Drone / UAVHobby

Scoring a Drone’s Flight Time-to-Cost

When a consumer begins their journey of researching drones it can be a daunting and overwhelming experience. The cost of drones vary by thousands of dollars and the specifications are all over the board.

One of the difficult hurdles new consumers must overcome when researching drones is understanding how any one particular drone compares to another. When looking at a single drone it is difficult to understand the value of the data in the technical specifications. For example: a consumer may research DJI’s Mavic Air and learn that this particular done has a flight time of 21 minutes, a horizontal speed of 19 meters per second and a list price of ~$800 USD. Without continued research into other drones it is impossible to understand if these specifications are decent given the other drones in the market to choose from.

Understanding drone goals

For consumers looking to take the plunge into purchasing their own drone there are many factors to consider. A good exercise for these consumers to practice is to identify what they want to do with their drone.  Having drone goals will help narrow down the vast field of available drones. Some consumers may have the goal of taking amazing pictures and videos. For these consumers the requirement is a particular level of camera quality and video resolution support.  Perhaps drone speed is important and the ability to keep up with fast moving objects. Two other such factors that many new drone enthusiasts prioritize when making their first purchase is the cost of the drone and drone flight time.      

Once the goal has been identified the task still remains to understand the field of drones and how they compare against each other in the light of these new requirements.  This is where the flight time-to-cost score can paint clearer picture.

Applying a comparative score to flight time and cost

DroneVersus has come up with a scoring process that factors in data from the technical specifications provided by the manufacturers. The scoring process calculates a score based on price, flight time and other factors. The result is a number that can be compared across all available drones.   

At the time of this writing of the 28 drones listed on DroneVersus the Yuneec Mantis Q has the highest score of 6.03. The Yuneec Mantis Q has a flight time of 33 minutes and sports a listing price of $499.  Along with other factors considered the Mantis Q is currently the only drone scoring above a six. For comparison the DJI Mavic Air mentioned earlier has a Flight Time-to-cost score of 2.62.

With these comparisons DroneVersus aims to equip consumers with information to help them find the right drone.

Requirement first research

This Flight Time-to-Cost comparison is an example of one of the comparisons provided by DroneVersus that aims to put the requirement first in drone research.   If someone is in the market to purchase a drone and has a pretty good idea of what they want to do with it then these tools will help narrow down the selection. The Flight Time-to-Cost is a valuable resource for discovering and filtering drones with emphasis on these specific parameters.   

Other requirement research tools

In addition to the Flight Time-to-Cost comparison score DroneVersus also provides:

  1. Speed-to-Cost comparison
  2. Video resolution and frame rate support
  3. Drones by effective megapixels
  4. Drones by field of view (FOV)
  5. And more

About DroneVersus

DroneVersus is a brand new website providing comparative tools for drone research.   The goal is to put requirements first in drone research and help consumers narrow in on the drones that fit their needs.  

Learn More:  https://droneversus.com/flight-time-to-cost

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