my brother keeps telling me to start with one of those like $30 things from amazon to get a feel for it before buying anything serious. but i feel like those things fly nothing like actual drones and id just be wasting money. he did the same thing with RC cars back in the day and burned through like three cheap ones before getting a real one so im not sure his advice is great here lol

im thinking something in the $200-$400 range for my first actual drone. mostly want to fly outside, maybe take some photos. do people still recommend starting small or is that outdated advice at this point

your instinct is right imo. those $30 toys are so twitchy and the flight characteristics are totally different from a GPS stabilized drone. you wont really transfer those skills over. just go straight to something like a Mini 2 SE or even a refurbished Mini 3 if budget is a concern. the GPS hold alone makes it feel like a completely different thing, way less stressful to fly.

ehh i kind of disagree actually, not about the toy drone thing specifically but i think people undersell how much crashing a cheap one teaches you about spatial awareness and just getting comfortable with the sticks. i flew a beater micro indoors for like two weeks before touching my Mavic and i think it helped. but yeah if youre going straight outside and want photos then skip the toy, your brothers logic doesnt really apply here