Operational Range

[Natakl]

Hello drone enthusiasts!

I'm completely new to this hobby, only started researching it this week. I understand how they work, apart from one thing, and I was hoping you might know and would like to share.
I am confused by the specification "operational range" that I see in almost every drone that I researched so far. I understand that it's relevant for RPA drones, but why do they matter for UAV? If I program a drone to fly to a certain location, it should be able to fly in that direction as far as the battery holds, regardless of how far away from me it is, correct?

Kind Regards
Fellow noob enthusiast

[AR.Tommy]

Hello,

this depends on the software and drone model. For example some drones are forced to stay in wifi range.

[waterlanding]

There are also country-by-country regulations for how far away you can operate a drone legally. It the US, the legal operational range is Line-of-Sight according to the FAA...

[dries_w]

. . . . . . . If I program a drone to fly to a certain location, it should be able to fly in that direction as far as the battery holds, regardless of how far away from me it is, correct?. . . . . .

Correct, when you use FFpro with FlightPlan or similair software. So @AR.Tommy is correct when he say its depending on software and drone you use, with my addition: the batterylife.