Ok so lets go over my history of quads so far.
Syma X12
My first quad was the Syma X12, which I think Ive written about before. This little guy was a blast to fly and learn with, but soon wore out. Since the battery isnt removable, when the battery wears out, you are kinda SOL.
Currently for sale on Amazon with Prime for $18.50.
Yes I could open it up and replace the battery, but I moved on to something bigger since its just so cheap.
SYMA X11
The Syma X11. I know I have a post about this, but this quad is awesome, cheap, and PERFECT for beginners.
Buy a couple extra batteries, and this thing is a blast to fly. I bought these for $16. And I also bought a charger that could charge them all at the same time. This $4 one to be exact. I originally bought a red one, then a white one, then a black body to replace the red body I smashed to bits. I love the X11 and its the one I recommend to everyone who wants to learn how to fly after I show them my quads.
DEVO 7E
Somewhere between X11’s I purchased a Devo 7E radio transmitter, and then modded it up, installing Deviation Firmware and throwing a nRF24L01 module inside, giving me the power to control my fleet of Syma’s with a more hobby grade radio. The difference in flying with it was obviously better. I had the chance to fly with a buddy with a Syma X11 and the stock radio and my Devo 7e controlled X11 could outfly his without hesitation. I love my Devo 7e! Purchased mine at TMart for $60 and they had one in stock in the US warehouse. I purchased the radio module from eBay for $7. 
JJRC 1000
I then picked up 2 of these (BNF, so no transmitter) because they have rave reviews and were 16 bucks a piece from TMart and a US shipping location. I really enjoyed flying this thing and it was super fast! I tweaked it with my Devo Radio and it flew amazing. For the price its really unbeatable. One ended up being eaten by my dog, and the other I lost when I flew it into my woods and couldnt find it. 😦 Ill be grabbing another one ASAP. (Never took a pic of them….)
Blade Nano QX
While on a family vacation out west, I picked up a Nano QX from a local hobby shop. It flys so smooth and super quiet, everyone who saw it were amazed. Perfect indoor flyer. I really liked that I could fly it in manual mode. Perfect for practising for my Nighthawk 250. At 80$ its the most expensive miniquad Ive every purchased, and all it took was one mishap with a loss of line of sight, and I ended up losing it into the woods behind my house. Spent an hour searching for it. Never found it. Flying it with a newly purchased Spektrum DX6, and it was super fun!
Syma X5C-1
Ive been looking for something a bit bigger, and Ive had awesome luck with Syma’s. So this was a natural choice for me. Ive had it for about 2 weeks and its been really nice to fly. Its slower, but smooth and graceful and generally just nice to fly. I did attach my Mobius to it, and it lifted it, but it was too much, and couldnt do it for any length of time. I purchased it on Amazon for about $60 bucks. I painted the back end so it would be much easier to see orientation in the sky. 
You can see that the mobius comes in at a hefty 47 grams, so the little 71 gram X5C was of course struggling with such a heavy cam.
And that takes me to the end of my “toy grade” quads and into my build, the EMax Nighthawk 250 kit I purchased from Massive RC for $185.
EMAX Nighthawk 250
This kit took me a couple months to put together, and it was my first time soldering onto small boards and it was definitely a learning process being my first ever quadcopter build. Now that its done, I have to say this thing really moves! Ill do a more in-depth post about this build in the near future.
The Electronic Dad 