New to Community: Few Questions.

jasjit · Nov 12, 2015

Cant Decide what to buy. Phantom 3 or something Else. like solo or other brand.
What type of bag and parts are required so that it can protect it. (so that i dont crash it)
Extended warranty & where i can get cheaper.
iPad Or Andriod

Where should i buy from.

any more tips & etc.

Thx in Advance.

Grimfever · Nov 12, 2015

It kinda depends on what you want/what you can afford. I'm not a photographer or anything plus I don't have a 4K tv so the phantom 3 advanced was fine. There are many ppl who have the pro version that have been flying and taking pics much longer than I have. I really don't think you can go wrong either way, just depends on what you want.

Oh there's a standard version too

msinger · Nov 12, 2015

People often sell their Solo to get a Phantom. It doesn't happen the other way around as often. DJI makes good quadcopters, so you cannot go wrong no matter which Phantom you choose to buy.

There are no accessories that will prevent you from crashing a quadcopter. Only knowledge, practice, and experience will help you there. Read the manual, understand it, fly in an open area until you're comfortable, and you'll be off to a good start.

Check out PhantomHelp.com for accessories, tips, extended warranties, etc.

jasjit · Nov 12, 2015

msinger said:
People often sell their Solo to get a Phantom. It doesn't happen the other way around as often. DJI makes good quadcopters, so you cannot go wrong no matter which Phantom you choose to buy.

There are no accessories that will prevent you from crashing a quadcopter. Only knowledge, practice, and experience will help you there. Read the manual, understand it, fly in an open area until you're comfortable, and you'll be off to a good start.

Check out PhantomHelp.com for accessories, tips, extended warranties, etc.

thx how about accident coverage. which one is best one out there

msinger · Nov 12, 2015

Hardly anyone offers accident coverage. Check out Neary Aerial Media's packages.

GadgetGuy · Nov 12, 2015

Accident coverage: self insurance is the only worthwhile policy. Don't buy it if you can't afford to crash it, because you will. Buy a $55 Syma X5C to learn on. They are virtually indestructible while you learn to fly. The $40 Hubsan quads are also great to learn on indoors. Happy flying!

kenjancef · Nov 13, 2015

Also, download the manual for the quad you are interested in, and read it about 30 times before you buy... and there are PLENTY of YouTube videos that cover just about anything you want to do with your quad.

Grimfever · Nov 13, 2015

kenjancef said:
Also, download the manual for the quad you are interested in, and read it about 30 times before you buy... and there are PLENTY of YouTube videos that cover just about anything you want to do with your quad.

There are also plenty of you tube videos of what NOT to do with your quad. Make sure you watch those too.

kenjancef · Nov 13, 2015

Grimfever said:
There are also plenty of you tube videos of what NOT to do with your quad. Make sure you watch those too.

Yea, so true...

Mark The Droner · Nov 13, 2015

GadgetGuy said:
Accident coverage: self insurance is the only worthwhile policy. Don't buy it if you can't afford to crash it, because you will. Buy a $55 Syma X5C to learn on. They are virtually indestructible while you learn to fly. The $40 Hubsan quads are also great to learn on indoors. Happy flying!

+1

I think this is great advice. If you buy a cheap craft first, it forces you to learn to fly without the GPS and altimeter advantages. You will crash your cheap device multiple times, but it's designed to crash so no biggy. After 10-20 flights you'll have great experience and you can then buy an expensive aircraft and fly with confidence.

My dad actually got me a toy drone first and I learned with that and guess what? I have all my original props and no damage at all.

I recommend a DJI. The advantage is there are tons of people with them, so if you have a problem, chances are somebody has a solution.

And yes, I would also suggest being self-insured.

GadgetGuy · Nov 13, 2015

kenjancef said:
Also, download the manual for the quad you are interested in, and read it about 30 times before you buy... and there are PLENTY of YouTube videos that cover just about anything you want to do with your quad.

The crash ones are especially instructive!

ZWis212 · Nov 13, 2015

Agree on Hubson x4. I bought that first, learned to fly it around house and was amazed at the terrible quality video I was getting, but it was a new perspective I have never seen and was pretty amazed. After about a month, I bought the P3P and was once again blown away x1000. Amazing quality quadcopter, amazing quality picture and video. Just read and watch as much stuff as you can about them to give yourself a better idea of everything that is going to happen.

Le Skid · May 14, 2016

GadgetGuy said:
Don't buy it if you can't afford to crash it, because you will.

As a noob sitting on the fence about buying a P3 or P4, is the above statement an absolute rule of thumb? I was interested by the auto-flying, setting waypoints etc... and as such, was just planning on being the cameraman while the software does all the flying. At first, at least.

Under software / GPS control, is it still a foregone conclusion that I'm going to crash and / or lose a P3 or P4?

Scenario: Tell it to go fly over to the park 1 km away (out of sight) so I can check-in on my daughter, then use the "home". feature to bring it back in one piece.

Mark The Droner · May 14, 2016

If you're buying your Phantom for recreation, I don't see how it really applies. If you can afford it, you can afford it, and if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. Whether it crashes or not doesn't affect those facts.

kevinm · May 16, 2016

As a noob sitting on the fence about buying a P3 or P4, is the above statement an absolute rule of thumb? I was interested by the auto-flying, setting waypoints etc... and as such, was just planning on being the cameraman while the software does all the flying. At first, at least.

Lots of things have to happen correctly to prevent a crash but only one thing has to go wrong to cause one!

Even though there's more "crash-preventing" smarts built into these drones than ever, the human element of crash-prevention is still huge. There's a separate poll thread (found it: CRASH POLL) that asks people the cause of their accidents in the past and the vast majority of responses were because of human error. So, yes, be prepared to crash it at some point especially as you're just beginning!

Le Skid · May 16, 2016

I guess I'm of the mindset that I don't really want to fly the thing as an RC enthusiast but just use it as an aerial platform for shooting video & pics. I watched a bunch of crash compilations on youtube and it looks like almost all of them happened by the pilot flying into stuff while having fun zooming around.

I 'think' I'd just use course lock, POIs and slowly / carefully plot-out waypoints / altitudes as missions, then play those back while I act as cameraman.

However, I guess it's easy to say that but maybe I'll start getting impulsive and silly when I actually see it zipping around up there lol.

Thanks Kevinm

GadgetGuy · May 16, 2016

We all have to learn to resist the temptation of flying like a crazy monkey!

Even DJI has recently acknowledged that some of us will yield to that temptation and tempt fate, because DJI has changed the CSC kill combination on the controller in a transmitter update, to make that more difficult to accidentally trigger CSC in flight, even while flying like a crazy monkey!