Same here already canceled for many reasons, primarily this is a camera platform and the go pro 4 as many more options, i think 7.2k takes some beating, and the 4k pro tune is much better than the p3. As for the p3, you break that gimbal and your screwed and the whole gimbal setup looks fragile and no great leap on the last (jello, stutter,shimmering) and with limited and restricted new eu law imposed this is a lesser phantom in many respects than the last and i just don't get flying with an iPad. There you go thats my mind made up, you decide whats right for you the choice is yours nobody else can make your mind up.
Sure each person has to do what is right for them.
In my mind this is major leap from the previous generation.
1. Price point and convenience - I have built 3 phantoms with Lightbridge each and Go Pro cameras - spent over GBP 2000 each. Modified each Go Pro myself with all the stress of taking it apart. Have to go through annoying routine of starting Phantom first, then pressing on the go pro fighting with the gimbal and pressing record. Once I finish record got to remove the cable on the side and retrieve memory card. I have 2 go Pro's with faulty ports due to the constant unplugging. On the P3 I can hit record, change to still on the remote and when I take the card out I don't have to mess around with cables. Hey wait I can upload the video and photos straight from the tablet to the cloud.. The price of all this - a tad over GBP 1200
Is the Gimbal fragile - yes it is but if you drop it what do you expect? I have a gimbal guard and it does a good job. 85 flights and no problems on PV2+
2. All the technology has been squeezed into a phantom. I can re-use my carry case, Ipads / Nvidia Shields and memory cards. No I can't use the battery and chargers.. hey but I can use the props. I don't have to carry the nicer Inspire if I want a quick blast. While I am flying I can get 2 miles of uninterrupted video without having to buy cumbersome aerials, amps and tripods. I can fly for about 20 minutes. Numerous technology is assisting me. If I want to fly indoors without GPS I can. If I want to fly outdoors I have 16-18 satellites to guide me. If I can't be bothered to land I can press a button and ask it to land. If don't want to fly it back and bored I just press a button on the remote. All the camera controls of record, take a snapshot and pan camera are on the simple hand controller. I can reset the gimbal with another push of a button.
3. The Pilot software is a joy to use now. It tells me exactly how I flew the bird, every stick movement, the flight path, the mistakes made. In time people will develop more apps using the SDK like there is dozens of apps coming for the Phantom 2. I look forward to the creative people out there who will exploit the hardware.
Now will I go and sell all my Phantom 2's and the Inspire gear in a mad dash? . Hell no - I have spent countless hours building them up. But I will also support DJI in their quest to be at the forefront of technology by spending my money on their product so they can go on and develop the product .People keep mentioning how great the Go Pro cameras are.. I love the Go Pro but in the past 3 years Go Pro have done nothing to make the camera easier to use on a drone platform.
They have not in mind given any assistance to make the camera work on a platform such as the phantom by adding extra menus such as turn off mic option, start recording on movement etc... They continue to make cameras generation after generation and improving capture rates etc but they are not interested in fine tuning it to the UAV market. Maybe they have their own version of UAV coming out. When I complained that the ports both USB and HDMI failed on 2 cameras- they told me that the ports are not designed for what I was doing. Told me that USB cannot support video out. HDMI is only for video out but not to be plugged in and out. When I told I needed to disconnect HDMI cable to get to memory card they sounded puzzled. But when the port fails I have apparently misused it. Come on is that for real? Cannot send it back for repair under warranty.
So unless somebody else out there comes out with something better in 2015 and not 2016 or 2017 I am sticking to DJI for the moment as they have got products rolling out of production shortly that does a pretty good job of combining several different technologies.
PS the dampers are the soft white. I am pretty certain if I change them around to the hard black the jello will reduce. I got mad jello on my Go Pro's before I swapped them around after changing lenses to 5.4mm
