The Best 5 Drones That Follow You

WanderLearn with Francis Tapon, author of The Hidden Europe and Hike Own Your Own Hike

Selfies are so yesterday. Nowadays, if you want to capture your travels in a dramatic fashion, you need a drone. That sets you apart in the Instagram crowd.

In this week’s guest post, Richard Browny gives us some 2019 holiday shopping advice for those who want a drone that follows you around and films the ultimate selfie.

Guest post by Richard Browny

What are the advanced drones on the market right now? Check out this list to help you narrow down your search so you can start shooting beautiful aerial footage and photos. Learn about the important features to look for while selecting a drone with a camera for flight safety and ease of use.

Camera drones are a must if you want to take footage of yourself while you’re doing your thing. Let’s face it. Unless you have the funds and the confidence to hire a camera crew to shoot you, a follow-me drone is your only option.

The problem is:

Out of all the drones in the market right now, a lot of them are tricky to control and don’t produce high-quality footage. So, let’s weed those out and get into our favorite picks for the best drone with a camera.

To get the lowdown on other gadgets you could use, check out the Best Tech Expert website.

1. DJI Phantom 4 PRO Quadcopter

A lot of videographers can’t stop raving about this model — and for a good reason. The DJI Phantom 4 can stay up in the air for a whopping 28 minutes on a single battery. Most modern drones cannot boast of this characteristic.

Another noteworthy feature is its 49-meter obstacle sensory range. This will come in handy when you’re tackling dense landscapes. Let’s say you want to take footage of yourself surfing or skiing. This intelligent camera can react to these varied environments.

At 1380 grams, it flies very fast at 20 meters per second. The maximum image size is clear and beautiful at 3000×4000 if you want to take pictures with it on top of recording videos. Plus, it comes with a 3-axis gimbal for steadier footage. This drone with an HD camera is currently unbeatable.

Other specs:

• HD video recording (1280x720p)

• 6m/s ascent speed

• 4m/s descent speed

• Comes with a GPS system

This model’s price depends on the configuration. It’s about $1899 on Amazon.

2. Hubsan H501S X4 Brushless FPV Ready to Fly Quadcopter

Camera drones are accepted as a pricey purchase. You can expect to pay up to a thousand dollars to have a decent one. That’s why we’ve made it a point to include a high-quality quadcopter drone that won’t break the bank in this article. 

We’re talking about the Hubsan H501S X4. Under $200, it’s the best drone for beginners. The total flight time of 20 minutes is not bad at all, considering its modest price tag.

You can control this quadcopter from 300 meters away, so you will have to move with it if you want a sprawling shot. If controlling the drone is not in your wheelhouse, you can turn on its GPS tracker to follow you around.

Best of all, it has a 6-axis gyro that keeps it stable at all times despite being on the lighter side.

Other specs:

• HD video recording (1280x720p)

• Charging time of 2.5 hours

• 5.8G capable 

3. Yuneec Typhoon H Drone with Camera

DJI currently dominates the market for their high-quality equipment. But you may want to look at this small drone with a camera that threatens to give DJI a run for their money — the Yuneec Typhoon H.

What sets this model apart from the rest is its smart flight modes. You can choose from “orbit me,” “journey mode,” “follow me,” “POI,” and others for a completely hands-free experience. There’s no need to control this programmable drone when taking off and landing. It can do it by itself.

Aerial videos tend to be wobbly because of the wind and the drone’s vibration. But because of its 3-axis brushless gimbal, all recordings are stabilized. Still, images taken by this drone camera are also never blurry.

It’s fully collapsible, meaning you take it apart for transport and storage. Plus, its landing gears retract so that the recording up in the air is entirely unobstructed. Most of the components are made with carbon fiber, making it light and durable at the same time.

Other specs:

• Can be used indoors despite bad GPS reception

• 7” touchscreen control center

• 6 rotors assure landing safety in the event of motor failure

• Customizable pre-set coordinates 

Price $899

4. Holy Stone HS1000 Navigator

Another mid-range mini drone with a camera is this model from Holy Stone. If you’ve never flown a drone before, but love playing video games, this might be right up your alley. Its very familiar-looking controller simplifies flying for those who need a standard follow-me drone with a camera.

This is the best choice if you want to take awesome aerial selfies. Its flight time of 15 minutes is enough to take a couple of sweet shots. It also lets you stream footage to your smartphone from 500 meters away. That’s a feature which is hard to find in this price range.

Other specs:

• 1080p Wi-Fi camera

• Follow Me mode

• Decent weight of 700 grams

 The price is $189

5. Walkera Voyager 5 Follow Drone

Released to the public early last year, Voyager 5 is Walkera’s latest professional drone with a camera. They’ve built in a couple of flight safety systems to make sure your drone remains undamaged while it’s up in the air. These include dual GPS, IMU, and compasses.

Its 3-axis gimbal absorbs the shock and vibrations from the rotors, which produces steadier and more fluid footage. The camera itself has unique features like thermal infrared, night mode, and a 30x optical zoom lens.

To avoid crashes, it runs on an avoidance program. This is to make sure it doesn’t collide with anything from the front and from below. It can detect an obstacle from 5 meters away.

Walkera Voyager 5 has 3 intelligent modes for hands-free video capture: follow me, circle flight, and waypoints.

Ready to be wowed? It has a 41-minute flight duration and can transmit videos from 5 km away. With its fantastic flight performance and safety features, this is the best choice for the pros.

Other specs:

• Foldable design for easy landing, transport, and storage

• Payload-capable

• Able to report equipment failures

 This costs a whopping $25,000!

Conclusion

A hover camera is a great tool to shoot footage for professional-looking videos. And as you can tell from this list, getting a good one doesn’t have to blow a hole through your pockets.

Do you have any questions about the models that we’ve picked? Do you have any drone tips and tricks you want to share with other enthusiasts? Leave your two cents below.

Author’s bio: Richard Browny is a videography expert with a keen interest in drones, cameras, AI, and surveillance tech. When he’s not writing reviews, you can find him out in the wild on his surfboard. He is currently working on his photo exhibit and cleaning up after his 3-year-old daughter.