New guy. Should I upgrade RC or get a P3 Pro?

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

I have had my P3S for one month and love it. However, the RTH always makes me nervous because a couple of weeks ago, I flew at night and the thing never returned home. It crashed into a neighbor's tree instead. I'm not sure why, because I had the altitude set high. The signal went out all of a sudden.

Today I got 7,132 feet distance over the Long Island sound using a windsurfer, but video was cutting out way before. I'm seriously considering the DBS or ArgTek mod to improve video, or maybe just selling my P3s and getting the pro.

Bob8619 · Mar 21, 2016

I dunno, should you?

msinger · Mar 21, 2016

losman26 said:
I flew at night and the thing never returned home. It crashed into a neighbor's tree instead. I'm not sure why, because I had the altitude set high. The signal went out all of a sudden.

If you upload your flight log here and post a link back here, we can help you figure out what happened.

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

Happy with the P3S, however the lightbridge would be cool, and to have and 4k ability.

DroneDestination · Mar 21, 2016

I really wish I had gone the extra $300 for the P3A when I got my Std. I'd upgrade to a A or P if you can, especially with the dirt-cheap prices right now.

Sinisalo · Mar 21, 2016

losman26 said:
I have had my P3S for one month and love it. However, the RTH always makes me nervous because a couple of weeks ago, I flew at night and the thing never returned home. It crashed into a neighbor's tree instead. I'm not sure why, because I had the altitude set high. The signal went out all of a sudden.

Today I got 7,132 feet distance over the Long Island sound using a windsurfer, but video was cutting out way before. I'm seriously considering the DBS or ArgTek mod to improve video, or maybe just selling my P3s and getting the pro.

Get the 4, you will have the peace of mind of object avoidance during rth, also you will have the redundancy of the dual compass and dual imu's

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

msinger said:
If you upload your flight log here and post a link back here, we can help you figure out what happened.

just uploaded it

Sinisalo · Mar 21, 2016

losman26 said:
just uploaded it

you have to link back to it here

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

Sinisalo said:
you have to link back to it here

do you mean this?
Phantom 3 Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

by the looks of this log Phantom 3 Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

looks like it went from GPS mode to auto land out of nowhere. No idea how that happened.

Sinisalo · Mar 21, 2016

losman26 said:
by the looks of this log Phantom 3 Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

looks like it went from GPS mode to auto land out of nowhere. No idea how that happened.

something is wrong with the flight log viewer, it says it went into auto landing mode 1 second after takeoff but the aircraft continutes to increase it's elevation, then the log ends with the elevation reportedly at 250ft 3:09 seconds in? Something is screwy

Sinisalo · Mar 21, 2016

took the liberty of uploading the info to healthydrones and it still looks screwy, why would it change to auto landing 1 second into the flight?
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

Sinisalo said:
took the liberty of uploading the info to healthydrones and it still looks screwy, why would it change to auto landing 1 second into the flight?
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

no idea. I think something went wrong with the phantom that day.

SZNJ732 · Mar 21, 2016

losman26 said:
I have had my P3S for one month and love it. However, the RTH always makes me nervous because a couple of weeks ago, I flew at night and the thing never returned home. It crashed into a neighbor's tree instead. I'm not sure why, because I had the altitude set high. The signal went out all of a sudden.

Today I got 7,132 feet distance over the Long Island sound using a windsurfer, but video was cutting out way before. I'm seriously considering the DBS or ArgTek mod to improve video, or maybe just selling my P3s and getting the pro.

DBS mod is only about $100, and P3P are starting to sell on ebay for around $800.
Its a lot more affordable now. Get DBS for your P3S to improve distance. And get a P3P because they are awesome. If u get tired of your standard u can sell it. I personally enjoyed modding my P3S and testing distance, but also bought a P3P when they had that $799 deal. I frequently fly both. And still plan on doing another mod on P3S...

msinger · Mar 21, 2016

losman26 said:
no idea. I think something went wrong with the phantom that day.

So, what exactly were you doing during the entire flight?

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

I was flying forward and lost the signal within 2 minutes. No idea why it would have gone into auto-land

msinger · Mar 21, 2016

It looks like it was actually trying to auto land during your entire flight. As you were moving forward, it kept descending. And, then it looks like you kept pulling it back up. Did it feel like it was trying to auto land?

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

didn't get one message saying that it was landing, because I would have cancelled out.. It was ascending fast, and moving forward fast. All of a sudden signal went out.

msinger · Mar 21, 2016

At the beginning of your flight log, it shows you initiated the RTH function. Your Phantom was less than 20m from the home point, so it tried to auto land at its current location. Since you didn't realize it was doing that, you continued to fly up and away from the home point -- while your Phantom was trying to auto land. Once you reached your neighbor's tree, you lost the video connection -- and, I'm assuming you took your fingers off the sticks since you couldn't see anything in the app. At that point, your Phantom descended straight down into the tree.

That's all according to your flight log.

losman26 · Mar 21, 2016

I don't know how that could have happened other than accidentally hitting the left toggle stick down. I was in a pitch black field at 10:30 PM so it's possible, but the software never said landing or returning to home once.