Randy, hello!
Greetings and Happy New Year!
(Or, if you prefer, Hippo Newt's Ear!)
Okay, let me see if I can give you a decent thing or two to think about.
A little about me - I've been an R/C (radio control) builder and flyer since around 1980, both in UK and in Hong Kong. Moved to the USA in 1989, joined the AMA in 1990, have been doing it off and on ever since. Got my private pilot's license in 2001, commercial drone license recently, but as you can see, there's been a lot of flying hours between then and now!
I too started on an X4, like many other people. about then they first came out, around 2011, if memory serves. I still try to do at least a battery a day on the X4 (no camera) when the weather is bad or when I'm not out flying for work.
I still have the X4, but now teach on several U818As, an MJX X600 and a couple P2s without cameras (and not in GPS or ATTI mode).
For sports training it's a Latrax Alias with the upgraded (insane) motors, and a Walkera Rodeo 150.
For work one P3P, two Inspire 1's, one Storm 6.
Just starting a new project, a heavy lifter for my DSLRs. (I'm also a pro film editor, my day job since the 70's, DP and film maker).
So. Why so many drones, might you ask?
Well, they're kinda like any other kind of vehicle.
There are heavy trucks, and there are race cars. And everything in between.
From single seater formula cars, where every ounce of weight is critical and every component honed and tuned and expected to last maybe three days, max- the duration of one race event, all the way to y0ur 18-wheelers, designed and built to be driven by a team of drivers and crew, not too fast, not too slow, terrible on gas but carrying a huge payload and parking it exactly where the customer wants it.
Day after day, year after year. Exactly the same.
So. What do you want to drive?
In the beginning, just like driving a car, it's best to get something cheap and cheerful. Why?
Because. You. Will. Crash.
I bought my X4 for that reason, and my LaTrax Alias after seeing that YouTube video of it crashing over 20 times after being flown full bore into a street sign - it falls to the ground, then starts up and flies away for another suicide run. No prop guards. That got me, and it still does.
The "insanely powerful" super performance aftermarket motors for it, likewise.
In general, the smaller the drone the more nimble and faster you will fly. That's a practical thing, really, not actually true in theory, because in theory, there's nothing to say a bigger drone can't be faster than a smaller one - and most of them can be, if there's no time and distance limit imposed.
But there is, you see. The FAA and common sense requires that we remain at all times within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) of the drone. i.e. we have to be able to see it, even as a tiny speck in the sky, without binoculars, telescopes or other magnifying aids (prescription glasses are okay).
This, in practice, means that the theoretical range our drone is allowed to fly in is shaped something like a flattened dome with us in the middle of it, extending to how far we can see the drone.
So, the smaller the drone, the faster it can be within that dome, before it has to slow down to stop/turn around while still remaining inside the drone. And as you know, a speedboat can turn a heck of a sight faster than an ocean liner can, in the same space of water.
Yes, I generalize a wee bit. For instance, the bigger drone has a bigger dome of visibility, but you still have to watch your speed because the heavier the drone the longer it takes it to slow down or change direction. Fellow called Newton had a thing or two to say about that.
Thus, smaller is generally faster. Certainly more nimble / stoppable / turnable etc.
However, more nimble also mean can mean more wobbly, less stable - and you don't want less stable when you're just starting out.
The U818A is very, very stable. Very forgiving, indoors. Outdoors, blink and it will do a flyaway in any kind of wind. You have to be on those small ones as soon as any wind crops up, especially what they call "winds aloft", which is like an undercurrent or undertow in surf, but in the air. Sure, you might have modern motors, powerful batteries, even a GPS system. But imagine a small rowboat out in the ocean's riptides, rowing as fast as it can - with a hand-held GPS saying "it's this way! go this way".
However, indoors, it's almost too docile, which is great for the first few hours of getting to know what's what.
So start with something like that.
Start indoors if you can. Start stable, small and cheap, buy plenty of replacement props and motors and loads of batteries (I have around 8 for my Hubsan - have been through around a dozen more - but I'm still on my first set of props and guard!). Buy at least one decent charger, like a Hitec X4 if you're using single cell batteries. Those dinky chargers that came with aren't good for the long term - if the cells' sides belly out, you're done with them and you'd better watch the YouTube videos about how to disarm them and dispose of them properly. Use a decent "intelligent" charger and you'll get a lot more usable recharges out of your batteries for sure, but more importantly that side will be handled and you don't have to worry about LiPos blowing up or catching fire etc. (Yes, they do. Literally. Learn about that.)
In fact, read, learn, watch others and Youtube a lot, and fly.
Fly as often as you can, start nose out, eye level, flying away and towards, then left and right, then "walk the dog" (look that up), then the rest of them. But do it often and don't let up. A battery a day, come what may, minimum. Because this isn't easy, and you're still not even flying nose in (with the front of the drone facing you, a.k.a. selfie mode) where the controls are all turned around. But the drone has a constant heading control, you say? Turn it off, I say, until you know how to fly it bare-bones, all the neato control and assist systems disabled. Mano a mano.
If you can do three batteries in a row without getting too far out of control so as to crash, or have to recover from an almost-crash, then it's time to go outside. That's a different kettle of fish, but at least your little cheapo drone will be familiar to you now, plus you can turn it off Level 1/Beginner to a more aggressive control mode (you'll have to, if it's at all windy), then practice like heck until you KNOW you can do twenty batteries in a row, indoors or out without even thinking about it. This will take between weeks and months, not days or hours, so relax, take it easy, enjoy the experience.
After awhile, you'll be thinking about your next drone. After a bit more time, you'll be thinking about it while you're flying the one you have. Wishing it were... faster? bigger? truck or sports car? Go further? Fly longer? Time to learn about and practice knowing how to fly home every time your drone is so far away you can't even see which way it's pointing. (Relax, you don't have to see that - you just have to see which way the speck is moving - check out more YouTube videos on this!)
After a bit more time, if you can fly the one you have while daydreaming about the one you want (without crashing the one you have) then maybe it's time to start thinking about doing just that.
Go hog wild, if you want to. But better still, not. Be very selective. Make friends at a flying field, talk drones. We're generally a friendly lot. You know the story that goes "better to be more careful around a man with one gun than another who has many"? You want to be the person who's a good flyer. That means you have to know your aircraft really really well. So master each one thoroughly before moving on to the next, and then explore the new one, get past the honeymoon period and see if it's a keeper or a flipper, and build your fleet with care and much discernment and good taste.
Eventually you'll either be in the fpv league of legends, flying around in a tiny screamer with your eyes in goggles and hair on fire, or else you'll be a trucker with a crew, working for a trucking company and maybe making money doing it. It will hardly ever be enough money because the companies want you to own your own rig, and they won't hire you unless you have the very latest, and best, and most expensive rigs out there. And they ain't cheap. Take your $15 for 6 Hubsan batteries off eBay and compare to the six DJI TB47S batteries you'll need to keep your Matrice 600 in the sky for 18-37 minutes - at almost $800 each, that's $4,800 each half hour flight - actually slightly more expensive than the M600 itself. Without the camera, of course.
And how many half-hour flights do they want you to do a day?
So that's the two opposite ends of the spectrum of possibilities for you.
Where might you end up?
Who cares, as long as it's in the air, right?
Happy New Year!
But I will settle for something cheaper to play around with to get the hang of flying first. I noticed playing with the x4 their is a learning curve to control it.I did notice that with the camera mounted inside the drone the video was pretty shaky so i will get something with a gimble on it.