my nephew keeps asking me about drones and i said id help him pick one out for his birthday. hes 16 and pretty tech savvy, not a little kid. i dont want to get him some cheesy walmart toy thing but i also cant spend $800 on something that might just sit in a box after two weeks you know. i looked at some stuff on amazon but the reviews are all over the place and half of them seem fake. is there like a middle ground option that actual drone people would recomend for someone just starting out

DJI Mini 2 SE is probably the sweet spot right now for what you're describing. it's a step down from the newer Mini 3 but you can find it for around 250-300 and it still shoots decent 4k, has GPS hold, return to home, all the stuff that makes learning actually manageable. the reason i'd steer away from most of the Amazon no-name stuff is that the flight controllers are just not comparable, you end up fighting the drone instead of learning to actually fly. plus if something goes down with DJI there's actual support and a repair service, with the random brands you're kind of on your own

yeah i'd second the Mini 2 SE or even a used Mini 2, prices have come down a lot since the newer ones dropped. only thing i'll add is make sure he knows about registering with the FAA if he's in the US, its like 5 bucks and takes 10 minutes but a lot of first timers dont know about it and technically you're supposed to have it. also the DJI fly app has a built in beginner mode that limits altitude and speed which is actually worth using for the first few batteries