So - I found a Phantom Advanced/Professional battery for sale on Amazon today for $119 Canadian ($95 US) and very nearly pulled the trigger on it. It has the exact same capacity as the DJI OEM battery.
(In case you don't want to read this whole message - this post is a suggestion to "DO NOT BUY" at the current time )
The company marketing the battery is called "Upstart" and their website goes into great detail about how the quality of their batteries is as good as or better than the quality of the OEM batteries. They also mention that their warrant/guarantee is better than the OEM equivalent.
There were no reviews for the item and I thought I might order one and take it to my technician friend for a tear-down and quality/cell analysis - but before i finished shopping, I stumbled upon another listing for this battery - in a 2-pack this time (for the same price x 2) but there was a user review attached to this listing. The user gave the battery a single star and said that DJI's latest firmware update prevents this battery from being used at all. It is now a $95 paperweight.
I know that many of the more skittish members will reply to this thread with their "advice" and "wisdom" and they will tell you to NEVER buy after market components - especially a battery. And they will use fear-mongering tactics to convince you that they are right and they will claim that saving $50 on a battery will crash your $1000 drone. Of course, these people couldn't be more wrong - but whatevs - they are free to waste their money paying for a name while we smarter consumers will research the actual quality of the products and then pay the lowest price for the best quality.
Don't misunderstand me. A lot of aftermarket stuff is in fact, total crap. But not all of it, all the time. Some aftermarket items can and do exceed the quality of the equivalent OEM part - but it requires research and sometimes patience to find these products - but when you do find one - it's nice to save a few dollars and feel smug knowing you paid less for a superior item!
In any case - even though this battery seemed like it might have potential to be such a product - if DJI is going to make it impossible via firmware to operate a phantom with an aftermarket battery - I guess we're out of luck.
The purpose of this message is to advise anyone that might be considering purchasing an Upstart after-market battery that they may want to hold off on that decisions until there is evidence that the Phantom firmware will allow it to be used.
I emailed the company and I will post their reply here if they answer.
For now - DO NOT BUY the Upstart Phantom 3 Adv/Pro replacement battery.
(In case you don't want to read this whole message - this post is a suggestion to "DO NOT BUY" at the current time )
The company marketing the battery is called "Upstart" and their website goes into great detail about how the quality of their batteries is as good as or better than the quality of the OEM batteries. They also mention that their warrant/guarantee is better than the OEM equivalent.
There were no reviews for the item and I thought I might order one and take it to my technician friend for a tear-down and quality/cell analysis - but before i finished shopping, I stumbled upon another listing for this battery - in a 2-pack this time (for the same price x 2) but there was a user review attached to this listing. The user gave the battery a single star and said that DJI's latest firmware update prevents this battery from being used at all. It is now a $95 paperweight.
I know that many of the more skittish members will reply to this thread with their "advice" and "wisdom" and they will tell you to NEVER buy after market components - especially a battery. And they will use fear-mongering tactics to convince you that they are right and they will claim that saving $50 on a battery will crash your $1000 drone. Of course, these people couldn't be more wrong - but whatevs - they are free to waste their money paying for a name while we smarter consumers will research the actual quality of the products and then pay the lowest price for the best quality.
Don't misunderstand me. A lot of aftermarket stuff is in fact, total crap. But not all of it, all the time. Some aftermarket items can and do exceed the quality of the equivalent OEM part - but it requires research and sometimes patience to find these products - but when you do find one - it's nice to save a few dollars and feel smug knowing you paid less for a superior item!
In any case - even though this battery seemed like it might have potential to be such a product - if DJI is going to make it impossible via firmware to operate a phantom with an aftermarket battery - I guess we're out of luck.
The purpose of this message is to advise anyone that might be considering purchasing an Upstart after-market battery that they may want to hold off on that decisions until there is evidence that the Phantom firmware will allow it to be used.
I emailed the company and I will post their reply here if they answer.
For now - DO NOT BUY the Upstart Phantom 3 Adv/Pro replacement battery.