Whether they're causing concern amongst Brits or crashing into internationally-renowned landmarks, drones never seem far from the news nowadays. But, most importantly, the flying machines sometimes known as quadcopters are pretty much the best new tech toy you can buy, endlessly fun and friend-impressing in equal measure.
If you are interested in these high-tech flying machines and have a park nearby – or an enviable slice of garden where you can get your full drone on – but don't know where to start, then read on, as we've have collected our favourites to cater for every high flyer.
Best on a budget: Revell Rayvore
Drone flying can be an expensive past-time, but it doesn't have to be. There are absolutely tiny quadcopters, such as the Nano Hex, which start at just £39.99. These micro drones are great stocking fillers and are fun for a while, but due to their lightweight bodies can be extremely unstable, fast, and difficult to control. They can be mastered, but this takes time and patience.
So that's why we'd recommend going with a slightly larger drone to begin with, such as this Revell Rayvore. Revell is well known for making drone kits, but this little fella comes pre-made and ready to fly.
The biggest selling point is its indestructibility – crash it into the cold, hard pavement, fences or trees, even stand on it and the drone will endure the torture and come back for more. It also has a 50-metre range and four levels of sensitivity to suit beginners and satisfy experts as you get better at it.
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It's packed in with a standalone controller that packs a 'flip' button also lets you perform simple mid-air tricks. The Rayvore doesn't include a camera – for that, you need to stump up for Revell's X-Spy, which comes in at £99.99.
Why's it fly? Durable, kid-friendly and affordable
Flight time:10 minutes
Expect to pay: £59.99
Best for enthusiasts: Parrot Bebop
The Bebop Drone is a lightweight flyer from the French wireless firm Parrot, who started the mass-market quadcopter craze back in 2010 with its foam-covered AR Drone. Despite this new device's feather-like weight, though, the BeBop is also incredibly robust, with an ABS-reinforced structure.
Where the BeBop drone demands a higher price is in the numerous sensors and tech-laden additions that are included, such as a three-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, one ultrasound sensor with an eight-metre reach, one pressure sensor and a vertical camera to track the speed. All of these are analysed automatically to ensure a smooth flight.
There are also several modes that aim to keep your drone safe, including an 'Emergency' mode, which makes it land immediately, and a 'Return Home' mode, which uses GPS to bring the quadcopter back to where it took off. They're incredibly useful systems that should stop your flying sessions from ending in early tears, but overall we found it both stable and fast.
The Bebop is controlled from a smartphone or tablet application, for proper 'modern plaything' points. To ensure a constant and reliable connection the drone packs two dual-band Wi-Fi antennas, generating its own Wi-Fi 802.11 network, and we never had a problem syncing during our testing. However, if you want to go 'fully pro', you can pair it with the intelligent but thankfully optional £340 'Skycontroller' remote and make a sky-owning system out of it.
With a full HD, digitally stabilised camera, the Parrot is also capable of capturing some stunning imagery and surprisingly smooth video. You can control the angle of the camera directly from the smartphone app, too, independent from the drone movements (see our sample of footage below).
Why's it fly? Fully featured with advanced capabilities but doesn't break the bank
Flight time: 11 minutes
Expect to pay: £429.99
Best for actual pilots: DJI Phantom Vision 3
While it may seem counterintuitive, the more expensive drones get, the easier they are to fly – that extra money buys you a whole lot of drone intelligence. And frankly nothing we've tried is more stable than the DJI Phantoms. We enjoyed last year's Phantom Vision 2+ a lot, but since then DJI has released an even more lust-worthy version which is even more impressive.
As well as the 'Return Home' mode from above, the Vision 3 also features auto-takeoff and landing, plus a fail-safe mode, which ensures your new pride and joy will return home safely if it goes out of range or runs low on battery. Not that running out of battery should be a problem, mind, as the Vision 3 comes with high-capacity batteries that provide around 23 minutes of flight time – more than double the other two here and pretty damn good considering four motors have to lift 1280g off the ground.
Controlling the DJI is simple, though – it's agile, fast, responsive and stable. If you don't fancy flying, the DJI even comes with auto-pilot modes that can be set to follow a programmed route, act as a personal film crew by following you, or focus on a particular landmark.
The video capabilities of the DJI Phantom, meanwhile, are extraordinary, starting at 1080p with the Advanced, and going up to 4K on the Professional model, with aerial photography never seemingly so simple. The camera can be controlled from a mobile app, if you insist, with you able to view a 720p livestream from 1.2 miles away (check our footage from the Vision 2+).
If you can't tell, we're incredibly enthusiastic about the DJI range. The firm keeps pushing technical innovation that just wouldn't be possible several years ago, and every iteration of the Phantom is leaps and bounds ahead of the last. Sure, it's an expensive toy, but sometimes it's best to go big, or go home.
Why's it fly? Top-of-the-range, stable and feature-laden drone with amazing image quality
Flight time: 23 minutes
Expect to pay: from £899
