Distance test

No sport as I wanted gps insurance if I should lose connection. Even on the way back I left it in P. But I was aware of Sport if I saw my speed dropping I was prepped to switch, raise altitude, and go full power.

Thankfully the wind played along.
Pretty sure you still have GPS even in Sport Mode Mier. Unless you have a GPS disconnect which is rare. You do give up object avoidance returning to home if RC disconnects in Sport Mode though. It will reconnect but might be too late if you have a building you have to go over immediately. Been there. But it has happened to 3-4 people here so far. Plus the added battery drain of Sport Mode too. Thx for info man.
 
For those of you who haven't visited the P4 distance thread, some of the best distances achieved have been at around 30 mph, which has to be done in Atti or Sport mode since 18 mph is top speed in P mode. While flying those runs, I found it a little difficult to maintain a constant speed for optimal efficiency. Since 30 mph is about the top speed in the P4P's P mode, I'd expect some good distance runs at full right stick which couldn't be easier.

I'm still waiting for some impressive numbers from the P4P which has over a mile of listed distance over the P4. I'm not seeing it yet for some reason in this forum. I'm not saying "Impress me", but I'd still like to be impressed. I did 2 flights over 26,000' one night with just windsurfers, and I can regularly get over 22,000'.

For any of you brave(stupid) enough to reach out, I've used all sensors and front lights on the way out and turned them off during RTH just for the extra juice. I even stopped recording during one of my over 26,000' feet runs on RTH to see if that helped. To add, my limiting factor on those runs were the battery and not connection related.

These runs I did were over a relatively flat empty desert at about 4,000' elevation. Also, I have LOS for any manned aircraft in the area during those flights.

I'm flying Litchi missions mostly now, but I may attempt more max distance runs in the future in an attempt to break the 5 mile barrier since I was less than a football field away.
 
You are wrong: 22mph is the max speed with obstacle avoidance turned on in the P4 standard. However, one can turn off collision avoidance and got up to 33mph in P mode.

For those of you who haven't visited the P4 distance thread, some of the best distances achieved have been at around 30 mph, which has to be done in Atti or Sport mode since 18 mph is top speed in P mode. While flying those runs, I found it a little difficult to maintain a constant speed for optimal efficiency. Since 30 mph is about the top speed in the P4P's P mode, I'd expect some good distance runs at full right stick which couldn't be easier.

I'm still waiting for some impressive numbers from the P4P which has over a mile of listed distance over the P4. I'm not seeing it yet for some reason in this forum. I'm not saying "Impress me", but I'd still like to be impressed. I did 2 flights over 26,000' one night with just windsurfers, and I can regularly get over 22,000'.

For any of you brave(stupid) enough to reach out, I've used all sensors and front lights on the way out and turned them off during RTH just for the extra juice. I even stopped recording during one of my over 26,000' feet runs on RTH to see if that helped. To add, my limiting factor on those runs were the battery and not connection related.

These runs I did were over a relatively flat empty desert at about 4,000' elevation. Also, I have LOS for any manned aircraft in the area during those flights.

I'm flying Litchi missions mostly now, but I may attempt more max distance runs in the future in an attempt to break the 5 mile barrier since I was less than a football field away.
 
For those of you who haven't visited the P4 distance thread, some of the best distances achieved have been at around 30 mph, which has to be done in Atti or Sport mode since 18 mph is top speed in P mode. While flying those runs, I found it a little difficult to maintain a constant speed for optimal efficiency. Since 30 mph is about the top speed in the P4P's P mode, I'd expect some good distance runs at full right stick which couldn't be easier.

I'm still waiting for some impressive numbers from the P4P which has over a mile of listed distance over the P4. I'm not seeing it yet for some reason in this forum. I'm not saying "Impress me", but I'd still like to be impressed. I did 2 flights over 26,000' one night with just windsurfers, and I can regularly get over 22,000'.

For any of you brave(stupid) enough to reach out, I've used all sensors and front lights on the way out and turned them off during RTH just for the extra juice. I even stopped recording during one of my over 26,000' feet runs on RTH to see if that helped. To add, my limiting factor on those runs were the battery and not connection related.

These runs I did were over a relatively flat empty desert at about 4,000' elevation. Also, I have LOS for any manned aircraft in the area during those flights.

I'm flying Litchi missions mostly now, but I may attempt more max distance runs in the future in an attempt to break the 5 mile barrier since I was less than a football field away.


Phantom 4 pro top speed in P-GPS mode with OA enabled is 30mph guys. :)
 
I was standing on the beach.
The completely clear signal over water along a beach allows you to stay really low, as it reflects the signal, instead of diffracting it, with an unobstructed LOS. From 250 feet above sea level, I can drop to 20 feet over the ocean from 3-5 miles away, while getting to the beach itself, from inland, may require 150 to 200 feet AGL.
 
No sport as I wanted gps insurance if I should lose connection. Even on the way back I left it in P. But I was aware of Sport if I saw my speed dropping I was prepped to switch, raise altitude, and go full power.

Thankfully the wind played along.
Sport mode still has full GPS, just no OAS. Full power in Sport kills your battery in no time flat. Ask me how I know! :eek:
 
You are wrong: 22mph is the max speed with obstacle avoidance turned on in the P4 standard. However, one can turn off collision avoidance and got up to 33mph in P mode.
Correct. P4 with OAS turned off in P mode flies like the P3P in P mode, but flies a little faster. P4P with OAS on, at full throttle, with no wind, maintains a constant 30mph speed, which has historically been the sweet spot speed for long distance flying in no wind on both the P4 and P3P.
 
My P4 does 18 mph in horizontal flight with no wind in P-mode with all sensors activated for some reason, but it does 22 mph in RTH and Tap2Fly. I was originally doing my distance runs with Tap2Fly because full right stick was the 22 mph. I guess mine is defective since I'm not getting 22 mph in P-mode..

Still, 30 mph, or around there, is the sweet spot for distance flying. Since all you have to do is full right stick over a safe expanse, let's see some high distance numbers!
 
Flying with OAS on, at full throttle and 27-30 mph, I got a full 24 minutes tonight, from 100% to 12% remaining battery, on a 10 mile flight. That would translate into 5 miles out and back, had I been flying in a straight line, instead of the large oval that was 3 miles away at the extreme, with the launch at one end. I started out in 5.8 Auto, but it switched into 2.4 about a mile away, and the FPV and signal started getting dodgy, with heavy pixelation on the FPV. I changed it back to 5.8 Auto and it really cleaned it up, and I was off again! It stayed in 5.8 the rest of the flight.
 
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This thread is insane! It's been a great read.
I'm brand new to all of this, and trying to make my decision on the purchase...mavic or P4P. I'm no professional, camera is nice on either for me, but stability, distance, reliability are huge.
I by no means want to hijack, but for those that have been flying the mavic and the P4P, has the P4P been a better machine all around? Seems like distance is not an issue!
 
There's a YouTube video of a guy that flew his 8km (6mi) from a mountain ridge down to his house and landed on his terrace.

Top floor of the building.

I got a kick out of the display showing he was -1000m agl
 
Strange,I have very little problems now over water, but distance still freaks me out, 2 miles is enough for me,greetings from the UK.
Same here ....I have no desire to "see how far it will go" simply for the sake of doing it. That, and being a licensed commercial drone operator like myself, once you get a mile out you're typically out of VLOS anyways so there's that. My license means more to me than taking it out 3-4 miles, but that's just me. I'll happily live vicariously through those much braver than myself. :)

Btw, I saw that guy who flew his drone 8km down a mtn & landed it on his terrace. While it was a pretty cool video, it was also very irresponsible flying if you ask me. He has quite a few other videos where he flies equally irresponsibly & takes unnecessary risks, so I stopped subscribing.
I'm not here to diss someone else's flying, but it's because of people like him that we have the strict laws that we have all over the world.
 
I tend to agree...I'm happy to watch other people fly 3 mi over a metro area, but all I can think of is what would happen if it fell over a freeway and smashed into a windshield causing a massive pileup.

I don't have quite the same concerns when it's done at relatively low alt over empty land but still a risk I'm not willing to take.

And if I had a commercial license at risk I definitely wouldn't jeopardize it.
 
There's a YouTube video of a guy that flew his 8km (6mi) from a mountain ridge down to his house and landed on his terrace.

Top floor of the building.

I got a kick out of the display showing he was -1000m agl
This was a reg P4 btw and a modified antenna btw. Pretty unreal that he didn't lose RC signal more as he came down to land!
 
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There's a YouTube video of a guy that flew his 8km (6mi) from a mountain ridge down to his house and landed on his terrace.

Top floor of the building.

I got a kick out of the display showing he was -1000m agl
That was a P4 with a transmitter mod, rather than a stock P4P, but still a great proof of concept, and a well planned and executed mission! :cool: Since he was descending the whole way, he was able to accomplish it on a stock battery without needing a battery mod. The reverse flight would not have been possible with that equipment.
 
The reason he had 65% power remaining was that it all went into distance since hew only had to climb to 56 ft. Climbing eats power. There are not many areas that are equal to that location.
If you like the person above had to climb to 1000 feet he would of never made it back.
 

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