Newbie looking for advice

[ZooWinski]

Hello,

I am getting ready to purchase the DJI Phantom with GoPro for my family. I have watched numerous tutorials and footage on youtube, however, when reading reviews on websites it appears there is great risk of a fly away and losing a significant investment. Would you be willing to provide me some information on how likely fly aways are? I realize there is always a chance, but the review boards have made it sound highly likely and quite often.

Also, any other pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, if I posted this in the wrong board I am sorry.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[iResq]

There is a risk but I'm not sure it's a 'great' risk.

It appears that a good portion of fly away problems are pilot error, but no always.

Plus you have the problem of adverse selection. People are much more likely to seek help or post comments when something goes wrong. So you see a lot of negative without hearing about the vast (?) majority having no issues at all.

Depending on use and location, there might be inexpensive ways to insure your quad.

Read. Learn. Read. Learn, then read some more. LOL. It's a lot of fun.

If it's going to worry you to the point of ulcers, then it might not be for you.

 

[DaveTown]

Hello,

I am getting ready to purchase the DJI Phantom with GoPro for my family. I have watched numerous tutorials and footage on youtube, however, when reading reviews on websites it appears there is great risk of a fly away and losing a significant investment. Would you be willing to provide me some information on how likely fly aways are? I realize there is always a chance, but the review boards have made it sound highly likely and quite often.

Also, any other pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, if I posted this in the wrong board I am sorry.

Thanks,

Nick

Hi Nick,

I had the same concerns when considering the purchase of my Phantom. I took the plunge, and have no regrets. It has functioned flawlessly (except for pilot errors).

I'd say go for it and have a blast!

 

[windrockwater]

I have crashed 4 times. All were user error:
-I put the props on wrong (so stupid)
-I lost track of which was was forward and flew into a tree
-I took-off too slowly with a new gimbal installed and it was nose-heavy and crashed
-I landed at an angle instead of vertically

Other, than that, its a crazy amount of fun! Worth every penny.

 

[PETELEEUK]

Hi. I to was very wary on my first flight I didn't want to take it more than 50 metres away expecting it to disappear into the distance.

Quite a few flights in having only ever done the compass dance once I have to say my phantom has done exactly what is expected of it .

I just need a weather machine now so I can get some decent flying done

Enjoy . Just set it up right !!!

 

[mikeydaddio]

I was in the same boat and even posted elsewhere that it looked like at least some small percentage of the fly aways were DJI's fault (a glitch). I went ahead and bought one as the risk seemed low and have no regrets so far. Have only flown it a half dozen times so far (due mostly to questionable weather) but it's stable as a rock and really easy to fly. I think a lot of the fly aways are pilot error (lack of proper pre-flight for example) but some are not. The rest I think are RF interference. People have covered turning WiFi off on the GoPro, not flying near power lines or cell towers, etc. but I even found a new one (new to me). My GoPro Hero 3 White actually leaks enough RF with the Wifi OFF that it knocks out the GPS connection on the Phantom as soon as you turn on the GoPro. I posted that elsewhere, along with my potential "fix".

Bottom line, turn on whatever equipment you are going to be flying BEFORE doing the power on and preflight, be sure you get home position, and even after you do get a home position, wait 10-15 seconds after that, raise it 10-20 feet off the ground, face it away from you, and let go of the controls and hover it for 20-30 seconds before flying off. Be sure your light blinks nothing but green, doesn't start flashing red, and that it doesn't start hovering in circles like it's "hunting".

All of the above, of course, is AFTER you do all the updating and calibrations posted elsewhere. We all accept some risk flying these as nothing is risk free and any product has some non-negligible failure rate. So I'm sure you'll find one guy in 1000 who had a self tightening prop fly off, and one more that got one delivered with a fried Naza Controller. Such is the nature of the game when dealing with high tech equipment. Nothing is perfect.

Oh, and for my first several flights I set the flight limits to 150 meters (about 500 feet) just to make me feel better. As long as you are running at least firmware 4.02 you could do that. Not sure it's necessary but it made me pucker just a hint less at least thinking that it would try to stay at a distance where I could still at least see it. Later I raised the limits to 300m and I may go higher once I get more experienced.

Mike