Best drones for your travels

This blog is brought to you by Drone Class, your drone trainer for flying in the open and specific category.

A drone is an essential part of your travel equipment. A drone is suitable for everyone who wants to create travel content or give a different perspective to holiday photos. We have been taking our drones with us on holiday for over five years and over the years we have gained experience in which drones are suitable to take with you on holiday. We have put this into a number of tips that you can read in this blog.

What to look out for when buying a drone for travelling

Weight 

The weight of the drone is important for several reasons. You never know when you are going to come across beautiful nature or a beautiful drone location. This means that you will be taking your drone with you often. The lighter the drone, the easier it is to carry around. Is your drone heavier than 249 grams and will you be travelling in Europe? Then you are obliged to obtain an EU licence. The EU licence consists of two certificates: the basic certificate A1/A3 and the supplementary certificate A2.

Want to know more about the drone regulations in Europe? Through this link, we explain everything about the EU Drone Licence.

Size

There are many drones on the market today that have foldable arms. This saves a lot of space in your bag or luggage. Some drones come with a handy travel bag. This is a compact bag in which the drone, the batteries and the transmitter fit. If you want to take a larger drone on the road, you have to check in at the airport without the batteries. The drone batteries must always be carried in hand luggage because of the risk of fire.

Tip: Many flights allow you to take one piece of hand luggage and one accessory. If your drone (bag) is small enough, you can take it with you as an accessory and save space in your hand luggage.

Battery life

Nothing is more frustrating than an empty battery. Most drones have a battery life of 20 to 30 minutes. Yet there are drones on the market with a battery duration of 5 to 10 minutes. From experience we know that the first ten minutes are needed for taking off and positioning. Therefore, make sure that the drone has sufficient battery life so that you can take the most beautiful images. Of course, you can buy multiple batteries to give you more flight time.

Video and photo quality

Smaller drones usually come with slightly inferior photo and video quality. There are also plenty of compact drones with high camera resolution on the market. For these drones, you pay a little more. If you want to take a few nice holiday photos, you can be content with a somewhat lower photo and video quality. If you want to make complete videos or (cinematic) vlogs, choose a drone with higher quality so you can edit the images better.

Beste drones voor op reis

Experience

Have you flown a drone before? Or will you be doing your first flying hours soon? This will influence which drone suits you best. If you have little experience, choose a drone that is easy to control and has obstacle sensors. These sensors correct the drone when it gets too close to an obstacle.

Accessories and insurance

Drones are quite an expense. If something breaks down, you want to be properly insured. Always take some spare parts with you when you travel. The drone's propellers can easily be damaged. A set of extra propellers is always useful. A third-party insurance is only required by law if the drone weighs more than 20 kilos. As a private person, you can ask your insurance company for exact coverage.

Our favourite drones for travelling

Enough tips on what to look out for when buying a drone, time for our favourites! We have been flying various drones for years, but choose the drones from DJI as the best every time.

Drone voor op reis DJI Mini 3 Pro

DJI Mavic Mini 3 Pro

Weight: 249g
Dimensions (folded): 245 x 290 x 56 mm
Battery life: 34 minutes
Photo quality: 48 MP
Video quality: 4K

The DJI Mini 3 is a compact and lightweight drone. The drone is easy to take with you when you travel, has an excellent battery life and great photo and video quality. DJI has built the Mini 3 to be taken on trips. This device will fit in any suitcase or backpack. Folded down, this drone is only 245 x 290 x 56 mm, making it almost fit in a jacket pocket.

Drone voor op reis DJI Air 2S

DJI Mavic Air 2S

Weight: 595 grams
Dimensions (folded) 183 x 253 x 77 mm
Battery life: 31 minutes
Photo quality: 20 MP
Video quality: 5.4K

Do you want to take fun drone photos on holiday. Then the DJI Air 2S is definitely a good choice. With a photo quality of 48 megapixels and a video quality of 4k, you will get great drone pictures of your holiday destination. The drone can also be purchased with a Fly More Kit. This kit includes two extra batteries, spare parts and a handy carrying case.

The DJI Air 2S weighs 595 grams. This allows the drone to be flown in both subcategory A2 and A3. Its maximum speed is around 70 km/h and its battery lasts for around half an hour. The drone has a compact and foldable design. This makes the drone easy to take along.

The maximum video resolution is slightly higher compared to the DJI Mini 3 Pro. This drone is capable of recording images in 5.4K up to 30fps or 4K up to 60fps. The maximum photo resolution is 20 megapixels. Photos can be saved in JPG or DNG RAW format.

 

Drone voor op reis DJI Mavic 3

DJI Mavic 3

Weight: 900 grams
Dimensions (folded): 283 x 347.5 x 107.7
Battery life: 46 minutes
Photo quality: 20 MP
Video quality: 5.1K

The DJI Mavic series is known for its flying features. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, anyone can enjoy flying the DJI Air 2S. The drone features two forward-facing obstacle sensors, two inclined obstacle sensors and two backward-facing sensors. This allows the drone to automatically avoid obstacles, even at high flight speeds.

In addition, DJI is introducing a new flight function, namely master shots. The drone itself calculates the best flight path to perform a certain camera movement. This is a handy way for novice pilots to automatically create beautiful drone images.

Whereas previously you had to choose between camera quality and versatility, DJI has equipped this drone with two cameras: a Hasselblad camera and a zoom camera. In the DJI Fly app, the pilot can switch between the two cameras.

The flight time of this drone is more than 45 minutes thanks to the new batteries. Not being able to take pictures due to empty batteries is therefore a thing of the past.

The controller of the DJI Mavic 3 is similar to the DJI Air 2S. The controller is connected to a smartphone and controlled by the DJI Fly app. Video images are transmitted in 1080p HD thanks to OcuSync 3. The DJI Mavic 3 Cine comes with a smart controller.

Both controllers feature an RTH button. DJI has renewed this function. Instead of taking off and flying in a straight line to the take-off point, the DJI Mavic 3 chooses the most efficient path to the take-off zone. With this, DJI hopes to prevent crashes caused by a dead battery on the way.

The DJI Mavic 3 features the latest version of 360-degree obstacle detection. The sensors work in both normal flight mode and sport mode. The updated APAS 5.0 should ensure that the drone can be guided effortlessly through complex environments. Since the last firmware update, the drone has a new version of ActiveTrack, namely ActiveTrack 5.0. This feature ensures that the drone continues to follow an object, even during backward or sideways flight. The DJI Mavic 3 can detect the object when it disappears from view.

Drone voor op reis DJI PFV

DJI FPV

Weight: 568 grams
Dimensions (folded) 31.2 cm x 25.5 cm x 12.7 cm
Battery life: 20 minutes
Photo quality: 20 MP
Video quality: 4K

FPV is an abbreviation of First Person View, which means that through video glasses you see what the camera of the drone is filming. During the flight, you therefore have no direct view of the drone. With this drone, DJI wants to combine the FPV feeling with elements from the Mavic series.

Beginning users can use the DJI FPV to learn how to fly an FPV drone step by step. The DJI Goggles V2 provides a live view of the aircraft in flight. The image from the camera is displayed in HD quality, without noise or distortion. A menu interface allows you to change various settings.

The camera of the DJI FPV is not gimbal-stabilised, as we are used to with other DJI drones. The images are stabilised by means of the RockSteady software. DJI FPV has a high quality camera that captures everything in 4K 60 fps. The camera is supported by the D-CineLike colour profile. It is also possible to record images in 1080p 120 fps, which can be slowed down considerably during editing. The images can be recorded both on the drone and on the glasses.

Sem van Geffen

Co-owner Drone Class B.V.

About the author

Sem is an experienced trainer/developer, with drones as his main interest. He holds the Dutch RPA-L license and the EASA STS theory certificate. His specialism is EU aviation law and he enjoys flying the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise.

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