I have 11 drones, and only three were purchased new- the other 8 were all purchased from Craigslist ads or off of Ebay (used) or just locally from word of mouth. I have yet to have a bad experience- in fact, most of the time I meet the guy to buy the drone and he'll throw in something else for free, a spare battery or charger, alternative mount, extra props, etc. I have gotten into fpv racing in the 4s and open classes. I picked up a Diatone Crusader gt2 200 fpv racing drone, RTF, with 4 spare batteries and a 6 port charger, with spare props, for $150, off of Craigslist... and a DJI Mavic Pro from the same guy for $500 with spare batteries and 4 full prop sets. He had dropped over $1200 on these drones- his very first- and then found he couldn't fly them and didn't have the patience to learn. It pays to keep an eye on the various websites like those and letgo!
LikeaghostExactly what I did! The only downside is no warranty but as long you're careful and know what you're doing you should be fine. Awesome that you got the Mavic Pro for $500. I got the P4P+ for $850 and he threw in an ND filter, extra battery, and props! I'll definitely hop on a Mavic Pro deal because the portability is just amazing.
uhlecI'm very happy with it- I have no issue with the lack of warranty - you can buy the various components fairly cheaply on any drone, so if something breaks, you replace it- and I always take that as a sign that I need to upgrade... B*)
BL1XI haven't had any issues at all...I tend to fully discharge my batteries about once a month and then put them on a slow charge to top em back up...some folks disagree with this method with lipo batteries but it seems to work for me.