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The Ten Best Drones Under 100 – High Performance

Introduction

The best drones under 100 (but over 50) are used by beginners who are just learning how to operate the quadcopter. When looking for this type of drone, always consider getting a machine that’s easy to fly and sturdy enough to withstand crashes without breaking down.

It’s good to have an idea of what you really want in these inexpensive drones before getting any of them for yourself, particularly considering that many people make impulse purchases of these drones over 50 due to their affordability and end up regretting later. Additionally, ensure that your device is equipped with all the necessary functions for easy flying, such as a dedicated remote control and updated operating software. Other factors to consider when buying the best drones under 100 (over 50) include the following.

Directions Covered and Headless Mode

While most drones over 50 have the capacity to turn, which is also known as yawing, also check that your machine can bank sideways and has the third axis of flight that allows it to go upwards and downwards. Such a drone will allow you to learn the basics of flight with ease, which include the yaw, bank and pitching that involves forward and backward movement.

By learning these control modules, you’ll be able to avoid unnecessary crashes and also get yourself out of tricky situations such as when your drone enters into a tree. A cheap drone that can cover all directions of the compass is ideal for beginner flight practice.

Likewise, ensure that your device is equipped with headless mode, which is a cheater mode that allows you to treat any direction that the drone goes as forward so that you don’t have to worry about how to flip it around safely and control it back to your location after completing a flight. With headless mode, all you need to do is just push the joystick in the corresponding direction that you want the device to travel.

Availability of Spares

Go for a model which has easy-to-find spare parts even from your local store. It’s highly recommended that you should have at least an extra pair of propellers, apart from the ones already on your drone, including the appropriate tools needed to replace them when they accidentally break down. Furthermore, there should be sufficient protectors available for your quadcopter, so as to prevent damage both to the device and injury to people or property damage in case of any clumsy flights or landings.

Similarly, having a few extra batteries won’t hurt, especially if you want to use the drone for extended periods of time at a go. Most drones over 50 have batteries that are available in six pack sets, with a charger also found within the set. These batteries can give you an average flight time of between 5 to 10 minutes before recharging, or replacing them if you don’t have a power source near you. Also note that battery time is usually affected by blade protectors, as well as when there’s a camera attached to the machine.

Size and Weight of the Drone

The overall size and weight of your quadcopter will determine whether it can be flown in certain areas or not. Typically, drones under 100 that weigh less than 0.55lbs with all their different attachments or payload can be taken to the air in most open areas within the US, apart from airports and buildings if you don’t have a license.

On the other hand, if your quadcopter weighs more than 0.55lbs you may have to register it with FAA and obtain an aircraft identification number as well, but you don’t necessarily need a license so long as you follow the set flight rules.

Nevertheless, no matter the dimensions of your craft it’s not permissible for hobbyist drone users to fly their machines over 400ft above the ground, plus you’re required to always maintain a clear line-of-sight with the machine at all times. Furthermore, it’s your duty to carefully inspect the device before each flight session to ensure that it’s airworthy so as to avoid unnecessary accidents. Generally, the best drones under 100 (over 50) weigh less than 0.55lbs, but it’s your duty to ensure that you fly responsibly.

Control Software

Different brands of drones over 50 have their own unique software operating systems. When doing your shopping, you may encounter acronyms such as ATTI, OPTI, and others that point to the flight mode within the machine.

While each mode is unique and important to understand, most of them still provide the basic function of flight-stabilization and assistance tool. For instance, OPTI typically features an Optiflow sensor within the drone, which is a downward facing sensor capable of identifying patterns on the ground and helping the machine to maintain a straight position.

On the other hand, ATTI is a partially different tool, whereby the quadcopter uses other techniques and not necessarily external sensors to firmly hold the drone in correct altitude and orientation. ATTI allows the drone to hover in place, as well as to gently drift around while being pushed by the wind. Some drones also have GPS which offers great precision and coordination during flight.

Best Drones Under 100 Comparison

Name
Camera
Range
Flight Time
Rating
Price
1.

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Holy Stone HS200
2 MP
150 m
8 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
2.

No products found.

Holy Stone F181
2 MP
75 m
7 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
3.

No products found.

Holy Stone HS200
2 MP
100 m
8 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
4.

No products found.

DBPower MJX X400W
2 MP
100 m
9 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
5.

No products found.

Syma X5C-1 Explorers
2 MP
50 m
8 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
6.

No products found.

UDI 818A HD
1 MP
80 m
9 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
7.

No products found.

Syma X8C Venture
2 MP
100 m
11 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
8.

No products found.

Blade Nano QX
N
20 m
7 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
9.

No products found.

Syma X5UW
1 MP
80 m
9 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review
10.

No products found.

Hubsan X4 H107D
0.3 MP
100 m
7 min
No products found.

No products found./5
No products found.
No products found.
Read Review

No products found.

Best Drones Under 100 Reviews

1. Holy Stone HS200 Review

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  • Return home function
  • Four speed levels
  • Altitude hold

  • Short flight time
  • Fixed camera view
  • Long battery charge time

2 MP Camera

8 min Flight Time

1 hour Charge

150 m Range

The Holy Stone HS200 is a perfect fit for those looking for a ready to fly, beginner friendly drone. This drone features a 2 MP camera along with advanced features such as return to home, altitude hold, and one button take offs and landings. This amazing drone does not sacrifice quality and enjoyment for a reasonable price.

The included 3.7V 650 mAh battery takes about an hour to charge, and will give you up to 9 minutes of flying time. You can extend your flying enjoyment time with the purchase of extra batteries. The controller will give you up to 120m of control range, but limited to 50m when the FPV mode is active. This still allows you to take videos at fairly moderate distances.

The 2 megapixel 720p camera allows you to stream, and record videos and images at a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The controller does not come with a screen, so you will need to use your smartphone to receive the FPV video feed. You can also use your smartphone alone to directly control the HS200.

This quadcopter has four available speed modes, so it will be suitable for all levels of flying experience. This drone has amazing features for an affordable price. Along with its features, this a very sleek looking drone with red body accented by dark black propellers. This is a great drone if you are looking to get into FPV drone flying, and capturing decent aerial photos and videos.

Want to know more about the Holy Stone HS200 ?
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2. Holy Stone F181 Review

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  • Detachable camera
  • Attractive design
  • Fly indoors and outdoors

  • Slow yaw rate
  • Short flight time
  • No Wifi FPV

2 MP Camera

7 min Flight Time

90 min Charge

75 m Range

The Holy Stone F181 deserves to be on the list of best drones for under 100 due to its extra features that are commonly not found on an inexpensive drone. It also has several advanced features that will appeal to more experienced fliers.

You will be pleased to know that you also get an extra battery with this quadcopter. It does take about 90 minutes to charge a battery, so the extra battery is a nice touch.

The controller has an LCD screen that displays important information such as battery life, range, and trim adjustments. The acceleration power is also displayed in percentage form. The controller also has a return to home button. Press this and the drone flies back to you. This is not a feature commonly found on a drone at this price point. The 2MP camera on the F181 is of 720p resolution and can take images at a 1280 x 720 resolution.

There are four flight modes, that can be adjusted on the fly. As you increase the difficulty, the sensitivity response of the drone increases. This gives you faster response rate and higher drone agility. There is a fun flip mode that allows amazing aerial acrobatics. This drone also has an altitude hold mode.

The images taken by these drones are not exactly top notch. There will be some jitter in the videos, and the images could be better. If you are looking for a photo quality drone, you should get something better. But this will do for beginners.

Want to know more about the Holy Stone F181 ?
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3. Holy Stone HS200 Review

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  • Great maneuverability
  • Four control modes
  • FPV flight mode

  • Not good in winds
  • Weak prop guards
  • FPV has lag

2 MP Camera

8 min Flight Time

1 hour Charge

100 m Range

The Holy Stone HS200 is the perfect drone to get started with flying with FPV functionality. This drone comes with many advanced features such as headless mode, and a life wifi camera feed. Headless mode is a good feature for those starting out flying drones. There is also a realtime FPV transmission that allows the camera view to be viewed on your smartphone. The drone creates its own wifi link, so you do not need a separate communications channel.

Along with its robust flight features, this is a very slick looking drone. The main body resembles a cockpit with distinct nose and tail features. This drone also has bold LED lights which lets you distinguish the front and back while flying at night.

The return to home feature can be activated at a press of a button. If you lose sight of your drone, activating this feature will make the drone fly back to you on a straight path. Just make sure there isn’t a big tree between you and your drone when you activate this feature.

The drone does take decent quality aerial videos and photos. While these are not exceptional, the quality is good given the low price of the quadcopter. The FPV stream uses wifi which has a short range, sometimes cuts out, and has noticeable lag.

Finally, the 6 axis stabilized flight control provides for very stable and smooth flight. You won’t be disappointed all of the features available on this low-cost drone.

Want to know more about the Holy Stone HS200 ?
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4. DBPower MJX X400W Review

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  • VR headset compatible
  • Smooth stable flight
  • Realtime FPV Video

  • FPV lags slightly
  • No camera gimbal
  • Low flying time

2 MP Camera

9 min Flight Time

2 hour Charge

100 m Range

The MJX X400W is a compact drone that has a good build quality and toughness due to its flexible plastic body. The prop guards will help to avoid any damage to the drone or your possessions. The red accents on the white body make for an elegant design.

This drone handles well when flying. The climb and turning rates are very good, and provides enough performance to satisfy even experience fliers. Even in windy conditions, the X400W shows good stability thanks to its 6 axis gyros. It will easily maintain hover with lateral winds.

The FPV stream is transmitted over Wifi, and is viewed on your smartphone using an installed app. The camera can be activated using the app to record photos and videos. The HD 720p camera has decent quality, and provides sharp images and videos. However, the main purpose of the camera is not for taking pictures, but to provide a FPV live stream. This drone is also compatible with a 3D VR headset to give you a truly immersive FPV flying experience.

The included 3.7V 750 mAh battery takes about 2 hours to charge, and will give you up to 9 minutes of flying time, depending on how aggressively you fly. If you are using the FPV function, this flight time will reduce.

The FPV function places this drone on our list of best drones for under 100. This drone is intended for someone who is looking to get into FPV flying, but does not want to spend too much.

Want to know more about the DBPower MJX X400W ?
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5. Syma X5C-1 Explorers Review

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  • Simple to fly
  • Good value
  • Decent camera

  • No FPV Stream
  • Low flight time
  • Slightly bluky

2 MP Camera

8 min Flight Time

1 hour Charge

50 m Range

The Syma X5C-1 is a great choice for new drone pilots, and is one of the best drones under 100 dollars that you can buy. It features a highly stable flight profile, with good agility and full range of motion. This drone is of a good quality build, and is very fun to fly.

Along with its great flight performance, you will find that this drone is also quieter than most. The enclosed bottom battery bay gives the X5C-1 a sleek look, with no ugly battery wire sticking out.

The X5C-1 also comes with an extra set of propellors, a 500 mAh 3.7V battery with a USB charger, screwdriver, transmitter, micro SD card reader, a 4GB SD card, and a manual.

You can expect to get about 8 minutes of flying. However, using the prop guards, and turning the camera on will drop the flight time to about 5 minutes.

This drone comes with the typical high and low speed modes. In the lower speed setting, the drone is easier to control and is perfect for beginners who are firs learning how to fly. For more experience fliers who want to go faster, simply switch in to the high mode. You can also do flips at the push of a button.

This drone comes equipped with a 2 megapixel camera that can take 720p videos. The camera does take decent photos and videos given its low price. This drone makes a great trainer that you can crash repeatedly without worry of damaging the quadcopter.

Want to know more about the Syma X5C-1 Explorers ?
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6. UDI 818A HD Review

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  • Highly durable
  • Extra battery
  • Flips and rolls

  • Lacks advanced features
  • Low wind tolerance
  • Fixed camera view

1 MP Camera

9 min Flight Time

1 hour Charge

80 m Range

This drone feels a bit flimsy when you hold it, but don’t let that fool you. The body and integrated prop guards are made from thin plastic, which helps to reduce weight, and the flexibility allows the frame to absorb impacts.

The widely space propellers provides for enhanced flight stability making this drone easy to fly. This drone has a low speed mode for beginners, and a high mode for more experienced pilots.

This drone is based on a design that is a few years old, so it does not have an altitude hold function. However, it does feature a headless mode and a one-key return to pilot function. It can also perform flips at a push of a button, which is fun to watch and perform. To help with orientation with night flying, this drone has blue LEDs at the front, and red LEDs at the back.

This drone comes with an extra battery, and you can get about 9 minutes of flying time on one battery charge.

The included HD 720p camera on this drone provides images and videos at 1280 x 720 resolution. The image quality is average. There is no live video feed for FPV, so the images and video are stored on the SD card.

This drone does not have all the latest features found on more current drone designs, but provides amazing value. This drone is one of the most durable, and is well suited for beginners.

Want to know more about the UDI 818A HD ?
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7. Syma X8C Venture Review

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  • Stable flight dynamics
  • GoPro camera compatible
  • Good build quality

  • Low image quality
  • Slow battery charge
  • NO FPV feed

2 MP Camera

11 min Flight Time

90 min Charge

100 m Range

The Syma X8C has good performance for an affordable price. What makes this drone affordable is its use of brushed motors, fixed camera gimbal, and no additional advanced features. Despite the lack of features, the Syma X8C is a well-built drone.

The Syma X8C is essentially a larger version of the Syma X5C with the addition of a headless mode. Both drones have the same flight performance and responsiveness. The X8C is easy to fly, hovers well, and responds to controller commands with no lag.

The larger size and weight of the X8C makes it more robust to wind gusts. This stability makes the X8C a good choice for aerial photography. The powerful coreless motors provide enough thrust to allow the possibility of a GoPro camera. However, be aware that you are likely to shorten the motors life due to the extra load.

The headless mode is a great feature for drone beginners. This allows you to fly the drone without worrying about which way it is facing. When the drone is flown to a distance away, you may lose knowledge of its orientation. Activating headless mode will allow you to bring the drone back to you.

Even though this drone does not have a camera gimbal, or camera vibration dampening, the X8C can take reasonable quality images and videos. The camera is detachable if you are not planning to take images.
The Syma X8C is a good choice for those looking for a toy-grade quadcopter that can also work as an aerial photography platform.

Want to know more about the Syma X8C Venture ?
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8. Blade Nano QX Review

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  • Responsive flight
  • Simple drone controls
  • Light and agile

  • Short control range
  • No camera
  • Not good in winds

None

7 min Flight Time

40 min Charge

20 m Range

The design of the Blade Nano QX is very striking. Its black body, with accents and colored propellers give it a very sporty look. The prop guards have a minimal design, but are very effective.

This drone is highly agile, but also a SAFE technology that reduces control input speeds and will automatically hover the quad. The stability mode makes use of SAFE, while agility mode turns this off and gives you a more dynamic and difficult flying experience. This makes the QX perfect for new drone pilots.

You can expect a flight time of 7 minutes per battery charge. It takes about 40 minutes to charge a battery, so having extra batteries are needed to increase your flight time. This drone is mainly designed to be flown indoors. Flying in the dark is also possible as there are LED lights on the front and back.

Due to the small size of this drone, it does not handle well in windy conditions. Its best flown indoors. However, you can fly it outside in calm conditions. There is no camera on this drone, and it does not support mounting a camera to its body.

The Blade Nano QX is one of the best drones under 100 available without a camera. Not only is it fun to fly, but it is very responsive. The SAFE flying technology also provides for smooth and stable flight.

Want to know more about the Blade Nano QX ?
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9. Syma X5UW Review

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  • Stylish design
  • Altitude hold
  • Waypoint navigation

  • Proprietary battery
  • Slow FPV rate
  • Low flight time

1 MP Camera

9 min Flight Time

90 min Charge

80 m Range

The X5UW drone features a new design as compared to previous Syma X5 models. The transmitter has also been redesigned. The candy red color gives it a more refined look. The shorter landing legs reduce the chance of the drone tipping over upon landing.

This drone also features a proprietary battery design which eliminates the need for a battery bay door, and ugly connector wires. This removes the possibility of damaging the battery wire while stuffing them into the battery bay before closing the door. Now you just need to slide in the battery, and click it into place.

The prop guards have also been redesigned. On this drone, there is a slot-in design that eliminates the need for tiny screws. The camera has a twist and lock design that hides the camera wire within the locking mechanism.

The Syma X5UW has the typical low and high modes. It also features headless mode, one button takeoff and landing, and altitude hold. This drone also has waypoint navigation, and accelerometer control.

The waypoint navigation is not as refined as GPS navigation available in more advanced drones. You use the Syma GO app to layout a path for the drone to follow. This is only a XY planar route, leaving the altitude control available to the pilot.

With the accelerometer control, you use your smartphone as the controller. Moving your phone by turning it and tilting will cause the drone to respond.

The new camera and body design justify the X5UW position on my best drones under 100 list.

Want to know more about the Syma X5UW ?
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10. Hubsan X4 H107D Review

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  • Affordable FPV drone
  • Highly maneuverable
  • Fun to fly

  • Short flight time
  • Low quality camera
  • No advanced features

0.3 MP Camera

7 min Flight Time

60 min Charge

100 m Range

This quadcopter is a very beginner friendly and reasonably priced FPV drone. You get to enter the world of FPV quadcopter without having to break the bank.

This drone has a unique design that separates it from other drones. There are two LED lights at the front and the back as well as the front and rear props being different colors. This helps to keep track of the orientation of the drone when you are flying, and lets you fly the drone at night.

This is a very small drone in terms of size and mass. Its best flown in doors, but can be taken outside when the winds are very low. Though it is small, it is highly maneuverable and can be flown aggressively. It is also robust to crashing, but you may have to replace a propeller occasionally. Using the prop guards only increases its durability.

The controller comes with a small LCD viewing screen built in that to provide the FPV stream. This eliminates the need to have to mount your smartphone to the controller. The camera does not deliver HD quality videos and images, but does decent job.

The control range is very good up to 100m. It doesn’t come with a return to home mode, so be sure not to fly out too far. It does come with altitude hold, which is unique for such a small drone.

This drone is not the fastest micro drone available, but makes up for this with its good flight stability. This is a great drone for starting out in FPV flying.

Want to know more about the Hubsan X4 H107D ?
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Best Drones Under 100 Infographics

Best Drones Under 100 Summary

4.5

Summary

In most cases, drones over 50 are used by newbie flyers who want to know how to control the machine. If you’re such a user, they can help you learn the basics of flight so that in case you want to get a bigger model later on you’ll be in a much better position.

There are various factors you should take note of when shopping for these particular machines. First, you need to check the control operating system to ensure that it’s easy and manageable to use. Basically, there are 3 main control functions you can choose from which include OPTI, ATTI, and GPS, though they all help in flight-stabilization and assistance they tend to do it in slightly different ways.

Additionally, ensure that you pick a drone that’s in the correct weight-class for hobbyist users, which is usually below 0.55lbs. Similarly, your best drone under should have spare parts readily available so that in case of an accident you can easily replace them.

Happy flying with one of these best drones under 100.

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