so ive been watching youtube videos about drones for like two months now and i still cant figure out what to actually buy. theres so many options and everyone online seems to be sponsored by something so i dont trust half of what i read. my budget is around 300-400 dollars maybe a bit more if its really worth it. i mostly want to fly around my neighborhood and maybe take some videos of hikes and stuff, nothing crazy professional. do i need to register with the faa right away or can i just fly first and figure that out later. also does it matter if i get something with obstacle avoidance or is that more of a nice to have thing

honestly for that budget the mini 3 is probably where most people land and for good reason. its light enough that the registration thing is less of a headache depending on which version you get, and the camera is genuinely good for hikes and casual stuff. obstacle avoidance on entry level drones is kind of a gimmick imo, the sensors are so limited they only really work in certain conditions and new flyers tend to trust them too much and then fly somewhere they shouldnt. id say learn to fly without leaning on it. also yes do the faa registration before you fly, its like 5 dollars and takes 10 minutes, not worth skipping.

i started with a holy stone hs720 because i didnt want to spend too much on my first one and honestly it was fine for learning but the video quality is pretty meh compared to dji stuff. if you have 300-400 i would just stretch to a real dji rather than buy something cheap and then want to upgrade in 6 months like i did lol. thats basically what happened to me