Nice to be here. Never really entertained the idea of getting this far into drone piloting, but unexpected circumstances have led me to engage in the most prominent community, with this one being at the forefront.
I have limited experience with drone piloting, with my first ever taste of quadcopter action being a $50 Amazon special from a forgotten brand back in 2018 (acquired with school funds for an engineering project) that had seemingly unfixable trim issues and wound up meeting its demise roughly 3-4 months after its acquisition via slamming into scaffolding after getting stuck into a hard curved banking maneuver due to aforementioned trim issues.
In 2021, I had a sudden and unexpected desire to try drone piloting once again, and purchased a Holy Stone HS165. As it is well below the 0.55 lbs weight limit imposed by Part 107, and my limited use of it, I have not had it or myself registered under Part 107. The drone was flown twice - once for a brief inaugural flight in order to familiarize myself with the controls, and once more at the end of 2021 for storm damage surveying at my friend's farm after a tornado outbreak.
The drone has not been used since, but a flight was attempted once more in early 2025 to no avail due to unexpected GPS issues. Will touch up more on that in a separate thread.
Anyway, I look forward to participating in this community, even if it is limited participation due to drone flying being nothing more than an occasional hobby. Even then, I can imagine that I'll have much to learn from the insight of more experienced pilots, and any insight received is valued.
That being said....in the event that I cannot get the HS165 operational again, does anyone have any recommendations for camera drones within a $200 budget? I considered Holy Stone again but I'm not entirely the most knowledgeable when it comes to drone brands.
I have limited experience with drone piloting, with my first ever taste of quadcopter action being a $50 Amazon special from a forgotten brand back in 2018 (acquired with school funds for an engineering project) that had seemingly unfixable trim issues and wound up meeting its demise roughly 3-4 months after its acquisition via slamming into scaffolding after getting stuck into a hard curved banking maneuver due to aforementioned trim issues.
In 2021, I had a sudden and unexpected desire to try drone piloting once again, and purchased a Holy Stone HS165. As it is well below the 0.55 lbs weight limit imposed by Part 107, and my limited use of it, I have not had it or myself registered under Part 107. The drone was flown twice - once for a brief inaugural flight in order to familiarize myself with the controls, and once more at the end of 2021 for storm damage surveying at my friend's farm after a tornado outbreak.
The drone has not been used since, but a flight was attempted once more in early 2025 to no avail due to unexpected GPS issues. Will touch up more on that in a separate thread.
Anyway, I look forward to participating in this community, even if it is limited participation due to drone flying being nothing more than an occasional hobby. Even then, I can imagine that I'll have much to learn from the insight of more experienced pilots, and any insight received is valued.
That being said....in the event that I cannot get the HS165 operational again, does anyone have any recommendations for camera drones within a $200 budget? I considered Holy Stone again but I'm not entirely the most knowledgeable when it comes to drone brands.
