Typhoon H or Q500 for a beginner?

The word 'new' can mean many things, just like 'drone' can be design for different purposes. You can use your drone in other ways, but tend not to last as long (my first Q500)... The Q500 was designed to be a flying camera. It's not hard to fly, and it'll hover fairly stable in place, even in light wind. I start the video when I take off, stop when I land, and pull stills or video clips later on the computer, if I find anything of interest. Mostly, I just enjoy flying it, never know when something jumps out. I fly on the slowest speed setting, mostly, but the faster setting helps in higher wind or gusts. The left stick still controls forward speed. The Q500 is kind of an old production, not sure if they are still making them. It's still a great quad, and a good step up from the toy quads, that you'd get for the kids, because they are cheap, and only have enough range for the backyard.

As far as the 'new', if you've never flown a multirotor, I'd suggest playing with one of the 'toy' versions, since crashing is part of the learning experience. The price of the 'toy', is cheap, compared to the repair costs of crashing a Q500, not to mention the time and frustration. I played with the toys for a couple of years, before buying my first Q500. I flew planes and helicopters before that, nothing serious though. I just got tired of the short flights, and waiting for days with little, to no wind. Spent a lot of flight time fighting the wind, rather than actual flying. The Q500 was the first larger drone, in a reasonable price, which didn't require a cell phone, that I stumbled across. I have no regrets, it's been a lot of fun, and haven't seen a reason to move up to something bigger, or newer. I had to rebuild my first Q500, which was an adventure, I hope to never take again, but least I know I'll survive. The second major crash, parts from the initial inspection, would have been about 2/3rds the cost of replacement, so I just bought another Q500. The one thing about the cheap toys, is they take crashing really good, even if you have to knock them down out of trees.

There are a lot of different drones, built for different uses. The trick is to buy the drone, that was made for your need, if you want it to last a long time. They all fly, and can do a lot of the same things, some better than others, some you'd be pushing the design. You can save a lot of money, and frustration, by sort of looking for the features you would actually be interested in actually using, rather than the marketing of features you can't legally use, or don't see a need for. Our laws, so far, keeps the drone in sight at all times, so a mile away isn't legal, but it does mean the battery will last long enough, and the signal strength is good closer up, in the legal range. There's a lot of advanced options, and you pay for having them. I've never really used the 'Smart-mode' features on my Q500, as I like to fly, and be in control. Only a few things, nice to know I have them, if I ever feel the need, maybe someday...

 

I'm biased as I own the Typhoon H. The newer model isn't cheap, but it is very stable in strong winds and the new camera shoots great footage. The 360 degree gimbal gives you so much more creative control, especially when someone else is flying the craft.

 

I started out with the small toy drones that I could fly around inside the house all winter, to get used to the controls and they were light enough, that when they crash, they don't hurt anything..then when spring came along I advanced to larger drones that could fly outside in the wind, by then I was used to the controls, then advanced to one with RTH and a little GPS....now I have reached the end of the advancements, for me anyways, and am flying the Q500 4K, and it will do anything I need, so I don't need to go any higher......It is just a hobby for me..if you are going commercial, then the sky's the limit, you can spend as much as you want to..into the tens of thousands, if that is what you want or need...

 

As far as a good little learner drone...the Furibee https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&k...d=kwd-309251828613&ref=pd_sl_2n2x3f21ev_e_p37

I fly this indoors for fun.

 

How does it compare to the Propel ZIPP Nano Drone?

 

You never really said anything about flight experience. You need to learn to fly, before you learn to'fly properly'. I agree that the little minis and micros aren't great for learning with. Need something you can crash outdoors first. I suggest the 'toys', as they don't break as easy, and cheap, but give you the basic skills to fly. The Q500 is way more powerful, pretty easy to lose control, it moves fast. Not saying it's impossible to learn to fly on a Q500, just likely to be costly, little discouraging, maybe a little dangerous. You can learn video editing with any action camera video.