Excited about getting into quads/drones with a Phantom. But I am concerned with DJI's bad rep....

[Arct1c0n]

I think I'd add that DJI seems to use all of us as their QC. I've had 5 of their aircraft and all 5 have been back to the repair depot. A year ago, it was fairly painless, but lately the repair times are something like 60 days. Completely unacceptable. If you intend to fly a lot (I fly pretty much every day, and usually several times/day) you WILL have problems. Some are minor and can be fixed without sending the copter in (always try everything you can before sending one back to them), and they'll often tell you to send it in for no reason at all. Their support is atrocious. Bad advice and incorrect diagnosis is abundant.

QC problems with batteries are very common - some last a few months, some last years. Some provide 20 minutes of flight time, some give you 10. They are extremely variable - again, as if there is no QC being done at all. And virtually all P2, P3 and Inspire camera sensors are full of dead pixels, making their use for professional stills limited. Dead pixels are an indication of cheap, untested sensors, which seems to be their norm. These defects are apparent with RAW images, less so on JPEGs and videos.

Wow......... That pretty much killed my interest right there. Thanks for saving me over $1400 that I was gonna waste on trying this hobby out, but I simply don't accept that kind of lack of quality control and support from companies in this day and age. Thank you for being frank and blunt about the truth.

I'll take my money instead and go upgrade my home theatre and gaming setup for my birthday instead. I'll check into trying this hobby again in a few years maybe.

 

[marg2]

Use Lightworks too is great wish they have 1080 to export on the free version,unless you know how to set it up

1. For editing.. there is the free and superb "LightWorks" as used by Hollywood film makers.. now free..

http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_lwks&view=download&Itemid=206&tab=0
Bit of a steep learning curve though, but there are plenty of tutorials about.

2. Prop guards... stay away from them. Great for indoor flights.. but stay away from that too, until you get better.
Get a perspex camera guard and learn to hand catch the Phantom... zero chance of a tip over on landing!

3. Always remove the props after a flight, it can be part of your post and pre-flight checks to check for prop damage. There is no wear and tear to be honest.

4. Sun shield.. something like this? http://www.squarejellyfish.com/sun-shield.html - Google for many different versions.

5. Flight modes... check out youtube.. the P2 is essentially the same. IOC modes allow you to use course lock, ie. fly in a straight line while panning the camera to left or right.
Home Lock.. allows you to fly back to you by pulling back on the stick, regardless of which way the Phantom is pointing.. can be used to fly a circle around the home point, just fly left or right and the P2/3 will go in a neat circle around the home point.

6. Low battery, it can either fly home or land where it is.. clearly it's better to fly home. You could be over a road or water etc. when it decides it wants to land. Learn to complete the "mission" before you are in a low battery situation, wind and temperature affects the flight times so plan for it, not leave it to the last erg...

7. Gimbal - follow mode allows the gimbal to stay level during turns. FPV mode allows the gimbal to tilt left and right to give the pilot feedback on the turning process.
Clearly, follow mode is best using the heads up display... Not sure if the P3 only has "follow mode" anyway.

8. No ideas on this one.. check out Youtube...

9. Have fun flying!!!

 

[Fyod]

I hate to put you off, even though I like my Phantom 2 very much, but:
1] I am very well versed in electronics and am able/willing to fix what I can
2] The argument you may often read here that "nothing is perfect" isn't a good one at all

That being said, I have had tons of fun with my P2, I will keep flying it and tinkering with it, although I have a gut feeling something could go wrong. If it was an RC car, it would just stop, maybe hit something. In this case, it would fall out of the sky and I could lose over $1500 in gear, possibly damage something. That gut feeling makes the experience less fun and the manufacturer should be able to deal with it in a reasonable way.
If I was in the market as a newcomer now, I would wait a few months (I know its hard once you've decided you want one) and see how users like the Solo, then make my choice. The hobby is no longer in its infancy, puberty maybe, but what dougvg mentioned is unacceptable now that the technology has come this far. Especially the batteries. RC guys know that for half the price of DJI batteries, you can buy reliable Turnigy or Zippy LiPos.

 

[kirk2579]

Wow......... That pretty much killed my interest right there. Thanks for saving me over $1400 that I was gonna waste on trying this hobby out, but I simply don't accept that kind of lack of quality control and support from companies in this day and age. Thank you for being frank and blunt about the truth.

I'll take my money instead and go upgrade my home theatre and gaming setup for my birthday instead. I'll check into trying this hobby again in a few years maybe.

I have 2 and fly almost everyday one of them, had a few crashes ---MY ERRORS. a few sets of props etc.
I have flown over water , in and among trees and creeks and a river . in 0F degree weather , in wind , in light snow, in 92F degree weather ( all in a 4 month window)

never had a need to call or talk to anyone about my quads, P2v1 and P2 vision Plus V2

don't let SOMEONE else deprive you of a lot of fun and great videos.

Just buy one and go have fun flying and learning something new and changing by the day


You can buy a like new vision plus on B&H for 680.00

 

[Meta4]

Wow......... That pretty much killed my interest right there. Thanks for saving me over $1400 that I was gonna waste on trying this hobby out, but I simply don't accept that kind of lack of quality control and support from companies in this day and age. Thank you for being frank and blunt about the truth.

I'll take my money instead and go upgrade my home theatre and gaming setup for my birthday instead. I'll check into trying this hobby again in a few years maybe.

Perhaps CPhantom59's early post was right?
If everyone's DJI experience was bad, they wouldn't be selling millions of the things.
Search online and you'll always find someone with a gripe, some genuine, some mistaken and some because they have an axe to grind.
That goes for any product or service.

 

[185EZ]

someone had 5 phantoms ALL with problems? That's a chunk o change.
I would stop buying after the 1st one had problems, most definately after the 2nd.
I've had my phantom 1 FC40 for over a year and the only problems were caused by me.
Surprised at all the negative reviews.

 

[SteveMann]

Perhaps CPhantom59's early post was right?
If everyone's DJI experience was bad, they wouldn't be selling millions of the things.
Search online and you'll always find someone with a gripe, some genuine, some mistaken and some because they have an axe to grind.
That goes for any product or service.

Especially when they are selling 30,000 per month. [Fortune Magazine]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[CPantom59]

Arc, I don't think you are ready. The P3 is an extremely complex device where many things can go wrong. Wait for that perfect drone built by that perfect company where everybody is happy and there are no complaints.

This is not a helpful response. The OP is weighing the pros and cons of buying a P3 and has raised some poignant concerns and questions.

Looks like the OP took my sarcastic advice after all.

 

[750r]

Anyone looking for 100% problem free RC anything should probably not get into RC's . I have never and will never use any CS support . I think working on them is just as much part of the hobby as flying . Now DJI had some bad responses and has some good responses . To the OP you don't have to get the newest bird get a older model less money and IMO less problems . My original P2 has never gave me a problem my P1 had 1 problem but that was my fault . Get yourself a older bird and see if the hobby is for you .
GL!

 

[Clipper707]

I've had 5 Phantoms. 2 of my 3 P1s crashed and received minor damage. These were due to operator error. One of them hit a chain-link fence, the other a cedar picket fence. They have all been 100% reliable and I was flying a lot.

I've had two P2s, one a Vision Plus and the other a Vision converted into a P2 H3-3D. Both of my P2s have been workhorses, with a lot of time in the air and no problems, except for the P2V+ took off on its own and crashed into a bamboo fence on the banks of the Mekong River. I was flying near an outdoor concert in Laos and there may have been some kind of RF interference.

I don't have a problem with DJI, only fences.

 

[dougvg]

In answer to many who have defended DJI, I concur that when the Phantoms are flying, they fly wonderfully, and maybe I expect more reliability than such a toy can offer. BUT... 60 days for repairs is still unreasonable, and these are sold to the general public, advertised as something anyone can fly - they're not sold as something that you should own only if you are a serious tinkerer. They are also sold as a photographic tool, which they are - they allow me to shoot stills and video I couldn't get anywhere else. That said, the number of dead pixels in their sensors is way beyond any acceptable level for a photographer. Maybe the technology is in its infancy, or puberty, but that doesn't mean that DJI (or anyone else) should release a product that still has so many flaws en masse ("30,000 per month sold" (which, by the way, I don't accept as a metric for their durability)). I'm all for tweaking the birds and I enjoy it, too, and I am a 45-year licensed pilot, but the complexity of the processors and the programming are well beyond the expertise of the market that DJI (and Amazon and B&H) are targeting. I can well imagine that you could buy one of these and never have a problem, but that has not been my experience. As to why I haven't given up on them after so many failures, I accept that they are a new technology, and I love the abilities they provide to a photographer. I think DJI has done a great job of figuring out the tech and marketing it, but an atrocious job of QC and customer relations. Maybe it's time for them to plow some of those $billions back into these less sexy parts of their company.

 

[CPantom59]

Thank God we live in a country (USA) where the only thing you are forced to purchase is health insurance.

 

[dougvg]

Thank the stars that we live in a world where feedback from customers is taken as constructive criticism and improvements are made based upon it!

 

[Ezookiel]

Have a look for clip on guards sold here by a member called MortarArt.
I believe the guards are one of the few things compatible between the P2 and P3.
Don't let people put you off using guards. We'd never have accidents if we always knew exactly when where and how things were going to go wrong, so having guards on is good insurance for the unexpected. Even a bird attack could potentially be less catastrophic. A bird hitting bare props could stop them sufficiently for control to be unrecoverable. A bird hitting a guard, might leave the props spinning enough to get back up to speed, and get control back in time. Personally I use them as a matter of course unless I specifically need to keep as much out of the shot as possible.

Not sure on what you mean with question 7 about your Orientation - personally I like flying with the camera facing forward in FPV position because it is very easy as a beginner to become incorrectly oriented and turn left when you mean to turn right, etc, and many a crash has been caused by getting too close to a tree or obstacle, and the person trying to move rapidly AWAY, and instead moving INTO the obstacle. Flying FPV means that left is always left, and right is always right, etc, even when flying directly towards yourself, so I use it most of the time, and only do enough LOS flying to keep my skills up (i.e. NOT becoming disoriented when flying towards myself with reversed controls).

 

[CPantom59]

OP gets in, does his dirty work, then gets out.