so my kid has been bugging me about drones for like a year and i finally caved and started looking into it. theres so many options i dont even know where to start. budget is probably around 200-300 dollars, maybe a little more if theres something really worth it. i dont need anything crazy, just something that wont fall out of the sky on the first flight and is somewhat forgiving for someone who has never flown anything. is the DJI mini the obvious answer here or is there something else people like

honestly yeah the Mini 3 is probably the answer if you can stretch the budget a bit. the older Mini 2 SE is still around for cheaper and it flies really well for a beginner, wind resistance is decent for a drone that light. the thing with DJI is the app just works, you're not fighting the software on day one which matters a lot when you're learning. just make sure you register it with the FAA if you're in the US, people skip that step and it's a small fine waiting to happen

i started with a Holy Stone off amazon and honestly for backyard stuff it was fine. got me comfortable with the sticks before i put real money into something. might be worth doing that first so if your kid crashes it immediately you're not out $300 lol. that said i did eventually move to a mini and wish id just started there, so idk, depends how serious he is about it