ATOM

I have the Atom 1 and it's fantastic. The Atom 2 is even better all around. Super easy to fly, great camera, good battery life, etc. It's a high quality drone. It's comparable to any of the DJI Mini-series drones.

Absolutely these photography drones are simple to fly. They hover by themselves by gps so you just push up or down and the direction you wanna go. Id personally recommend a potensic atom as a first drone. Don't bother with the ones without a 3 axis gimbal either get the atom 1 or 2. Fly more combo is the only way to go. They are cheap enough if you do crash it's not some huge ordeal. I fly them more than I do my DJI kinda to preserve my better ones I guess. Lil more fun to fly when you don't have $1000 on the line. Only time I ever crashed was when I was messing around in the yard after a flight and pushed the low battery too far and return to home kicked in and it went straight up into branches. My fault.

Me too I keep my two DJI put up usually to make them last and usually fly my cheaper potensic atom 1 or 2. Not as big a deal if they break. Specially with the DJI ban. Potensic makes awesome drones. The atom 2 may even be better than the DJI mini 4k. I have both

Walmart and Adorama have the 3 in stock. You could also look at something like the Potensic Atom 2. I have the original Atom and think its a great drone.

If that is your use case, then yes, DJI minis are better, but there are certainly use cases where Potensic is better. The point I'm trying to make is Potensic makes a very solid drone and they should not be overlooked. I have yet to find myself in a situation where my original Atom 3 axis loses signal. The Atom 3 axis 2 is even better in this area. They also have better features in their price range.

Absolutely not. Potensic drones are great. If you don't need the features of the Air 3, you will be verry happy with your Potensic. I know I am with the original Atom 3 axis and I have no regrets with it. It easily works as well as my brother's DJI mini (original), and I dont have to download the app from a shady source (my brother uses an old phone when he flies his because of this).

If that is your use case, then yes, DJI minis are better, but there are certainly use cases where Potensic is better. The point I'm trying to make is Potensic makes a very solid drone and they should not be overlooked. I have yet to find myself in a situation where my original Atom 3 axis loses signal. The Atom 3 axis 2 is even better in this area. They also have better features in their price range.

Absolutely not. Potensic drones are great. If you don't need the features of the Air 3, you will be verry happy with your Potensic. I know I am with the original Atom 3 axis and I have no regrets with it. It easily works as well as my brother's DJI mini (original), and I dont have to download the app from a shady source (my brother uses an old phone when he flies his because of this).

DJI is big enough that any technical hurdle would be extremely minor to them. It's not an issue for Potensic and every other much smaller drone manufacturers that I think DJI's stance is either ridiculous or extremely shady. Potensic offers much better software features in their price ranges, so if they can do it there is no reason DJI can't. 

I would definitely recommend the DJI Mini 4 Pro. If you're really tight on money the Potensic Atom is really good as well. It's probably comparable to DJI Mini 4k. It has most of the stuff you want from a drone as a beginner minus some of the bells and whistles the Dji Mini 4 Pro has. Just make sure you get the model with a 3 axis gimbal. No, a 150 dollar drone from Amazon is not the answer if you care about actually taking photos and videos.

Agreed, my potensic atom is perfectly usable for just over $200 (again, until tariffs). No obstacle avoidance though at that price point.

I've got the Atom 3axis and the Air 3s. It's apples and oranges.. hard to compare the price to feature ratio.

I fly a Potensic Atom, it's alright, no major complaints. It's far less sophisticated than my phantom 4.

I have an original atom, and it's a real treat to fly.

I second the Potensic route with the Fly More combo.