What experience does any of you have with these? Thinking if getting into them as a hobby with family members.  What brands shoulf be avoided? Which would be the one if money wasnt an issue? The photography side looks to be fun! Thanks.

If it was me I'd get the DJI Inspire, newest version. I have the DJI Phantom 4 and it suits me just fine. 4k video, great range, easy to learn.

Are they easier to fly than airplanes?

I failed miserably at learning to fly RC airplanes, due to lack of time to go to the field, shortage of instructors, and age.

A friend who suffered a similar fate is contemplating RC tanks.

(only two dimensions to keep track of, and they seldom get stuck in trees, or fly out of sight, or crash)

If its not an Armortek tank, its just a plastic toy.   But then they sell for $3000-5000 for a reason.  They are 100% metal 1/6th scale.

OP could get a little E flite Inductrix to try and get the hang of it.  They are pretty good.  Stable flyers for how small they are.   Don't waste your money on the ones they sell in shopping malls in kiosks.

Get a cheap one to make sure you like it and learn the basics of flying figured out. I lost interest in flying them pretty fast....

I race them here locally. But if you're looking to take photos or video then the Mavic is really nice and has some cool features. It's very portable and easy to fly. The Inspire is much bigger, still easy to fly but harder to set up I think.

I'd buy a simulator to learn how to fly, they're fun and pretty close to the real thing. The biggest issue you'll run into is orientation if you're looking AT the quad while flying it. And not knowing your equipment limitations if you're flying from the screen.

My son wants one for Christmas so I bought two inexpensive ones so we could both learn. I headed to YT to watch a bunch of videos and picked one that was recommended for beginners. If he really likes it I'll invest in a better one when his birthday rolls around this February.

I bought two Syma X5C's ($56 each), a Coolplay spare parts kit (spare propellers, landing skids, and propeller guards in different colors - $10), and a Keenstone battery charger with six spare batteries ($24).

They have cameras that take both images and video, and can do flips with the press of a button.

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I would go with any of the dji stuff. They are much easer to fly than the old Rc airplanes. Any of the dji drones have gps so if you get confused or in trouble , just stop let go of the sticks and it will hold a hover.

I would buy a DJI Phantom 3, you can get a refurbished one for 360 bucks.

You will want to do the Section 107 FAA training if you every want to make any money with it. And by any money I am also including monetizing any videos shot with it.

FAA UAS

I do have a tiny micro drone that could sit on a deck of cards and has no camera that I fly around the inside of the house. Its fun and has proven to be quite a challenge to get to hover. It certainly makes me wonder how the bigger ones fly. I have heard really good things about the DJI products in my research

I have flown on and off for 30 years, so might not have the best beginner suggestions.  I got an Estes a few years ago and it had a fairly simple learning curve.  I think the inductrix is much better toy, and the blades are protected.  That said no chance in hell I could control it on expert mode with the rtf tx.  The inductix is several times faster than the micro-X (name of Estes IIRC), plus uses removable batteries. 

For several years I raced RC cars competively.  There was a reason than when explodential control came out, all TX's without it became obsolete.  I find it just as helpful with quads, in theory (with the style of flying I do) it is marginally less important with planes, but I use it with them as well.  The only issue is they start at $150, and I would recommend upgrading that to the dx6 (the DX6i is incomparable with +S-see below).

if you are still interested in plains, read about the Champ +S. Every year about this time, I research what is new in the world of RC.  When I got back into RC, it was micro brushless motors and lipo (if I had to bet, you started without even this).  A few years later it was onboard electronic gyros on micro helicopters.  Then was quads (quads became possible due to micro gyros), then they put the onboard gyros into the micro plains (AS3X).  Last year FPV was the thing (FPV quad racing).  Last year also introduced SAFE.  Press a button, and your plane would return to upright and level.  This year that was upgraded to +S.

+S is a marriage of RC and drone tech.  While the stock ATF tx still sucks and should be replaced (not enough range), the rest is pretty neat.  You still have SAFE's auto level, but they added gps functions.  Electronic fence (can be disabled), prevents the plane from flying more than 450' away from launch point. Holding pattern will return the plane to the launch point and circle at 65').  Auto land will land it into the wind (must be set at launch)within 10' of the launch point.  Then their is the finally cya-in case the plane looses radio contact, it will go into hiding pattern for 30seconds then do an automatic landing.

DJI is reallyt he only way to go. that being said unless you're planning on doing professional video work there no reason in the world to buy an inspire 2. hell or even and inspire 1 for that matter. buy a phantom 3.

Been flying the MAVIC Pro, things tough as hell... drifted into a tree when I was coming in for a landing, dropped about 50' onto gravel hitting a few limbs on the way down and only damage was to the props and a few scratches

Not my photo, shows a nice size comparison though

really nice being able to toss it in the bag for transport, buddy has to case his inspire or take up a seat in the pickup

My son has one of these and it is pretty easy to fly. I use a small Traxxis