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Published on February 17th, 2017 | by Guest

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Should Beginners Buy or Build Their Own FPV Drones?

On one hand, a beginner is a person who does not know a lot.  Perhaps a novice should defer to established drone brands and manufacturers.  On the other hand, if one does not know a lot about a topic, becoming immersed in the subject matter is a great way to learn efficiently and quickly. So the question is proposed – should a beginner buy or build an FPV drone?

Time

To start, decide how you would like to spend your time.  A person who purchases a drone out of the box is obviously going to start flying much earlier.  It’s estimated that it takes about a week to assemble your own drone, so you will have to wait longer.  However, as mentioned, if you believe that your time is better spent learning parts and the composition of a drone, then the added knowledge will come in handy in the future.

Assembly

DIY is a vague concept; for example, it may take a few minutes to do it yourself and water your own lawn.  However, it would take weeks or longer to tile your own bathroom.  Therefore, it’s beneficial to get a sense of what is required to build your own FPV drone.  To start, you’ll need to assemble the frame.  Next, you’ll need to put on the motors and pieces that control the machine’s speed and direction.  Mount the propellers and equip the model with the needed receiver and control electronics. Lastly, you’ll need to get acquainted with a soldering iron, for the ESCs need to be fixed to the distribution board.

Price

You have a few options in purchasing a drone.  Firstly, you can buy FPV drones online from established vendors.  Alternatively, you could peruse sites like Craigslist to see if people are selling used models.  Lastly, you could shop around for all needed parts, finding the best prices along the way, which is likely to take the longest and does not necessarily guarantee the grand total will be cheaper than if you had bought a new drone.  Of course, a used drone will be cheaper but you need to ensure that all the parts are working and there is a lot of life left in the machine.

Experience

As mentioned, it will be beneficial in the future to learn how to build a drone.  Like a car mechanic, you’ll begin to understand how your respective machine works and how each component serves an integral purpose.  Upgrading is another advantage of building your own.  If you upgrade an out of the box model, you may be limited as to what modifications you can make in the future.  Alternatively, a build your own drone allows for greater creativity and an evolution of available upgrades.

Future

Is flying FPV drones unwaveringly in your future?  You won’t know until you have some experience flying. You may find that flying is not as exciting as you thought. If so, added time and energy spent building your own may be unnecessary.  If you are unsure about your ongoing interest in flying, that’s another factor to consider before deciding to buy an out of the box or build your own model.

 

About the author:

Mike Plambeck is a Drone Enthusiast who is passionate about helping people learn about both commercial and hobby drones. When he’s not out flying or filming he writes for various online publications and spends time with his wife and two young children.

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