so my friend who has been flying for like 3 years now keeps saying i should just skip the 100 dollar toy drones and save up for something like the DJI Mini 3 as my first drone. his argument is that cheap drones teach you bad habits and you end up buying a real one anyway so youre just wasting money. i kind of see his point but 500+ dollars is a lot to drop on something im not even sure ill stick with. what do people here actually think, is there value in starting with something cheaper or does it not really matter that much

your friend isnt entirely wrong but hes not entirely right either. the thing is a 100 dollar toy drone and a 100 dollar entry level GPS drone are very different things. something like the Eachine E520 or the older Holy Stone models with GPS actually do teach you real fundamentals, altitude hold, return to home, basic orientation. the pure toy stuff with no stabilization is a different story, those can actually be frustrating enough that people just quit. if youre genuinely unsure if youll stick with it, maybe find something in the 150-200 range with GPS first. if you crash it and decide its not for you, less painful than a 500 dollar paperweight

i started on a cheap one and honestly it was fine, learned a lot just trying to keep the thing in the air. but i also bought two of them because i crashed the first one pretty badly lol. so i dunno, maybe your friend has a point about the money adding up. the mini 3 is really nice though, the image quality alone is kind of insane for the size. depends how serious you think youll get i guess