Is it worth it? Help with thoughts about DJI Phatnom 2

[kla_ra]

The main use case for the Phantom is aerial video and photos. For this purpose the Phantom is awesome. Super stable and smooth. GPS and altitude hold are mainly used to make super smooth and accurate videos and pictures. As a RTF quad, the Phantom is perfect for what is intedended for.

If you want to fly in manual mode without GPS and altitude hold and without all the extra technology to maily fly fast and do some flips etc... then the Phantom is not the best for this. In this case building a custom quadcopter is the way to go, or buying something smaller and more "sport" like without the fragile gimbal. Something like a blade 200qx, etc.

True, if I get a Phantom, I would use it for just flying around and do some aerial videos but without the gimbal. I am not into aerobatics, but controlled nice flying and just relaxed flying is awesome. Even if it is fun to turn on a dime sometimes with a quadcopter you know well and are not that expensive.So in my opinion, I think it seems to be a great quadcopter even if you don't want to do aerial videos all the time either. But its is my opinion.

 

[kla_ra]

i keep reading the phantom is easier to fly than a helicopter, but if you had similar electronics in a helicopter it would be as easy to fly as a phantom. try flying the phantom without GPS and ATTI switched and it is just like flying a heli, perhaps harder??

Well, maybe the orientation, especially if led light would be added, are easier on a helicopter and maybe a phantom in a complete manual mode would be harder. This seems not to be Phantom 2, maybes it is Phantom 1, but it seems to be more difficult than many helicopter flights in my opinion, rather crazy movie hehe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-EygML_1cE

 

[Ezookiel]

I don't understand why you wouldn't want to use the GPS. It sits in the background doing nothing but making the flight insanely easy. If you have flown a Hubsan X4, then you'll love the Phantom. I notice you said you weren't able to fly the Hubsan indoors as the rooms were too small. If you can't fly that indoors in the tiniest room, then I'd be a bit cautious about planning to NOTuse the GPS. It is the GPS that makes these so easy to fly.
Don't fear the GPS, you'll never know it's there. Flying without it is a far greater chance of fly-aways than flying with it in my opinion.

Cost of ownership, if you're a seasonal flier, and you buy a couple of batteries, and you're not into anything too aerobatic, then you're most likely to only need a new set of batteries every once in a while, but with DJI batteries, that could be as low as a dozen flights, and then you'll need to replace them. Good aftermarket ones, maybe a new set each year? I'm not real sure on that, but don't store them full. Run them down to 50% before storing them. That shouldn't be too insanely expensive per year. But any kind of crash could add to that quite a bit. If your budget is really tight, then this may not be the hobby to get into.

If you get aerobatic and adventurous with it, then you will crash, and you will have repairs, and if you think you'll fly it in manual without the GPS and other bells and whistles, and you couldn't fly a Hubsan x4 in your house because the rooms were too small, then that crash will be very soon after purchase. I can fly my Hubsan x4 in my garden shed, and there aren't many places as small as the bedrooms of my house, they are tiny single bed and a bedside table only sized rooms. I can fly it in them. But flying a Phantom in GPS mode is a whole league ahead in ease of flying over the Hubsan. The Phantom goes only where you tell it to go, and stops right where it is till the next input on the sticks. You could in theory put the controller down and answer a phone call, and then just pick it all back up afterwards and it would be right where you left it, still hovering and awaiting new inputs on the sticks.

Velcro attached cameras might be ok for your own personal use, but they'll be horrible videos for anyone else to watch. They'll get motion sickness just watching. A gimbal keeps the camera still no matter what the quad is doing. Without a gimbal, your video will move with every move of the quadcopter. It will be horrible to watch. But since video isn't your goal, just the flying, then that shouldn't be much of an issue for you, and it does reduce the price of purchase and of repairs.

 

[kla_ra]

I don't understand why you wouldn't want to use the GPS. It sits in the background doing nothing but making the flight insanely easy. If you have flown a Hubsan X4, then you'll love the Phantom. I notice you said you weren't able to fly the Hubsan indoors as the rooms were too small. If you can't fly that indoors in the tiniest room, then I'd be a bit cautious about planning to NOTuse the GPS. It is the GPS that makes these so easy to fly.
Don't fear the GPS, you'll never know it's there. Flying without it is a far greater chance of fly-aways than flying with it in my opinion.

Well the main reason would be, could I trust the GPS, but if it would glitch, I suppose I could awitch to atti mode and get rid of the glitch. Well this is strange, I can fly a Hubsan in a small room but only for a shoert while, a battery or so, sooner or later it seems that I want to do stretch the limits and hit a wall or something, and I am careful with my things so I don't do it anymore. However, I have a igger WLToys quadcopter which I can fly inside even if it is much bigger haha. Well alright, lets stick with the gps, I read about fly aways nd gpd, but maybe it's not a problem if you fly carefully.

Cost of ownership, if you're a seasonal flier, and you buy a couple of batteries, and you're not into anything too aerobatic, then you're most likely to only need a new set of batteries every once in a while, but with DJI batteries, that could be as low as a dozen flights, and then you'll need to replace them. Good aftermarket ones, maybe a new set each year? I'm not real sure on that, but don't store them full. Run them down to 50% before storing them. That shouldn't be too insanely expensive per year. But any kind of crash could add to that quite a bit. If your budget is really tight, then this may not be the hobby to get into.

Very great iformation! Only a dozen of flights? That is rather low. Pretty expensive over time then. I use to store my batteries around 40-50%. I hope I will not crach at all, but you never know, but that kind of things, I guess you always have to consider too. Otherwise it seems to be pretty low maintenance, maybe clean the motors, check the propellers and replace the battery once in awhile.

If you get aerobatic and adventurous with it, then you will crash, and you will have repairs, and if you think you'll fly it in manual without the GPS and other bells and whistles, and you couldn't fly a Hubsan x4 in your house because the rooms were too small, then that crash will be very soon after purchase. I can fly my Hubsan x4 in my garden shed, and there aren't many places as small as the bedrooms of my house, they are tiny single bed and a bedside table only sized rooms. I can fly it in them. But flying a Phantom in GPS mode is a whole league ahead in ease of flying over the Hubsan. The Phantom goes only where you tell it to go, and stops right where it is till the next input on the sticks. You could in theory put the controller down and answer a phone call, and then just pick it all back up afterwards and it would be right where you left it, still hovering and awaiting new inputs on the sticks.

How do you do when you fly in such small areas? I mean, just not with the back towards you, but in all directions and circles and so on. I think it is more stable outdoor, or maybe I did not react fast enough? I would be cool to be able to fly as you like to indoor as well. Maybe it is a good idea to practice a bit more with indoor flying first?

Haha! Nice, well that make sence, I can imagine it could be pretty relaxing to fly that way too. And combined with another quad, a more regular or how to explain it, it would be good.

Velcro attached cameras might be ok for your own personal use, but they'll be horrible videos for anyone else to watch. They'll get motion sickness just watching. A gimbal keeps the camera still no matter what the quad is doing. Without a gimbal, your video will move with every move of the quadcopter. It will be horrible to watch. But since video isn't your goal, just the flying, then that shouldn't be much of an issue for you, and it does reduce the price of purchase and of repairs.

Maybe it is possible to get some great shots, photos or something, but otherwise I guess it is easy to get a gimbal later on if needed. It was currently out of stock in the shop, so let's see if they get the v2 later on.

Very useful infrormation, thank's a lot!