One of the biggest pain points when trying to find the best drone under $200 is the battery life or flight time. In this article I wanted to give a breakdown of the longest flight time drones under $200 and look at which one gives the best bang for your buck.
My recommendation for best drone under $200 with the longest flight time is the AOVO Wolvy Pro.
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Longest flight time drone under $200
AOVO Drone : 30 minutes per battery
PROS
- 60 minutes of flight time from 2 batteries
- Brushless motor (quiet)
- 2 Batteries included for up to 1 hour of flight.
- 4k Resolution
CONS
- Signal is sensitive in interfierence
- Shakey video footage (no gimbal or electronic image stabilization)
- Average photo resolution & colour quality
The Aovo drone comes out on top of most drones under $200 with 30 mins flight time per battery. However there are a few compromises that AOVO has taken to get this drone down to an affordable price.
Camera Quality
If your planning on just using the footage for sharing on social media and personal use the camera quality might be ok but even though the camera is 4k it doesn’t have the quality of more well known & established brands like DJI.
Transmission and Range
The transmission on this drone is pretty sensitive to interference. When the AOVO looses connection with the controller it triggers to go home feature. To get more range or distance this drone needs to be flown in open spaces away from radio towers or big buildings that mess with the signal.
The gyroscope calibration needs to be set before every flight.
Smart Flying Features
One thing AOVO have done really well with this drone is including some smart features which make the drone really fun to use:
- GPS Mode : This needs to be manually turned on before taking off
- Return Home : One click on the ‘one key return’ button automatically directs the drone to fly back.
- Waypoint Flight: Create a flight path by tapping the locations in map view that you want the drone to fly to.
- Follow Me: This mode makes the drone follow the location of the controller but be careful to use this in an open area as the drone doesn’t have any obstacle avoidance.
- Surrounding: The surrounding mode makes the drone circle an object. The default flight setting is 5m but this can be changed in settings under flight radius.
- Gesture to take a photo: Use the hand gestures while in the drones field of view to take a photo or start the video recording with out using the controller.
AOVO vs TizzyToy Drone : The longest flight time drones under $200
The Aovo and TizzyToy drones both have 30 mins flight time per battery however I haven’t tested the TizzyToy drone yet. This drone has had a lot similar functionality compared to AOVO and it does has EIS (electronic image stabilisation) which is one of AOVO’s main downfalls.
Many users have reported issues with the electronic malfunctioning but I’m planning on ordering this drone soon, hopefully this one will be discounted when the Black Friday drone deals start coming out.
I’ll update this post when I’ve got some first hand feedback.
Why do drone batteries die so fast?
The range of drone flight time between different models comes down to several factors.
- Weather conditions: The harder the drone has to work to stay in the air, the shorter the flight time so you will experience faster battery depletion on windy days.
- Propellor efficiency: Shorter blades need to work harder to keep the drone in flight, drones with blades with a greater surface area generally have longer flight times.
- Drone weight: The heavier the drone the harder it has to stay in the air. This is a bit of a catch-22 because trying to fit a larger battery is adding to the overall weight of the drone. Adding other attachments like cameras will also compromise drone battery life.
How do I extend the battery life of my drone?
- Avoid overcharging the batteries.
- Store the batteries in a cool dry place and avoid temperature extremes. The optimal temperate range for battery life and best performance is 16° – 22° C (62° to 72° F). Temperatures sub 0° C or over 35° C (95° F) can do permanent damage to batteries so never leave them in the car on a hot day.
- Charge to the maximum just before use (most batteries drain while left unused).
- When you’ve just used your drone and the battery runs flat, let it cool down before recharging.
- If you’re going to store the drone long term leave the battery at 50% charge and recharge it every 6 months to prevent the battery from completely depleting.
Wrap up on the best drone under $200 with the longest flight time
The AOVO drone triples the flight time possible compared to some of the other drones that are selling in the ‘under $200’ category.
But keep in mind, while the AOVO drone offers some really impressive specs and features for the budget, drones are very toy-like at this price point.
The manufacturers make a lot of compromises to get the technology included at such a low price point. If your a beginner I would actually recommend spending a little bit more and getting a quality drone from DJI, check out the article I wrote on the 3 best drones under $300.
There is a jump up in the quality that will make learning to fly drones much easier!
