 Unlike a smartphone or calendar app, nobody needs a drone, but you shouldn't let that stop you. Drones are the coolest toy a modern-day gadget lover can own. And if you're interested in photography or filmmaking, drones are going to let you get shots that just wouldn't be possible otherwise. If you're just getting started out, the most important thing is to get one that can take a licking and keep on ticking. Because getting good enough to have fun and shoot great footage requires patience and a budget for repairs. For the first-time drone owner, the best overall combination of simplicity, performance, and video is the DJI Phantom 2. It's beautifully designed, very well built, and offers an advanced autopilot that will let it fly and film in conditions other drones simply can't handle. For most people, the Phantom 2 Vision, which clocks in at $999, will be more than up to the task. If you've already got a GoPro handy, you can stick with the Phantom 2 and save yourself around $230. The Phantom's battery is neatly packaged and locks into place easily without loose wires you need to fiddle around with. The rotors attach in under 10 minutes without any extra nuts, bolts, or tools. And the flight controller has just four switches, which means it isn't overwhelming to new pilots. The best feature of the DJI Phantom is the powerful GPS software. This allows it to hover in one place, and it will even compensate for strong wind. You can set a home position and the Phantom will return to you if it wanders out of range. The Phantom Vision 2 also comes with a gimbal, which means that the camera will adjust as you move, helping to center the picture and produce better footage. The Iris, a quadcopter from 3D Robotics, is the most clear-cut competitor to the Phantom in terms of its flight capabilities and GPS software. It doesn't come with a camera, but does have a GoPro mount built in. At $750, it's roughly the same price if you add in your own video equipment. Like the Phantom, it's meant to be flown right out of the box with minimal assembly and setup, but the experience is far more frustrating. The build quality is poor, beginning with the plastic rings you need to attach the rotors. They're not well molded, and it took three of us nearly 20 minutes before we figured out how to jam them in place. The batteries come with a warning that they might explode and a special bag to contain the acid spray and fire that might result. They also leave the wires exposed, and a ton of wrangling is required to get it inside the battery tray. The learning curve on the Iris is much steeper than the Phantom. I couldn't get it to calibrate properly, nor could the experienced drone pilot I brought along as backup. To give you a simple comparison, the DJI Phantom controller has four switches on it. The Iris has 13, and an LCD screen with additional info. I spent a few days playing with the Iris, and I never managed to get it off the ground for more than a few seconds. Even when I did, it crashed right away. For something simpler, there's the Parrot AR2. It comes fully assembled, has a stylish camo exterior, and only needs a charged battery to be flight-ready. You pilot it with an iPhone app, which makes takeoff and landing a simple tap of the screen. Its GPS allows it to auto-stabilize a bit, although it's much more effective by wind than the Phantom. The big plus of the Parrot is durability. I crashed it a dozen times, and it never lost a rotor. The downside was the iPhone app as controller, which made piloting it feel really mushy and haphazard. And the built-in camera shot decent but not great video. On the cheaper end of the spectrum are the Hubsan X4 Mini drone and the Proto X Micro drone, which clock in at under $60. Both are pretty much ready to fly right out of the box. Neither one can handle serious wind and are best used indoors. But despite a lack of GPS, both handled really well in calm conditions. The Hubsan also packs a built-in camera which can record videos stored on a microSD card. These are great drones for learning the basics of piloting and for horsing around inside without causing too much damage. Overall, there is a really exciting range of drones available on the market right now. And if you can afford it, the DJI Phantom is the one to go with right now. Oh, and one more thing. The $4,000 DJI S1000 is a high-end octocopter that is far too dangerous for the average civilian to control. That's why we called in a little professional help from the folks at Intelligent UAS who fly these things for a living. It's aimed at serious hobbyists and cinematographers looking to use heavy equipment. This is not your next. Maybe your next, next, next. But we couldn't resist showing you a little of what it can do.