my brother keeps telling me to just buy a cheap one first before spending real money but everything under 200 looks kind of sketchy to me. the holy stone and potensic stuff looks like toys but maybe im wrong? just want to know if anyone has actually flown the cheaper ones and if they're worth it or if ill just be frustrated and end up buying a real one anyway

your brother isnt wrong but also kind of is. the holy stone hs720 or something like that isnt terrible for learning the basics but the gps hold is jittery and the camera is honestly pretty bad. if your goal is aerial footage skip it. if your goal is just to get comfortable with the sticks before dropping 500 on a mini 3 then sure, knock yourself out. i did exactly that and dont regret it even though the footage was unusable

I tried a couple of those cheaper ones before getting a real dji and tbh the experience is pretty different. like the cheaper ones dont have proper return to home, the wind resistance is weak, and one of them just lost connection and drifted into a parking lot. wasnt a disaster but couldve been. I think if money is tight the better move is to save a bit longer and get a mini 2 SE used off ebay or something rather than buying a $150 holy stone. you'll learn faster on a drone that actually behaves predictably