Quadcopter advice

[Allan]

I was wounding if I could get some advice of you guys, I'm currently looking to retrain and take a different employment route and stumbled on UAV surveying which I must say has tickled my interest no end so I've been looking into the pilots licence and what that entails etc and also equipment needed i've raced cars for many years although not for the past few and even had a helicopter which I occasionally didn't crash unfortunately I didn't have a mentor to show me the ropes and help with set up and gave up and I was a bit younger and dafter.

I'm a little unsure which way to tackle learning as for the licence I need to use my own equipment which needs to be certified each uav needs to be individually registered which makes sense for safety.

My main question for which I'm seeking your wise advise do I

A- buy the equipment I plan on using to learn on s800 evo

B - get a smaller version f450 (could be used indoors) or a f550 which could still be used as a back up main platform

I'm looking at an a2 controller and dual futaba tranny set up ( client operated camera gimbal so they can see what they want to see )

Some of the kit I've not fully looked into down links etc as the idea is still in its infancy I do have a fair bit of money to invest and once I can get back to the uk some time too.

Both routes for learning have merits but also pitfalls an s800 evo with the a2 controller and it's safety features could be safe and easy with its position hold and return to home, but a smaller craft might give valuable learning regarding responding to situations but not really suitable for camera work except maybe indoors.

Your views on which learning route to take would be appreciated I'm sure it's like cars u quickly master one type of equipment and suddenly find yourself upgrading and spending daft money on newer equipment when you should have just bought the more expensive item in the first place.

Allan