My New P4P Experience- Step by Step (hope this helps someone)

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Hi All, been lurking for a month or so in preparation of my arrival that came yesterday. This is my first post. After reading 100's of forum posts, articles online, FAA regulations (I'm a licensed pilot but didn't know Drone regs...now I do), and watching tons of YouTubes, I jumped into the P4P. I thought those new P4P pilots and those thinking "should I get it" might enjoy reading this compared to all the various stories that make you shudder wondering if you are buying a $1500.00 lawn dart to be :)

After reading a lot of horror stories, fly aways, crashes, it appears 99% of these are pilot error. Not going through a comprehensive checklist, compass calibration, checking all your software settings in your DJI Go 4 App, RTH settings (or Litchi) In order to not make that mistake, hopefully my homework has paid off. It's been raining like crazy for a month, hail, wind, and still going, but might get a break between systems tomorrow afternoon (I hope). I'm in N. Cal.

Here is my journal of what I went through from arrival until flight ready (tomorrow). My experience so far has been painless! No issues with anything, and tonight my stress level has gone down from the unknown if it's all going to come together or have an issue day 1.

GETTING IT ALL READY: I am using an iPad Air 2, P4P with Intelligent Batteries and the Triple Charging Cradle. Upon opening the box, I noticed how fantastic and compact everything was. The foam box is solid, very impressed and the lock is very cool and works well. After unpacking everything, I charged all my batteries and remote control overnight. I have seen a lot of folks saying they got plastic mounts on their controller but that must of been a separate order because mine is metal (the part that is attached to the device holder).

P4P FIRMWARE UPDATE: Today, I connected everything, inserted the battery, turned it on and prayed I had no errors. Everything connected immediately on the 5.8ghz band. Immediately I was told FIRMWARE UPDATE from my iPad (has 4g service) and I connected the iPad to the P4P and started downloading the firmware to 1.02.0304 (82.1mb). *** Battery should be over 50% to do this *** process. Download took 12 minutes and the update took 8 minutes. All through the iPad. Seamless! Contact will be lost on the iPad during the update but upon completion, it reconnected with no issues. I rebooted the P4P as after any firmware update a reboot is always a good idea and required with computer equipment so I rebooted and reconnected immediately.

CONTROLLER UPDATE: Next was the controller update which was super simple. A pop up occurred in the DJI 4 Pro software and I pressed the update. Download on this with much quicker and then the update occurred with 5 minutes. Restarted the controller and I was done.

I set all my setting I desired from RTH options and height, camera settings, video settings (these will change outside but I played with the settings for inside and walked around with video and stills and it was AMAZING. Super crisp images, auto focus with single touch on the screen was fast and accurate.

FORMAT SD CARD: Next I formatted my new SD card I purchased (it's a 100mb/s write/read) so compared to the little 16gb card that comes with it I opted to put a 64gb in. With shooting video and RAW/JPG I was concerned I would fill up the 16gb if I was traveling.

SIMULATOR: I fired up the simulator in the DJI app and was expecting some jerky laggy software simulator but it was butter smooth. Very fun to check it out and in 10 minutes you're bored to death ready for the real think. I did some RTH's, manual landing and take off's, CSC experimentation (never pull those controllers in and down all the way at each other or you are in big trouble. I knew this but practicing so you don't do that or realize you are maybe doing something that is getting close to that is important to realize.

This is my first drone but as a photographer that's my #1 desire, not to just fly a drone around. The 1 inch sensor is why I bought this compared to the Mavic. Waited 2 months for the Mavic and finally cancelled and got this and glad I did.

BAG: I purchased the SMATREE DP3000 on Amazon and was happy to see the foam case fit inside perfectly. The bag looks like a slightly oversized backpack but no one would suspect a drone inside.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I can get out to the park for 3 batteries worth of flying within a small area to test all the features thoroughly. Hopefully my experience will continue to be problem free (at least from myself). The DJI Pro 4 app is great, I really like how easy it is to jump around and make changes.

Cheers!
 
First off, welcome to the group! Thanks for sharing!
 
Welcome to Phantom Pilots! :)

CSC experimentation (never pull those controllers in and down all the way at each other or you are in big trouble. I knew this but practicing so you don't do that or realize you are maybe doing something that is getting close to that is important to realize.
This is the only way to shut down the motors mid-flight:

P4-Stop-Motors-Mid-Flight.png
 
Hi All, been lurking for a month or so in preparation of my arrival that came yesterday. This is my first post. After reading 100's of forum posts, articles online, FAA regulations (I'm a licensed pilot but didn't know Drone regs...now I do), and watching tons of YouTubes, I jumped into the P4P. I thought those new P4P pilots and those thinking "should I get it" might enjoy reading this compared to all the various stories that make you shudder wondering if you are buying a $1500.00 lawn dart to be :)

After reading a lot of horror stories, fly aways, crashes, it appears 99% of these are pilot error. Not going through a comprehensive checklist, compass calibration, checking all your software settings in your DJI Go 4 App, RTH settings (or Litchi) In order to not make that mistake, hopefully my homework has paid off. It's been raining like crazy for a month, hail, wind, and still going, but might get a break between systems tomorrow afternoon (I hope). I'm in N. Cal.

Here is my journal of what I went through from arrival until flight ready (tomorrow). My experience so far has been painless! No issues with anything, and tonight my stress level has gone down from the unknown if it's all going to come together or have an issue day 1.

GETTING IT ALL READY: I am using an iPad Air 2, P4P with Intelligent Batteries and the Triple Charging Cradle. Upon opening the box, I noticed how fantastic and compact everything was. The foam box is solid, very impressed and the lock is very cool and works well. After unpacking everything, I charged all my batteries and remote control overnight. I have seen a lot of folks saying they got plastic mounts on their controller but that must of been a separate order because mine is metal (the part that is attached to the device holder).

P4P FIRMWARE UPDATE: Today, I connected everything, inserted the battery, turned it on and prayed I had no errors. Everything connected immediately on the 5.8ghz band. Immediately I was told FIRMWARE UPDATE from my iPad (has 4g service) and I connected the iPad to the P4P and started downloading the firmware to 1.02.0304 (82.1mb). *** Battery should be over 50% to do this *** process. Download took 12 minutes and the update took 8 minutes. All through the iPad. Seamless! Contact will be lost on the iPad during the update but upon completion, it reconnected with no issues. I rebooted the P4P as after any firmware update a reboot is always a good idea and required with computer equipment so I rebooted and reconnected immediately.

CONTROLLER UPDATE: Next was the controller update which was super simple. A pop up occurred in the DJI 4 Pro software and I pressed the update. Download on this with much quicker and then the update occurred with 5 minutes. Restarted the controller and I was done.

I set all my setting I desired from RTH options and height, camera settings, video settings (these will change outside but I played with the settings for inside and walked around with video and stills and it was AMAZING. Super crisp images, auto focus with single touch on the screen was fast and accurate.

FORMAT SD CARD: Next I formatted my new SD card I purchased (it's a 100mb/s write/read) so compared to the little 16gb card that comes with it I opted to put a 64gb in. With shooting video and RAW/JPG I was concerned I would fill up the 16gb if I was traveling.

SIMULATOR: I fired up the simulator in the DJI app and was expecting some jerky laggy software simulator but it was butter smooth. Very fun to check it out and in 10 minutes you're bored to death ready for the real think. I did some RTH's, manual landing and take off's, CSC experimentation (never pull those controllers in and down all the way at each other or you are in big trouble. I knew this but practicing so you don't do that or realize you are maybe doing something that is getting close to that is important to realize.

This is my first drone but as a photographer that's my #1 desire, not to just fly a drone around. The 1 inch sensor is why I bought this compared to the Mavic. Waited 2 months for the Mavic and finally cancelled and got this and glad I did.

BAG: I purchased the SMATREE DP3000 on Amazon and was happy to see the foam case fit inside perfectly. The bag looks like a slightly oversized backpack but no one would suspect a drone inside.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I can get out to the park for 3 batteries worth of flying within a small area to test all the features thoroughly. Hopefully my experience will continue to be problem free (at least from myself). The DJI Pro 4 app is great, I really like how easy it is to jump around and make changes.

Cheers!




Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots welcome and wait until you check out sports pub
 
That shutdown procedure is only in case of mechanical failure in my opinion to stop injury to someone on the ground. I personally love to hand catch my phantom P4P and I use the left stick all the way down for three seconds to shut off the engines. On second thought be real careful in sport mode, bird is extremely quick! I think DJI says that you should have like 50 m of stopping area from full speed if I remember from the manual and they are correct as it will over travel pretty good area stopping. My suggestion is at least a football field size area for your first flight, I wore out almost a full battery just doing flybys and stopping it makes the meanest sound cutting through the air when it comes to a stop and yes I am reliving my childhood before anybody comments!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
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Is that a bad idea or good so you don't accidentally kill yourself?
DJI likely added that setting for those people who kept complaining that it could not be disabled. It would be quite hard to accidentally pull off the above combination by accident, so you really shouldn't need to disable it.
 
fly in a BIG open area the first few times you fly it.
Do NOT try to fly it from your back yard to many trees to get tangled up in.
 
fly in a BIG open area the first few times you fly it.
Do NOT try to fly it from your back yard to many trees to get tangled up in.

Hi Dirby, definitely. I have a big park (where a big part of it is where people don't go and it's very open. I'm going to fly it there.
The weather today is a bust. Looks like I'll be grounded until mid next week when it's not raining, darn it! Thanks for the input though. Much appreciated.
 
DAY 2 UPDATE: A BUST - WEATHER DELAY
Strong systems moving through have precluded today's first field test and video. Thought I could squeek it in but I don't like the radar along with sporadic rain. Looks like weather won't be clear here until mid next week (darn it!). Better safe than sorry. Stay tuned, I'll post the first flight and experience so newbies like me can see what you are in for (other than anxiety and fear, LOL).
 
Thanks for the post i get mine in few days cant wait to unbox,charge everything up, the make the connections and to go fly.
 
Hi All, been lurking for a month or so in preparation of my arrival that came yesterday. This is my first post. After reading 100's of forum posts, articles online, FAA regulations (I'm a licensed pilot but didn't know Drone regs...now I do), and watching tons of YouTubes, I jumped into the P4P. I thought those new P4P pilots and those thinking "should I get it" might enjoy reading this compared to all the various stories that make you shudder wondering if you are buying a $1500.00 lawn dart to be :)

After reading a lot of horror stories, fly aways, crashes, it appears 99% of these are pilot error. Not going through a comprehensive checklist, compass calibration, checking all your software settings in your DJI Go 4 App, RTH settings (or Litchi) In order to not make that mistake, hopefully my homework has paid off. It's been raining like crazy for a month, hail, wind, and still going, but might get a break between systems tomorrow afternoon (I hope). I'm in N. Cal.

Here is my journal of what I went through from arrival until flight ready (tomorrow). My experience so far has been painless! No issues with anything, and tonight my stress level has gone down from the unknown if it's all going to come together or have an issue day 1.

GETTING IT ALL READY: I am using an iPad Air 2, P4P with Intelligent Batteries and the Triple Charging Cradle. Upon opening the box, I noticed how fantastic and compact everything was. The foam box is solid, very impressed and the lock is very cool and works well. After unpacking everything, I charged all my batteries and remote control overnight. I have seen a lot of folks saying they got plastic mounts on their controller but that must of been a separate order because mine is metal (the part that is attached to the device holder).

P4P FIRMWARE UPDATE: Today, I connected everything, inserted the battery, turned it on and prayed I had no errors. Everything connected immediately on the 5.8ghz band. Immediately I was told FIRMWARE UPDATE from my iPad (has 4g service) and I connected the iPad to the P4P and started downloading the firmware to 1.02.0304 (82.1mb). *** Battery should be over 50% to do this *** process. Download took 12 minutes and the update took 8 minutes. All through the iPad. Seamless! Contact will be lost on the iPad during the update but upon completion, it reconnected with no issues. I rebooted the P4P as after any firmware update a reboot is always a good idea and required with computer equipment so I rebooted and reconnected immediately.

CONTROLLER UPDATE: Next was the controller update which was super simple. A pop up occurred in the DJI 4 Pro software and I pressed the update. Download on this with much quicker and then the update occurred with 5 minutes. Restarted the controller and I was done.

I set all my setting I desired from RTH options and height, camera settings, video settings (these will change outside but I played with the settings for inside and walked around with video and stills and it was AMAZING. Super crisp images, auto focus with single touch on the screen was fast and accurate.

FORMAT SD CARD: Next I formatted my new SD card I purchased (it's a 100mb/s write/read) so compared to the little 16gb card that comes with it I opted to put a 64gb in. With shooting video and RAW/JPG I was concerned I would fill up the 16gb if I was traveling.

SIMULATOR: I fired up the simulator in the DJI app and was expecting some jerky laggy software simulator but it was butter smooth. Very fun to check it out and in 10 minutes you're bored to death ready for the real think. I did some RTH's, manual landing and take off's, CSC experimentation (never pull those controllers in and down all the way at each other or you are in big trouble. I knew this but practicing so you don't do that or realize you are maybe doing something that is getting close to that is important to realize.

This is my first drone but as a photographer that's my #1 desire, not to just fly a drone around. The 1 inch sensor is why I bought this compared to the Mavic. Waited 2 months for the Mavic and finally cancelled and got this and glad I did.

BAG: I purchased the SMATREE DP3000 on Amazon and was happy to see the foam case fit inside perfectly. The bag looks like a slightly oversized backpack but no one would suspect a drone inside.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I can get out to the park for 3 batteries worth of flying within a small area to test all the features thoroughly. Hopefully my experience will continue to be problem free (at least from myself). The DJI Pro 4 app is great, I really like how easy it is to jump around and make changes.

Cheers!
This has always been my process as well, Thanks for taking the time to put it out there.
 

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