The Best Long Range Drones: Operating From A Distance

Whenever people buy a drone, they usually go through the standard set of specs.

Things like flight time, camera quality, and top speed.

But there’s one thing that many people tend to miss out on:

Range.

You won’t see many people getting a drone solely because of its range, and we don’t tend to do this as well. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an important consideration. In fact, it will have an impact on how capable your drone is.

Yet the real reason people don’t worry about the range that much is that they simply don’t know what it is!

So let’s demystify that a bit. We’ll delve deep into a drone’s range, and then give you our recommendations on the best drones that have the most extended range in the market.

First, though, we have to understand how drones transmit data.

How Does Drone Transmission Work?

All drones, even the most autonomous ones, need to receive commands from an external source. They need this so they would know what to do.

In most cases, this is transmitted from a remote controller being held by the pilot. A drone then needs to be able to receive this data wirelessly.

Data transmission between remote and drone is done through radio waves. These are electromagnetic signals which carry with them electric information, much like how radio stations send signals to your car stereo to produce music. 

Drones make use of these radio signals to produce movement. Radio frequencies are measured in hertz (Hz).

To control a drone using radio waves, you need a remote controller. You usually direct your drone’s movement through the use of joysticks. The traditional ones (think RC controllers) operate in the 900 MHz spectrum. Nowadays, you can also use your smartphone to control a drone, using Wifi. Wifi is just another form of radio wave, operating at a broader 2.4 GHz range.

So here’s how it all works. Whenever you press a button or tilt the joystick on your controller, corresponding radio waves are sent by the controller’s transmitter, or Tx, unit. This then reaches your drone, which has to receive and interpret these signals somehow.

This is the job of the receiver, or RX unit, on the drone. These are devices with a built-in antenna to capture radio signals from your controller. It’s also responsible for converting radio waves into electrical signals, which send it to your drone’s flight controller.

The flight controller then is the one responsible for interpreting these signals to direct the computer board, motors, and propellers. These, in turn, are the ones who ultimately produce the drone’s movement.

You can think of drones as having an invisible cable between it and the remote controller. The stronger this link, the greater the distance possible between drone and controller. A better link also makes it possible to transmit more substantial data, such as live video feeds.

What Is The Average Drone Range?

Now that we know how a drone’s transmission works, we can define what drone range is. 

Simply put, it’s how far the drone can fly away from you.

This seemingly simple definition, however, has some implications on your drone’s performance.

The longer the drone’s range, the stronger the signal. Therefore, in shorter distances (which is how you’ll be flying the drone most of the time), the better the transmitter can resist interference. Thus, you can better control the drone without the risk of losing the signal.

Of course, the real perk of a long range drone is being able to reach impossible heights and distances. With a top-notch long distance drone, you’ll be able to go farther and fly higher. You’ll have plenty of room to be able to shoot some genuinely spectacular sequences.

Imagine being able to fly and shoot through canyons and ravines, or maybe a vast, majestic panorama from really high up. For the professional videographer or photographer, this is a must-have for producing unique, breathtaking, and majestic photos and videos.

Long range drones are also indispensable for scientific and industrial applications like surveying and data measurement. Most of these applications require flying into dangerous heights or areas that would be hazardous to humans.

Of course, not everyone needs this feature. Not everyone is a pro who wants to fly their drones miles away from them. Flying them that far out also puts the drone at a higher risk of losing its signal and accidentally crashing.

That’s why most drones nowadays have an average range of about 1.5 km, operating at a 2.4 GHz frequency. This is applicable for most mid-to-high-priced drones and represents a good balance between range and price for most enthusiasts (price tends to go up as the flight distance increases).

Budget drones have a range of less than 1 km, usually around 500m to 800m at best. That’s perfect for beginners – after all, they shouldn’t even fly that far out when they’re just learning the ropes. Plus, they’re cheaper.

Still, it’s beneficial to buy the cheapest drone with the most extended range you can afford if you’re a beginner. This will ensure you have robust signal strength during normal flight conditions.

At the higher end of the spectrum, you have high-end drones, which tends to have really long ranges. Here, there tends to be a bit of variety, with average distances of about 5 km. The longest we’ve seen is 8 km, which is really pushing the boundary of how long ranges can be for consumer drones.

What to Look For In A Long Range Drone

If you plan on flying your drone at extreme distances, you need to consider a few things. The reason is that long range flying creates particular problems that need to be resolved.

The most obvious, of course, is that you’ll likely can’t see your drone directly anymore. For instance, at 5 km out or more, the drone is most likely already outside of your line of sight, making it challenging to control. 

Hence, you need another way to see where the drone is going.

Another thing is that the father the drone is away from you, the higher the risk of it losing connection with your remote controller. Once it loses its signal, what happens with the drone? There are quite a few reports of UAVs going “rogue” and just flying off indefinitely into the horizon once they lose their signal.

You’ll eventually notice that a lot of the considerations when buying long range drones are mostly safety features designed to protect your drone in case it goes out of range.

So, let’s go to what makes a good long range drone.

Effective Range

The no-brainer spec is, of course, drone range. This is how far a drone can fly form you under ideal conditions. Do take note of those last two words – ideal conditions.

This means that you can fly 8 km out only when the stars align, the weather is perfect, and there’s not much interference and obstacles. This is, of course, wishful thinking; it’s not always possible.

There are a lot of other factors that can negatively affect the range and possibly shorten it. Things like battery life and the weather conditions at the time all play a significant role. The presence of obstacles and being in an area with high interference, will also weaken the signal and shorten the drone’s effective range.

That’s why it’s recommended that you never fly anywhere near the maximum range. Always factor in a little bit of buffer in case conditions isn’t favorable. If you ever need to go close to the max range, do it slowly. 

FPV (First Person View) Mode

The drone’s range is just a small part of the long-range picture. Once it’s out there flying, you’ll need a reliable way to see where it is going so you can steer it properly. Without it, you’re mostly flying blind. 

This is where First Person View (FPV) Mode comes in.

Here, the drone sends a live transmission of what it “sees” using its built-in video camera. This is streamed to your remote controller’s screen or through your smartphone mounted on your controller. Some systems even support viewing FPV mode via a VR headset, giving you a really immersive experience.

Now, the most crucial factor when picking a good FPV feature is that the video must be in real-time, or somewhere very close to it. Lags are catastrophic – a split second delay in a live feed can cause you to react much slower, potentially causing crashes.

As you can imagine, streaming video is much, much demanding than transmitting simple drone commands. Hence, the drone’s FPV range is even shorter than the drone’s range. This effectively further shortens the max distance you can safely go.

That’s why we recommend getting a drone with high FPV transmission frequencies, like a 5.8 GHz or dual 2.4 GHz systems. Both are robust enough to provide reliable streaming.

GPS

If you’re to fly out your drone far away, you need a way for it to be aware of where it is and its surroundings. This is done using an onboard GPS system. 

By connecting to GPS satellites, both you and your drone will know precisely where it is at any given time. This lessens the chance of your drone getting lost. Plus, if the worse were to happen and it does disappear or crashes, you’d know where to find it. 

GPS is also used by the drone in more advanced flight modes like Waypoint or Points of Interest. These are useful for orchestrating complex shots easily and intuitively, at long distances.

GPS also powers a vital safety feature, in the form of…

Auto Return

When you’re flying long range and pushing your drone to how far it can go, you risk the signal getting cut. And when the drone loses its connection to your remote controller, it could crash or wander off forever.

That’s why you need a safety net to make sure nothing happens to your drone in such a situation. One of the most common is Auto Return, a feature that DJI pioneered.

Also called Return To Home (RTH) in some drones, this instructs your drone to go back to its takeoff point whenever certain conditions are met. Using GPS, it will keep track of where it took off, and automatically fly there to land when certain conditions are met.

The usual condition is when its battery reaches critical levels. It will then use its remaining battery power to fly back and land in its origin point. But this can also be set to trigger when the signal is lost, so you’ll be sure the drone comes back to you.

Flight Time

A long range needs to be paired with equally long flight time. After all, it needs all the power it needs to fly all that extra distance and come back in one piece. The longer the distance you want it to fly, the more time it needs to stay afloat.

For drone ranges of more than 5 km, a flight time of 25 minutes or longer is essential. Anything less might put the drone at risk of losing power before it can return to you.

But even if you have the best flight time and range, you still have to be cautious. Remember that these specs all assume ideal conditions, and a lot of factors will lessen that considerably.

A good rule of thumb is that you don’t want to push both drone range and flight time together; i.e., don’t fly out at extreme distances for maximum flight times. That is just putting a lot of risks at the same time.

Obstacle Avoidance

When you’re out at very long distances, you need all the safety features you can get, especially if you have limited visibility of your drone. Even with FPV, it won’t give you a 360-degree view of all the dangers your drone might encounter.

That’s why Obstacle Avoidance System is a must-have. This enables the drone to automatically detect any obstacle in its flight path or around it, thereby preventing a crash. It then either avoids it or stops entirely and waits for further command, depending on the drone.

A lot of drones have forward obstacle avoidance sensors, but quite a number will have side sensors as well. For long-distance flight, we recommend getting full 360 sensors if you need to.

Camera Quality

What’s the entire point of flying out to really extreme distances? For the average consumer, it’s to take really awesome photos. So if you’re capturing that unique perspective using a subpar camera, it hardly seems worth the effort, doesn’t it?

That’s why it’s vital to get a drone with incredible camera quality. It will allow you to take those breathtaking photos and videos.

For footage, we recommend getting cameras with 4K resolutions. Gimbals are vital for image stabilization, as it’s difficult to achieve professional, jittery-free shots without it. For photos, anything above 12 megapixels will produce stunning results.

Best Long Range Drones

We’ve listed the best drones from the most extended range first, starting with:

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