so i've been wanting to get into drones for a while now, like probably two years of just watching youtube videos and never pulling the trigger. my budget is somewhere around 200-300 dollars maybe a little more if its worth it. i dont really know what im looking for honestly, i just want something that wont crash immediately and isnt super complicated to set up out of the box. i live in a pretty suburban area so nothing crazy, mostly just want to fly around parks and maybe get some decent footage eventually. i dont know if i should start small and cheap or just go for something more serious. every time i research it i end up down a rabbit hole and get more confused than when i started

honestly been there. the rabbit hole is real. for that budget the DJI Mini 2 SE keeps coming up for good reason, its basically foolproof to get in the air and the geofencing stuff keeps you out of trouble while youre learning. the auto-hover is solid so you're not white-knuckling it trying to keep altitude. only thing id say is dont sleep on the whole Part 107 registration thing if youre in the US, even recreational you need to register once youre over 250g which the mini 2 se is just under. saves a headache later

i started with a cheap 60 dollar thing off amazon and honestly it was a waste, the thing flew like a leaf in any wind at all and i learned basically nothing useful on it. if you have 300 to work with just use it, get something with GPS hold at minimum. my first real drone was the mini 3 and yeah it was more than your budget but i never looked back. some people say start cheap to learn crashes but idk i think bad habits are harder to break than fixing a scratch