Best Indoor Drones for Beginners 2023 Review – find out which drones are the best for flying indoors. DJI, Syma and Parrot models are reviewed in this article.
In a building, drone flights are a pleasure because weather conditions are not a hindrance. Flying indoors in Attitude (ATTI) mode is a slightly different experience than outdoors. Air movements are limited and the drone can create depressions in closed spaces. You can pick the ideal drone for indoor flying from a wide variety of options available on the market.
1. Deer HS177 Drone
The Deer HS177 is a great drone for flying indoors due to its altitude hold. It will hover steadily at a default height for ease of control, and this makes it a great option for children or those new to flying drones.
This is a battle drone which means it can fight with infrared shots and is a blast for children and adults alike.
It also has a simple headless mode which ensures the front of the drone will face the same direction as the pilot – another great feature for beginners.
With its flight time of 9 minutes, emergency stop feature, 3 speed modes, and a one-key start/ landing feature, the Deer HS177 drone is a great drone to fly indoors with lots of control.
- Affordable
- Great control
- Hovers at default height
- Emergency stop feature
- Headless mode
- Batteries don’t last very long
Check it out: https://www.dronesforsalereview.com/quadcopters/deerc-hs177-rc/
back to menu ↑
2. Syma X20 Drone
The Syma X20 mini drone is another great one for flying indoors. It is small, stable, and easy to control, making it another great option for kids and novices.
It features a one-key start and land feature and a handy-dandy hover mode. The headless mode makes it a snap to control. Due to its size and manoeuvrability, this drone is a great option for flying indoors.
- Affordable
- Easy to control
- Headless mode
- One-key start/landing feature
- Hover setting
- Cool LED lights for night-flying option
- Not the most durable build
Check it out: https://www.dronesforsalereview.com/quadcopters/syma-x20/
back to menu ↑
3. Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Drone
The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon drone is the ultimate flying experience for Star Wars fans. It even comes with cool LED lights and sound effects, making it a hit with kids.
This drone can be controlled from up to 200 feet away, and its stunt mode is activated with the push of a single button.
The Millennium Falcon is a breeze to control, making it perfect for flying indoors, and requires 6 AA batteries for operation.
- Agile flight
- 4 concealed rotors
- Stunt mode with a button push
- Cool lights and sound effects
- Durable build
- Slightly more expensive
Check it out: https://www.dronesforsalereview.com/quadcopters/air-hogs-millennium-falcon/
back to menu ↑
4. Syma X5SC-1 Drone
The Syma X5SC-1’s design is largely borrowed from DJI’s Phantom model but with an economical dimension. This is one the most affordable camera indoor drones that can fly optimally. It is a good option for a beginner who wants a basic unit before buying a more expensive model.
For its price, the X5SC-1 is a small caliber drone (12.4 inches diameter and 4.1 inches thickness) with a weight of less than 1.5 pounds. The device is made of plastic and it falls into the RTF (Ready To Fly) category. You can assemble the feet and the camera in a few seconds in addition to fixing the propellers. It is well suited to indoor flights, especially for beginners. However, it can be difficult to avoid shocks during the first hour of flight.
In the package, you will find a remote control (without batteries), a 2GB memory card and a 500mAh lithium battery. With this type of battery, the maximum flight time is about seven minutes and the recharging process takes slightly less than one hour and thirty minutes. If you intend to use this drone for longer periods, it is recommended that you purchase additional batteries.
The range of the controller is about 54 yards, which limits its use to low-altitude and indoor flights. Obviously, a device of this caliber does provide the best performance outdoors except in mild weather.
With only 2GB of memory provided, you can take 800 photos or 30 minutes of video. Despite a displayed resolution of 2 megapixels, the camera provides an image that is best used for tracking or capturing a scene without much movement. The rendering standard is below most basic smartphones. The colors are not sharp and lack contrast.
The absence of any stabilization system – physical or electronic – makes photo capture difficult and video capture disappointing. The camera angle, which is reduced, and the inability to rotate it further decreases the accuracy of shooting. Syma X5SC-1 price – $69.99.
Features
– 2MP HD Camera
– 6 Axis Gyro
– Headless Intelligent Orientation Control (IOC) system
– 2GB of memory
– 500mAh lithium battery
– 360 degrees Eversion
Pros and cons
- Affordable
- Ideal for indoor flying
- Well suited for beginners
- The camera captures poor images
Check it out: https://www.dronesforsalereview.com/quadcopters/syma-x5c-1/
back to menu ↑
5. Parrot Mambo Drone
This unit is a small quadrocopter offered by the brand Parrot, it is not intended for racing. It is more akin to a toy for young people and ideal for indoor use. Regarding the design, this drone forms a square of 7 by 7 inches and a featherweight of 0.14 pounds. Its hull is made of polyamide and polypropylene with touches of silver aluminum under the propellers.
Its color is white and black. The plastic propeller protectors come in black. The unit’s battery is a Li-Po 550mAh allowing an autonomy of eight minutes if it is equipped with its accessories and the propeller. Autonomy goes up to nine minutes if the drone flies without accessories. It takes about 30 minutes to fully charge the battery.
The drone is compatible with smartphones or tablets running Android or IOS. Connectivity is via USB or Bluetooth 4.0 BLE. During flights, it is one of the most stable UAVs on the mini-drone market. It has a flight assistance and stabilization system. The vertical stabilization is done by a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, an ultrasound sensor and a 3-axis gyroscope.
Horizontal stabilization is done through a camera with a sensor. The piloting is handled either by a compatible smartphone or by a Parrot Flypad controller. The smartphone stays connected up to 21 yards away while the Parrot controller reaches 65 yards away.
The ball-thrower gun is attached to the back of the drone via the Lego brick-shaped connector. It comes with 50 balls of six millimeters in diameters. The magazine can hold six balls that are propelled by a mechanical system at the rate of 1 shot per 1.5 seconds. The projectiles are low impact and the barrel fires up to 2.18 yards away. This accessory can be used for different skill games, such as target shooting, cup pyramid destruction and more.
The clamp is attached to the rear of the drone but the connection is also made by the “lego” on the back of the drone. Hence, these accessories cannot be used at the same time. The clamp has a timing system to open and close; it can carry a load weighing up to 0.14 ounces.
You can take off your drone by launching it in the air thanks to the free fall take-off system. Make acrobatic tricks, the system assists you to stabilize the drone and avoid crashes. Shock bumpers protect both propellers and furniture in the event of a collision. The digital camera will allow you to immortalize your magical moments. The pack consists of the drone, the bullet-throwing gun with 50 balls in reserve, the clip, a USB cable and the quick start guide. Parrot Mambo price – $119.99.
Features
– Accelerometer
– Ball-thrower mechanism
– Pressure sensor
– 3-axis gyroscope.
– Ultrasound sensor
– Li-Po 550mAh battery
Pros and cons
- Flight assistance and stabilization system
- Stable flights
- Bluetooth connection to the smartphone
- Short battery life
Check it out: https://www.dronesforsalereview.com/quadcopters/parrot-mambo/
back to menu ↑6. DJI Mavic Pro
The DJI leader’s Mavic Pro drone is arguably one the most popular consumer drones. This unit is foldable and portable. The Mavic is nonetheless a high-quality drone capable of shooting in 4K and boasts a flight time of more than 25 minutes.
It is undoubtedly one of the smartest drones on the market, capable of flying miles away. It has several video capture modes thanks to its stabilized 3-axis camera: 4K/30 fps and full HD 60 fps.
With the Mavic Pro, DJI is reviving its folding camera drone with a new version that offers a 30-minute enhanced range, an improved 4K camera for software processing and a quieter UAV. With these updates, the Mavic Pro remains at the top of the ranking of the best drones with a camera.
As for the classic version of the Mavic Pro, the Platinum is equipped with a large number of sensors: obstacle detection, GPS, GLONASS and more. It is a reliable drone for filming in very high resolution. In fact, it is equipped with a powerful technological solution allowing it to return to its starting point, to avoid obstacles and to fly differently depending on the flight mode chosen.
It can fly indoors with ease thanks to its small frame and maneuverability. DJI Mavic Pro price – $1,014.
Features
– Assisted piloting
– 60 FPS camera
– 3-axis stabilization
– Obstacle detection sensors (useful for indoor flying)
Pros and cons
- True 4K for smooth footage
- Vision positioning
- OcuSync transmission system
- Foldable
- Poor camera controls
Check it out: https://www.dronesforsalereview.com/quadcopters/dji-mavic-pro/
back to menu ↑Indoor Drone Selection Tips
When it comes to indoor drones, you need to pick a lightweight quadricopter with obstacle detection system. This makes it safe for use in confined spaces. The majority of mini-drones are well suited for the role thanks to their small frames and less powerful engines.
Other models have an alarm that starts even if the drone is flying. The charging time of the battery is also an important criterion to consider, especially if you do not want to weigh yourself down with a spare battery.
The charging time varies between 30 minutes and two hours. Depending on the model, some batteries designed for small drones have a limited life. For small drone models, your battery will recharge with a USB cable.
Some drones can easily crash to the ground and break if they encounter an obstacle or if you fly them in windy or rainy weather. Therefore, avoid low-end models if planning to fly the unit outdoors. Poor quality quadricopters will break into a thousand pieces at the least shock. You must make sure, when buying, to choose a drone with good materials and whose assembly quality is adequate for the intended use,
Propeller protections
Safety is a key factor when selecting indoor drones, especially those equipped with propellers. These measures, according to the size of the drone, between 1.9 and 5.9 inches. They can be very sharp, especially when the drone is flying at high speed. If you tinker with your drone, you can easily hurt yourself. Similarly, if it makes contact with a person or pet during flight, the quadricopter can cause considerable harm.
To mitigate this risk, opt for drones equipped with propeller protections. In addition, for greater safety, it is important to ensure that your machine is equipped with a sensor allowing it to avoid any obstacle. Likewise, an emergency button on your radio control would be useful to redirect it if necessary or return it to the emergency starting point. Above all, respect the safety standards indicated on your device and avoid flying in parks, beaches. near people or animals.
In general, drones are noisy when flying. Their noise level is comparable to a car but the buzz they generate is unpleasant to the human ear. This can surprise, scare and cause accidents due to the reaction of shocked individuals. Therefore, it is better to check the number of decibels of your drone when buying and choose the least noisy option. However, today there is no silent drone. Because of this, you should avoid flying yours in a populated area.
Engines
Depending on a drone’s size, a quadricopter is equipped with one or more engines. To find your way when choosing your machine, you should know that manufacturers express the power of the thrust of an engine in pounds. This must be correlated with the weight of the drone. In other words, it is necessary to choose a machine having a motor whose thrust is twice its weight.
As such, if your drone weighs 1.7 pounds, the engine thrust should not be less than 3.5 pounds. As for the number of engines, in general, the bigger the drone, the more engines will be fitted on the unit. Moreover, the number of engines contributes to the stability of the drone. Thus, more engines translate to increased balance, which is valuable if it is used to capture images or videos.
However, your engines will only run at full speed if they are equipped with proper propellers. The more power the engines have, the larger the size of the propellers.
back to menu ↑Top Indoor Drone Brands
From DJI and Syma to Mavic, a number of drone brands offer quality units designed for indoor use. This gives users a wide array of decent options from which to choose. One of the good choices available to drone enthusiasts includes DJI Spark, which is a compact quadcopter with folding propellers. The device is controllable via a responsive remote controller. Spark also has some built-in flight modes. This ensures that users enjoy the best flying drone with the least amount of effort and skill.
Introduced with the DJI Spark, DJI Quickshot’s autonomous flight features expand the flight possibilities. Fly by hand or with the optional controller. The best indoor drones on the market are perfect to start learning to pilot a real quadricopter. Small, lightweight, easily transportable and almost unbreakable, a good mini-drone is a must for training in real flying conditions.
With the number of products on the drone market, there is something for everyone both in terms of price and range of features. Blade Nano QX is a popular choice that is available in two versions Bind and Fly. The drone is sold without remote control or Ready to Fly (delivered with remote control). In both cases, the other accessories like the charger and the battery are already in the pack and the settings for the first flight are pre-programmed.
