Best Drones Under $300
205 Drones Considered 59 Hours Researched 25 Specialists Interviewed 95 Buyers Consulted
Budget is one of the most important perspective before buying a drone. You must consider your budget first and then start looking it that bracket. Drones need various attachments and keeping them in mind will be better before choosing a drone.
Our pilots choose carefully these drones according to our tests and reviews. If you use our links to buy, we may get a commission.
If you're interested in aerial photography or video and have started looking online for drones to buy, you may have seen some pretty high price tags. While many of the cheaper drones are you get what you pay for kind of deals, there are well-made drones under $300 that give you great features and performance for the price. In this post, we've rounded up the top 5 drones under the $300 threshold.
Table of Contents
1. Contixo F24 GPS RC Quadcopter Drone
Top Pick
Contixo makes great drones, and when you invest in the F24 RC model, you get some excellent features not included in their cheaper models. Because it's GPS-enabled with a follow me feature, it's very beginner-friendly. It can hover over the GPS signal of your smartphone so you can take the perfect selfie wherever you are. In fact, it's a great pick if you love taking selfies, because it has a Selfie Mode for hands-free control of the camera. While you pose for a selfie, you can simply wave at the camera to have it takes a picture. Or, for some aerial photography or video, you can send your Contixo off with a custom flight path determined on your phone app. Amazing remote control distance up to 1,100 meters, it covers a lot of ground without being too easy to lose. The camera resolution is 1080p, and with the altitude hold feature you can reduce blurriness while capturing video.
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Features Summary
The camera resolution is 1080p
With the altitude hold feature you can reduce blurriness while capturing video.
A battery on single charge provides up to 30 minutes of flight time.
Amazing remote control distance up to 1,100 meters.
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2. UPair One Drone
Best Value
If you want a drone with better camera quality than the Contixo F24 RC, the UPair One Drone is a great option. While the range is only 300 meters, you get up to 20 minutes of flight time with a 2.7K HD Camera. Another great feature for photographers is that you can adjust the camera gimbal angles from the controller. The controller features a 7-in LCD display for first-person-view (FPV) flying. There's no need to attach your smartphone and connect it to the drone, since this feature is built-in. The UPair One hovers steadily when you let go of all controls, and it's fairly easy to fly. However, it's still not the best starter drone, because it isn't built to withstand hard crashes. It features an altitude hold option, return to home and headless mode.
Features Summary
2.7K HD Camera.
Another great feature for photographers is that you can adjust the camera gimbal angles from the controller.
You get up to 20 minutes of flight time
Maximum speed of around 31mph (ca. 50 km/h) this drone is pretty fast.
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3. Potensic GPS FPV RC D80 Drone
Budget
The Potensic D80 has a sleek steel appearance and is powered by 4 strong brushless motors. With its LED lights, it's fun to fly at night. You can attach your phone to the remote and connect the drone with your phone for FPV real-time view of what the drone is capturing. You get up to 20 minutes of flight time with this Potensic model, but you could get as little as 10 minutes depending on wind conditions and the features you're using. Overall, this drone is well-built and gives you several of the features expensive drones have, without the exorbitant price tag.
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Features Summary
2K HD 1080p resolution
You get up to 20 minutes of flight time with this Potensic model
Max RC Speed up to 40km/h
300 meters range
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4. MJX Bugs 2 Quadcopter
The MJX Bugs B2W rocks a cool black and red design and is powered by brushless motors. With its red eyes in the front, it's easy to tell the front of the drone from the back. It features a 1080p HD camera an gives you up to 18 minutes of flight time at a whopping 1000-meter range. It has a FPV system when you connect it with your smartphone. For improved stability, there is a 6-Axis gyroscope on the flyer. It has GPS and a return to home feature, and a failsafe headless mode for easier flying. It also has altitude hold capabilities for better video capture. The downside is its lack of a camera mount or gimbal for those who want to put a higher-quality camera on the drone, since its built-in camera is not 4K ultra HD. For its price, however, you get a great value, and it can even be used as a starter drone for beginners.
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Features Summary
It features a 1080p HD camera
Gives you up to 18 minutes of flight time
A whopping 1000-meter range.
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5. Altair Aerial's Outlaw Se GPS Drone
Easy to fly and great for selfie-taking, this GPS drone has return to home and follow me features. It has 4 LED lights for flying at night. It has a headless mode and is great for beginners learning how to fly, but still has many of the features photographers appreciate, like altitude hold and waypoint flight. You get a range of 600 meters and up to 20 minutes of flight time. Some features we wish it had been 360 flip capabilities and the ability to take pictures at 90 degree downwards.
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Features Summary
1080P High Definition live video action camera
20 minutes of flight time.
You get a range of 600 meters
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are best drones under $300 good for learning too?
The answer is Yes. Most drones on our list have a very steady hover and responsive controls. Throughout the article we will specify which drones are better suited for beginners and which ones are not. Just keep in mind that racing drones are not suitable for first-time flights, even if they are easy to control they do require some previous level of expertise. If you are a first-time rookie stick to beginner-friendly quads.
Can I fly these drones indoor and outdoor?
It depends. There are drones which can be flown both indoor and outdoor, while others are specific to one type of flying only. Don't worry, when discussing each we will mention if they can be flown indoor, outdoor or both. Are these drones safe for children? No. A great drone for a kid must have a protective frame around the propellers and the motor, a very steady hover, responsive control, plastic frame and be very lightweight and simple with small motors. If you want to buy a drone for your kid we would refer you to our Best Drones For Kids list instead.
Do I have to register my drone with FAA?
If you live in the US, FAA registration is required to any unmanned aircraft for recreational and commercial use if it weighs more than 0.55lbs (250 grams). Do these drones support GoPro and other action cameras? Some of the drones on our list indeed are capable of carrying GoPro, Xiaomi and SJCam action cameras. Mainly the larger drones featuring brushless motors. When we review a drone capable of doing so, we will mention in it on the camera and features section.
Are there drones under $300 featuring a complete FPV package?
Yep but not all of them some of the drones we reviewed here are cable of that and you can see more details about purchase options when you enter the link of buying the drone.
