Remember the time you were buying a drone for the first time? It was not an easy feat right? Having to scour the internet for what is and what not, trying to find the best value for our money and praying with all our might that we will end up with a really cool gadget.
Thank God, that was all over.
Now, we are enjoying the pleasure of piloting drones, and probably, of every model there is in the market. So if you are one of the pilots who came so far in the drone community, take a look at our list of the Best Drones We Used in 2016. We chopped the article into 3 categories, as we aim to cater to all types of drone enthusiasts in the world.
Or, if you are a newbie and are looking for a great resource to kick start your drone piloting experience, Â you found a land mine.
So head on and scroll down.
Are you into Drone Racing? Our Top Pick For The Freestyle Flying Quadcopter Category Is The Lumenier QAV250
Great things do come in small packages and this baby delivers the goods. Lumenier QAV250 is one of the most recognized racing drone today. And now with a G10 variant, you can say, breaking into FPV flying has never been this awesome. Â So why do we love it?
We simply love the Lumenier QAV250 because it is exactly a G10 fiberglass frame. We like how we can tinker  around with it. This drone model offers a lot of opportunity for custom build options.
We can add our own electronics, motors, speed controllers , HD Camera, radio controller, FPV googles and a flight board. This means, you can customize this gadget into maximum attributes and the possibilities are just endless! If done right, and all components are working together, you have a top-of-the-line drone that will stand up to the rigors of drone racing better than any pre-assembled racing drone in the market.
How cool is that?
The downside is, it is not for the beginners or an ideal option for newbies in drone racing. You would better be off with Arris X-Speed 250 Quacopter Racer. It is suitable for first time drone flyers. It requires a deep knowledge in electronics, soldering and freestyle flying to bring out the best capabilities of this drone. It is also expensive. The frame already costs $130. Plus, you have to buy all the other parts so the cost can reach up to around $539 or more.  But then again, for intermediate and advance pilots, we know that if investing more can get us to experience a whole new level of drone racing, then it is a dollar well spent.
Is Drone Aerial Photography More Of Your Thing? Take It Off With DJI Phantom 4
The DJI Phantom 4 offers all the exciting features of its older brother, the Phantom 3, but with better battery life (28 minutes!), obstacle avoidance and a newly designed camera lens.  I must say that, DJI Phantom 4 is a personal favorite. When I tried Drone Aerial Photography, it really  was my first choice. The specs are great with a reasonable price. After I took it out of the box,  I guided the drone to about 12 feet high, just hovering above the ground, getting familiar with how it works, until my six year old son took over. He taps on the piloting app we have in our iPad, and the DJI Phantom began to ascend higher into the air.  My son just taps on the screen happily, shifting the drone here and there and finally led it towards a tree! To my surprise, (I thought this is going to be the end of my Phantom 4) the drone just smoothly cruised towards it, and adjusted slightly to avoid the tree.
Oblivious to the fact that I almost fall on my knees, my son just continued tapping without knowing that he is capturing shots of the tree and the surrounding. The end result was nothing short of amazing. The picture resolution is so vivid that you can almost feel the warmth of the sun. The tree is bathed with rich colors of the setting sun, enveloping even the outstretched branches of the tree.  It was more than what I expected. So I highly recommend DJI Phantom 4 both to complete amateurs who want to start aerial photography and for professionals who aim to producing more complex and dangerous shots.
Toy Drones
We are finally at the last category, the toy drone.  If you are looking for a cool gadget to give as present, or just to experience flying a drone for the first time, then we recommend the SYMA X5C.
There is nothing really special about the X5C. Its redeeming factor is, it looks like the Phantom 4 at first glance but you will not be getting amazing aerial shots. It comes with accelerometers and gyros, so it is pretty stable with an auto flip feature which most drones have.
So what made us say X5C the best drone we used in 2016?
With a standard spec and a cheap price, the X5C surprisingly works really good. You will have a blast flying it for the first time and you will not feel bad if you lose it on a lamp post or a tree or on the roof of your house. This is probably why, the SYMA X5C got over 4200 reviews on Amazon, a number that no other drone has ever come close to.
Conclusion
There you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading our article. If you think we miss out on a really good drone and think it is worthy of mentioning, you can suggest it out in our comment section.
