Am I Just Atypical ?

[Drone-Outlaw]

You know I'm @ that 20+ flight log, and my complaint is that the Pic's & Video data will not download to my iphone4s? I have tried everything, spent hrs trying to solve the prob. I just get a message saying that the download failed. Or video format not supported, or user denied access! It sucks. I have sent several emails to company with zero responses!! I have used every setting of Photo & Video to see if it may like or dislike certain settings?? I don't know......
Any suggestings??
Thx, take care
Moose

 

[rotation]

I'll join the chorus and report that I'm very happy with my P2V. Flown only a half-dozen times over the two weeks I've had it and it's performed flawlessly each time. Hope that continues (crosses-fingers). I'm an amateur photographer with amateur standards, so while the shaky video (getting a little smoother with flight practice) and a bit of right-sided softness in the stills isn't the best, it doesn't need to be - I'm not selling these pictures to anyone else. I'm less than thrilled to learn that my city has an ordinance against flying any "model aircraft" in city parks (who knew I was breaking the law the two times I flew in parks), which means I must travel out of town to indulge this new hobby, but looking to do so whenever work allows. Weather in CA is unseasonably warm (sorry guys in the US-midwest/northeast ), but that has us in drought conditions and hoping for precipitation .

I came home today from a weekend out of town (unfortunately for a funeral and not for flying) to find the trifecta had delivered - received the prop balancing rod from UK, the lens filter kit, the Flytrex, and a case for those out-of-town trips, so I have some modding to do before next weekend. Now if I can only get work to settle down so I have time for both the modifications and the flights!

 

[BenDronePilot]

I'm in the same camp as you. My Phantom has been great and up to date! Though I'm having an issue with it drifting to the right a bit. I'm not sure if my latest calibration resolved it for sure but i'll see. Otherwise you're right. Most people who post are people with questions or problems. Some of those problems being user induced. If people who've had problem free flights posted that would overwhelm the nay sayers by a large margin.

 

[rotordan]

1. We love it too. Meets all expectations. Ready to fly. 20+ flights. No mishaps other than toppling on the ground once, before we found out that just keeping the throttle fully down will stop the props and a CSC gesture is not needed (RTFM!). Nowadays we most often just catch it out of a hover above our heads. Easy to do, even solo, and no danger to bystanders. Still on the first set of props. Easy to fly. My son mastered it in a couple of minutes without any prior model flying experience.

I am happy I went for the integrated package even if it costs a bundle compared to the more custom soloutions. Especially the high priced batteries were a deterrent.

2. Had limited epectations of the camera too, based on footage posted by others. Was therefore pleasantly surprised. For video we record at 1080p and render mostly at 720p. Most viewers find the quality astonishing. Using stabilisation in iMovie sometimes, not too agressive. Debating whether to get a gimbal. We live in the same country as Dronexpert. Maybe I'll support the local economy eventually, funds permitting.

3. Absolutely great performance. With a little forward movement much more stable than I expected.

4. Batteries *are* expensive by comparison. I bought one extra and find the 30-40 minutes flying time 2 batteries give us more than sufficient for our purposes. No fumbling with cables and stuffing them into the body is a plus. Easy integrated capacity LEDS are convenient. Charging time has not been an issue so far.

5. Never any problems. Had to use auto-return once after loosing sight in direction of the low sun. Worked like a charm. Took control and continued.

6. Have not needed any support so far; knock-knock. ;-)

Lessons learnt:

We almost always fly with a second person spotting; definitely in areas with more than a few people around or the possibility of helo traffic. Spotter answers questions from bystanders, observes air traffic and anything else in the environment, like approaching officials etc. For specific shots the spotter can look at the iphone/ipad and direct the pilot. The pilot *always* has their eyes on the aircraft. We often switch roles in mid flight. Spotter calls out battery capacity to the pilot at least every 20%.

Bought a case. It is worth the investment just by keeping everything neatly stowed together and protecting the hardware.

Have a preflight checklist including:

LENS COVER - REMOVED
SD CARD - INSERTED, FORMATTED AS REQUIRED
VIDEO RECORDING - STARTED
S1/S2 SWITCHES - SET AS REQUIRED
ANTENNA - VERTICAL
FLIGHT CASE - SECURED AND IN VIEW
HOME POSITION - CONFIRMED

Don't laugh! Every single item besides the home position got forgotten at least once!

Then after takeoff we always hover close-by to observe stability and fly a small climbing circle or figure eight with inputs on all control axes to check for the expected responses. Only when this gives no surprises do we begin with what we planned. So far we never had any issues. But if this test ever gives the slightest doubt, we will land immediately and check it out.

The bad solder joints and loosening screws stories we read here suggest a somewhat rigorous periodic check/maintenance shcedule. Still pondering it.

For stable footage it helps to keep forward movement and steer only with yaw inputs. Long straight runs give the best results. The craft at first always appears farther away than it in fact is. The downlink video is very very helpful to set up specific axes of flight relative to the ground. Using the lowest quality is best as it reduces lag; real-time is more important than quality for monitoring purposes.

We always use aviation maps to check for any airspace restrictions. In the US skyvector.com is a free and good service for this. We never even think about flying in controlled airspace. We try to know as much as possible about any local laws or regulations. We carry 2,500,000.- Euro worldwide liability insurance that covers model aircraft up to 25kg. And above all we try to use common sense and be considerate to others.

So, yes after about a month we are happy P2V flyers. And even the female members of the family now grudgingly admit that they like the footage ;-)

 

[Pull_Up]

Great report, and welcome!

Have a look through this forum, you'll find threads with suggested pre-flight checklists and also preventative maintenance/inspection checklists for you to pick and choose from.

 

[PETELEEUK]

one full month of happy flights for me. cant wait for the summer to get out more.

initial compass dance and no updates..

it is a fantastic bit of kit

 

[Firestat]

I agree with the first post. I am not an aggressive flyer but with few exceptions (Not a valid DJI battery), I have really not had very many problems. I try to keep in mind that the Phantoms are not 3-D manchines and if I want to fly that way, I will just get out one of my Blades and have a go at it.

Chuck

 

[iResq]

I am both happy and not satisfied (it's a personality flaw). Always looking to tweak and improve, be that hardware or software (me!).

I love my P2V and I'm going to love it more with a gimble. LOL.

 

[Vicrimo]

You are only atypical in the sense that most people without issues don't post in online forums!

If aliens came to Earth and only had online forums to learn about the various products/technology we've created, they'd think we were a bunch of imbeciles who couldn't produce anything that worked!

I've had my P2V since early December and the only issues I've had with it I can chalk up to operator error.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Completely agree with you

 

[goldcoastkiwi]

1. I love my P2V
2. I am fairly happy with the camera
3. I have had no issues with flight performance
4. The batteries work as expected
5. Never had any type of fly-away scenario (fingers crossed, knocking on wood, etc)
6. Tech support responded to me appropriately

... now all this said, I've only had the P2V about a month and probably about 20 flights. Just curious - perhaps the site here is just heavy on the "squeaky wheel" side for obvious reasons ? Thx.

1. Check!
2. Check it!
3. Check Check!
4. Checkitty Check!
5. Checker!
6. N/A.

Luvin the P2V.

Took it out for a fly this morning and had a great time. My son's Ar Drone 2.0 had some issues with takeoff (duet incorrectly installed rotors) so he had to sit with his head in his hands as I had a merry old time. Hahahaha!

After I had finished and was packing up a local dude rocked up and said "DUDE THAT WAS F*@KEN AWESOME."

He phrased it rather well methinks!