I have a P3S, looking to possibly upgrade to P3A?

[Jay H]

So I bought the P3S on black friday for $599 and I have 3 weeks to decide whether or not I should return it and upgrade to the P3A, or keep it and get a dbs antenna. I never really got into distance flying until I got the P3S because my old FC40 didn't have FPV so I always flew it line of sight. Now I'm going 1.2 km, I keep wanting to go further.

My first P3S had to be returned because of remote's antennas being damaged but I have had absolutely 0 problems with the one I now have. I figured I would venture to the this side of the forums to ask a few questions about the P3A.

How bad are the issues on the P3A with the battery failures, stress cracks on the new bodies, firmware etc? Are these being blown out of proportion? What type of range are you guys actually getting stock? Is it worth paying an extra 400 for extra distance/lightbridge, vps, and a few more options in terms of frames per second? do you have to turn off VPS if flying over water?

Hopefully there will be some type of Christmas sale at B and H that will make my decision easier since I live like 20 minutes away.

 

[Wacker2611]

Go for the Advanced every time! It really is in a different league.....Not saying there's anything wrong with the Standard - far from it- but I guarantee that the range limitations will frustrate you in the end. The issues you talk about are real issues for the minority, but the vast majority of us have no problems whatsoever!

 

[msinger]

How bad are the issues on the P3A with the battery failures

It seems the majority of the issues we're seeing are caused by pilot error. For example, people taking off at 40% battery or hammering on the throttle when the battery is low. The same thing could happen with any of the Phantom 3 models (including the P3S).

do you have to turn off VPS if flying over water?

VPS was designed to be used indoors. I always turn mine off when flying outdoors. And, the DJI manual warns that it should not be used over water.

 

[ForistellFlyer]

I've went from a P1.1.1 with gopro and line of sight
The P3A is a whole new world. I've had no problems in 3 months of flying. I put the strong arm attachments on but had not seen cracks prior or after. Use a good gimbal support when storing. Take care of batteries and do pre flight checks