If you're in an open area. And if there is only one drone.

A couple of years ago I was in a serene canyon in Utah enjoying the peace and watching nature when three drones decided to scare away the bighorn sheep.

People don't hate drones because they hate drones. That's why many seem to like the idea of Amazon/UPS drone deliveries. They hate drones because of what the drone pilots do with them.

I don't mean to be a dick; I've been flying R/C for ~25 years and I know how difficult it can be to find fun places to fly and how frustrating when other people get in the way of that. But I also really appreciate quietness and because I live in a city it's a rare gift for me when I do get out into nature. Please have some consideration for others and don't unilaterally decide what noise level is acceptable for them unless there are already significant sources of noise present or you're really sure nobody else is around.

Last time I heard a drone fly overhead, I definitely felt anoyed. People tend to overlook the impact their toys have on other individuals

Really very loud then for the people around you in a nature environment.

This just started in the last year or so, where virtually every time there's a drone off in the distance.

I don't have great hearing either (especially in one ear), after playing some musical instruments that you hold close to one ear to play. Those things are just loud and stand out when the other noises are the wind in the trees, birds, and the rustle of small animals in the underbrush.

Fun enough for a few hours punctuated by recharging but not really something I see myself spending $500-$1000 on. I don't have kids. I can see them being fun toys. I spent many hours as a child playing with balsa wood gliders for example.

If people can spend thousands of hours playing flight simulators on the computer, surely there's a lot of replay value of doing the same thing with an RC quadcopter through a forest or around your home/neighborhood w/FPV.

Photography drone pilots will do all kinds of stupid shit that horrifies me, like fly near people, near obstacles, under trees, in crowded places, etc etc.

I blame it on the fact that a Mavic is super easy to get and requires no knowledge, whereas it took me two hours of reading just to figure out how to start my racing drone.

I havent bought one yet, but have flown a cool DJI/FPV setup around a local mountain. It was really fun

I bought a Taranis QX7 remote controller (~$100), which is amazing and I love it and you can use it with any other RC vehicle you want. I even hook up the receiver to my hardware projects so I can control them remotely.

You also need an FrSky XSR or R-XSR receiver (~$10), a Beitian BN-220 GPS (~$10), a motor and ESC (be careful, get a plane ESC, not a quad ESC, the plane one is larger and has better heat dissipation, ~$30). You need two small servos for the elevons, those cost about a dollar each. You also need a good soldering iron (the TS100 is $35 and is amazing.

For the controller, the Kakute F7 is fantastic and costs $45ish. It can fly in modes ranging from manual to completely autonomous (you get a Google Maps interface and mark where you want it to go and it just flies to those points). This may be a bit overkill, as it's the best board around, you can get a cheaper one (or maybe one that is made specifically for planes) no problem, but it's only $10 cheaper.

The FPV goggles can cost around $30 for some cheap ones, adjust those to taste.

I think that's it for components, although I should probably do a proper writeup if people are interested. There's much info out there already, but it might not be concentrated in one place. Let me know if you have any more questions!

I’ll stick to writing code.