Purchased a refurbished P3S for $350 from Dronenerds on Ebay (DJI partner) and it arrived like new. Had to wait a few days to fly it outdoors due to poor weather, but finally got my chance today!
Well my first flight was at a local school field to ensure there were no trees or obstacles nearby. I flew it for 20+ minutes with great success, except I realized when I landed that I had forgotten to press RECORD. Oops. I did have a recording from my GoPro on my head mount, but obviously that's not drone footage. Nevertheless, I consider the first flight a success because I was able to fly the P3S very well and didn't have any crashes.
I charged up the battery and flew again in the same spot later on... and remembered to press record this time! For those who want to watch the entire 20+ boring video, here it is:
At any rate, the only problem I really ran into was the dreaded "interference" message that repeatedly popped up on the screen (a LOT). I was getting this when I did a couple of quick flights in my house after I got it, but that was to be expected due to wifi in my house and being indoors. However, I did not expect interference in this big field, but I sure did get it. I didn't lose connection or anything, but I didn't go very far either (stayed line of sight). However, the app would not let me try "Follow Me" mode because it said weak signal, even though the drone was literally not far from me at all.
All in all, this thing flies VERY well and I am loving it. The camera is very good, despite not being 4k. I will eventually want to upgrade to a 4k model, but at $350 I figured this was the best way to get started with minimal risk.
Well my first flight was at a local school field to ensure there were no trees or obstacles nearby. I flew it for 20+ minutes with great success, except I realized when I landed that I had forgotten to press RECORD. Oops. I did have a recording from my GoPro on my head mount, but obviously that's not drone footage. Nevertheless, I consider the first flight a success because I was able to fly the P3S very well and didn't have any crashes.
I charged up the battery and flew again in the same spot later on... and remembered to press record this time! For those who want to watch the entire 20+ boring video, here it is:
At any rate, the only problem I really ran into was the dreaded "interference" message that repeatedly popped up on the screen (a LOT). I was getting this when I did a couple of quick flights in my house after I got it, but that was to be expected due to wifi in my house and being indoors. However, I did not expect interference in this big field, but I sure did get it. I didn't lose connection or anything, but I didn't go very far either (stayed line of sight). However, the app would not let me try "Follow Me" mode because it said weak signal, even though the drone was literally not far from me at all.
All in all, this thing flies VERY well and I am loving it. The camera is very good, despite not being 4k. I will eventually want to upgrade to a 4k model, but at $350 I figured this was the best way to get started with minimal risk.