If you’re planning on traveling with your drone, you want a drone that’s right for you and easy to travel with. Read on for tips on what to look for in a travel drone, and which are the best on the market right now.
What to look for in a travel drone?
A few years ago, if you wanted to buy a drone, there were only a few options, so the decision was easy. But now, there are thousands of different drones, of all different sizes, with all different abilities.
It can be hard to know what you should actually look for in a drone, but here are some of the must-have qualities that you want to look out for when buying a travel drone.
Portability
If you’re taking your drone all over the world with you, then first and foremost you want a drone that’s portable.
There are some drones that you’d need a whole extra suitcase for, but ideally you want to travel light. If you’re taking your drone on adventures, and on long treks, you don’t want to have to lug around a huge one. Ideally, you want one that fits nicely in a rucksack, or even better, in your pocket.
The idea with a travel drone is that it enables you to see even more of your destination, so you don’t want one that you can’t take out and about with you. Otherwise, you’ll be sat in your hotel room flying it, without actually getting out there yourself.
Drones are fast becoming more and more portable, so it’s not unreasonable to expect to find a lightweight, and portable drone, regardless of your budget.
Image and Video Quality
This is almost as important as portability. If your drone is only capable of taking fuzzy and blurry pictures and videos, you’re not going to bother taking it anywhere with you.
I’d suggest going with a drone that’s capable of recording in at least 1080p. With this sort of quality, you’ll still be impressed by the footage, and you should be able to get a drone of this quality fairly cheaply.
Even 4K camera drones are becoming more accessible and affordable though, so if you can, go for a 4K drone. You won’t regret spending a little extra for that impressive quality.
As well as the quality of the actual footage, a drone with a gimbal camera is what you really want. Otherwise, you’ll have bumpy and unstable footage. So if you can, make sure you get a drone that keeps the camera stable to ensure smooth filming.
Intelligent Flight Features
If you’re just using your drone as a selfie drone, you don’t really need to know anything about intelligent flight features. But if you want to make the most of your drone, and take it on every adventure possible, and capture every shot you can, then you NEED to look at these advanced features before buying.
If you normally pack your travels with extreme adventure sports like skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, mountain biking, anything like this, then ideally you want your drone to have active track. This is where your drone locks focus on you, or another subject, and follows them, keeping the camera fixed on them or you.
Beginner pilots will especially want to look out for intelligent flight modes when buying a travel drone. Some drones offer flight modes where you don’t even need to pilot it at all. So you can have fun and sight-see, whilst your drone circles something that you’ve set as a point of interest, or follows a flight path that you’ve drawn.
The Best Travel Drones Of 2018
Here’s a list of the top drones to take on your travels. All of these are portable, super high quality, and come with intelligent flight modes. And don’t worry, there are drones to suit beginners as well as advanced pilots.
1: DJI Mavic Air
DJI’s new release, the Mavic Air, is already a big hit. It’s everything that any avid traveller could want. The Mavic Pro was already a top choice, and one of the best drones on the market, but somehow the Mavic Air is even better!
Quality-wise, it’s just as good as the Mavic Pro, with a 3 axis gimbal and 4K camera. You can even use it to create sphere panoramas! A photography trick that is incredibly impressive. Basically it’s the smallest drone with such good quality.
Plus any previous drone flyer will know how annoying it is when drones don’t have enough internal storage, but the Mavic Air comes with 8GB of internal storage, so even without a memory card you can record amazing videos.
It’s been made more compact than ever. When folded it’s only 168 mm long and 83 mm wide. Even the controller folds up, and has removable joysticks so that it’s virtually indestructible when packed away and on the go.
As for intelligent flight modes, it’s got it all. All of the intelligent flight modes that DJI is so well known for are of course present in this new drone. From the beginner friendly TapFly (literally just tap on the screen where you want the drone to go) and SmartCapture (where you gesture at the drone to get it take pictures and videos), to the more advanced flight modes like ActiveTrack and QuickShot. It really does have it all.
Weight: 430g
Dimensions:
Folded: 168 x 83 x 49 mm (LxWxH)
Unfolded: 168 x 184 x 64 (LxWxH)
Camera Specs: 4K Video Resolution / 12MP still resolution
Flight Time: 21 minutes
2: DJI Mavic Pro Platinum
Not as portable as the Mavic Air, but still one of the most compact drones on the market today and certainly one of the most notable. It offers great performance and image quality in a small package.
Folded up, this machine is not much bigger than a soda can and easily fits in a small carry-on bag. It’s a traveler’s dream drone.
Easy to use features, obstacle avoidance and automated flight modes make this a good fit for the average Joe. You don’t need to be a professional photographer or drone pilot to have fun and get some great shots. It comes with a great controller that’s easy to use, whether you’re a beginner or an advanced drone flyer.
One quality that this drone has that makes it more desirable than many other drones is that it’s quiet. Drones can be embarrassingly noisy, like a loud and annoying swarm of bees. But the Mavic Pro Platinum is so much quieter. This makes discreet flying a little easier.
It also has the longest flight time out of all our favourite camera drones. It’s not often that you find a consumer drone with 30 minutes of flight time, so for drone enthusiasts this is definitely a big deal.
Weight: 734g
Dimensions: 83H x 83W x 198L (folded)
Camera Specs: 4K video resolution
Flight Time: 30 Minutes
3: DJI Spark
A mini drone that packs a hell of a punch. Perhaps the second most portable pick on the list, it fits in the palm of your hand and can easily slip into your jacket pocket.
This is the only drone on the list without 4K video support, but its 1080P quality is still pretty good. You could say it’s a fair trade off for the extra portability and cheaper price. Given this caveat however, this isn’t recommended for the professional photographer.
Weight: 300 g / 0.66 lbs.
Dimensions: 55 x 143 x 143 mm / 5.6 x 5.6 x 2.16 in
Camera Specs: 12MP | 1080P 30 fps | 1/2.3″ CMOS
Flight Time: 16 min
4: Yuneec Breeze
This little number is a good budget option, with a 4K camera, a selection of automated flight modes and all for about a quarter of the price of the DJI Mavic Pro, this drone is quite a deal.
It sounds perfect, but there is one major issue to bear in mind – you won’t enjoy the stabilization you would get from the DJI drones.
The Breeze makes up for its lack of control by providing features like selfie, orbit, follow me, auto landing and return home modes. These automated flight modes will capture smooth footage effortlessly, so you don’t have to worry about your piloting skills, or lack thereof.
Weight: 385 g / 0.85 lbs.
Dimensions: 65 x 196 x 196 mm / 2.56 x 7.7 x 7.7 in
Camera Specs: 13MP | 4K 30 fps | 1/3.06″ CMOS | 720P live view
Flight Time: 12 mins
6: PowerVision PowerEgg
If you think other drones attract attention, wait until you see this one. Shaped like – you guessed it – an egg, this drone is definitely unique. It opens up like something from outer space, so it’s definitely a conversation starter.
A 360 degree range 4K camera makes for stunning panoramas, while its stabilization and automatic flight modes makes for smooth and easy excursions.
It also comes with a traditional RC style remote, as well as one that looks a little like the Nintendo Wii wand. Pretty cool, right?
It’s small enough to fit in your carry-on, but it is still heavier than any of our other top picks, weighing a hefty 4.6 pounds.
Weight: 2100 g / 4.63 lbs.
Dimensions: 272 x 176 mm / 10.7 x 6.9 in
Camera Specs: 14MP | 4K 30 fps | 1/2.3″ CMOS | 360 Panoramic
Flight Time: 23 min
7: GoPro Karma Drone
The GoPro Karma Drone is a huge hit with those that are already GoPro fans. But for everyone else, perhaps not so much.
Unlike most other drones in its price range, it doesn’t come with a camera. Instead the idea is that you use whichever GoPro you already have, or buy a Karma Drone and GoPro package (which obviously makes it more expensive).
But, it does have some pretty cool intelligent flight features, like follow me, return to home, and even their passenger app, which lets someone else watch your flight and control the GoPro.
The controller it comes with is also one of the best controllers out there. It has a built in screen, which saves you having to use your phone, and the controller is so easy to use.
The Karma isn’t the most portable of drones, being quite a lot bigger than the DJI drones, but it does fold up, and it comes with a hard shell carry case that can be worn as a rucksack.
One of the biggest selling points of the Karma Drone is that it comes with the Karma Grip. Stabiliser grips on their own can be several hundred dollars, and they’re fast becoming a popular photography accessory. The stabiliser grip secures the GoPro in a gimbal that keeps your video footage smooth, regardless of what you’re doing.
Weight: 1006g
Dimensions:
Folded: 365 x 224 x 89 mm (L x W x H)
Opened: 303 x 411 x 117 mm (L x W x H)
Flight Time: 20 minutes
I live in the UK, in the country’s most uneventful city, where the most interesting story in the local paper is about banning dressing gowns in supermarkets.
I travel and I write, because surely there are more interesting stories than that to write about and share.