Drone flying is a great hobby and many people of many different age groups enjoy flying them. But, how old do you have to be to fly a drone legally? Here is what I discovered.
According to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), all drones that weigh over 0.55 lbs need to be registered. To be able to register your drone with the FAA, you need to be over 13 years old. However, drones that weigh less than 0.55 lbs do not need to be registered; therefore, people of all ages can fly them.
I made a list of drones that are awesome for children under the age of 13 to use, so keep reading to find out more!
Top 10 Drones For Kids That Don’t Need To Be Registered (Weigh under 0.55 lbs)
Drones are fantastic pieces of machinery and make an excellent hobby for people of all ages.
Drones that weigh over 0.55 lbs need to be registered by the people flying them, which has led to the myth that you need to be over 13 to fly a drone.
But the truth is the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) does not specify how old you need to be to fly a drone, because frankly, they’re not monitoring it. The FAA is only concerned with drones that weight over the 0.55-pound limit.
This means that any drone under 0.55 pounds will make an excellent beginner drone for someone under the age of 13!
Here’s our 10 best choices:
| Drone Name: | Weight: | Flight Time: | Range: | Price: | Purchase Link: |
| Mavic Mini | 249 grams | 30 min | 2.4 miles | $399 | VIEW |
| Ryze Tello | 80g | 13 min | 328 ft | $99 | VIEW |
| Potensic A20 | 189g | 8 min | 165 ft | $24 | VIEW |
| Holy Stone HS210 | 21g | 7 min | 160 ft | $28 | VIEW |
| Hubsan X4 | 30g | 9 min | 328 ft | $25 | VIEW |
| Parrot Mambo | 63g | 9 min | 328 ft | $110 | VIEW |
| ScharkSpark SS41 | 118g | 15 min | 320 ft | $69 | VIEW |
| Snaptain SP500 | 220g | 15 min | 100 ft | $159 | VIEW |
| Holy Stone HS110D | 145g | 13 min | 950 ft | $130 | VIEW |
| Supkiir Drone | 226g | 20 min | 164 ft | $52 | VIEW |
I’ve gone ahead and summarized some of the key features of 5 of my favorite picks from the above list, so keep reading to learn more!
Mavic Mini
The Mavic Mini is one of the best drones on the market at the moment and one of my personal favorites, not only for its compact size but also for its weight and portability.
DJI did something truly extraordinary with this drone, being able to fit all this amazing technology and performance into a compact package.
Camera: The Mini is capable of capturing 2.7K video. This may not seem like a large number, but this is a drone that most adults buy to travel with, so it is a great drone for a young teen to have.
This drone also has a 3-axis gimbal to help stabilize the footage which means all footage is super-smooth.
Weight: The Mavic Mini has the bonus of being under 249 grams, making it the first drone manufactured by DJI that doesn’t need to be registered with the FAA.
Flight time: The Mini has a flight time of up to 30 min which is ridiculous if you consider its size!
Range: The drone can be flown up to 4km away from the controller which is just over 2,4 miles.
I wouldn’t suggest allowing a child to fly a drone this far, but whenever you want to use the drone, it allows you to push the limits a bit.
Ages: The drone may be a great drone that does not need to be registered, but as it is a $400 drone with a lot of complicated technology, so I would suggest only children of the ages 12 and up fly this drone.
Ryze Tello
The reason the Ryze Tello is next on my list is that it is closely related to the DJI Mavic Mini. It is made with DJI parts and uses DJI tech as well, and that’s not all, it is also sold on the DJI website.
This drone has definitely made its own name for itself and is definitely an amazing piece of equipment by Ryze!
Camera: The Tello has a 720p camera, which is excellent for a drone of its type.
Flight Time: The drone has a flight time of 13 minutes, which doesn’t seem like much, but great for a mini drone.
Price: The price of this drone is $99, which is amazingly cheap for a drone of this quality!
They were able to cut costs on the drone by:
- Having No GPS.
- You have to charge the battery inside the drone via USB.
- You fly using your phone
Ages: Being a cheap drone, but of high quality, makes the Ryze Tello perfect for children 10 years old and above.
Even though it is on the cheaper side, it is still a drone made with valuable parts and tech that need a little extra care. Therefore it is perfect for young children to fly while being supervised, and for adults to have fun within their spare time.
Holy Stone HS110D
The HS110D is currently one of the top-selling toy drones on the market, and it has some great stats to back itself up!
Weight: The Holy Stone weighs in at just 145 grams, and this means it doesn’t need to be registered with the FAA.
Flight time: At 13 minutes of flight time, it may be low but still at the top of the list.
Range: The remote will give you a range of about 950 feet.
Camera quality: This drone shoots a beautiful 1080 HD video with a camera that has a field of view of 110°.
More features: The drone has a pretty cool feature. With one click of the button, the drone will do a cool little flip. This will definitely entertain any kid for a long time!
Price: It has a cost price of $130.
Ages: This drone is a simple one and should be used by either young children or any adults wanting training wheels before their actual purchase.
Supkiir Drone
This is a great drone for kids and adults, because of the fact that it can also be flown indoors.
Weight: It only weighs around 226 grams which means it doesn’t need to be registered.
Flight time: The Supkiir can fly around 20 minutes depending on the weather, which is impressive for a drone that only weighs 226 grams!
Range: The drone can only fly around 164 feet away from the controller, which isn’t great considering the flight time.
Camera quality. This drone actually has two cameras, which isn’t common with drones of its type.
The main camera, which is in the front, has an adjustable wide view of 120 degrees, captures videos in 2k, and images in 4k. The second camera, which is on the bottom for the drone, has a resolution of 480p.
Price: The Supkiiris is also well-priced at only $52, which is insane considering its features!
Ages: This is another drone on this list that makes for a great beginner’s drone for kids.
Parrot Mambo
The Mambo FPV is a toy drone that is lots of fun. Parrot has decided to focus on their higher-end drones, so sadly, this drone is no longer in production.
Weight: The Mambo weighs a total of 63 grams without any accessories attached to it, putting it way under the FAA’s requirement for registration.
Flight time: The drone will stay in the air for around 9 minutes, but this could change depending on the conditions.
Range: The Parrot can fly up to 328 feet away from its controller.
Camera quality: It has a VGA 0.3-megapixel camera that can only hold 1gb of internal memory.
Price: It has a cost price of around $110.
Ages: A small drone that is great for young kids, but when using the FPV attachments, they may need assistance.