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Drone specification chart

Weight, camera, endurance and price for every aircraft this site recommends, in one table.

Researched from published specifications and verified owner reviews · updated 2026

Specification tables are useful for exactly one thing: eliminating aircraft quickly. They cannot tell you how something flies, and anyone claiming a specification sheet settles a buying decision has not bought many drones. What this table does well is show you which side of the 250 g line an aircraft sits on, roughly what its camera is, and what it costs, so you can narrow six candidates to two before reading anything.

DJI Air 3S (RC-N3)
The value centre of the table

DJI

DJI Air 3S (RC-N3)

1-inch main plus 70 mm tele, 45 min rated

Two usable focal lengths on a one-inch main sensor with a 45 minute rated pack. It is heavier than the registration threshold, which matters to a hobbyist and not at all to a Part 107 operator, and it sits at the point where the aircraft stops being the limiting factor in the footage.

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Best value under the 250 g line DJI Mini 4K Combo (2 batteries) Under $500

Under the 250 gram threshold

Everything in this group is designed to stay under the line as sold with its standard pack, which means recreational flying needs no aircraft registration. That exemption disappears the moment the flight is commercial, and it disappears the moment you fit enough accessories, so treat the weight column as the starting figure rather than the final one.

Aircraft Weight Camera and endurance Budget Buy
DJI Neo (three-battery combo) DJI 135 g 4K, palm launch, prop guards fitted Under $250 Check price
DJI Neo 2 DJI under 250 g 4K, obstacle sensing, palm launch Under $500 Check price
DJI Flip DJI under 250 g 4K/60, full guards, 31 min rated Under $500 Check price
DJI Mini 4K DJI 248 g 4K/30, 3-axis gimbal, 31 min rated Under $500 Check price
DJI Mini 4K Combo (2 batteries) DJI 248 g 4K/30, 2 batteries, 62 min total Under $500 Check price
DJI Mini 4 Pro Fly More Combo (RC 2) DJI 249 g 4K/60 HDR, omnidirectional sensing, 3 batteries Under $1,500 Check price
DJI Mini 5 Pro DJI under 250 g 1-inch CMOS, sub-250 g Under $1,000 Check price

The interesting entry in that group is the one-inch sensor under the threshold, which used to be a contradiction in terms. It is the only reason to consider paying flagship money for a light aircraft, and the argument for and against is on Mini 4 Pro versus Air 3S.

Above the threshold

Registration applies to everything here for recreational flying, and applies under Part 107 regardless. In exchange you get larger sensors, more focal lengths, longer packs and materially better behaviour in wind, because inertia and reserve thrust both scale with the airframe.

Aircraft Weight Camera and endurance Budget Buy
DJI Avata 2 Fly More Combo DJI 377 g Cinewhoop FPV, ducted props, 3 batteries Under $1,500 Check price
DJI Air 3S (RC-N3) DJI 724 g 1-inch main plus 70 mm tele, 45 min rated Under $1,500 Check price
DJI Air 3S Fly More bundle (RC 2) DJI 724 g Screen controller, extra packs, card, pad Under $2,500 Check price
DJI Mavic 4 Pro Fly More Combo DJI over 250 g Tri-camera flagship, 100 MP class main sensor $2,500+ Check price

The alternatives worth knowing about

DJI dominates the consumer market and is not always the right answer. Three cases genuinely favour something else: public-sector contracts that require a second airframe brand, inspection work that needs a gimbal capable of looking straight up, and learning to fly on something cheap enough that a crash is a lesson rather than an incident.

Aircraft Weight Why it exists on this list Budget Buy
Autel EVO Lite 6K Enterprise Plus Combo Autel over 250 g 6K camera, enterprise accessory ecosystem Under $2,500 Check price
Autel EVO II Pro RTK V3 Autel over 250 g Onboard RTK, centimetre-level positioning $2,500+ Check price
Parrot ANAFI Parrot 320 g 4K HDR, 180 degree vertical gimbal Under $1,000 Check price
Holy Stone HS175G Holy Stone 249 g 4K EIS, GPS return to home, 2 batteries Under $250 Check price
Potensic ATOM SE Potensic 245 g 4K EIS, brushless, 62 min across 2 packs Under $500 Check price
Ruko F11PRO 2 (with R111S Remote ID module) Ruko over 250 g 4K/30 video, 2 batteries, case included Under $500 Check price

The full argument about when to choose outside the dominant ecosystem is on Autel versus DJI, and the budget end is ranked on best beginner drones on a budget.

How to read the columns

Weight is the aircraft as sold. Add roughly 25 to 35 g for Mini-class propeller guards, a few grams per filter, 8 to 20 g for a strobe and 40 to 60 g for an extended pack. Any of those can move an aircraft across the threshold, and the weight calculator adds them up properly.

Rated endurance is a hover figure. Measured in still air at a constant speed with no reserve. Real flights involve wind, movement, climbs and a landing margin, and the honest planning number is well below the rated one. Work it out on the flight time calculator.

Sensor description is not sensor performance. A one-inch sensor buys dynamic range and shadow detail rather than resolution, and the benefit appears in a grade rather than on a phone. The reasoning is on log versus normal colour profile.

Budget bands, not prices. Each band comes from the listing price we recorded when this page was written. Aircraft pricing swings by hundreds of dollars around successor announcements and seasonal promotions, so use these to rank options rather than to budget.

What the table cannot tell you

It cannot tell you how an aircraft feels, and we do not fly review units so we will not invent it. It cannot tell you about firmware behaviour, which changes and is the most common source of real-world frustration. And it cannot tell you which aircraft you will actually take out of the house, which is decided by size and setup time far more than by specification.

The two questions the table genuinely settles are whether an aircraft crosses the 250 g line and roughly what class of camera it carries. Those two answers eliminate most of the field, and everything after that belongs to the head-to-head comparisons and the complete builds, where the aircraft is priced alongside everything else you need to fly it.

Specifications here are taken from published manufacturer documentation and prices from live retail listings at the time of writing. This page is not based on hands-on testing, and nothing on it is legal advice. The takeoff weight of your specific configuration is your responsibility to confirm, and the current rules live at faa.gov/uas.

Questions people ask

+ Which DJI drones stay under 250 grams?

The Neo, Neo 2, Flip, Mini 4K and Mini 4 Pro families are all designed to sit under the 250 g takeoff threshold, and the Mini 5 Pro manages it with a one-inch sensor. The figure applies to the aircraft as sold with its standard battery. Fitting propeller guards, an extended pack, filters or a strobe can push any of them over, and takeoff weight is measured with everything attached.

+ What is the difference between a base kit and a Fly More combo?

A combo adds spare batteries, a charging hub, spare propellers and usually a bag, and on several aircraft it also upgrades the controller to one with a built-in screen. The price difference is frequently less than buying the same batteries separately, which is why the combo is the cheaper route to two or three packs on most models. Price both on the day, because the gap moves.

+ Are the rated flight times realistic?

No, and that is not a criticism. A rated figure is measured hovering in still air at a constant speed with no reserve and no wind, which is the only way to make numbers comparable between aircraft. Plan on meaningfully less in practice, and less again in wind or cold. The flight time calculator subtracts the real-world factors and leaves a landing reserve in.

+ Is a one-inch sensor worth the extra money?

It depends entirely on what happens to the footage. A larger sensor buys dynamic range and shadow detail, which matter when footage is graded and shown on a large screen and matter far less on a phone. If your output is social clips, a small sensor is genuinely fine. If a client is paying for the image, the larger sensor is the argument.

+ Should I buy the newest model?

Usually not immediately. Aircraft prices drop hard once a successor is announced, and the previous generation is normally the better value for a year afterwards while remaining perfectly capable. The exception is when a genuinely new capability arrives, such as a one-inch sensor appearing under the 250 g line, which changes what is possible rather than improving it incrementally.

+ Why are non-DJI aircraft included?

Because DJI is not always the right answer. Some public-sector work requires a second airframe brand outright, one aircraft on this page has a gimbal that tilts fully upward which no folding DJI does, and at the bottom of the market GPS aircraft from other brands are a defensible way to learn without spending much.