P3A 1st flight - observations from a Bebop 2 pilot

Has the bb2 gotten that much better? Are you running out and back? I never got much more than 11 minutes on my bebop battery, well short of the phantom. Also fpv live feed was horrible for the bebop. Completely unusable for filming and flying for all but straight ahead wide open spaces. Video feed lag was beyond practical use flying.
 
Has the bb2 gotten that much better? Are you running out and back? I never got much more than 11 minutes on my bebop battery, well short of the phantom. Also fpv live feed was horrible for the bebop. Completely unusable for filming and flying for all but straight ahead wide open spaces. Video feed lag was beyond practical use flying.

Battery life of the BB2 matches, if not exceeds the phantom 3. I actually got 20+ minutes on most flights, which I cant with my phantom. I measured the video feed lag and is exactly the same as with the Phantom (~200-250 ms). Of course, with a weak connection (phone/tablet instead of skycontroller or repeater), this will go up quickly to become unflyable. But using the SC or router, its very comparable to the P3A. If anything, because there is no added yaw gimbal stabilization delay, in practice I find it more flyable than the Phantom. I still struggle with the phantom in getting the heading right in fast turns, because the camera orientation lags your heading like a full second if you include the gimbal movement. At the very least DJI could give us a heading indicator that compensates for the gimbal yaw position.
 
Range with the enormous sky controller was ok but 1km max.

I got considerably further, limited mostly by battery life, but only after forcing the BB to 2.4 GHz and configuring it for US settings, which technically, is illegal as EU tx power is more limited. With the xiaomi router I get further too, about 1.5 Km, and its legal, at least in so far using a wifi router outdoors is legal, which it may not.

As illustration, here someone achieving almost 5km:

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And fpv was/is awful even in close line of sight compared to the P3. Not laggy, just pixelly and glitchy.

Again, I cant say I agree. However, you have to make sure you connect the SC to the BB using 2.4GHz and your phone/tablet to the SC using 5.8 GHz. 2.4 has far better range, and if tablet and SC are on the same frequency, they interfere too much. The first tablet I tried only supported 2.4 wifi and the results where not good. But switching to a 5.8 capable one and configuring accordingly made a big difference.

At longer range, it probably is more glitchy than the phantom, but closer by and when it comes the actual image quality (FPV), Im not sure which one is better. At least compared to the advanced, the professional will beat it handily.

BTW, on the phantom I have yet to lose the video connection, but my control link is limiting me and frequently cutting out at 1 Km or sometimes less. Which is kinda odd.
 
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I got considerably further, limited mostly by battery life, but only after forcing the BB to 2.4 GHz and configuring it for US settings, which technically, is illegal as EU tx power is more limited. With the xiaomi router I get further too, about 1.5 Km, and its legal, at least in so far using a wifi router outdoors is legal, which it may not.

As illustration, here someone achieving almost 5km:

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Again, I cant say I agree. However, you have to make sure you connect the SC to the BB using 2.4GHz and your phone/tablet to the SC using 5.8 GHz. 2.4 has far better range, and if tablet and SC are on the same frequency, they interfere too much. The first tablet I tried only supported 2.4 wifi and the results where not good. But switching to a 5.8 capable one and configuring accordingly made a big difference.

At longer range, it probably is more glitchy than the phantom, but closer by and when it comes the actual image quality (FPV), Im not sure which one is better. At least compared to the advanced, the professional will beat it handily.

BTW, on the phantom I have yet to lose the video connection, but my control link is limiting me and frequently cutting out at 1 Km or sometimes less. Which is kinda odd.
Cool video but the shortcomings of the birds stability and the camera are fully evident there. Like I said, it's great to enjoy all your birds. That's the fun of it for most people- fun being the optimal word and not super high quality results. I get that. But seriously, comparing these two birds isn't really fair- it's not even close in terms of flight characteristics and quality of video. It's good to see improvements were made with the BB2, especially the battery. I think it's a neat, albeit expensive 'toy-ish' drone but it is absolutely unpredictable in terms of solid connection. And the reason you can't get smooth video from it is because live view latency is so much so that you can't tell how much you're really moving the sticks until it's too late- and I noticed they tried really hard in that video too, with small movements. Digital camera tilting is a big drawback too and precludes it for more critical professional use. I don't take away the fun and observations between the two, but the bebop isn't really in the same category of bird at all. One of the better decisions I made last year was to abandoned the bebop before spending more (a LOT more) for a sky controller, which I knew would help the range and flying of the bird, but would still not deliver high enough quality of control and video. And I should mention that I did use a dual wifi tablet and game controller too. To each their own though!
 
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Cool video but the shortcomings of the birds stability and the camera are fully evident there.

Hmm, no, what you do see there, the ripple like distortion is "cmos jello". Which I had sometimes with the bebop, but in all honesty, only when there was a LOT of wind and or when I used damaged props. Its not something the Phantom is entirely immune from either, I just replaced my P3A camera because I couldnt get the other one to shoot jello free.

As for the stability of the bebop itself, its outstanding. I would concur with the others here that in fact it probably handles wind better than the phantom, despite its lower mass.

I think it's a neat, albeit expensive 'toy-ish' drone but it is absolutely unpredictable in terms of solid connection.

.. because you relied on the wifi of your phone or tablet. Its not a feature or issue with the BB2 itself, when using a repeater or skycontroller.

And the reason you can't get smooth video from it is because live view latency is so much so that you can't tell how much you're really moving the sticks until it's too late-

See above. Blame your wifi. And see the video I posted chasing the RC car. Feel free to mock the video quality, because it does suck, but does it look like Im having latency or control issues? I had the bebop for 2 days when I shot that, and honestly, I dont think I could do that with my P3A today. I'll let you know when I get a chance to try.

Digital camera tilting is a big drawback too and precludes it for more critical professional use.

I dont know about that. As in, I dont know how much it contributes to the disappointing video quality of the BB2. It might be a factor, but I dont think its the main issue. Electronic image stabilization is used on just about every high end "professional" camera these days. And In theory the concept of an electronic gimbal is arguably superior for drones to a mechanical gimbal- if you can live with its inherent limitation, you obviously have a limited tilt angle, or at least a limited angle in which image quality will be good. But you can do things that you cant do mechanically, like real time compensation. And it saves a lot on weight, complexity and fragility.

I hope someone does a drone using the same concept, but with a much better sensor and chipset to see how good or bad it can be made to work. I think you might be surprised.

One of the better decisions I made last year was to abandoned the bebop before spending more (a LOT more) for a sky controller, which I knew would help the range and flying of the bird, but would still not deliver high enough quality of control and video. And I should mention that I did use a dual wifi tablet and game controller too. To each their own though!

Dual wifi makes no difference if you dont connect using a wifi repeater. And I have yet to find a game controller that works as well as the SC or any of my RC remotes. I tried a $10 one from banggood that was rubbish. My brother (who now owns the BB2) bought a "Mad Catz" controller for his iphone. Its better, but still suffers from a wide dead zone around the center of the analog controls, making control inaccurate. The skycontroller was ridiculously large, and overpriced, but the control accuracy was outstanding.
 
Bryan, instead of tapping the record button on the screen in the GO app, push the video record button on the left side of the controller and it will switch to video mode and start recording if it's in photo mode.
Totally forgot about that, still use to the P2 controller that didn't have any of those functions.
Thanks
 
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Hmm, no, what you do see there, the ripple like distortion is "cmos jello". Which I had sometimes with the bebop, but in all honesty, only when there was a LOT of wind and or when I used damaged props. Its not something the Phantom is entirely immune from either, I just replaced my P3A camera because I couldnt get the other one to shoot jello free.

As for the stability of the bebop itself, its outstanding. I would concur with the others here that in fact it probably handles wind better than the phantom, despite its lower mass.



.. because you relied on the wifi of your phone or tablet. Its not a feature or issue with the BB2 itself, when using a repeater or skycontroller.



See above. Blame your wifi. And see the video I posted chasing the RC car. Feel free to mock the video quality, because it does suck, but does it look like Im having latency or control issues? I had the bebop for 2 days when I shot that, and honestly, I dont think I could do that with my P3A today. I'll let you know when I get a chance to try.



I dont know about that. As in, I dont know how much it contributes to the disappointing video quality of the BB2. It might be a factor, but I dont think its the main issue. Electronic image stabilization is used on just about every high end "professional" camera these days. And In theory the concept of an electronic gimbal is arguably superior for drones to a mechanical gimbal- if you can live with its inherent limitation, you obviously have a limited tilt angle, or at least a limited angle in which image quality will be good. But you can do things that you cant do mechanically, like real time compensation. And it saves a lot on weight, complexity and fragility.

I hope someone does a drone using the same concept, but with a much better sensor and chipset to see how good or bad it can be made to work. I think you might be surprised.



Dual wifi makes no difference if you dont connect using a wifi repeater. And I have yet to find a game controller that works as well as the SC or any of my RC remotes. I tried a $10 one from banggood that was rubbish. My brother (who now owns the BB2) bought a "Mad Catz" controller for his iphone. Its better, but still suffers from a wide dead zone around the center of the analog controls, making control inaccurate. The skycontroller was ridiculously large, and overpriced, but the control accuracy was outstanding.
I've been watching some bb2 videos and there has been some great improvements. I was also impressed with one video result using flight plan- some very nice moves. For me the bebop system isn't right and I don't think it's in the same league as what can be done with the phantom, as well as the quality of video. But it's good to see improvements have been made with version 2.
 
Here's a clip I shot with the bebop that shows both its strength and weaknesses:

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I havent tried this yet with the phantom (because the Losi car is being repaired), but I suspect I'll have (even more) trouble keeping up. The slow yaw and yaw stabilization will also make it very hard to frame it right.

OTOH, the BB2 video is blurry as hell, and thats only partially due to youtube. If things move fast and dont have well defined edges, the low video bitrate of the BB2 just doesnt cut it. Shame...

Good stuff. Watching that made me smile.
 
This is what DJI needs to add to the app. A few times it switches to camera mode, I hit record and find out after the flight I took one picture during take off, no video. I know it should be on the checklist during the initial hover but those using a phone, some of these are small and not so obvious with a quick glance.
Litchi auto records on take off
 
Has the bb2 gotten that much better? Are you running out and back? I never got much more than 11 minutes on my bebop battery, well short of the phantom. Also fpv live feed was horrible for the bebop. Completely unusable for filming and flying for all but straight ahead wide open spaces. Video feed lag was beyond practical use flying.
IMO the BB2 and P3 are not comparable
 
Point is though, that this is the fpv experience I was used to, and this was my 2nd B2. The P3A with Lightbridge is... well as said above, not comparable. Same tablet, same flying site btw.

I dont think anyone ever got a good FPV experience relying on a phone's or tablet's Wifi. Your experience would have been dramatically different with this $20 USB powered router: Xiaomi Router Youth Version Mi WiFi Router Smart Repeater

Anyone reading here who still has their BB(2) and no skycontroller, I strongly recommend you get one. And if ~1-1.5Km isnt enough for you, feel free to add some windsurfers. Mine arrived yesterday, i'll give it a go on both the P3A and BB2 and report back.
 
Monkey - there are many, many features that can be confusing, or ones you don't think of until you...well....need to. Here are a few that I learned from trial and error:

1. Running lights off - you can shut your lights off in flight for night flying. If they are on, you have a red halo on pix and video.

2. Smart Return to Home - you probably have your battery warning at 30%. But, if you are a long way out, you may get the warning at a much higher percent. Smart return to home does math and calculates distance vs. battery power. Mine warned me at 53% once (I was a mile away). Scared the crap out of me because I was in the mountains. The app has a feature you can see that will tell you if you are getting close.

3. Return to home - you can set how high the drone will fly before returning to home. If you are in an area with buildings, have it go high. I was a moron and flew it behind a large condo. It lost signal, and thankfully, flew over the condo to come home.

4. Atti Mode - you lose GPS and you are in atti mode. Practice once in a field, as wind will be a factor. I was a moron once and launched from under a bridge (hey, it was shady) and lost gps. 18 mph winds. No crash, but scared to death.

5. Smart battery auto discharge. They will start to discharge after 10 days (I think) so do not assume you have a charge. Check before you fly.

Get into settings on the camera and video, play with buttons...there is s lot in there....


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
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I
Haven't been able to find out why. Asked for help here: Re: First fly away - Parrot but nobody seems to know why.

That forum is a complete mess, I cant even navigate to the first page to read your OP. I will say that whatever caused it, wasnt the wifi repeater. That will either connect or not, but it wont send commands, it won't prevent RTH (especially if you unplug it).

Hard to say what did happen though. I have heard more people saying that using Android and a game controller, sometimes the controls "stick", as if it missed the fact you centered them. On IOS that problem supposedly doesnt happen (I used android with a SC, my brother now flies it on IOS with a game controller and neither of use ever noticed). So that may explain why you lost control control in the beginning. It doesnt explain why RTH didnt work, or why you couldnt reconnect. In the end, you where trying to connect directly from the phone?
 
Well nothing is perfect, certainly the BB isnt. I may have been lucky with mine, but I only recall one incident, where the connection dropped and I couldnt reconnect. It did RTH, but then, just like in your video, it would hover just out of range at 3 or 4 meter altitude, teasing me. That was with the SC. I restarted the SC, and that solved it. Never happened since, but I wouldnt bet my life on any of these toys.
 
Short drag race between a BB2 and a P3A:

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First attempt, the BB2 aborted and turned back due to low battery.
Second race, was against the wind, so it looks a bit slower.

Top speed, the BB2 is faster, but the difference isnt huge, but the BB2 accelerates a whole lot faster. Both where flying in GPS mode.

As for the windsurfers, they didnt fit on the xiaomi antenna's, so I couldnt test that.
 

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