so ive been wanting to get into drones for photography stuff and maybe just general flying around but there's like a million different models and im not sure what makes sense for someone whos never flown before. budget is around 500-800 maybe a bit more if its really worth it. i keep seeing people mention dji mini this and mavic that but honestly have no clue what the difference is or if i should start with something cheaper first. also do i need to register it or get some kind of license? the whole thing seems way more complicated than i expected

for that budget you cant go wrong with a mini 3 or air 2s if you can find one. both are solid for beginners and have good cameras. personally i'd skip the cheaper toy drones and go straight to something decent - you'll outgrow the cheap stuff in like a week anyway. and yeah you need to register anything over 250g with the faa but its just like 5 bucks online, takes 5 minutes

honestly i started with a 30 dollar amazon drone and crashed it about 20 times before getting my air 2s and im glad i did it that way. sure the cheap one flew like garbage but at least when i inevitably flew it into a tree i wasnt out 600 bucks. might be worth considering unless your really confident. also check facebook marketplace, lots of people sell barely used drones when they realize its not as easy as they thought it would be