P3 pro or P4 refurb?

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I want to get my first decent sized drone, I've flown hobby grade RC planes and small quads. Best buy has a Phantom 3 pro or a Phantom 4 standard refub within my budget with a second battery for either. I'm assuming the newer generation is better if the price is about the same price? I've had lots of good deals with other refurbished stuff and couldn't tell the weren't new, are DJI refurbs good value?
 
Definitely the 3 Pro
It would be different if it was a 4 Pro
This, the Phantom 3 professional is the best choice because is cheaper and reliable. I would rather get the P3 Advanced... I do not need the 4k feature.
 
I'd go with the p4 but you cant go wrong either way. The referb has the same warranty as a new p4. The p3p is a tried and true workhorse but the p4 has been out long enough that I think most of the bugs are worked out. I know the obstacle avoidance is pretty dang good considering that the p4 is the first to have it. Check out this video.
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The p4 in the video went through half a dozen obstacles that would have sent other quads to the trash bin. That alone is worth it for me.
 
OK, what's the difference between pro and standard for either?

I'm leaning to the 4 for the OA specifically, where I'll be flying I want the lowest rth altitude possible to avoid conflicts with real aircraft with the possibility of a lone tree or bush being in that path. Am I right with that logic?
 
P3s wifi won't go past 1000 ft in high wifi traffic with out mods. I bought one refurb for about 1 month. Then I learned about light-bridge sent that P3s back and purchased the p3p. Satisfaction guaranteed. Can go further and give you a nice live video feed.
 
P3s wifi won't go past 1000 ft in high wifi traffic with out mods. I bought one refurb for about 1 month. Then I learned about light-bridge sent that P3s back and purchased the p3p. Satisfaction guaranteed. Can go further and give you a nice live video feed.

I can't "legally" fly that far anyway and have no wifi conflict worries. The all p4s have the better video downlink as well though?
 
I can't "legally" fly that far anyway and have no wifi conflict worries. The all p4s have the better video downlink as well though?
Sounds like you're set on the 4.
I just hope you don't regret it.
The P3P is a much better AC and from what others have told me the obstacle avoidance on the 4 is more of a hassle than a help.
 
Sounds like you're set on the 4.
I just hope you don't regret it.
The P3P is a much better AC and from what others have told me the obstacle avoidance on the 4 is more of a hassle than a help.
I saw the other day a video with a P4P having the obstacle avoidance on, if you try to get in the middle of two obstacle, sometimes it will not do it or will avoid it. I am happy with my P3 standard and i can go anywhere I think the bird will fly. I always plan first the path and see if it's possible or not.
 
OK, what's the difference between pro and standard for either?

I'm leaning to the 4 for the OA specifically, where I'll be flying I want the lowest rth altitude possible to avoid conflicts with real aircraft with the possibility of a lone tree or bush being in that path. Am I right with that logic?
The "pro" for either ac means you get a better camera. On the p3p you also get lightbridge as well as the vision system and I'm sure there are a few more things the p3p has that the p3s does not. On the p4p you get rear and side obstacle avoidance that the p4 does not have, 2.4ghz and 5.8 GHz video transmission, longer battery life, more intelligent flight modes, and some other things I'm sure I missed.
 
I'm not set on either yet and credit card refund hell gave me a few weeks to think about which to buy the price difference is only $100. I'm trying to understand RTH and OA, I get the purpose but how something really behaves from owners is another story. I would like to practice in a logging clearcut near my house at first, there are random sparse seed tees and and a few non merchable that weren't a hazard to the logggers. If something goes wrong and RTH happens is the P4 standard going to dodge those trees if I'd prefer not to set my RTH altitude above them? Would the P3 hit the lone tree if it was in a straight line to the home point? Ideally with the adjacent air spaces I'd like to always be below the few tallest trees to avoid an unlikely conflict from pilots training to my south who on occasion approach low or play out side their designated airspace.

As far as I understand I can disable OA on the P4 in certain modes if you want/need to fly it manually?
 
Guess I was set on the P4 Bestbuy is delivering it to my work by friday, so excited, c'yall in the P4 section.
 
No the p3p will not avoid the trees on the way home but don't bank on the p4 doing it either. It should but sometimes branches go unseen. Its by no means full proof. Its great insurance but not 100% effective. I would always set my rth altitude above the tallest tree. If student pilots are flying at tree top level your drone is the least of there troubles. And yes you can turn off oa or flip to sport or atti mode and it will turn off. Good luck with it.
 
No the p3p will not avoid the trees on the way home but don't bank on the p4 doing it either. It should but sometimes branches go unseen. Its by no means full proof. Its great insurance but not 100% effective. I would always set my rth altitude above the tallest tree. If student pilots are flying at tree top level your drone is the least of there troubles. And yes you can turn off oa or flip to sport or atti mode and it will turn off. Good luck with it.

Thank you very much for confirming what my homework was telling me.

I'm a (at least was) decent VLOS pilot from before flight controllers were invented, I was messing with pitch and roll gyros when I quit fixed wing RC but I was always flying "manual mode". I didn't decide on a Phantom as a magic mind reading selfie cam as it's marketed to a certain degree, I understand the limitations of machine vision, just wanted to clarify the implementation. The odds of the few trees being in the way for me are minuscule or even needing RTH where I'm planning to practice. I would feel better below the few tallest for exactly the reason you said, I'm the least of their worries when they're that low. I have seen it a few times over the years and legality aside morally I'd prefer to do everything I can to be safe and give my expensive toy a fighting chance.

I'm literally talking about 5 very large trees in a ten acre clearing at the bottom of a valley, that and the edges of the clearing but I'm pretty confident that border is dense enough to be "seen".
 
No the p3p will not avoid the trees on the way home but don't bank on the p4 doing it either. It should but sometimes branches go unseen. Its by no means full proof. Its great insurance but not 100% effective. I would always set my rth altitude above the tallest tree. If student pilots are flying at tree top level your drone is the least of there troubles. And yes you can turn off oa or flip to sport or atti mode and it will turn off. Good luck with it.

It doesn't see power lines either
 
It doesn't see power lines either

I'm a two minute walk from some where quiet and drone safe, not even close to worried about power lines, the only overhead services in my box of unrestricted airspace are some big ones a few miles away and I have no interest in being on the other side of or near them in any way.

Like I said will be VLOS piloting as per the Canadian regulation, I just want any extra insurance for my new toy, the price difference was only $100.

I watched Duchunter's video and that's exactly what I want just in case my transmitter malfunctions or something.

It's on its way to the local post depot right now, wife's busy most of the weekend, so excited!
 
I'm a two minute walk from some where quiet and drone safe, not even close to worried about power lines, the only overhead services in my box of unrestricted airspace are some big ones a few miles away and I have no interest in being on the other side of or near them in any way.

Like I said will be VLOS piloting as per the Canadian regulation, I just want any extra insurance for my new toy, the price difference was only $100.

I watched Duchunter's video and that's exactly what I want just in case my transmitter malfunctions or something.

It's on its way to the local post depot right now, wife's busy most of the weekend, so excited!
Not my video, Just one I came across on the tube just to clarify.
I know how you fill though, my new gimbal assembly is on its way now. I'm checking the tracking info every few hours even though I know its not going to change. I will definitely be flying all weekend. Lots of things on my list to film.
 
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I've got the P3P, P4 and P4P, as well as a Mavic. All are good craft, but the P4 controller can be disappointing with only a 1 mile range, sometimes less. This can be remedied with another model controller, such a GL658A or C, or GL300A or B. The GL300C that comes with P4 is simply weak for some odd reason. An antenna mod can help with the weak radio too, such as DBS2.2 Itelite. However it's a great craft, reliable, dual compass, dual IMU, and the camera has a 2X lossless zoom when shooting video in 1080, I like that. The primary advantage of P4 I like is the longer 23min flight time from the new P4P 5870mah battery. That's the only battery I'll buy anymore. The extra couple of minutes is nice to have.
 
Thanks for all the replies, delivered to my work, my spidey senses told be to drop what I was doing and eyeball the red car driving the yard aimlessly. Got to charge it before quitting time and BS with my boss for a good hour about my new toy. We have some big iron at work and my boss loves pictures of it, I see some long "lunch breaks" this summer.

I can't tell what part of this thing is refurbished, it looks brand new, feels well built and worked flawlessly out of the box. After three short flights due to not having time to charge my phone after work I am really impressed so far

It was a bit breezy and I almost didn't try, I'm super cautious with new things. I couldn't believe how it disregards the wind, I'm used to having to work with or against it.

Once the phone died I putted around like a toy store drone and tried the OA cautiously and was quite impressed, it couldn't "see" my son wearing a hiviz neon green/yellow raincoat not that I needed it.

hovered in the middle of the empty "rec room" just to see if it would as advertised, a bit of drift probably due to the dated fake oak lino. I wouldn't use this feature but neat to see it do it,

First impressions and nothing but the $60 "medium sized" Walmart drone to compare it to I believe the P4 is the superior drone.
 

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