As a professional (ret), I can tell you it's way easier to fly an RQ-20 Puma right off the bat than the cheaper of the consumer drones. Dogmush is correct on the learning curve. Especially if you're outside with a bit of wind. That said, my toy FPV quad is an older Husban, and some of the newer <$100 drones may not be as twitchy.
As for the "pro" models, I flew a DJI Mavic (smaller than the Phantoms) a little bit and it's the bomb. They're in the $700 range, but if I were buying a prosumer model (and I might after I move) this will probably be it. I have a buddy that did the "Out as an O-5 back in as a parasitic consultant" thing and he is working with a retired O-6 friend of his on coastal and wildlife mapping projects for Uncle Sugar, and though they have several "commercial" drones, the Mavic (in fact that's the one I test drove) gets used the most for the "quick and dirty" stuff. You can even use third party software with it to put together georectified imagery and maps.
