Am I in my right mind?

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I have decided that I am going to purchase a phantom2 vision+, up until last week I had no doubt and waited for the price drop. Then along came all of the posts about a suspected release of a new model, and I decided to hold off for a few days. I am struggling to hold off any longer because I have been wanting one badly and finally have the money set aside for it. I am willing to wait, however, I don't know if its a legitimate thought that there will actually be a new model released in the next month(ish). Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

-chuck
 
There has been no clue or evidence of a new Phantom.
Any posts are simply guessing.
There may be a new Phantom sometime but no-one here has any idea when.
 
The Phantom ??? 3 ??? is just that, a maybe. Would be nice to have whatever new things DJI may put on the unit, but, the price drop on current models is nice and you can have one now. So, flip a coin.......
 
Hi Chuck,
My first phantom was gently used P2V. I purchased a 2D gimbal to improve the video. Then, much to my delight, I got a P2V+ and still fly both birds. IMO the + is awesome and I've seen some great deals on packages (eBay). So how new are you to RC aircraft? The + has a far superior gimbal but fragile. The P2V has a more rugged gimbal, but not that great for video smoothness or distance for control. The next one? I wouldn't be waiting while I could be flying a Phantom. I hope this helps. :D
 
cominginhot said:
I have decided that I am going to purchase a phantom2 vision+, up until last week I had no doubt and waited for the price drop. Then along came all of the posts about a suspected release of a new model, and I decided to hold off for a few days. I am struggling to hold off any longer because I have been wanting one badly and finally have the money set aside for it. I am willing to wait, however, I don't know if its a legitimate thought that there will actually be a new model released in the next month(ish). Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

-chuck
It will be announced the day after your right to return purchase period expires. :)
 
Gut feeling says a new P3 won't be out this year. I think DJI usually releases new Phantom models in the spring? So it could be a long wait.

I'd say just pull the trigger and buy the Vision+. I doubt the P3 will have anything that compelling to make it worth the wait, although a much-improved camera with 20X optical zoom would be a game-changer. Other people have speculated about advanced features like obstacle-avoidance radar but that's just crazy talk.

Where do you live? If you reside in the one of the northern States then maybe waiting until next spring for a possible P3 release would be a sensible option. With winter fast approaching, only about 2 months of good flying weather left here in the Northeast and upper Midwest. I guess you can fly a Phantom in the doldrums of winter but that seems kinda weird to me, and if you soft-crash it into the snow then you have to hurry to get it inside to dry it out !! Doesnt seem very fun. :shock:
 
Ehhhhhh... define "usually" ;)
If memory serves, the Vision was actually released last November or December... and it was the Vision PLUS that was released in the spring.

Regardless... you can spend your entire life waiting for the next version of a tech gadget. Do you really think that when the Phantom 3 comes out, you won't still wait because there will be rumors of a Phantom 3 Plus? You really do just need to live in the moment and buy what you can now. Get some enjoyment out of it. Then decide what to do WHEN the next version comes out and you actually see if it does, indeed, have any killer features that you can't live without... and in the meantime you'll be flying with a big smile on your face.
 
ProfessorStein said:
Regardless... you can spend your entire life waiting for the next version of a tech gadget. Do you really think that when the Phantom 3 comes out, you won't still wait because there will be rumors of a Phantom 3 Plus? You really do just need to live in the moment and buy what you can now. Get some enjoyment out of it. Then decide what to do WHEN the next version comes out and you actually see if it does, indeed, have any killer features that you can't live without... and in the meantime you'll be flying with a big smile on your face.

Yep, I agree. I used to play the waiting game all the time in the 90's with desktop computers since every month I was hearing about some new faster Pentium chip or jaw-dropping video card or burnable CDs, etc. I drove myself nutty trying to figure out the exact right time to buy what I wanted. So much wasted youth. :mrgreen:

I know I'll get bored of the Vision+ within a year and crave something better. That's just the nature of the beast when it comes to the exploding new realm of UAVs.
 
FASTFJR said:
If the Phantom 3 or whatever they call it does not have at least the ability to circle around and object like the H500 I'll be leaving DJI

For me at least, flying RC models is about precisely that: flying them. If I want to circle around an object, then I fly around it. It isn't a difficult skill to master, and I don't want to rely on pushing a button and having a computer do it for me.
 
Exactly, Harry. I hate posts like "if the next product doesn't do x, it will fail" or "the next product must have feature x". No, it really doesn't. All it MUST have is what the manufacturers decide it should have.

Look at all the blog posts each time a new iPhone is about to be released. "It has to have this or Apple will go down in flames". Close to 70% of those wish list features never materialized (can you say SD card slot)... and guess what, sure seems like they still sell just fine.

If you don't like the features in the next version, really no big deal. Find a platform the better fits your needs. I'm sure the next Phantom will fit the needs of many others.
 
Just because there is a new product around the corner (isn't there always?) doesn't mean that it will be much of an improvement and it doesn't mean that it won't cost substantially more making it poor value.

With the current discounts, you're getting really good value. And if you look at the competition, no one is producing anything all that great that matches the specs. A lot of companies are trying, but not really delivering. That means that DJI probably doesn't have some secret innovation up their sleeve, either. We're not going to magically see a 40 minute Phantom 3 or anything huge.

I have a feeling that it will be minor changes... alterations... refinements... We can look at all the competing products out there to see what they managed to do with $1500 to see what Phantom 3 could have... not much, IMO.
 
HarryT said:
FASTFJR said:
If the Phantom 3 or whatever they call it does not have at least the ability to circle around and object like the H500 I'll be leaving DJI

For me at least, flying RC models is about precisely that: flying them. If I want to circle around an object, then I fly around it. It isn't a difficult skill to master, and I don't want to rely on pushing a button and having a computer do it for me.

For the short term, I would tend to agree with you. Improving skills will allow you to circle a Phantom around an object and film it and get good results without needing a special POI feature.

However, if you see where the "drone" industry is going --- it's all about having software do a lot of tricks and having the multi-rotor basically fly itself. RC has been a mostly niche hobby for many years because only a small minority of people were willing to put in the hours to learn to fly aircraft with lots of peculiar nuances and tendencies to crash. The Phantom and others like it are making flying these things "dummy-proof" for the general public and that's why you see the hobby becoming rapidly popular with the masses.

I can easily foresee an affordable multi-rotor within 10 years that you can take out of the box and speak commands to it in Siri-type fashion and have it fly to multiple GPS waypoints, filming random moving objects it might encounter on the way, avoiding obstacles automatically, and then deliver small packages at the end of it's mission. We're only scratching the surface of what they can do. :)
 
MadMitch88 said:
For the short term, I would tend to agree with you. Improving skills will allow you to circle a Phantom around an object and film it and get good results without needing a special POI feature.

However, if you see where the "drone" industry is going --- it's all about having software do a lot of tricks and having the multi-rotor basically fly itself. RC has been a mostly niche hobby for many years because only a small minority of people were willing to put in the hours to learn to fly aircraft with lots of peculiar nuances and tendencies to crash. The Phantom and others like it are making flying these things "dummy-proof" for the general public and that's why you see the hobby becoming rapidly popular with the masses.

I guess it depends whether you're buying it primarily as an aircraft, or as a "flying camera". For me personally, it's the flying skills that are the whole interest of the hobby, but I can fully appreciate that there are others for whom this holds no interest, and they just want to take it out of the box and fly it. I'm not personally convinced that this is always a good thing, but it is a fact.

I can easily foresee an affordable multi-rotor within 10 years that you can take out of the box and speak commands to it in Siri-type fashion and have it fly to multiple GPS waypoints, filming random moving objects it might encounter on the way, avoiding obstacles automatically, and then deliver small packages at the end of it's mission. We're only scratching the surface of what they can do. :)

Certainly I agree with you about that.
 
MadMitch88 said:
Gut feeling says a new P3 won't be out this year. I think DJI usually releases new Phantom models in the spring? So it could be a long wait.

I'd say just pull the trigger and buy the Vision+. I doubt the P3 will have anything that compelling to make it worth the wait, although a much-improved camera with 20X optical zoom would be a game-changer. Other people have speculated about advanced features like obstacle-avoidance radar but that's just crazy talk.

Where do you live? If you reside in the one of the northern States then maybe waiting until next spring for a possible P3 release would be a sensible option. With winter fast approaching, only about 2 months of good flying weather left here in the Northeast and upper Midwest. I guess you can fly a Phantom in the doldrums of winter but that seems kinda weird to me, and if you soft-crash it into the snow then you have to hurry to get it inside to dry it out !! Doesnt seem very fun. :shock:


The P2V was released last November and the P2V+ around Februaryish...

-slinger
 
HarryT said:
FASTFJR said:
If the Phantom 3 or whatever they call it does not have at least the ability to circle around and object like the H500 I'll be leaving DJI

For me at least, flying RC models is about precisely that: flying them. If I want to circle around an object, then I fly around it. It isn't a difficult skill to master, and I don't want to rely on pushing a button and having a computer do it for me.

I've been flying R/C aircraft for many years. For me its all about video now. Flying the Phantom 2 around an object in a perfect circle while having the camera trained on the middle of the circle is pretty hard. Not impossible but pretty difficult. I could care less who the manufacture. I've seen the H500 fly.......its really nice. I'm just waiting for the gimbal to come out for the Sony RX100, looks like they are making the motors stronger. I'm also looking at the S900. But that looks like its going to be at least $1500 once I add the same features as the H500
 
Not sure what the Phantom 3 will offer over the 2. With things like dslr cameras there are only a few new releases that are a leap forward. Most are just a few more megapixels (which aren't needed) just to sell more. Look at the new iPhone 6.... what does it offer apart from a slight makeover and slightly bigger screen? Why do I need to sit at my PC at 8am on release day to bag an iPhone 6 for £600+ when I already have a perfectly good iPhone 5? Errrr, forget that last comment, that's precisely what I did! :shock: :lol:
 
HarryT said:
FASTFJR said:
If the Phantom 3 or whatever they call it does not have at least the ability to circle around and object like the H500 I'll be leaving DJI

For me at least, flying RC models is about precisely that: flying them. If I want to circle around an object, then I fly around it. It isn't a difficult skill to master, and I don't want to rely on pushing a button and having a computer do it for me.


Yep,

It's all about the flying for me too.
 
A lot of folks here seem like they would've been happy with the latest Motorola RAZR flip phone rather than waiting another month for the iPhone. If it were 2007, so to speak.
 
KwadKopter said:
A of folks here seem like they would've been happy with the latest Motorola RAZR flip phone rather than waiting another month for the iPhone. If it were 2007, so to speak.

But "newer" isn't always "better" with quads. Why do you think so many of us still buy the P2 even after the Vision and the Vision+ came out? The V+ is a "solution in a box", but it's not a solution that's best for everyone. In many ways, the P2 is more flexible, and that may well still be the case if a P3 comes out.
 

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