In manual mode, will Phantom hover with hands off?

No.
 
Best to buy a cheap little quad that only has manual. After you crash and crash and crash you will want to go back to you Phantom in GPS.
 
Happyflyer said:
After you crash and crash and crash you will want to go back to you Phantom in GPS.
No truer words have ever been spoken!

If you spend hours and hours and hours a week flying you might get get to the point where you're really proficient at it in manual mode.
Remember all safeties are off so leading up to the point of proficiency you're in control of something that will go though someone's front window or someone's head before you have time to go "oh crap"!

I took manual off and put fail safe back after accidentally going to manual (stupid mistake, forgot I was already in atti) as the bird passed behind a tree.
It came out from the other side off the tree like a dive bomber with that much speed flipping back to GPS and pulling up only slowed it a little before that familiar sound of bushes being sliced up before silence.
3 props one landing gear and a camera/gimbal later it was ready to fly :shock:
 
In manual mode you have no 3-axis stabilisation.
A quadcopter in inherently unstable that means in manual mode you must stabilise actively the copter on all three axis's by yourself.

Ton
 
If no gyro help, it would be very difficult, like flying a Harrier Jet, even the little cheap quads will help keep it steady. I am convinced no to go there. I fly into trees, bushes, water, even my house with the GPS, I would be a mass murderer in manual.
 
ussvertigo said:
If no gyro help, it would be very difficult, like flying a Harrier Jet, even the little cheap quads will help keep it steady. I am convinced no to go there. I fly into trees, bushes, water, even my house with the GPS, I would be a mass murderer in manual.
I like to consider myself a decent pilot, yet my phantom was hungry on Thanksgiving and decided to eat a tree;)

%100 percent pilot error, way to gusty 30+ mph winds. Even GPS mode could not maintain position. Poor phantom rattled down the tree like Bob Barker's Plinko game.
 
A phantom in manual mode maintains user-requested attitude, it doesn't correct for level flight. If you fly in manual and set your attitude for neutral, and fly with a non-center-sprung throttle, you CAN have it hover, but not for long. It'll start drifting after a few seconds due to wind and you'll have to correct.
 
You can fly perfectly in manual mode! In fact every Phantom pilot should learn the very basics of manual flying. But it takes a longer learning curve.
Start on a higher altitude and make only small changes. Every action you have to counteract to go back to a more or less hooverstate!
As soon as you get the feeling that you're loosing control switch back to the gps-mode.

Ton
 
in MANUAL mode..... your excitement start
in MANUAL mode..... you will learn how to fly
in MANUAL mode..... you will learn how to roll
in MANUAL mode..... you will learn how to flip
in MANUAL mode..... you will feel the challenge
in MANUAL mode..... you will know the mistake of buying a phantom instead of buying a flight simulator.
 
Damon sorry about your crash. Any video of it?

I recommend trying Manual Mode from 300-400ft altitude. When the quad begins flipping and rolling it can a little time correcting itself after you flip the switch back to gps (S1 top position). I have only tried manual mode during one flight. When I finished the 1st thing I did was hook up to the pc and remove the manual mode option and put it back to failsafe. I didn't like the fact that my camera and gimbal were taking a beating each time the quad flipped. Plus I use failsafe a lot when I fly. I prefer using failsafe to return home so I can work the tilt for camera on dji app.
 
No video. It was one of those show relatives what it can do flights, not a capture cool stuff.
 
Mannyx said:
in MANUAL mode..... your excitement start
in MANUAL mode..... you will learn how to fly
in MANUAL mode..... you will learn how to roll
in MANUAL mode..... you will learn how to flip
in MANUAL mode..... you will feel the challenge
in MANUAL mode..... you will know the mistake of buying a phantom instead of buying a flight simulator.
And most of all
In MANUAL mode..... you will learn everything about crashing [emoji12]
 
Not sure just how out of date this thread might be but no matter.

I have custodianship of an as-new P4 with instructions to use it as much as I like for as long as I like. How's that for luck? A very generous friend is the owner. He added that if it was crashed, not to worry. He has a Mavic and an Inspire as well and I think the P4 was not being used at all.

So as you might understand I was very nervous using this beautiful machine, but did so - extremely gingerly! I've finally graduated out of Beginner Mode and have begun making "real" flights. Yesterday got my first decent footage shot @ 1080 since my laptop gets miffed if I ask it to deal with full-on 4K.

To get some sort of skill base instilled into my not-so-young hands I got a couple of "toy" grade drones. Syma X8 variants. And those things are, compared to the Phantom, - very demanding indeed. Subject to every puff of wind and although one has "altitude control" it still needs stick input during manoeuvres. Both machines have crashed several times each; and it's glad I am that those incidents were with cheap toys rather than the beautiful Phantom. Replacement parts have been limited to props and prop guards. Each one cast about £60. One is an X8W and the slightly newer one is the X8HC - as said, with altitude control. Which is barometric-based. It's more effective than I expected it to be. Both machines can carry a camera but the results are laughable compared to DJI footage of course. But camera-carrying isn't their raison d'etre when they share the stable with a Phantom.

As training devices those have been successful so far, since now I can manoeuvre the P4 with the beginnings of some early skill. Without the toys I'd have been still waiting around for rainless virtually windless days - hopefully with some sun to brighen up the footage a bit. And since I'm UK based our weather tends to be just what isn't needed for flying quads.

So - I'd go with getting a cheap machine to act as a sort of crash test dummy if you like. When using those I fly without the jitters that still accompany the Phantom when out of my comfort zone range. (that range is pretty dam' close I can tell you) but it's growing. So far it's not been far outside about 120m distance from me. And up to 130ft up. More than high enough to show a decent 360 degree panorama.

Without the toys? It's possible I'd have handed the DJI back just in case it came to grief while in my care. So the machine wouldn't be contributing positively to anyone's life, and I'd have missed out on what I'm beginning to enjoy very much indeed.

But certainly at present I would never, never fly the P4 without its "intelligence" features keeping it stable while I decide what needs done. As yet I only fly it in fairly low wind conditions, certainly with anything over 10-12mph as time to pack up and go home. Skilled pilots will think that unnecessarily cautious I'd guess, but as yet it feels right for what I'm able to handle. This process started in July so it's very early days yet.

If anyone decides from reading this to get some sort of cheap device to practise with, I'd advise them to keep it WELL upwind and keep fairly low as well. And prop guards - use them. They do make the machine handle a little more sluggishly but can reduce damage when the inevitable does happen. Flying over long grass also gives a decent cushion if you get a bit crossed-up - and down it comes in a way you hadn't planned for! Which WILL happen. Sooner rather than later. And when it does you'll be"quite" glad it wasn't a Phantom!
 

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