What is the Best Drone Under $50? (2017)

You don’t have to spend a ton of money to enjoy piloting a drone. In fact, we would highly recommend that your first drone be an inexpensive one. You will crash. It happens, and you don’t want to have to worry about a $1000 investment. Start with one of these drones. They all start under $50. Plus they are all pretty durable, so they will survive the bumps and bruises of learning to fly a drone. So what is the best drone under $50? Let’s find out.

We have picked out seven of our favorite drones under $50. Each one is unique in its own way. Take a look at our chart as it highlights some of the features of these drones. We have full reviews on each one as well. Here are the 7 best drones under $50: Syma X5C, Syma X8W, Hubsan X4, Eachine E010, Eachine H8S, Cheerson CX-10 and UDI 818.

Best Overall Beginner Drone: Syma X5C

The Syma X5C is an excellent beginner drone. This might be the best overall drone for the first time pilot. It is small, lightweight and durable. Our X5C has survived its fair share of crashes. The camera is 720p and is good for a beginner. The X5C is very stable and one of the easier drones to learn how to fly.  The newer X5C-1 offers slight performance improvements over the original X5C. The Syma X5UW was a complete overhaul of the X5 and has a handful of features and improvements.

Best Indoor Drone: Eachine E010 and E010C

The Eachine E010 is an excellent machine for flying indoors. This little drone’s ducted propeller design helps keep it quiet, efficient and safe. The ducts act as propeller guards and this drone can bounce off of walls and other obstacles and keep on flying. Many people like to modify this drone by adding a camera. This is often referred to as a Tiny Whoop.

If you aren’t quite ready for the DIY, but want to experience First Person View (FPV) flying,  there are two ready made versions with FPV cameras that you can purchase. The E010C is probably the best drone to learn how to fly FPV. Flying FPV takes the drone experience to a whole new level. Learn more about learning to fly FPV here. You or you could opt for the more powerful MakerFire Micro FPV version of the Eachine E010. The E010 typically costs around $20, the E010C less than $40 and the MakerFire less than $80. It is hard to beat these drones when it comes to indoor fun.

Best Full-Size Drone: X8W

The Syma X8W is typically the most inexpensive of the full-size drones in the Syma lineup. This drone has a WiFi camera and is capable of streaming video to your smartphone as it flies. The camera in this drone isn’t quite as sharp as others because it relies on streaming the video to your phone and it has no onboard memory card. We would recommend purchasing a stabilization mount and an action camera. With these upgrades, you will have a drone capable of taking high-quality aerial photos. It is pretty simple to do and one of the best low-cost ways to get excellent footage. We tell you how to do the upgrade here.

Best Fast and Agile Drone: Hubsan X4

The Hubsan X4 is a fun, fast and agile drone. It is small and quick and a great trainer for the aspiring drone racer. It can handle a beating, especially if you add some propeller guards. There are three major models of the X4. The H107L is the lightest and most agile. The H107C adds a camera, and the H107D adds a first person view camera. Flying FPV is an awesome experience and the Hubsan X4 with FPV (H107D) is one of the best ways to start.

Best Drone for Flips and Tricks: Eachine H8S

The Eachine H8S is fun, agile little drone. The H8S flips with the push of a button. It can even fly upside down. It really is a lot of fun to fly and the ability for it to take off upside down after a crash is really quite convenient. Eachine also sells the larger H8C which adds a camera but loses some of the agility found in the H8S. For around $20 the Eachine H8S is a drone that beginners and advanced pilots can love.

Best Tiny Drone: Cheerson CX-10

The Cheerson CX-10 is a tiny quadcopter. It easily fits in the palm of your hand. The CX-10 can typically be found on Amazon for $15 and sometimes even less. There are a lot of different versions. The CX-10A adds a headless mode. The CX-10C adds a camera. The CX-10D has a stability feature called altitude hold. The CX-10W adds a WiFi camera capable of FPV video. There are a lot of CX-10 options, but we’d recommend starting with the basic model first. The WiFi version is also a lot of fun.

Best Durable Drone: UDI 818

The UDI 818 was built inside a durable propeller protector. It helps the drone propellers from coming into contact with obstacles while it flies. The camera on the UDI 818 is a nice 720p camera and takes good pictures. The downside of this drone is that it is large and does not do well on windy days. You can minimize that with an easy hack that we discuss here. There few different models of the 818. We would recommend either the basic version or the FPV version.

We have also done research and compared the best drones from $50-100. You can read more about them here. If you are looking for drones with advanced flight modes and GPS we compare the best drones under $500 here.

Not sure what is the best drone for you???

No worries, Half Chrome Drones has you covered. Maybe you want an aerial photography drone, or maybe you want a fun toy. Want FPV? We’ve developed an advanced system to match you to the right drone. We call it our Half Chrome Drone Cipher™, go check it out. We also are constantly updating our Best Drones Now page to help you stay current.

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