We often look at the bird and think if I could fly like them. Ever wondered how the gushing air would blow your entire mood and give you a refreshing time ahead? A kid looks at the plane going over the head and says to his dad, “One day I want to fly, dad”. Big dreams start with a small piece of paper. Who else remembers playing with a paper plane? I stood many times in front of the class as punishment for that. The flying enthusiast in me can finally take solace in the latest technology of commercial toy-sized yet fully-fledged plane-slash-helicopter, the Best Drones in India.

Waving and saying “bye bye” to the plane flying by. Ever wonder what the aerial view would be like from the top? You may get astonished at how mesmerizing it looks from the top of the Burj Al Khalifa. A small gadget can help make you fly and not only that, you can control its motion too. Yes, drones are devices to give you an experience of flying and allow you to capture great aerial view pictures in no time.

Technology has advanced dramatically with time compared to what 90’s kids observed in their time. Movies were made with the help of helicopters, whereas now a small drone can do the job not only with less strain of the budget but overall compatibility (imagine a huge helicopter having to take aerial shots!). How advanced things have become! 

Primarily, people use drones for cinematography. For example, in IPL cricket, football, and in many more events, passionate photographers use drones for some epic high altitude shots. Just imagine a bike ride on a Royal Enfield over the mountains and a drone capturing the aerial view throughout the journey!

Not only are professional photographers taken in by the allure of drones, but kids of this generation also love to play with this compact flying device. It makes for a great toy and overall a super fun device to fool around with. Without further ado, let’s get to the product reviews.

Editor's Picks: 5 of the Top Drones In India

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The Best Drones In India That You Can Buy Today

1. DJI Mavic Pro

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Behold the DJI Mavic Pro, the best drone in India, a dream for every enthusiast defined in this flying device. Every release of a new device from DJI has taken the hype to new heights – pun intended – among the brand’s lovers, and so has this model. 

The picture quality boasted by this drone is top-notch. Picture lovers never compromise with the quality of shot taken, regardless of the mechanism used. Why stick with a long stick camera when you can rather make your hands free and put your faith in this flying gadget to click you the best pictures over the top of the mountain.

Ever wondered if you can capture your dreams with this drone? It comes with a fully stabilized 4K resolution camera and it’s definitely among the best drones in India. The camera feature does not only end with this; the OcuSync Transmission Technology allows you to go live streaming with a splendid performance. The flight time is long enough to take your desired number of pictures with the efficient intelligent flight battery. Usually a battery which lasts longer is large in size, making the drone heavier. But for this drone it’s unique. The battery is lightweight yet very powerful.

The design is super compact; you can carry this portable device easily to the mountains alongside your other baggage. And most importantly, you do not have to appoint a person to reassemble the drone; the manual is given and it’s very easy to follow through with the DIY option. A whole slew of accessories come with the product: aircraft, remote controller, car charger, battery charging hub, battery bank adapter, 3 intelligent flight batteries, 4 propeller pairs, power cable, charger, RC cable, RC cable slider Micro USB cable and Manuals.

[amazon box=”B073RKZW6C” title=”WHAT WE THINK” description=”It’s a yes to purchase in every possible way. The build quality, especially of the camera, is outstanding and compromises nothing.”]

2. Kiditos Syma X20 Pocket Drone

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The name clarifies how small this drone is, but you will be stunned to know the power this mini drone packs. It weighs around 81g and can fly 20 meters above the ground. The corners are of rounded shape which reduces air resistance and boosts up the motion. It’s completely designed with ABS plastic which avoids your kid from getting shocks.

This could be an electrifying start for a learner as it is flexible and easy to learn with amazing features like Altitude Hold Mode which keeps the drone at a fixed position and stabilizes the whole movement even if air blows strongly. The Headless Mode is always bound to answer you regardless of which direction the quadcopter is facing.

In movies, we see plane fighters rolling over 360 degree rotation with full excitement. You can’t expect a budget model to have such an over-the-top feature (no pun intended this time)…

That is what you would expect. But you expect wrong!

With the press of a button, watch as the drone performs a complete 360 degree rotation! In addition is an awesome feature, the One-key take-off and landing. This enables the drone to take off when pressed. Press it again, and the drone lands at the same position where it left for take-off.

[amazon box=”B07D79WMM1″ title=”WHAT WE THINK” description=”A great hands-on model for the novice to begin with. It is very lightweight and safe to use because of rounded edges. Moreover, the controller is very responsive and your kids will love the 360 degree flips.”]

3. DJI Tello Drone

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No wonder it’s a leading brand to talk about and here we bring you another model of DJI that is the DJI Tello Drone. It comes with an Intel processor chip which is very powerful for processing data and helps to attain great picture quality. Don’t worry about any delay for capturing videos; the EZ shots confirm quick video shooting and you can move the drone in any direction while recording the video without compromising the video quality. With the 5 MP camera, high resolution aerial footage can be received.

We are so fond of smartphones that DJI enabled the controller inside their own DJI app, so this creates a little room in your bag. Besides the controller, you can watch live videos or images captured by the drone. Speaking of the app, you can run your own programming code on this app and take the most use out of the drone. For instance, you can code to enable a 360 degree flip on a single press of a button. Kids may get encouraged to learn coding and develop coding skills.

The electronic stabilization allows you to capture high-quality pictures from 50 meters above the ground with no blurry residues. It has got a decent weight of 280g since the camera is attached with the drone.

[amazon box=”B07B4CD5H9″ title=”WHAT WE THINK” description=”DJI never stops to surprise us with their devices. This drone is perfect for beginners to learn how to ride this, and most importantly an encouragement to learn programming. It is one of the best drones!”]

4. IZI MJX B3 PRO GPS Camera Drone

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Most users of any smart device such as laptop, camera, smartphone etc – of anything that requires battery – often complain about battery backup. If you are one of those who cannot compromise battery with any other features, then IZI MJX B3 would suffice your demand.

Usually most drones do not have a long flight time; to remove such concept, this drone enables you to have around 22 minutes flying time and the battery takes only 3 to 4 hours to charge, whereas in other drones, the charging time is much longer, and even does not support such a long flight time.

The device uses an abundance of technology besides an efficient battery, and one such major technological concern is safety. A safe flight system, a matter of a single click, is used which makes sure that the drone will land at the very spot from where it took off. This is especially useful because at times the navigation can be lost or any power failure can lead to losing this drone.

This device also comes with a mind-boggling technology that is follow-me-mode. Once this is tapped on a particular subject, the drone keeps full track of it whether the subject is moving or standing idle. A human can make errors manually but a machine doesn't, so it captures all the movement automatically of any subject you click on. This feature is essential for people like cinematographers.

Though having the best features, it does not come with an attached camera. You can of course buy additional cameras based on your interest.

[amazon box=”B07JN4KYVY” title=”WHAT WE THINK” description=”This drone is among the best drones in India without any second thought. The eye catching feature is the follow-me-mode which accurately follows the subject and gives you smooth photos and videos of it.”]

5. Pluto DIY Nano Drone (Best Budget Drone in India)

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Just because you can afford a price-y product does not mean you should buy it, regardless if it is of premium quality. For a beginner who cannot even kick the football properly, is it necessary for him to buy an expensive boot? It’s better to learn with a beginner drone and then buy high performance drones. And the perfect drone which ever existed for learners is this one. 

This Indian product does not just let you fly but also to learn the whole mechanism of how to connect pieces to form a drone, and they call this do-it-yourself. A very good initiative to learn the fundamentals on how to build the drone indeed.

Moreover, to fly this machine, no controller is used but a smartphone app. It is an open source programming code, which stands that you can later change the codes as you may like. The C++ api structure enables anyone to program easily. Flying it with a smartphone helps you to level up the modes just by writing your desired codes. For instance, you can flip the drone 180 degrees and fly upside down just by writing a few lines of code.

This drone is extremely durable. Don’t be alarmed about crashing it multiple times as it can sustain many collisions.

[amazon box=”B06W5QQQJZ” title=”WHAT WE THINK” description=”For our learners, this is the best drone you can ever get on with. It’s a no joke. Learning while playing with this drone will not only entertain you but also increase your knowledge on how to code.”]

How Do Drones Work?

A drone mainly relies on these imperative features to fly:

Connectivity

Drones are controlled by a remote controller which is configured with it. However, drones are also using smartphone applications to make it more user friendly to fly. The apps can be coded according to the user needs. The user may also pre-program many coordinations such as auto pilot mode at critical conditions.

Rotors

Rotors are the blades of a drone. The blades are connected with a motor which helps to hover. Initially, when the drone is switched on, downward thrust of the drone is equal to the downward gravitational force. When you increase the speed up to a certain speed where upward force becomes greater than downward gravitational force, it goes up. And the opposite mechanism is used to climb down.

Accelerometer and Altimeter

Accelerometer provides the information of its speed and direction, while an altimeter informs the machine about its altitude.

Camera

In some drones, a camera is attached and the output is shown to the user via remote controller or apps. Mounted cameras on drones help in many ways such as locations where you can’t reach; simply fly a drone and get the live output on the screen.  

How to Fly a Drone

Drones are mainly used by a remote controller and nowadays, mobile applications are built to make it smarter. Speaking of remote controllers, it almost gives an experience of gaming controllers or joystick feeling, with various functions exhibited inside. Advanced controllers have many additional features but the basic controls are the left and right sticks.

Left Stick

The left stick controls two parts: the yaw (for rotation) and throttle (for altitude).

Yaw: This basically makes your drone rotate whether clockwise or anticlockwise without changing its position. It is achieved by pushing the left stick along the x-axis (left or right).

Throttle: This changes the drone’s altitude according to whichever direction you push the left stick at. This is achieved by the left stick along the y-axis (up or down).

Right Stick

The right stick controls two parts: the roll (for side to side movement) and pitch (for up and down movement).

Roll: This helps to fly and roll towards the left and right sides. It is useful to avoid any obstacles without changing the drone’s altitude. This is achieved by pushing the right stick towards the x-axis (left or right).

Pitch: This is achieved by pushing the right stick towards the y-axis (up or down), which enables the drone to move forward or backward respectively. However, be careful when you use both the left and right sticks together depending on what forces the situation. Make sure to practise a lot to understand the drone controller properly. 

Types of Drones

Drones are not only used for photography or kids' play things, they have many other uses like aerial mapping, surveillance etc. Indeed, we can categorize drones in terms of aerial platforms. To highlight aerial platform drone, there are 4 major types of drones:

1) Multi Rotor Drones

This drone is the most commonly used by almost all drone lovers whether it be for aerial photography, aerial video surveillance, hobby and even for learning purposes. This comes at a cheaper rate in comparison to other types of drones and are also easy to manufacture. Moreover, multi rotors can be distinguished by the number of rotors on a drone. Tricopter consists of 3 rotors, Quadcopter has 4 rotors which is the most popular one, Hexacopter comes with 6 rotors and finally Octocopter with 8 rotors.

However, being the leading manufactured drone, it has many downsides like less flight time, limited endurance and speed. It is not suitable for long distance aerial surveillance.

2) Fixed Wing Drones

They have a very different design from the multi rotor drones. Their wings are the similar prototype of an airplane. They can’t stay afloat in air for a long time because of fixed wings which of course have to overcome the constant strain of gravity. It can travel a longer distance for surveillance or mapping. However, since it cannot stay afloat, so no aerial photography on this drone.

Moreover, a runway is needed to start its journey on the air and some obstacles to put brakes on its journey like parachute or a net. This plane aka drone is very costly and professional skill is required to control this drone.

3) Single Rotor Drones

To speak of design and structure, it’s a look alike version of an actual helicopter. The drone is operated by one big sized rotor and a small rotor at the back. They have long flying time and can also be powered by gas engines. In aerodynamics, the lower the number of rotors, the less will be the turning of the object which makes this drone more efficient than multi-rotor drones.

Besides, this drone is expensive and requires very careful use. If a multi-rotor crashes, no fatal injuries occur. However, this drone causes dangerous accidents if the controller loses control. So, it is recommended to fly this by professionals.

4) Hybrid VTOL

This is a hybrid version which uses both rotors and fixed wing concept to make this powerful. It takes the advantage of the new sensors (gyros and accelerometers) to make it an autopilot drone. Moreover, it also gets controlled by remote base controllers to guide the drone. Since every hybrid model comes with a high price and it has fixed wing concept as well, professional skill is needed to fly this drone. 

Things To Consider When Buying A Drone (Buyer's Guide)

1) Camera

If you love taking pictures with your drone and love aerial views, never excuse your money from buying a drone with the best quality camera that comes mounted with the drone. The best quality camera does not stand for an old VGA camera like the early 90’s. Get the ultimate drone which takes high quality images and captures videos at high resolution and good frames per second.

However, if you are very worried about camera quality, you may not be hung up on the idea of mounted cameras on the drone. Some drones do not come with cameras but do allow cameras to be mounted at your own cost. And so, a good quality camera can be attached upon extra cost, of course.

2) Territory (Range)

Drones won’t travel hundreds of miles and to other cities. Most drones communicate with the user through Wifi connection. If your drone crosses the territory and goes out of reach, chances are quite certain that it may keep the journey on until the battery drains, with the drone smashing up hitting a barrier. Though the drone can be fetched if it’s connected with the GPS, be prepared to see it broken.

Moreover, in the market, there are drones that support GPS technology that ensures tracking the drone even if the Wifi signal is lost.

3) Speed

You can get pretty surprised at how much speed the small flying device can muster. The speed is enough to get out of control if you are a beginner. As said, practice makes a man perfect. So, initially fly the drone at low speed until you get used to it to truly let loose and go full-throttle.

4) Battery

We all want a limitless refreshment of what we love the most. Battery is always an issue in every technological device and of course for drones too. If the battery capacity is low, the overall weight of the drone decreases which helps to attain good speed for your drone but also decreases the flight time. On the other hand, a large battery gives you a greater flight time. And as flight time increases, more energy is needed to fly since due to the overall increase in the weight of the drone.

We recommend you can keep one additional battery and change whenever the older one drains completely. And not to mention, limits are important in life or else we cannot enjoy the small beautiful things in life. 

5) Selection and Pricing

Don’t just go for the most expensive drone you can afford. We often make a common mistake of proper selection. The key is to select a particular kind of drone, from the wide range of drones available, which is suitable for you. There are drones that fall under different categories. If you are looking for a normal drone with not an extraordinary camera or you want to give this to your nephew, buy a nano drone that comes at a low cost.

If you are an admirer of great videography of beautiful places and have a hobby to follow such, we recommend spending those extra thousand rupees for premium quality. If you are just starting out, we recommend going for the cheapest drone to get your feet wet and then get a proper drone.

A little summary: 

• If you want your drone to have a high flight time, the price goes up.
• The better the material quality, the higher the price becomes. A low cost drones like nano drones comes with an ordinary plastic body whereas an expensive drone is built with carbon and fiberglass for high durability.

6) Government Legislation

This is absolutely essential. Flying your machine illegally may cost you imprisonment. In many regions, flying drones without taking permission from the government is strictly prohibited because it may hinder security threats. If you want to avoid any legislation from the government, then buy nano drones as they don’t require any license to fly.

However, if you actually want a drone of your choice and fly it anywhere, then do get it registered and fly as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation guides.

7) Controller

Drone is controlled by this central controller and not by a ghost. Any communication needs to be sent to the drone is via this controller through you. So, buy a drone which is easy to read by you and control it carefully.

8) GPS

Not every drone needs to have this function. A beginner drone is flown in a closed environment which can be traced visually if lost, but an advanced drone requires GPS technology. GPS has these key features for you:

• Position hold is a useful function to use. It holds the drone in a fixed position on air even if you let go of your controller.
• Many drones have a button named return-to-home button which automatically brings down the drone back to your location for emergency issues like low battery or signal loss. This boomerang-like feature is just the press of a button away!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A Final Word; Our Personal Recommendation

It's hard to fathom what a small UFO looking device can do. This technology has shown us different visual perspectives such as previously if we talk about wedding videos, those were done by two or more people holding the camcorder and trying to capture videos among hundreds of people. But now, if you know how to fly the drone, you can successfully make a wedding cinematography with just a drone. Technology is amazing, isn’t it?!

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We would like to give the stage to DJI Mavic Pro as the best drone in India. It is truly a device which serves as an all in one box, except for maybe being too much for a beginner to handle. The 4k resolution camera with the OcuSync Transmission Technology for live streaming video and the powerful battery are outstanding. Shoot for the skies!