
Yes, winter is a great time to buy a drone. There are usually a lot of sales running that include drones, allowing you to get a much better deal than you’ll typically get when drones are more popular, particularly around the warmer months. Look out for deals, even if you’ve missed out on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, as there will likely still be some great offers on the run-up to Christmas and in January and February as retailers look to improve sales.
Is a Drone a Good Gift in Winter?
Yes, drones make for fantastic gifts. They’re good for people who have an interest in technology or anything remote-controlled, but an element some people overlook is that drones are excellent photography and videography tools. If you have a friend or family member with an interest in photography, notably in outdoor photography, a drone will provide them with a whole new dimension of photography and videography to explore.
What to Look for When Buying a Drone this Winter
If it’s your first time buying a drone, you may find the choice overwhelming, with brand names you may not recognise if you’re new to the world of drones (although brands like DJI may be familiar to you if you’re familiar with the world of action cameras).
Don’t despair – while it might seem like there are more drones than you can shake a battery pack at, there are a few things you want to keep in mind when choosing your first drone. As you narrow down the choices utilising the following criteria, you’ll soon find it easier to make a choice.
Just don’t forget that once you’ve made that choice, get your equipment insured. There are various ways to get drone insurance, but not all policies cover your equipment. If you want to protect your valuable new purchase, talk to a dedicated drone insurance specialist about your requirements.
Check the Battery Life
Whether you’re buying your first drone for yourself or someone else this winter, when they start using it, they’ll want to ensure that it has enough battery life between charges so that they get some good practice time in. Around 20-30 minutes of flight time is a good target to aim for with a starter drone.
Equally, look to see what the charging time is, as a faster charging time will mean less time on the ground. You also often find that drone manufacturers offer options to buy more than one battery pack, so you can swap out your depleted drone battery for a charged one.
Get Controls that Make Sense and Built-in Stabilisation
Flying a drone should be an enjoyable experience, but it does require concentration, so you don’t want controls that appear to be overly complicated. This is something you’ll need to figure out for yourself, but generally, look for remote control layouts that don’t look overly complicated to you.
Some drones include a built-in stabilisation mechanism that helps to keep the device stable. This has the added benefit of extending the lifespan of your equipment as it minimises the wear and tear on components and prevents unnecessary crashes.
Make Sure it has a GPS and Return to Home Feature
A GPS is an invaluable feature on a drone, as it aids with navigation, stability and safety. It can allow your drone to perform abilities such as ‘position hold’, where it will maintain a fixed position, as well as various autonomous flight options, the most beneficial to you being ‘return to home’.
‘Return to home’ (RTH) is a safety feature that ensures that your drone automatically returns to the point at which it took off from. You can usually trigger this manually or set it to trigger if your battery is critically low. RTH is very useful as it avoids your drone landing in areas it shouldn’t, or in unsafe places like lakes or trees.
While it’s vital that you insure your drone to protect it and the surrounding area from damage, if you fly in an unsafe or non-compliant way, you risk invalidating your policy, so it’s important to make sure that you find a drone with these safety features and utilise them so that you can fly as safely as possible.
Get a Drone with a Good Camera
As we covered above, most people use drones as photography equipment, so it’s important to make sure that you get a drone with a great camera. Checking for drone camera quality is like checking for camera quality on other devices. Check how many megapixels (MP) it has to get an idea of the quality of the still images it will capture (48MP is a good standard), whether the camera can record video in HD or 4K (4K is preferrable), how many frames per second (fps) it can record (60fps is great), the aperture size (the size of the lens) as bigger is better (anything above f/1.5 should be fine), and if it offers High-Dynamic Range (HDR), that’s a bonus as it means your colours will look even better.
Look for Something Lightweight
While you might want to get carried away and get the biggest and best drone you can when buying a drone, we can only encourage you to resist this urge. If you’re new to flying, it’s important that you find your feet with something more lightweight and then work your way up from there.
Mini drones start at under 250g and provide an excellent starting point for anyone new to drones. They also have the added benefit of being more affordable and cheaper to insure than their more sizeable and heavier , making them a worthwhile consideration if you’re a first-time buyer considering a drone. A helpful reference point for beginners is the 250g weight category. Many aviation authorities around the world treat this as a key threshold when setting their own rules, so lighter drones are often designed with newcomers in mind. It’s always worth checking the current guidance from the relevant authority before flying or buying a drone for someone else.
Protect Your Drone this Winter and Beyond
So, you’ve got your first drone, made your plans for your first flight and got all your equipment in order and you’re ready to go. But have you planned for everything? Have you insured your new drone? It’s an important step in becoming a drone owner, as it protects your new investment. Click the link below to complete your journey to becoming a drone owner:
