Nice thread,
This is a really good question and one that needs to be answered in - if it's this go to A if it's the other go to B (if you know what I mean)
There is a massive difference between floating around the sky with a GPS, auto level DJI and getting pretty pictures and racing.
I am that guy that has been getting great video for a few years now with the above BUT I also spend countless hours watching the blood pumping drone racing on the tube, I am also not frightened to say that I am a total noobe to racing - but I'm also that guy on COD that gets 4 kills in a game whilst others are getting 50, so you sort of get the picture.
If you come out to my garage I can show you 6 flags four gates and I even paid a sign writer I know a fist full of cash to make me up some slick arrows for the course which I have also pre-designed.
Stay with me I am getting to the point about now - obviously I was missing the drone mmmm my first racing drone what will it be so another 30 hours or more of research I end up with a great deal on a Walkera F210, nice... I wait the obligatory 5 weeks for my new child to arrive.
I remember I took a day off work and was at the sports field early - up up up she went and away she went, maybe 250 feet, for some reason I had no control over the craft and waved good bye as it became a spec on the horizon. 3 hours later I recovered the drone in one piece (sort of) at least 2 k's away. I have stripped it down as far as I can go and its been sitting in my study for 6 weeks but I think my next move is to shove it in a box and ship it off to be fixed - yes I can hear what your thinking $$$$$.
Surely there must be others like me out there that have similar stories and a good reason to add to this thread.
I have now taken a huge step backwards, baby steps people, baby steps - I have ordered:
Hubsan H502S with FPV camera.
This has GPS, altitude hold, return home and selectable frequencies from 5750MHz - 5840MHz to connect to the goggles.
Also a DFD F180.
As you can see, they are toys but my aim is to master them and move up from here - get good at line of sight and then crack open my FPV's and no I'm not going to tell you what they are but they were twice the price of the F210.
I would also like to buy a kit and build one and learn what makes them tick so that when I crash and I know I will - I can fixed it myself.
The moral to the story is rather than diving in the deep end, get some floaties and start at the shallow end it will be way less expensive and I'm sure much more fun.
Finally I think what is really lacking are experienced go to people who are already into drone racing, so joining a club and mixing with other addicts is my plan.
Thanks for reading this far.