Comment by astromaniak

I have built drones before so I can answer.

The short answer is yes. It would be about a billion times better than anything you can buy RTF but also a lot more expensive.

Some (if not most) of the open source hardware would probably be built in China but this hardware can be flashed with Open Source software like betaflight.

If you doubt, just look at companies that sell drone parts/kits like https://www.getfpv.com/fpv.html check out their goggles section, they are all high end.

You ask about video re cording/signal. How can you possibly beat being able to hand-pick your VTX/VRX chip, or your camera? How can any pre-built commercial drone possibly compete with that?

Same with control. You can buy the best motors, the best ESCs, the best carbon fiber frame, the best parts to build and secure all the above. You just cant compete.

But some people lack the time, skills or patience to learn how to build one, and learn the software.