Finally bit the bullet - P3 Adv arriving today!

I've been wanting a drone for a while, but I figured that I'd wait until the prices kept going down...etc. Well, I went to the NHRA Drag Races at Bristol, and someone there has a P3 adv. As soon as I got home I ordered one.

Now I can't wait for it to arrive - sometime today. I've tried to research this as much as I could, but one question I have is, how will I be able to view live video as I fly? Does the drone need to have wifi to broadcast video, or will I be able to take it out in a field and view live video, where maybe there is no wifi?

This is a great forum, I've learned a lot in just the few days since I found it.

Your just at the beginning of an expensive and super fun hobby, start by getting herself a couple extra batteries. You won't have enough fly time just with the one that comes with it. Buy a multi battery charger, worst thing when it's a beautiful day and your stuck watching your batteries charge one at a time hours after hour. Invest in a hard shell backpack or something of the like to tote your quad around. Your will get bored flying from the same spot outside of your home and taking it to the local soccer field or farm field will give you more fun time and knowledge flying it. Lastly, invest in a hi spec tablet. You will get frustrated looking at the mini screen of a phone and everything looks so minuet. I am an apple guy but I actually use an Nvidia Shiled K1 which apple and other hi spec/hi cost tabs still can't touch it with its options. External memory that lets you expand the memory to an internal memory at 128gb. HDMI to your TV to play games and use it as a console. Lastly, and this actually should be at the top of the list is adsorb all the knowledge you can about your quad Before you fly around any people at all. This might seem like a toy but it's a very dangerous devise and I'd hate to hear about some bad accidents and the government start enforcing new laws against us. There are a lot of good YouTube vids but one in particular is (Tom's Tech Time). You've just begun an addictive and adrenaline pumping hobby, Happy and Safe Flying...
 
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I did the same thing. I bought a P3S and "trained" on it for about a month. I realized I wanted something a little better and now that I am comfortable flying I bought the P3Adv. Arrived yesterday and I am LOVING it.
 
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One day we will hear about a gimbal clamp that didn't fall off in the box during shipping!

I put a couple of arrows on mine with a sharpie to help with getting it oriented.

But ultimately the best solution is one of the 3D printed lens caps that doubles as a gimbal clamp is what works best. There are also "production" molded models such as the one from PolarPro (I just got one free with purchase of a ND filter set from their website, haven't used it yet.)

I also used sharpie to paint arrows to help
 
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Congrats! I got mine in February, but wasn't able to fly for a while.

I got this 8" tablet for $199 on someone's recommendation:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0171BS9CG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I didn't see it on the "approved" list, but it works fine.

I like this case:
Amazon.com : DJI Phantom 3 Backpack designed to fit the Phantom 3 Professional, Advanced, and Standard Edition Drone's, Koozam Products : Camera & Photo

I got these to remind me to remove the gimbal clamp:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HXZT14/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I put red props in front, which helps tremendously with orientation.

I've been lucky in my flights so far. The biggest newbie error I read about is flying on batteries that start at less than full charge (which causes a false reading, sudden power loss, and instant death).
 
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The biggest newbie error I read about is flying on batteries that start at less than full charge (which causes a false reading, sudden power loss, and instant death).
This is not an issue unless you're using firmware version 1.5.
 
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Well - I have an iPod Touch that maybe I can use? But I was planning on using my Sony Xperia Z3 (verizon) phone at least initially.

Ideally, I'd like to use a tablet for a bigger screen. Of my two kids, one has an iPad, and the other has a Samsung Andriod tablet.


Any recommendations on what works best? I might get away with borrowing a tablet for the first few weeks before I have to bite another bullet and get my own. A question regarding that - would I need cell service or wifi for the tablet that I am using? Or would I be able to go into the "boonies" where there is no mobile service or wifi and still fly?
 
My P3A arrived yesterday and I flew the maiden flight today. It came with 1.4.10+ on the bird and 1.4.30+ on the remote. My Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro is at 2.8.1. It flew fine lIke that. The gimbal was shaky at first but it was windy and smoothed out some after a while. I ran it out 6500 feet before it lost a bar. I don't think my souped up Standard is going to be able to hang with the advanced.
 
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Got a few more flights under my belt, my Marco Polo tracker has arrived, and I'm starting to get a little bit braver - not in the way that I fly, but just in trusting the drone to stay in the sky and come back if I lose sight of it. I'm going a little bit further than I was last week.

A couple quick questions here...

First, the silver "knurled" piece that is on the phone/tablet holder was loose, so I finger tightened it. I'm guessing that the phone or tablet holder is removable, and that's the purpose of this part? I know, this is kind of a dumb question, but when it was loose, the tablet holder still seemed like it was on there pretty good and I couldn't remove it.

My second question - how can I record my voice along with the video that I am capturing from the drone... kind of to narrate what I am doing? The guy who started my addiction to this hobby was flying his P3A around the campground, but you could hear his voice on the video from his location at the remote control.
 
the silver "knurled" piece that is on the phone/tablet holder was loose, so I finger tightened it. I'm guessing that the phone or tablet holder is removable, and that's the purpose of this part?
That piece unscrews to release the rear part of the holder from the remote controller. It won't release from the remote controller until you completely unscrew it.

The tablet holder bracket is made of plastic and will flex a bit due to the weight of your mobile device. When it flexes, that knurled piece will loosen. You'll probably find you have to tighten it again after a while. If you want to fix that problem, you can install the Inspire 1/P4 tablet holder (see this thread) or replace the plastic bracket with a metal bracket (like the TACO-RC bracket or the Jrelics bracket).

how can I record my voice along with the video that I am capturing from the drone... kind of to narrate what I am doing?
The video is recorded and saved on the memory card in your Phantom. So, you'll need to record your voice on your mobile device or via some type of voice recorder and use an app to merge the video and sound together later.
 
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The video is recorded and saved on the memory card in your Phantom. So, you'll need to record your voice on your mobile device or via some type of voice recorder and use an app to merge the video and sound together later.


In regard to the tablet mount, it looks like I'm having the same issues as many before me....


Is there a way to stream video on facebook that includes voice from the pilot at the controller? I think that is what we were looking at when he was flying - it was on facebook, live. I do have a facebook account, but I don't use it all that much, pretty much just have it to keep track on my two teenage kids...
 
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In regard to the tablet mount, it looks like I'm having the same issues as many before me....


Is there a way to stream video on facebook that includes voice from the pilot at the controller? I think that is what we were looking at when he was flying - it was on facebook, live. I do have a facebook account, but I don't use it all that much, pretty much just have it to keep track on my two teenage kids...

Yes, you can chose to stream to Youtube or Facebook live from within the DJI app. It uses your tablet/phone microphone to pick up your voice and surrounding sounds.
 
Good advice here.

When I bought mine, I bought it as a package with a case - just suitcase-style but it will work.

I'm going to order the 'Remove Before Flight' tags - nice idea.

If you haven't ordered yours yet, I'd be happy to drop one in the mail to you, gratis. I don't need 5 of them :)
 
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The simplest way to narrate your video is to do it after in an editor.

or you could use a recorder app at the same time you record video and bring the sound track in with an editor.
That way you also get other sounds around you, like the p3 takeoff and fly overs.
 
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If you haven't ordered yours yet, I'd be happy to drop one in the mail to you, gratis. I don't need 5 of them :)

That would be great!

I'll PM you my address.


I actually made that mistake today - not removing the gimble guard. I got a 'gimble motor overload error' and realized right away. I hadn't been using the gimble guard because it fell off in shipping and took me until two days ago to figure out how it was supposed to go on. So I'm not in the habit of pulling it off each time I go to fly.

I must have been brain dead today, because I also forgot to put the memory card back in after looking at the video I shot, and I was getting all kinds of other errors also.


Are you in DC? My family and I just came through there on Tuesday, coming home from Busch Gardens for ID holiday. We also ride the entire C&O trail every year, sometimes starting in Cumberland, sometimes starting from the point in Pittsburgh.

Thank you for your kind offer, and I will pay it forward!

EDIT: Is there not a PM function in this forum? Would you mind shootng me a quick email ([email protected]) and I will reply back with my address?
 
That would be great!

I'll PM you my address.


I actually made that mistake today - not removing the gimble guard. I got a 'gimble motor overload error' and realized right away. I hadn't been using the gimble guard because it fell off in shipping and took me until two days ago to figure out how it was supposed to go on. So I'm not in the habit of pulling it off each time I go to fly.

I must have been brain dead today, because I also forgot to put the memory card back in after looking at the video I shot, and I was getting all kinds of other errors also.


Are you in DC? My family and I just came through there on Tuesday, coming home from Busch Gardens for ID holiday. We also ride the entire C&O trail every year, sometimes starting in Cumberland, sometimes starting from the point in Pittsburgh.

Thank you for your kind offer, and I will pay it forward!

Done. The version of PM here seems to be "starting a conversation" - reached through clicking on the person's name.

I'm near DC in Maryland. I hike on the C&O fairly often. My girlfriend loves to walk, so we go to Great Falls about once a year, and out by White's Ferry.

I have some property near the Paw Paw tunnel in WV, so I hike that fairly often too.

The C&O didn't get used much as a canal, but I'm sure grateful for it. I hear they were talking about filling it in an paving it over as a road until some folks convinced them otherwise.
 
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Congrats on the purchase. I have a P3A as well!

Make sure you register with the FAA! I use my iPhone 6 Plus and it is a great size for the controller. The video will live stream to your phone from the drone once you get the DJI GO app and connect your device to the controller via a USB cable. My friend uses an iPad Mini to fly his P3P and that is a great size as well.
 
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Quick question about range? What kind of range should I expect from the factory controller? It seems that I can get about 1,000-1,200 feet away from the home point before I get a poor video reception and then poor remote control signal message. A few times I have gotten a brief 'no signal' as well.

The one thing that I am doing is flying low to the ground - around 200 feet of altitude. I live on top of a ridge, and so when I fly away from my house, I was droping the altitude somewhat, otherwise I'd be WAY over the ground. So I descend to see some detail in on the screen, and the altitude reads around 75-80.

If I went up to 350, what kind of range should I expect? It seems that 1200 feet away before I am down to one bar on the signal strength is a bit on the low side of what the range should be.
 
If you want the best, get an iPad Mini 4, iPad Pro 9.7", Nvidia Shield K1, or Google Nexus 7 (2013). You can find a bunch of other devices that'll work here.


The P3A does not use Wi-Fi. You can fly in the boonies if you cache the maps before you head out to fly. If you do not cache the maps, the only difference is that you won't be able to see the map as you're flying. You'll still have the live video though.


How do you cache the maps?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 

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