15 Best Camera Drones under 300 Dollars that are (Really Impressive)

Do you remember that auto flying red eyed drone from Terminator movie, or the manually flown Indian air forces’ solar drone from Interstellar? The answer is astounding yes from anyone who has seen these movies.  This is how drones have captured our imagination for many years. But only recently, drones are able to cross the chasm between fiction world and real world.

Nowadays drones have caught fantasy of everyone, from governments who use military grade drones for securing their countries, to normal people who would love to own and fly these ultra cool machines, and people or organizations who have some serious good use of these machines such as aerial imagery or monitoring wildlife etc.

Before we dive into top rated drones under 300 dollars, let’s learn a bit about them. This is because if you are reading this article, then there is a good chance that you may be looking to buy your first drone. So, little knowledge before selecting your drone will always help.

Time will fly - get extra batteries

The drones, as we call them, are generally Quad copters (meaning having 4 propellers) which run on batteries. Unfortunately, they battery life is very poor. The average flight time of best selling drones under 300 dollars is in the range of 10 to 12 minutes. When flying drones, time also flies. So, many people find it really frustrating that their drone in out of power in merely 10 minutes or so.. But this is the reality that even good drones under 300 dollars cannot give phenomenal flying time. The work around is the buy couple of extra batteries.

Do NOT break the law

Most important aspect of flying drones is not to break any law. Some countries have specific laws dealing with such flying machines and there are severe penalties for breaking those laws for e.g. some locations have laws restricting the height to which drones can be flown. Also it’s always good to check if the flying location doesn’t come under no-flying zone. Some countries such as USA requires you to register with FAA if you are wanting to fly any UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) that weighs between 0.55 Pounds (250 grams) and 55 Pounds (roughly 25 kilogram). No matter what, please always be on the good side of law.

Where to fly?

Aah this is one of the trickiest questions i.e. once you have it, then where to fly the drone? No matter how safely you fly, nearby people will always feel scared (some of them who are like you will rather feel awe!) and many people will definitely think that you are spying on them. Seriously, you should know some place where you can peacefully fly your drone.

Common Jargon

Before we enter into the world of drones, let’s first take a look at basic common jargon which is used when talking about drones.

• RTF (Ready to Fly): These drones are ready to fly out of the box. Sometimes few might require little assembly.
• BNF (Bind-N-Fly): These are RTF drones but they do not come with radio controller. Radio controller is equipment which fits into the drone. Its main function is to follow user instructions. Because BNF drones don’t have radio controllers, you will either need to buy one, or use from your other drones if that ratio controller is compatible.
• ARTF or ARF (Almost Ready To Fly): Similar to BNFs, these drones also require assembly and additional parts namely radio receiver and transmitter.
• Headless mode: Typically drones have one side called as front or nose. During flying, following pilots’ instructions is with the nose as reference.

In headless mode, it takes remote orientation as reference, and the drone always moves forward, backward, left or right regardless of where its front is facing. This mode is very useful for beginners to learn flying.

• RTH (Return to Home): This feature enables the drone to automatically fly back to the pilots location or the starting point.
• FPV (First Person View): This means that you can see what your drone is seeing in real time by a direct video feed from the drones’ on-board camera. This feature is used for taking pictures and videos. It can also be redirected to FPV VR headset which gives an excellent immersive experience.

Equipped with this knowledge and information, let’s now deep dive into the amazing world of drones including the most sought after camera drones under 300 dollars

MaJX X101 RC, Price $124.99

Priced at $125, this drone is one of the most popular drones among newbie. It has sturdy design with protection for the propellers. It has a holder for keeping mobile phones, which is useful for people who wish to quickly record something from different angles. RTH, which can be initiated with one key press, is a very useful feature for beginners.

With it, the new pilot can bring the drone back safely to him rather than struggle with controls to bring the drone to him and then be worried about crash landing.

Specifications and features:

• 720P camera
• 15+ minutes flying time
• 100 meters control range
• Size: 50 cm x 50 cm x 18 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV via Wifi
• Supports headless mode
• Support one key RTH
• Compatible VR headset

WLTOYS V666N, Price $179.89

This is one of those drones which beginners and non-beginners love equally. The motor and propellers are covered by protective frame which offer protection against the inevitable accidents that happen at the hands of beginners.

In the same way, one key landing and automatic takeoff functions help the beginners to leave these most complex and accident prone maneuvers to the drone, and learn things one step at a time. At the same time, the non-beginners can enjoy FPV and real time image transfers.

Specifications and features:

• 2MP HD camera
• 8 to 10 minutes flying time
• 150 meters control range
• Size: 52.5 cm x 52.5 cm x 13 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV via Wi-Fi
• Supports headless mode
• Doesn’t Support RTH but supports one key landing and automatic takeoff.

CHEERSON CX-20, Price $219.00

This professional looking GPS enabled quadcopter is very stable. Aerial photographers or video enthusiasts will love flying this drone. Whenever the communication between drone and remote control fails, it triggers the ‘fail safe’ feature which automatically brings the CX-20 to home location and lands it safely.

Similarly the low voltage protection feature lands the drone automatically when it sees that only 1 to 2 minutes of flying time is remaining. This prevents the drone from falling off the sky due to low voltage.

Specifications and features:

• No camera but has provision for attaching any removable light weight camera such as Go Pro.
• Approximately 10 minutes flying time
• 300 meters control range
• Size: 30 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV
• Doesn’t supports headless mode
• Supports RTH

Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Elite Edition, Price 207.48

This drone comes in three variants namely jungle, snow and sand. All are exactly same except for colors. The companion app lets the user control almost everything about the camera such as exposure, color saturation and white balance. It has pressure sensors which make it highly stable, so much so that it can hover at one point even in 15 mph wind. Its patented absolute control technology adapts to the pilots skill level therefore anyone can fly this drone easily.

Specifications and features:

• 720P HD camera
• Approximately 12 minutes flying time
• 50 meters control range
• Size: 58.52 cm x 58.52 cm x 12.7 cm (L x W x H)
• Support FPV
• Doesn’t supports headless mode
• Doesn’t support RTH but supports automatic piloting mode which makes takeoff and landing easy.

Traxxas Aton Quadcopter, Price $299.95

This drone has two modes, sport mode and ultra stable mode. In sport mode it can go up to 50 mph. The ultra stable mode is for those people and conditions who want stability than speed such as beginners or flying in a restricted place etc.

It allows pilot to set a geofence beyond which the drone will not go. In case it crosses that limit then it will come back home automatically. Their high visibilities LEDs give pilots direction indication.

Specifications and features:

• Doesn’t come with built-in camera but has facility to connect any lightweight external camera. The camera slot is especially designed for Go Pro.
• Approximately 18 to 20 minutes of flying time without camera. Approximately 13 to 15 minutes with Go Pro Hero 4 camera
• 150 meters control range
• Size: 47.24 cm x 47.24 cm x 9.4 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV
• Supports headless mode
• Supports RTH which activates also when connection between drone and remote control is lost

Dualsky Hornet 460 ARF Quadcopter, Price $162.8

The best part about this quadcopter is its simplicity and attractive looks. It also has LEDs under its arms which can be configured for night flying. It is not a RTF drone. Rather it is ARF drone, so you will have to purchase transmitter, receiver, and a suitable LiPo charger separately to complete this flying beauty.

However, the company claims that it is extremely easy to assemble it. They even give a ‘30 minute takeoff guarantee’.

Specifications and features:

• Doesn’t have camera and no provision to put external camera
• Approximately 7 minutes flying time
• Size: 46 cm x 46 cm x 11 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t support RTH

Hubsan X4 H107C, Price $37.99

This is a mini-drone. It is so tiny that it can easily sit on your palm. Such small size is the main attractive point of mini-drones. The small size also gives them agility and just in case they crash, the impact is lesser. As it doesn’t support leadless, FPV and RTH features, and sometimes keeping an eye on the drone is difficult, it is better if beginners avoid flying this.

Specifications and features:

• 3 MP camera which can record HD videos
• Approximately 7 minutes flying time
• 100 meters control range
• Size: 6.8 cm x 6.8 cm x 2.54 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Syma X8G, Price $125.99

This is another drone meets beginners all wants and needs. Its 6 axis flight control system makes this drone very easy to fly and it gives a stable flying experience.  The bright LEDs enable pilots to fly it at night.

For people wanting to have some fun, you can make this drone perform 360 degree eversion stunt at the push of a button.

Specifications and features:

• Removable 8 MP HD camera which can record up to 1080P videos. The camera holding case is also compatible with Go Pro.
• Approximately 10 to 12 minutes flying time
• Approximately 100 meters control range
• Size: 50 cm x 50 cm x 12 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV
• Supports headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Inguity XR Micro HexDrone. Price $28.99

This is very special in two ways. Firstly it is not a quadcopter; rather it is a hexacopter, meaning it has 6 propellers. Secondly, it is world’s smallest hexacopter. This robust and highly agile drone is designed for high stake maneuvers and acrobatics.

Despite it not having headless or RTH features, beginners can still fly this drone because it is made of high strength polymers which don’t break so easily if and when the drone crashes.

Specifications and features:

• Doesn’t have camera or camera holder for external cameras
• Approximately 10 minutes flying time
• Approximately 100 meters control range
• Size: 8.57 cm x 8.57 cm x 2.22 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

LHI Mini Robocat 270, Price $270

This belongs to a special category of drones called as “racing drones”. Similar to other racing drones, this drone is also designed for only one thing – speed! Speed comes at price of stability. So this drone is not for people who prefer stability.

Specifications and features:

• Doesn’t have camera but has camera holder
• Approximately 12 to 15 minutes flying time
• Approximately 900 meters control distance
• Size: 50.3 cm x 30 cm x 13.5 cm (L x W x H)
• Doesn’t support FPV by default but its FPV kit is available for purchase.
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Blade Mach 25, Price $264.5

This is another racing drone. But unlike the earlier drone, this is a BNF drone. The built-in FPV camera gives pretty good video feed which helps a lot during racing. SAFE technology makes racing this drone incredible easy. The carbon fiber frame with lightweight Aluminum supports makes it light weight yet very strong making ready to take the accidental hit during racing.

Specifications and features:

• It has camera for only FPV. The camera cannot take pictures of record videos.
• Approximately 6 minutes flying time
• Approximately 100 meters control range
• Size: 36.57cm x 25.9 cm x 11.4 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Note that this is a racing drone

Eachine Racer 250, Price $171.99

This is a good quality entry level racing quadcopter. I would call this drone as the stepping stone for people who are neither beginner nor intermediate, to transition from non-racing to racing drones. Like other racer drones, this drone also provides several customizations and additions to make it your own flying racing machine.

Specifications and features:

• HD camera
• Approximately 10 to 14 minutes flying time
• Approximately 900 to 1500 meters control range
• Size: 22 cm x 23.3 cm x 5 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Kai Deng K70W, Price $257.19

This is one of the few racing drones which support headless mode. Even though these racing drones are used by expert drone pilots, many times they also lose focus and therefore lose the orientation. Headless mode allows them to still continue racing without having to waste time to find what happened and then how to realign the drone.

They can keep flying in headless mode while waiting for the right opportunity to point the nose forward once again.

Specifications and features:

• 2 MP HD camera for taking pictures and videos
• Approximately 10 minutes flying time
• Approximately 300 meters control range
• Size: 63 cm x 46 cm x 10.5 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV
• Supports headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

XK X350, Price $235.79

This drone neither comes with HD cams, nor can it fly at dizzying speeds. Also, it doesn’t fit into your palm. Plus it doesn’t have features like headless and RTH. You may then be wondering what this drone actually does so well that it made to this list.

Well, it does just one thing which is to do lots of stunts. That’s it. That’s all this drone does.

Specifications and features:

• Doesn’t come with camera by default but camera can be purchased separately.
• Approximately 12 to 18 minutes flying time
• Approximately 1000 meters control range
• Size: 30.5 cm x 30.5 cm x 21 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV
• Doesn’t support headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Holy Stone X300C, Price $89.99

When I was checking out this drone, the “jack of all and master of none” hit me. This drones specialty is that it can do everything that other drones can do but at an average level. This is what makes it special.

It can record pictures and videos, send video feed as FPV, be stable in flying in wind with its 6 axis gyro system, do aerial acrobatics, fly at night with LEDs and so on. So this makes a good choice for anyone who wants ‘all-in-one’ but is okay with average performance in everything.

Specifications and features:

• Doesn’t come with camera by default but has camera holder
• Approximately 8 minutes flying time
• Approximately 50 to 100 meters control range
• Size: 23.1 cm x 23.1 cm x 4.5 cm (L x W x H)
• Supports FPV
• Supports headless mode
• Doesn’t supports RTH

Note that this is a stunt drone capable of several acrobatics.

Conclusion

The world of drones is like an ocean with fishes of all shapes, sizes and colors. I tried our best to pick gems from different types of drones ranging from drones for beginners to drones for experts, micro drones to quite big size drones, fun drones such as stunt drones to racing drones and so on.

However, we might have still missed your favorite type of drone.

If this is the case please let me know in comments. Any other comments are also most welcome.

I wish you very happy flying! 🙂