so i've been watching a lot of youtube videos about drones and i really want to get one but i genuinely have no idea where to start. my budget is like maybe 150-300 dollars? i dont know if thats enough for something decent or if i should save more. i dont really have a specific thing i want to do with it, just fly around outside, maybe take some photos or video but nothing serious. i saw the DJI mini series mentioned a lot but im not sure if thats overkill for a first drone or if its actually the right move. any advice would be helpful, i just dont want to buy something that crashes immediately and breaks

honestly for that budget the mini 2 SE is probably the move if you can stretch to the lower end of what DJI offers, or if you want to stay cheaper just to learn on first then something like the holy stone hs720 is fine to crash around with. a lot of people say buy cheap first to learn and then upgrade but personally i went straight to a mini 3 and dont regret it because at least you're learning on something that actually flies well and has proper stabilization. the crappy toy drones fight the wind so much that you almost learn bad habits

check if theres rules where you live first before buying anything, thats the thing nobody mentions. in the US anything over 250g needs to be registered with the FAA which is why the DJI mini series is popular, it comes in just under that limit. also just flying in a big open field the first few times, not near people or trees, saved me like three drones worth of replacement parts when i was starting out