Performing stunts is one of the most awesome you can do with a drone. Whether you’re a beginner looking for a drone that makes it easy to perform flips and rolls, or if you’re an experienced flier looking to freestyle, there are plenty of options. However, you need to choose carefully to ensure you find the best stunt drone for you.
In this guide, we aim to help you just do that. We’ll first take a closer look at what exactly a stunt drone is and the kind of things you can do with one, and we’ll then review the best stunt drones on the market.
Stunt Drones – the Basics
A stunt drone allows you to perform cool tricks and aerial acrobatics, such as 360-degree flips and barrel rolls in different directions.
If you’re wondering why you’d want to do this, the main reason is just that it’s loads of fun! Not only is it awesome seeing a drone perform all these different stunts, but if you have a camera drone, you can record stunning footage as you fly.
There are stunt drones for all types of different experience levels. On the one hand, there are many affordable stunt drones under $100 that are aimed at kids and beginners. In fact, there are far more cheap stunt drones than there are expensive ones. These are super easy to use, allowing you to perform flips and rolls with just one click.
On the other hand, there are stunt drones that can flip with purely manual controls. This is a lot more challenging and isn’t advisable for complete novices, but it provides a much more thrilling way to perform drone stunts once you get the hang of it.
So, what do you need to look for in a stunt drone?
Aside from usability, one of the most important things is durability. Collisions are a lot more likely if you’re performing drone stunts, so you need a drone that has a well-built, durable frame that makes it crash resistant — yet is light and agile enough to perform smooth flips and tricks.
You also want to make sure you can record photos and videos that show off your stunt flying ability in all its glory! Then there are the fundamentals like battery life – some stunt drones can only be flown for 10 minutes or less at a time, so if you want to fly for longer, don’t forget to check this.
You may also want to go for a stunt drone that is compatible with FPV or VR goggles, as these allow you to enjoy stunt flying in a much more immersive way. Some drones come with these included, while others are compatible with goggles that you buy separately.
We take all these factors into consideration in our expert stunt drone reviews below, so you have all the information you need to make the right choice for you.
The Best Stunt Drones – in every price range
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Sky Viper Fury – Cheap Stunt Drone for Beginners
- Price: $59 — Available on Amazon here
Whether you’re an adult looking to get into stunt flying for the first time or are shopping for a stunt drone suitable for kids and teens, the Sky Viper Fury is a great, beginner- and budget-friendly choice.
Manual stunt flying is one of the most difficult things you can do with a drone, but the Sky Viper Fury stunt drone makes it incredibly easy to perform awesome tricks.
You can perform 360-degree flips and barrel rolls with the click of a single button! You can do this from a stationary position, and then customize your trick in any direction by simply moving the directionality stick. This is one of the most popular cheap stunt drones on Amazon, with a four-star rating and loads of user reviews praising how simple it is to perform cool tricks with.
Another feature that makes this stunt drone suitable for beginners is the autopilot feature, which allows it to fly steadily in the air with minimum input from you.
There’s also the hands-free altitude hold mode that sees the drone hover steadily even if you take your hands off the controller. It uses surface scan technology to achieve this, with a tiny camera on the underside of the drone that rapidly scans surface patterns so that the drone continuously confirms its position and corrects itself if it starts to drift.
If you’re looking for a slightly more advanced drone, there’s also the Sky Viper Journey. This Sky Viper stunt drone has the same flying capabilities as the Fury, but also allows you to stream and record HD video, fly with further range, and make use of GPS functions like the automatic return to home and follow me modes.
Read more: the best drones that follow you
Syma X600 – Top Rated on Amazon
- Price: $59 — Available on Amazon here
It’s very rare for a drone to have a flawless 5-star rating on Amazon, but the Syma X600 comes about as close as it gets, with 4.8 stars from more than 50 user reviews.
The main thing that people praise is just how user-friendly this drone is, and particularly how easy it is to perform stunts such as 3D flips and rolls in any direction by pressing just one button.
Another of the highlights is that the Syma X600 offers 24 minutes of flight time, which is way more than most other drones under $100, so you have more time to enjoy performing stunts.
This is one of those drones which is beginner-friendly enough to be suitable for kids but also has enough quality to be enjoyed by new adult fliers. There are two separate speed modes so you can choose the one that suits your skill level.
The one key take-off and landing function makes it super quick and simple to get started, while altitude hold helps keep it steady when needed. There’s also the headless mode, which ensures the front of the drone is always facing you so you don’t need to worry about orientation.
These not only make the drone easier to fly but also safer, and the propeller guards make it suitable for fliers of all ages. Another benefit is that the drone is foldable, so you can easily carry it with you wherever you go and perform stunts at any location.
Ryze Tello – Programmable Stunt Drone with Camera
- Price: $99 — Available on Amazon here
The Ryze Tello is one of the most popular cheap drones on the market. This model is made by Ryze in collaboration with DJI, which is the leading manufacturer of consumer drones. This means it provides a lot higher quality than most other drones in this price range.
The Tello can be used for all sorts of different things, including stunt flying. For example, you can make it perform 8D flips by simply pressing one button on the Tello app!
That’s not even the main highlight of this cheap stunt drone, though. Tello is one of the most popular programmable drones as the Tello Edu app supports Scratch programming, meaning you can make the drone perform movements and tricks by dragging coding blocks in the app.
Not only is this an innovative way of performing drone stunts, but it provides a fun way for kids, students and beginners to develop their programming skills.
The best thing is that it’s super easy to use the Tello. You can fly it with such ease through the app, and you can get started by simply tossing it into the air from your hand!
Whereas the Sky Viper Fury and Syma X600 don’t have cameras, the Tello has a 5MP camera with a powerful image processor, so you can capture impressive footage while performing stunts. There’s also DJI’s EZ shots feature, which sees the drone perform coordinate motions like circling and 360 degree turns while recording.
You can fly the Tello for 13 minutes at a time per battery, which is pretty good for such an affordable drone. It’s super lightweight at just 80g, has propeller guards for increased safety, and has a collision detection system as well as low battery auto return to help you keep in control.
Overall, we think the Tello is the best beginner stunt drone.
GoolRC Emax Tinyhawk II Freestyle – Freestyle Racing Stunt Drone
- Price: $159 — Available on Amazon here
The best trick drones we’ve covered so far all make it relatively easy to perform tricks and stunts, but the Emax Tinyhawk II Freestyle really takes things up a notch.
This drone is actually an FPV racing drone, and it’s completely freestyle. So instead of being able to perform a 360-degree roll by simply pushing a single button, this drone is all about manual control.
While this means it’s a fair bit harder to get to grips with, it also opens up a lot more possibilities and provides a more rewarding experience than the more basic stunt drones.
Our stunt drone review found there are three different difficulty levels, so you can gradually work your way up. The higher the difficulty, the faster and more sensitive the drone becomes.
This is a super powerful drone despite being only slightly larger than the average smartphone. It has a power 1103 7000KV motor that allows it to reach a top speed of 120km/h.
Not only does this mean you can perform more extreme stunts at higher speeds, but it also offers more than enough power for high-speed racing. Thanks to the high sensitivity levels, it can perform extremely tight maneuvers to help deal with challenging courses.
One of the best things about the Emax Tinyhawk II Freestyle is that it comes with a pair of FPV goggles. These provide a much more immersive flying experience, making stunt flying more exciting than ever.
As is especially important for a stunt drone, this model is super durable and resistant, with an aerospace-grade 3k woven carbon fiber frame that allows it to resist impacts yet is light enough to perform all types of different stunts.
DJI FPV Combo – Most Advanced Stunt Drone with Camera
- Price: Check price on Amazon here
The stunt drones we’ve covered so far are all on the more affordable side, but if you’re looking for a more advanced stunt drone, the DJI FPV is the best acrobatic drone out there.
DJI specializes in top-of-the-range camera drones, but this model is its first foray into high-speed FPV flying.
It comes with the DJI FPV Goggles V2, which are simply the best FPV drone goggles we’ve seen. They allow you to enjoy FPV flying in a 150 degree wide angle view with HD video transmission at 120fps, producing an incredibly smooth and immersive experience.
The FPV looks very different from DJI’s other drones, with a super sleek and aerodynamic design that’s perfect for stunt flying, backed up by powerful propulsion.
While this drone isn’t recommended for complete beginners, there are three different flying modes to help you get to grips with things.
The S mode is the most simple and is a hybrid mode that combines manual flying with the simplified controls of other DJI drones, while the N mode retains some traditional controls and safety features like obstacle sensing while offering more manual freedom.
Then there’s the M mode, which offers completely unrestricted, full-throttle manual FPV flying. With the ability to customize parameters and go from 0-100kph in two seconds, this drone offers one of the most thrilling flying experiences out there.
There are three purchase options for the DJI FPV – the standalone drone, the motion controller kit, and the fly more combo. The motion controller is a joystick controller that provides a super innovative way to fly in which you maneuver the drone based on your hand motions, providing a completely new way to perform aerial stunts.
If you go for the fly more combo, you’ll get two extra batteries and a battery charging hub for extended stunt flying time.
