Painless Flying Lessons — How to Fly a Drone for Beginners

Even though I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy, some gadgets seem terribly intimidating to me. That is definitely the case with drones. Up to this point, I have avoided them altogether for fear of breaking them or causing bodily injury to anyone in the vicinity. I was so happy that my first experience with flying a drone was through ENJOY. The rep, known as an expert, patiently and kindly walked me through the process of how to fly a drone step-by-step. He had me flying $2000-$3000 drones like a pro in no time!

ENJOY has a wide selection of high end tech products from wearables and tablets to Bluetooth sound systems and electronic skateboards. Prices for these are the same as at other retailers but ENJOY provides an additional service FREE. Each product you purchase is hand-delivered right to your home or office and a trained product expert provides one-on-one tech support to get you up and running. That’s right. You get your own personal gadget trainer! Suh-weet! Your expert will even call you a day ahead of time to confirm the appointment and, if you’d like, he or she can set up some basics before coming (some software updates can take up to two hours).

How to Fly a Drone for Beginners — Getting Started with ENJOY

Our expert, Daniel, was amazing! He took into consideration our previous knowledge of drones (zero but having some tech background) and answered all of our questions. I really appreciated the fact that he explained things so clearly without ever talking down to us. He also made sure that I was 100% hands-on with the drone equipment. Anytime something had to be tapped, pressed, moved, or assembled, he simply gave some instruction and had me carry it out. We had such a wonderful experience. Frans and I both agreed that he is a stellar teacher!

Daniel actually brought two drones for us to test out — the DJI Phantom 3 Professional and DJI Inspire 1. While both DJI drones have “beginner” features such as auto take-off, auto landing, home feature, the Phantom 3 is more straight forward if you’re just getting started. After instructing me on how to set up the drone and sync it with the controller, he also had me insert the battery and attach the propellors. There really isn’t much you have to do with these drones once they’re out of the box.

DJI drones work with both iOS and Android smartphones or small tablets. The app is a breeze to learn and automatically detects the type of drone you have when you connect the device cable. Different frequencies can be selected if there are a number of drones in the immediate area.

How to Fly a Drone for Beginners — DJI Phantom 3 Professional

Daniel explained the various modes, how to read and navigate the app, helped calibrate the drone, and started our flying lessons immediately after setup was complete. I was really nervous at first but it actually was much easier than I had anticipated. Right away I was able to start up the drone, fly it overhead and across a good distance, control the camera, take photos and video, and bring it home without poking an eye out. Pretty productive first try, right?!

The Phantom 3 has a “follow me” function too. That means you can drive, bike, or skateboard and the drone will follow you and capture the resulting video footage. As a tip for parents, Daniel suggested catching the drone before landing (when you get more comfortable with it) since surrounding droves of kids can get excited and this can prevent them from running too close to it.

How to Fly a Drone for Beginners — DJI Inspire 1

Surprisingly, after one 15-minute flight, I was ready to upgrade this bad boy.

Now this drone is for the professional photographer and videographer that needs equipment for production quality shots (or if you have tons of money to burn on hobbies). The Inspire 1 comes with a high quality 4K lens but interchangeable cameras (thermal, RAW, etc.) can be purchased and attached instead.

I love how the DJI Inspire 1 looks like a transformer as the landing gear is raised and lowered. This can be flown indoors but, since the propellors on this one go much faster and can actually cut you, I would be careful doing so if you’re not experienced. It comes with two controllers — a master controller to fly the drone as well as a slave controller to only operate the camera.

The picture quality from the DJI Inspire 1 is gorgeous and the drone is so easy to use. I’m no professional when it comes to photos or video but I would love one of these 🙂

Daniel also took out some time to explain the new drone regulations. As you can see in the photos, his drones are plainly labeled with an aviation number. See more information on that here. A post with nine helpful drone tips for beginners and benefits of this registration is coming soon.

If you plan on getting a drone (or any other tech product), I definitely recommend doing so through ENJOY. The item is delivered right to you and an hour time slot for training is booked for each client. It was so nice having someone familiar with the product to share the ins and outs as well as tips and tricks of using the gadget. The service is only available in the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York City area. I had a great time and can’t wait to use ENJOY again!

Would you order through ENJOY if it was available in your area?

I received a product (not the one featured here since these drones were pretty pricey) in exchange for my honest review of the ENJOY service. All opinions are my own.