We need a battery mod first, to take full advantage of the stock 4.3+ mile range. That is already the limiting factor, even at 25 minutes, when you can't fly faster than 30mph to achieve that battery life. With more flight time from a battery mod, a longer range can be considered. More range without a battery mod won't help much.
There's a guy, on the forums, that went the 4.3 miles and came back with 20-25% battery life.
And if he ran into an unexpected headwind on the return then he might not have made it. The point is that if all you can do it get somewhere and then have to fly straight back immediately while praying your battery lasts then it isn't really useful range. Until we have more endurance there isn't much point in a capability for more distance.
True, but I think the cap at 4.3 miles is overkill for 75% of the pilots out there, as most of them will never even get close to that. Just saying.
Oh I have never flown a quad to 2 miles, but performing micro range tests on micro mode tests long range distance. The point I'm trying to make is that I think the distance for the p4p is more than enough for the majority of users. People that want more, usually know more about drones. Which they should experience the fun in building them part by part.Now that's impressive. My knees start to shake at 2 miles
Understood. That wasn't my point. I have flown nearly 12 miles (57,500 feet) in an oval and returned with 10%, but you can't linger at your destination, and have to fly at constant 30mph throughout for a 25 minute flight. I would love an extra 5 minutes or more from a battery mod to explore and linger, and for a margin of safety, and battery redundancy.
It might seem insignificant because it's only 20% more flight time, but it can be very significant. Assume it takes 10 minutes to reach your point of interest/destination and 10 minutes to return. That leaves 5 minutes for shooting. If I need/want 10 minutes of shooting time at the destination, that requires two round trips to get 10 minutes in, taking up 50 minutes total flying, and another few minutes in between flights to swap cards and batteries and relaunch. If I can extend my flight time by a mere 5 minutes per flight, I have doubled my shooting time at my destination and can complete it in one trip, taking up exactly 30 minutes, cutting my total time almost in half!
Understandable...but technically we could want 5 more min of flight time no matter what size the battery is. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand your point. On my custom quads, I have a 500 mah battery that is twice as big, and weighs twice as much, as the dji battery. It only has a flying time of 15 min. My smaller, faster, quad only can fly 5 min per battery.It might seem insignificant because it's only 20% more flight time, but it can be very significant. Assume it takes 10 minutes to reach your point of interest/destination and 10 minutes to return. That leaves 5 minutes for shooting. If I need/want 10 minutes of shooting time at the destination, that requires two round trips to get 10 minutes in, taking up 50 minutes total flying, and another few minutes in between flights to swap cards and batteries and relaunch. If I can extend my flight time by a mere 5 minutes per flight, I have doubled my shooting time at my destination and can complete it in one trip, taking up exactly 30 minutes, cutting my total time almost in half!
Now, assume it takes 12 minutes to get there, and 12 minutes to return, leaving only 1 minute for shooting. If I need/want 6 minutes of shooting at the destination, that requires six round trips, or almost 3 hours total. If I can now extend my flight time by a mere five minutes, I can complete my task of 6 minutes of shooting at a location 12 minutes away in a single flight, saving two and a half hours. The farther away your subject is, the more impactful the extra minutes of flight time can be!
4 mile range is shitty? Also you don't need a mod to choose 2.4 or 5.8, it's user selectable...
I'm scared to go any further
is there dedicated thread for 'modding', if there is didn't find it, so asking here..
Agreed. Really happy the P4P battery has added 10% without any additional weight, and is also usable in the P4! It definitely simplifies deployability, as external batteries are a genuine hassle to deal with, with all the plugging and unplugging, and extra charging, and needing to unstrap and restrap them if replacing them in the field. Swapping just a stock battery alone is so much easier!
Straps on two external batteries of your choosing in parallel with the internal battery, by cracking open the shell, and soldering in new leads that come out through holes drilled in each side of the aircraft, to attach the external batteries, mounted on each side below the strut connections. Costs $250 for the mod, plus batteries, and a charger, and voids your DJI warranty, so only do it with an aircraft that you know has no issues that might require a future warranty repair!
See FPVCustoms.com
Smart Return to Home is very conservative and kicks in at 65% remaining battery, when flying straight out. After canceling it, it will fly as far away as you like, within signal range, out to almost 5 miles, which is the upper limit to still make it back home, for a 53,000 foot round trip, on a new full P4P battery.
