In just the past few years, drones have transformed from a geeky hobbyist affair to a cultural phenomenon. They’re everywhere now, and they’re available in just about any shape, size, or configuration you could ever want. The market is saturated with them now, so to help you navigate the increasingly large and ever-changing landscape of consumer UAVs, we put together a definitive list of the best drones on the planet right now. So without further ado, here’s the cream of the quadcopter crop. Why you should buy this: It has all the features you need in a drone, it has a great camera, and it comes with a standalone touchscreen controller Who it’s for: Amateur filmmakers, beginner/intermediate pilots, anyone looking for a highly capable but easy-to-fly drone How much it’ll cost: $1,300 Why we chose the Yuneec Typhoon H The Typhoon H takes our top spot because it offers the most bang for your buck. Its sticker price is $100 lower than DJI’s Phantom 4, and it boasts a handful of key specs and features that the P4 simply doesn’t have.

Don’t get us wrong — DJI’s latest Phantom is a top tier drone and it takes a close second here — but Yuneec’s Typhoon just brings more to the table. For starters, the Typhoon H boasts all the fancy autonomous flight modes you could ever dream of. There’s Watch me, follow me, selfie mode, cable cam, orbit, and even dual-pilot mode. long range drone buyAdd that to the fact that it’s equipped with a 360 degree swiveling 4K camera, retractable landing gear, and obstacle avoidance; black ops 2 spider droneand you’ve got a drone that can film anything, anywhere.i want to be a drone pilot One thing that really sets the H apart from DJI’s P4 is the fact that it comes with a dedicated touchscreen controller. mq-27 dragonfire drone review

This is a big deal because it means you can use the drone and watch a live video feed from the camera even if you don’t have a tablet or smartphone attached to the controller (something that DJI’s drones require). Better yet, it also means your flying experience will never be interrupted by a phone call or text message, which is nice.parrot ar drone power edition specsWhat is the best drone to use for roof inspections?best drone with camera on the market You really don’t need to do anything fancy! I was thinking about the use case for drones in roof inspections when I was at my mom’s house in Missouri over the weekend. (I live in a condo building in San Francisco, so no need for me to do my own roof inspections here!) Roof inspections can get fancy. You could add a thermal camera (particularly if you have solar panels on your roof). 

If you had a huge roof and needed to fly the exact same route every time, you might want to use Skycatch, which could even generate a map for you. But for most roof inspectors, all you want is a relatively small drone that is stable, easy to fly, can get close to the roof, is safe, and offers both a live video feed and generates high qualities images or video that can be saved. Often, all you need to see is a clip something like this, which I took when my mom asked me to drone-photograph her house for her: I shot the following clip on the Autel X-Star. So what drone should you use for roof inspections? There are really 3 drones I would recommend, all of which cost less than $800 including camera, and offer at least 20 minutes of flight time. Each of these drones also If you need to do more advanced roof inspections — such as needing a dual controller, scroll down for more recommendations. Yuneec Q500 ($785):  This drone is light and easy to transport (including a carrying case).

It has a 4K camera for high quality video, and is smooth and easy to fly. This drone is awesome because it has a live video feed directly in the RC transmitter, allowing you to see your roof in real-time using nothing more than the drone and controller. This drone also comes with a sun shield/hood to make it easier to see the screen. See Drone Girl’s entire Yuneec Q500 review here. DJI Phantom 3 Standard ($491.98): This drone is incredibly wallet friendly. The camera quality here is 2.7K quality, so while it’s not quite as good as 4K (and wouldn’t necessarily be Hollywood-film ready), it’s more than high quality enough to see details in your roof. The video streams through your smartphone or tablet, which you can use to get real-time video. You might also want to buy DJI’s transmitter hood to better see your screen. Autel X-Star ($699): The X-Star looks a lot like an orange DJI Phantom. But, there are actually quite a few differences. For about $700, you’ll get higher quality video (4K) than DJI’s Phantom 3 Standard.

It also has a removable gimbal meaning you’ll potentially be able to update the camera or drone in future models from Autel. See Drone Girl’s entire Autel X-Star review here. All of these drones can hover and maintain their position, so in theory you could get a good look at the roof while also controlling the drone (with a spotter of course). But there may be instances where it is significantly safer and easier to have a dual-controller for your drone. Here are some (slightly more expensive) options if you need a dual controller: DJI’s Inspire 1 ($2,299) has a dual controller option — allowing one person to control the drone and another to control just the camera. Yuneec’s Typhoon H ($1,299) offers a neat option called Team Mode. With Team Mode, you can bind one Ground Station to Typhoon H and another Ground Station to the CGO3+ camera simultaneously. Capturing truly creative content is vastly more practical with cooperation between pilot and camera operator.