The holiday season is an excellent time to buy new drones or drone-related merchandise for that special person in your life who is really into drones.
This can be quite an intimidating task considering how much the market for drone products has grown in the last couple of years.
Check out our top 10 list of the best holiday gifts for drone pilots with options for all budgets.
Key Takeaways
- There are plenty of options for good drone-related holiday gifts. From Christmas tree ornaments to drone flight courses and, of course, drones.
- Drone gifts do not have to be expensive – you can get very useful accessories for less than $30.
Drone Tree Ornaments
If you’re not worried about getting too cheesy and only have around $10 to $20 spare, then you can buy one from a wide assortment of tree ornaments that are designed specifically for the drone enthusiast.
There is a wide range of designs out there – from ornaments in the shape of a drone to more standard-shaped ornaments adorned with drone imagery.
Touchscreen Gloves
Have you ever struggled to use a touchscreen during winter? A drone pilot has to deal with that for hours at a time, so a pair of warm touchscreen gloves makes for a really thoughtful holiday gift for this holiday.
Again, there is a wide range of different sizes and colors out there, so you should be able to get these gloves from $10 to $20.
Hi-Vis Vest for Drone Pilots
Drone pilots often get bothered by bystanders when they are out flying their drones. This is normal but can get quite bothersome. Ironically, wearing a high-vis vest helps drone pilots because it gives them the appearance of doing something official.
A high-vis vest emblazoned with the words “FAA-Certified Drone Pilot” is another inexpensive yet thoughtful gift to give to a drone pilot you know. Make sure the person you are giving it to is FAA-certified, though. Otherwise, a standard high-vis vest with lots of pockets is still very useful to any drone pilot.
Drone Landing Pad
A drone landing pad is one of the most inexpensive but essential accessories for any drone pilot. Not only does it provide a highly visible target for landing, but it protects the drone from uneven surface features such as tall grass or loose dirt or sand.
This specific drone landing pad by FPVtosky comes with reflective landing strips, making them very useful when flying at night. Now that drone flight at night is becoming more common, then an appropriate landing pad will make a wonderful gift.
There are also standard landing pads available that do not have reflective strips and are also cheaper. Drone landing pads generally cost between $10 to $30.
DJI Tello
The DJI Tello is currently the cheapest drone that you can get that comes from the DJI brand. It is quite an old model, so it’s far from the latest drones that have been released in the last few years. However, it’s still a very good entry-level drone that is easy to pick up and fun to fly around.
The DJI Tello is an excellent gift idea for young learners, particularly those who are interested in learning about coding or programming. Using a simple programming app, the drone can be made to follow automated commands and movements.
Extra SD Cards
A drone pilot can never have too many SD cards, especially those who take lots of photos and videos.
Make sure to get one that is fairly heavy-duty, as SD cards used by drone pilots can go through quite a bit of punishment.
SD cards are available in a range of sizes, so you can get one that fits your budget. A typical 128 MB SD card should cost only about $20 to $30, but a 1 TB SD card can cost around $150 to $200.
Drone Photo and Video Masterclass
Do you know someone who already owns a drone but needs to work on their aerial photo and video skills? Our Drone Photo and Video Masterclass would make an excellent gift for this holiday.
The course consists of 11 hours of video tutorials, covering everything from the basics of how cameras work to composing images and setting proper exposure values.
There is also a separate course for videography covering topics such as gimbals, in-camera stabilization, and color profiles. The course has no expiration date – the one-time fee pays for lifetime access.
Commercial Drone Pilot Bundle
Most people who own a drone now want to start earning money from it. This is easier said than done, so give that special drone pilot a leg up over the competition with this Commercial Drone Pilot Bundle.
This bundle contains two excellent courses – the Part 107 Commercial Drone License Course and Drone Business Made Easy.
The first course provides a detailed overview of what a drone pilot needs to know to operate under a Part 107 commercial drone license.
It also makes for a good review course in preparation for the certification test. The second course focuses more on how to run a drone business successfully.
This is one of the best and most popular courses by Pilot Institute, so it’s a foolproof gift for anyone who is even mildly interested in drones.
DJI Mini 3
The DJI Mini 3 is not the latest or best DJI drone, but it is a very good drone that you can get for around $500 to $600.
As the name implies, the Mini 3 is an ultra-portable and lightweight drone that is just below the weight requirement for registration if the drone will just be used for fun.
The Mini 3 comes with the usual high build quality and ease of use that is expected of DJI drones. It has excellent flight stability and responsiveness and offers several excellent camera and flight modes.
It is the perfect drone for beginners but is also sophisticated enough to entertain more experienced users.
DJI Avata
The DJI Avata bundle that comes with the drone, controller, and FPV goggles is quite expensive at around $1200, but it’s one of the more unique drones that you can give as a gift.
This is a drone that is designed to be specifically operated in FPV mode using the included goggles. More so, the included controller is a motion controller, allowing you to control the drone using just the movements of your hand.
FPV drone flight is immersive, dynamic, and very exhilarating. The goggles output smooth 4K video, keeping up with the rapid and agile movement of the drone.
This is a completely different way to experience drone flight and one that anyone would be absolutely chuffed to receive as a gift.
Conclusion
If your family or close friend is highly passionate about drones, then it should not be very hard to find good gifts for them. What we have listed above are just ten very good ideas, but they are also good starting points for other drones, drone accessories, and other drone-related trinkets.
As we have shown here, drone gifts do not need to be expensive. You can get some really good ones for $30 or less. Of course, no one is going to complain about receiving a $1000 brand-new drone!
