One of the chief joys of flying drones is that they can be used to capture really cool photos and video from up in the air. With the right drone and enough piloting skills, you can grab some genuinely breathtaking aerial shots of natural scenery or encapsulate and express the majesty of a city skyline. Clearly, a good drone camera can be an excellent tool to capture some real beauty, and we’ve raved about camera drones here before.
What if you just want a drone that follows you around, though? What if you want your drone to capture you doing something cool? What if you’re moving, perhaps quickly and erratically, as you do whatever it is you’re doing? What then? Well, you are in luck. There are drones designed to automatically lock onto you and your movements, follow you around, and capture crisp and clean video all throughout. Technology truly never ceases to amaze.
Before we break down for you what we think the best drones that follow you around are, here are some of the general qualities to look for. It is through the lens of the following criteria that we’ve made our choices for the best follow-me drones. We believe that it’s impossible to make a good decision in this area without keeping them in mind.
Camera Quality
Arguably, this is the most important feature of any drone that purports to be able to follow you around. After all, you probably want one of these things to record what you’re doing and not simply follow you around. Drone cameras come with varying resolutions. Most commonly, you’ll see the resolution levels 720P, 1080P, or 4K on top-of-the-line camera drones. Follow-me drones with camera resolutions lower than these are also available, of course, but we are only focusing here on the very best.
Before proceeding, we should explain just what the terms 720P, 1080P, and 4K mean. The numbers 720 and 1080 refer to the number of horizontal pixels across each image taken by the camera. This means that an image or video in 720P measures 720 pixels across, and one in 1080P measures 1080 pixels across. 720P is standard high-definition resolution, and 1080P is full high-definition resolution. 4K images and videos are the highest quality of all: super-high definition.
While 4K cameras can boast of the best quality, they, and the drones that have them, are usually more expensive than drones with lower-quality cameras. Camera quality is extremely important, but as it is not the only relevant quality, this is a trade-off worth keeping in mind.
Maneuverability and Ease of Control
How easy is it to fly the drone? How sensitive is it to what you do with your remote? Is the drone in question one that requires considerable piloting skill and experience to make it follow you around as you need it to? All of these are important questions to ponder when judging the quality of follow-me drones.
If you’re a skilled pilot, you may not mind having a drone that requires a bit of finesse to capture your movements in just the right way, but such a thing will surely frustrate beginners. For beginners, a drone that follows you with some kind of autopilot function that allows the drone to lock onto you and track you with minimal—or even no—input from you on the remote would be best. Perhaps the option to choose between one mode or the other—autopilot or manual—would be most advantageous of all.
If the drone has an autopilot function, does it have a collision-avoidance system that allows it to detect nearby obstacles and steer around them without hitting them? This is an especially important question to ask if you plan to leave flying the drone largely in the hands of its computers. Also, how many different flight modes does the drone have? As expected, the more, the merrier.
Flight Time
Do you need to have a drone that follows you for an extended length of time? Do you intend to shoot longer videos, or are a few short clips of you from above good enough? Ultimately, the decision over what kind of flight time you want to have on your drone is a personal one that will vary according to your specific needs and intentions.
We can say, however, that generally speaking, all other things being equal, a drone that can fly for a longer amount of time on a single battery charge is better than one with a shorter flight time. Longer flight times mean that you can take more pictures and video and that you have more ability to re-shoot videos if things don’t go exactly as you want them to on your first few takes.
However, as before, there is a trade-off lurking here. Drones with longer flight times are more expensive. You must decide for yourself whether that higher cost is worth the benefits that accompany it.
Price
We’ve already alluded to price a number of times before, but it deserves a more serious and extended discussion. No serious account of how to go about choosing a drone can afford to ignore it. As you can expect, the general rule with price is that higher-quality drones will be more expensive.
Indeed, the very best drones—the ones with the best cameras, most advanced and effective control systems, longest flight times, fastest flight speeds, and greatest distances at which they remain controllable—will often cost well in excess of $1,500. If money is no object for you and pure quality is all that you care about, that’s all well and good. Alas, many of us are not rolling in dough and do not have such a luxury. As such, the price will have to be balanced carefully against drone quality in selecting the best drone that follows you around.
Flight Speed
This, again, is a quality whose importance will vary along with exactly what you intend to use your drone to do. If you’re driving, snowboarding, skiing, or skating at high speeds down a path and you want a drone to take video of you blazing by, a high-speed drone will be essential. If you won’t be moving fast, your drone will not need to either. However, just as we said when discussing flight time, all else being equal, a drone with higher top speed will be better. If you don’t need to fly the thing at scorching speeds, don’t. It may be nice, though, to have the capability to do so, just in case.
Now that we’ve established the criteria by which we’ve rendered our judgments, here are three of what we consider to be the best commercially available drones that can follow you.
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1. DJI Phantom 4 PRO
The DJI Phantom 4 PRO is the crème de la crème of follow-me drones. Its camera is simply superb, shooting videos and taking photographs in beautiful 4K. It has a tremendously long flight range and a longer maximum flight time than almost any drone of any kind currently available on the commercial market, giving you great versatility and freedom when shooting. Most impressive of all, though, are the drone’s extraordinarily high number of flight modes.
It can follow you around automatically with a combination of GPS and its special sensors (Follow Me Mode), repeat flights along a given path (Waypoints Mode), fly horizontally and match pace with you (Portrait Mode), and much more. The only downside is its very high price—a whopping $1,800 or more. It has too many features to discuss in detail here, so head on over to Amazon to learn more about this incredible machine and get your very own.
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DJI Phantom 4 PRO Specifications
| Product: |   |
|---|---|
| Specifications: | • 20MP camera with 1-inch CMOS sensor that shoots in 720P, 1080P, and 4K at up to 60 FPS • Many flight modes, including Follow Me Mode, Terrain Follow Mode, Tripod Mode, Point of Interest Mode, and an Active Track System • Max flight time of about 28 minutes when hovering and about 27 minutes when flying • 90-minute battery recharging time • Top flight speed of 45 miles per hour (up to 31 miles per hour when using obstacle avoidance) • Flight range of up to 4.3 miles |
DJI Phantom 4 PRO Pros List
• A high-quality 20 MP camera that can shoot in high-definition, full definition and super high-definition
• Very wide range of flight modes, giving you more flying options while in the air
• A 28-minute flight time, which is much longer than the 15-20 minutes that most drones offer
• Rear visual sensors and a 1-inch image sensor on its camera protect the drone from obstacles
• Has a maximum flight range of 4.3 miles, which means you can get out and explore
DJI Phantom 4 PRO Cons List
• Very expensive, making it out of the reach of many consumers
What do other reviews say?
Reviews of the DJI Phantom 4 PRO drone are virtually universally positive. In-depth reviews like this one explore its camera modes and many flight features in great detail and have nothing but good things to say about what the drone can do.
2. DJI Mavic 2 Pro
In making the decision on what is truly the best drone that follows you, the choice between the Mavic 2 Pro and Phantom 4 PRO discussed above was a tough one. We ultimately decided to give a slight edge to the Phantom 4 only because it has more flight modes and more ways to automatically track a target. In other respects, the Mavic 2 Pro is quite similar to the Phantom 4.
It also has a fantastic 20MP camera that can shoot in 4K, a top speed of about 45 miles per hour, and a maximum flight time of about 27 or 28 minutes. It actually has an even longer maximum range than the Phantom 4—a truly impressive 5 miles.
While expensive, it’s not as expensive as the Phantom 4. The Mavic 2 Pro is still a wonderful drone that can track targets with incredible precision, but it doesn’t offer as many fine-grained flight mode choices as the Phantom 4. You can get it here on Amazon.
Buy on Amazon
DJI Mavic 2 Pro Specifications
| Product: |   |
|---|---|
| Specifications: | • 20MP Hasselblad camera with a 1-inch CMOS sensor that can shoot in 4K and 1080P • Max flight time of about 28 minutes when hovering and about 27 minutes when flying • Automatic omnidirectional obstacle-avoidance system • ActiveTrack Mode that allows it to lock onto a target and automatically follow it around • Trajectory-predicting algorithms help track objects when they are blocked from the drone’s view • Top flight speed of 45 miles per hour • Flight range of up to 5 miles |
DJI Mavic 2 Pro Pros List
• Excellent camera quality for great photos and videos
• Very long flight range keeps you in the air
• Long 28-minute flight time gives you the time needed to explore
• Excellent tracking and obstacle-avoidance systems to protect the drone
• Easy maneuverability and many flight modes make it a joy to fly
DJI Mavic 2 Pro Cons List
• Expensive, making it unaffordable for some users
• Only one automatic flight tracking mode limits its functions
What do other reviews say?
In general, the Mavic 2 Pro has attracted extremely positive reviews. Reviewers like this one have been highly impressed by the ease with which the drone maneuvers and the stunning quality of its photos and videos.
3. DJI Mavic Air
While the DJI Mavic Air is not the absolute best drone that follows you ever assembled, it’s still an excellent choice for those who can’t afford to spend exorbitant amounts of money. It’s a great little drone that we’ve discussed before, and we regard it as one of the best mini camera drones that money can buy.
It has a high-quality camera with a 3-axis gimbal that shoots in 4K. Its 21-minute flight time is adequate for most purposes. Also, while its fight range and speed are not as high as those of the two drones discussed above, it’s much more affordable than they are. Best of all, it’s got enough flight modes and automatic tracking modes to even rival the Phantom 4. Head on over to Amazon to get one for yourself.
Buy on Amazon
DJI Mavic Air Specifications
| Product: |   |
|---|---|
| Specifications: | • 12MP camera with a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor that shoots in 720P, 1080P, 2.7K, and 4K • Top flight speed of 42.5 miles per hour • Flight range of up to 2.5 miles • Max flight time of up to 21 minutes • Many flight modes, including ActiveTrack, Tripod, Point of Interest, TapFly, and Cinematic Mode |
DJI Mavic Air Pros List
• Cheaper than most top-of-the-line follow-me drones
• Wide range of flight modes provides many options
• Wonderful maneuverability makes it a dream to fly
DJI Mavic Air Cons List
• Only has a 12 MP camera, which is of somewhat lower quality than the 20 MP camera found on many of the best follow-me drones
• Lower flight range (2.5 miles), flight time (21 minutes) and top flight speed (42.5 miles per hour) than the other drones considered here and on many top-quality follow-me drones
What do other reviews say?
Reviews of the DJI Mavic Air have been generally favorable. Some reviewers, like this one, have even compared it somewhat favorably to the DJI Mavic Pro, an earlier version of the Mavic 2 Pro. All in all, reviewers have been impressed by the wide capabilities of this little drone.
Conclusion
When thinking about the DJI Phantom 4 PRO, words like “awesome” and “awe-inspiring” regularly come to mind. The drone is just that good. Although we’ve chosen to focus specifically on drones with the ability to follow you around here, there’s so much more that the Phantom 4 can do.
Indeed, we’ve discussed it before, even comparing it favorably to an admittedly incredible drone like the Yuneec Typhoon H Pro. The Phantom 4 is not only the best drone that can follow you, but it also belongs at the top of many other drone categories. We can’t recommend it highly enough. Get it here on Amazon.
If you need any more information about drones and what the best are in any given category or situation, come back sometime and check out some more of our product reviews and best-in-class lists.