my buddy who flies drones said i should just grab whatever 50 dollar thing is on amazon to learn the basics before spending real money, his logic being that ill crash it a bunch and at least i wont feel bad about it. that kind of makes sense to me but i also read somewhere that learning on a bad drone can actually teach you bad habits because the controls are so sloppy. i genuinely have no idea which approach is right. for context i want to eventually do some outdoor filming, nothing professional just like travel videos and hiking stuff. is there a middle ground or should i just commit to one approach

your friend isnt totally wrong but also not totally right lol. the cheap amazon drones, a lot of them dont have proper GPS hold so they drift all over the place and yeah you end up compensating constantly which isnt really a skill that transfers. that said i get the logic of not destroying a 400 dollar drone on your first flight. i think the sweet spot right now is something like the DJI Mini series or even the older Mini 2 if you can find it used around 200 bucks. they have beginner modes that limit speed and sensitivity and theyre actually forgiving enough that you can learn without it feeling like youre wrestling it. had a friend skip the cheap stuff entirely, went straight to a mini 2 and was flying confidently within like two weekends

ive gone both routes at different points and honestly for outdoor filming specifically i wouldnt bother with the toy stuff, the footage is useable garbage at best and you'll just end up buying a real drone anyway in a few months. the muscle memory you build on a 3 axis gimbal stabilized drone is just different. if budget is the issue the Autel Nano series is worth a look too, people sleep on it becuase everyone just talks about DJI but its a solid little drone. just my two cents