If you are considering purchasing an expensive drone or you just want to pilot one of the high ticket models then maybe you should try a drone rental first. Lets face it $1,000+ is a substantial investment to make on a drone when you have little if any experience with the drone. The features of expensive drones can easily pique your interest though so why not do some research in your personal time. The best way to do this may be to rent rather than buy a drone.
Yes, renting a drone is a great solution if you want to get a feel for drone piloting some models. The average price of renting a drone is about $200, but that’s for several days or even weeks. Compare that to buying, as owning a quality drone may start at $200 and cost as much as $1,000 or more.
In this article, you’ll learn all aspects of renting a drone. From the reasons to do it, real price examples, and how long you can expect to keep your drone, we’ll talk about it in this article. Keep reading, as you won’t want to miss it.
Why Consider Drone Rental?
First, let’s tackle a question you may have. Why even rent a drone in the first place? Isn’t it easier and cheaper to go out and buy one instead?
Not really. The drones that cost $200 are not top-of-the-line models, which means they have less features and are made of lower quality parts which make them more prone to breaking. By paying to rent a drone, you get to try pricier drone models without paying $1,000, $2,000, or more.
Here are some other great reasons to rent a drone today.
It’s a Good Way to Figure out if You Truly Should Make the Expensive Purchase
This is one of those hobbies where you may like flying one particular drone over another drone. You may even learn you don’t enjoy piloting drones enough to warrant spending (or saving to make purchase) and decide to just pilot your current drone. Even if you find you don’t enjoy drone piloting that’s ok, too since you have little invested by renting.
Renting a drone is a low-cost way to determine if you truly enjoy this recreation enough to invest more money. If you do, then great! You can look into the costs of buying a drone of your very own.
Instead of dropping several thousand dollars on a hobby you are not as fond of as you though, you pay a fraction of that to learn the same thing.
You Get a Feel for What Flying a Drone Is Really Like
Lets face it, no one will feel comfortable letting you fly their drones because of your experience level may be limited with their model. That’s their right, especially if they bought a costly drone. You may turn to YouTube for video tutorials, but that still doesn’t give you the hands on you may want. You only get that by flying in real life.
Commandeering a drone isn’t easy. The learning curve, while not steep, does take some time to master and even then a slight miscue can be costly. You might not be very good at flying and your lack of interest means you don’t want to take things far. This too is alright. Once again, at least you knew before shelling out a lot of money.
You Can Travel With a Drone Stress Free
Let’s say you did enjoy drone piloting and you even went out and bought a drone shortly after your rental period ended. If you travel and want to capture timeless photos and memories with your drone, you may worry about flying with such an expensive piece of technology.
Indeed, there are no guarantees you’d even be allowed to board a plane with a drone in your luggage. Even if you could, the drone could end up damaged and even broken from a number of accidents that can occur before, during or after flight.
Instead of dealing with all those headaches, you can rent a drone on your travels. Before you leave, you’d return the drone and then fly back home to your own UAV or rent the drone after you arrive at your destination and return it before your flight home.
Get daily lessons that start with how to choose a drone.
Where Can You Rent Drones?
There’s no shortage of drone rental options. Some places are centralized to the United States, others to the United Kingdom, and more still to other parts of the world. You can more than likely find drone rentals in your neighborhood or surrounding cities and towns.
If you’re looking for the best rental options, we took all the guesswork out of the process. Here’s a list to get you started.
Fat Llama
Fat Llama is not merely a drone rental site, but a platform for renting, as they say “almost anything.” Just type “drones” into the search bar and then check out the results. If you’re looking for drones in a specific state or town, you can even pin your location on Fat Llama’s map. Other search criteria include category and dates for rentals.
The cool thing about Fat Llama is their services extend to the UK as well as the US.
LensRentals.com
Despite the name, LensRentals.com does offer drone rentals among its cameras and photography services. After all, drones can take pictures, so they’re right at home on this highly-rated site.
The search bar is yet again your friend here. Once you type “drone” or “UAV,” you’ll see the multitude of drones available. These are almost exclusively DJI drones, one of the best brands in the world of UAVs. You can also pick up accessories to take your photography and videography to the next level.
Blue Skies Drone Rental
We also must recommend Blue Skies Drone Rental. Unlike the other two sites we’ve covered, this is one that’s made only for drones. You can find drones, drone bundles, sensors, cameras, and accessories to use temporarily. All sorts of UAV types are available, too, among them fixed-wing, octocopters, quadcopters, mini drones, and even aquatics.
Should you love the drone you try, Blue Skies even lets you buy new and used UAVs.
How Long Can You Rent a Drone?
When you rent your drone, how long will you have to learn and explore with it? That will depend on where you rent from.
For instance, Fat Llama does rentals by the day or on a two-day basis whereas Blue Skies Drone Rental only allows preexisting customers to rent for 24-hour or 48-hour periods. First-time customers like yourself would need to rent the drone for no less than three days.
What if you decided you wanted to use a rented drone for a prolonged period, such as a month? Blue Skies does let you do it, but you’d need a custom quote, so expect it to be quite expensive. Fat Llama tells you monthly prices upfront for some rentals.
We would recommend renting a drone for at least a week, or five days if that’s the least you can do. This will give you time to learn the drone without feeling rushed.
How Much Does Drone Rental Cost?
In the intro, we said it may cost you $200 to rent a drone. That’s an average and not guaranteed. Here are the factors that will influence price:
• Where you rent your drone from
• The type of drone you’re renting
• The brand of the drone you’re renting
• How long you rent for
• If you rent the drone alone or add accessories
Keeping the above in mind, here are some drones you can rent along with their real costs using Fat Llama and Blue Skies Drone Rental.
DJI Phantom 4 Drone Gimbal – $42 daily
The DJI Phantom 4 may not be the newest in the Phantom series, but it’s still an incredibly good drone. This listing from Fat Llama is a camera quadcopter drone that shoots in 12 MP and 4K.
If you kept this drone for a day, you’d pay $42. A week would cost you $202 and a month $663. Learn more about the latest DJ Phantom model here
Altura Zenith – $1,041 for two days
The listing for the Altura Zenith drone is on Blue Skies Drone Rental. According to the site, this drone has a huge payload range, a high level of redundancy, and can fly for 40 minutes at a clip.
As we stated earlier, the shortest you can rent a drone from Blue Skies is two to three days. For two days, the price is $1,041, so that’s $525.50 per day. For 30 days, you’re looking at a bill of about $15,765.
DJI Mavic Air Drone – $16 daily
Take a look at this second listing on Fat Llama for a DJI Mavic Air Drone. This goes to show how cheap drone rentals can be, as this UAV would cost you only $16 a day. Per week, that’s $76, and per month, it’s $239.
This drone must be rented for two days at a time, which would be at least $32. Again, still not breaking the bank by far. You even get an extra battery at no cost to you, so it’s a great deal. Get info on the latest DJ Mavic here
DJI Inspire 1 Pro – $298 for three days
Here’s a DJI drone on the Blue Skies rental site that is quite affordably priced. Their listing for the Inspire 1 Pro costs $298 for three days, which is $99.33 a day. For a whole month, you’re likely looking at a heftier bill that’s about $2,979.90.
Drone Rental Conclusion
Renting a drone is a great way to decide if you like the hobby. While there are certainly more expensive drone rentals out there, it’s also possible to find one that’s not overpriced. Hopefully, renting a drone fosters a love of piloting UAVs that you carry with you for years to come!
Hal Simmons
When I first started flying drones I was always afraid of damaging my drone. I would always be thinking what if. I questioned myself often and as a result it made me question various aspects of flying drones. In the process I learned a lot. This is why I feel I have a lot of information that will be helpful to beginners and intermediate drone enthusiasts. Of course I still have a lot to learn so join me on this journey and I am sure you will enjoy the adventure ahead of us.Get daily lessons that start with how to choose a drone.