so my buddy has been bugging me about getting into drones because he sees me flying mine all the time. problem is i got into this like 4 years ago and im not really sure whats good for beginners anymore, a lot has changed. back when i started the Phantom 3 was kind of the go-to and obviously thats not really relevant now. he wants something that wont frustrate him to death and has decent image quality, he mentioned maybe wanting to do some travel stuff with it too so size might matter. he's not super tech savvy so ideally something where you dont have to mess with a ton of settings just to get in the air. his budget is flexible i think, he didnt give me an exact number. any thoughts from people who have been recommending stuff to friends recently

for a non-techy person who wants to travel with it the mini 4 pro is kind of hard to argue against right now. omnidirectional obstacle avoidance means he's less likely to get a heart attack every time it gets near a tree, and the under 249g weight thing is genuinely useful if he's going to different countries. it's not cheap but if budget is flexible it's probably the move. the learning curve on DJI stuff is pretty manageable, the fly app walks you through most things and there are a million tutorials. only downside is he'll probably spend way too much time watching cinematic drone videos on youtube and not enough time actually going outside to fly

yeah DJI is the obvious answer but i'd push back a little and say maybe start him on something cheaper first just to see if he sticks with it. i've seen a lot of people buy a mini 3 or whatever and then fly it like three times and lose interest. a mid range option like the Hubsan Zino or even a used older DJI might make more sense depending on how serious he actually is. also worth mentioning the whole registration and rules thing, a lot of beginners dont realise you cant just fly wherever and that alone kills the enthusiasm for some people when they find out the park they wanted to fly at is restricted airspace