First P2V+ flights today

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My P2V turned 5 months old a week ago and has over 110 flights on it. The upgraded model came today so I took it out and ran through all 4 batteries.

Before the first flight I took some photos and videos at home and was underwhelmed of course. The purple fringing, terrible low light performance and soft corners are the same as my 3rd and only usable camera on the P2V. At least I don't have to send this one back. Someday I am going to get an actual good camera into the air, but not with either of these copters.

No firmware upgrades, no changes to any settings. Did not use the Assistant Software so used GPS mode only for today. Preview mode 320x240@15 works great and looks ok on my phone (S3). I used the same 1.0.40 app on the same phone as with my P2V - simply connect to the new Phantom_xxxxx network. Takes the same time to connect and get a 7 or 8 satellite lock. 2 Beeps on the TX means it was already in FCC mode - didn't have to set that myself this time (maybe the dealer did it? He did open the box, install stickers, stuff an extra 4 props in the prop box.) I like the shorter power-up beep sequence.

First flight was conservative: after calibrating the compass, I flew no higher than 50' and no further than 100' away. I was disappointed to see worse TBE and J curves than I ever had on the P2V, but it seems to mellow quicker. Within maybe 5 minutes it was flying reasonably straight. If you're doing any interesting shooting that requires precision flying, make sure you get in the air before the action starts.

Second flight had more slightly aggressive maneuvers, flying out to 300', up to 200', flying up to 30mph - seemed ok (although TBE and extreme J curve at the start again)

Third flight I went out to 500' and back, 600' and back, 700' and back, then 1100' and inadvertently tested RTH. Had the TX antenna pointed sideways so lost control, but let it come back and land. Just as good as the P2V (with V2 firmware improvements). I did a couple more RTHs, one from 2', one from 400' (and saw that it descended at 3m/s until 100m off the ground - nice). I flew about 43mph with a 3mph tailwind.

Fourth flight I was feeling more confident. Flew out over water to 1680' - no loss of control or FPV at all. Flew up to 1000' - same. Worked just great.

I took lots of photos and videos and when I looked I was astounded at how good the gimbal is. I was expecting it to be great but it's even better. They nailed it but it does seem delicate. In 110 flights with the P2V I crashed 5 times (2 tipovers early on and 3 minor crashes-only prop damage). I am going to be much more careful with the P2V+ as it is not the tank that the P2V is. Hand landings in wind > 5mph or where the surface is not great.

When flying forward at any decent speed, make sure not to tilt the camera up all the way as the arms get in the frame a lot and look very ugly. Either fly slow or tilt down a little. I LOVE shooting straight down finally. I also love having 4 batteries - flew well over 60 minutes. I briefly tried all the preview settings and they all work (at close range). But it takes quite a while to switch. Will just leave on the lowest setting. Shooting 1080px30 the bitrate is 12436kbps, almost identical to the P2V. Yuck. I haven't really shot much at 720px60 - probably should try that more. Raw stills give .DNG files that look just like the P2V ones.

Overall, as long as you don't expect much image quality, the P2V+ seems like a winner so far.
 

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