Phantom 2 to Phantom 4?

[MacCool]

I've had a Phantom 2 Vision+ for a couple of years....about 120 flights without any incident until recently. The P2V+ has been a lot of fun but I've always felt limited by its software, as well as somewhat inhibited by its general reputation for being finicky and occasionally unreliable. Mostly concerning flyaways, and susceptibility to damage from relatively minor mistakes. Nevertheless, it fulfilled most of my relatively low-level needs, so I didn't really pay attention to advances in Phantom drone technology. That is, until a simple tip-over on landing fried both a motor and an ESC. I replaced those from Amazon no problem, but as I looked back at this website, I see that with the Phantom 4 and apps like Litchi, drone flying appears to be a whole new ballgame relative to the photography that can be done.

So...I perceive that with the Phantom 4, we see GLONASS, dual-redundant compass and IMU,, a more robust flight controller, better motors and ESCs, a better gimbal system, as well as markedly enhanced flight control software in DJI-Go and Litchi. As I cruise around this website, I am struck by the relative lack of bitter complaining such as I used to see when the Phantom 2 Vision+ v3 was the state of the art.

What happened to all the crashes and flyaways? Things just got that much better in the world of Phantom 4 drones? (I hope so...Amazon is delivering one to me tomorrow and I've already downloaded Litchi).

 

[MarkNH]

I had a P2 V+ I flew for about a year with no problems. I now have the P4 and like it much better. Lightbridge is a lot better than wifi. The P4's are having flyaways but a lot of them seem to be user error. A lot of people are getting less distance with the P4 than the P3. I live in the country with little interference and I get 2.8 to 3 miles with the P4 all stock.

 

[Patrick]

I've had a Phantom 2 Vision+ for a couple of years....about 120 flights without any incident until recently. The P2V+ has been a lot of fun but I've always felt limited by its software, as well as somewhat inhibited by its general reputation for being finicky and occasionally unreliable. Mostly concerning flyaways, and susceptibility to damage from relatively minor mistakes. Nevertheless, it fulfilled most of my relatively low-level needs, so I didn't really pay attention to advances in Phantom drone technology. That is, until a simple tip-over on landing fried both a motor and an ESC. I replaced those from Amazon no problem, but as I looked back at this website, I see that with the Phantom 4 and apps like Litchi, drone flying appears to be a whole new ballgame relative to the photography that can be done.

So...I perceive that with the Phantom 4, we see GLONASS, dual-redundant compass and IMU,, a more robust flight controller, better motors and ESCs, a better gimbal system, as well as markedly enhanced flight control software in DJI-Go and Litchi. As I cruise around this website, I am struck by the relative lack of bitter complaining such as I used to see when the Phantom 2 Vision+ v3 was the state of the art.

What happened to all the crashes and flyaways? Things just got that much better in the world of Phantom 4 drones? (I hope so...Amazon is delivering one to me tomorrow and I've already downloaded Litchi).

you'll love it! the software and stability factors are so much better, although for landscape photography the fisheye lens can be cool . on occasion i'll miss it. but on the other hand the lack of distortion from the lens is awesome! also back in the P2 days i used the home lock switch alot. a little nit picky but i miss the home lock switch on occasion too.

 

[Patrick]

you'll love it! the software and stability factors are so much better, although for landscape photography the fisheye lens can be cool . on occasion i'll miss it. but on the other hand the lack of distortion from the lens is awesome! also back in the P2 days i used the home lock switch alot. a little nit picky but i miss the home lock switch on occasion too.

also one huge bonus is glonass + GPS. there were days where there legitimatly were not enough GPS sats to get a good connection, at times i would be coming in for a landing and lose GPS. on windy days it was a little nerve racking having it blow around trying to quickly catch it in atti mode. now it has VPS to help with landing when its close to the ground if for some reason you lose GPS. ive never lost GPS with P3 or P4

 

[Meta4]

What happened to all the crashes and flyaways? Things just got that much better in the world of Phantom 4 drones? (I hope so...Amazon is delivering one to me tomorrow and I've already downloaded Litchi).

The P3 was a huge tech advance beyond the P2 series and Lightbridge made wifi obsolete for controlling drones.
The P3 had remarkably few flyaway events.
The flight data recording in the app made it possible to see exactly what happened in crashes and incidents and to find lost drones, which got rid of a lot of the flyaway myths.
Unfortunately DJI have encrypted the flight data in the latest version of the app.
The P4 carried on the tradition of the P3 with most of the same tech and a little extra.

 

[XJoeyX]

I've had a Phantom 2 Vision+ for a couple of years....about 120 flights without any incident until recently. The P2V+ has been a lot of fun but I've always felt limited by its software, as well as somewhat inhibited by its general reputation for being finicky and occasionally unreliable. Mostly concerning flyaways, and susceptibility to damage from relatively minor mistakes. Nevertheless, it fulfilled most of my relatively low-level needs, so I didn't really pay attention to advances in Phantom drone technology. That is, until a simple tip-over on landing fried both a motor and an ESC. I replaced those from Amazon no problem, but as I looked back at this website, I see that with the Phantom 4 and apps like Litchi, drone flying appears to be a whole new ballgame relative to the photography that can be done.

So...I perceive that with the Phantom 4, we see GLONASS, dual-redundant compass and IMU,, a more robust flight controller, better motors and ESCs, a better gimbal system, as well as markedly enhanced flight control software in DJI-Go and Litchi. As I cruise around this website, I am struck by the relative lack of bitter complaining such as I used to see when the Phantom 2 Vision+ v3 was the state of the art.

What happened to all the crashes and flyaways? Things just got that much better in the world of Phantom 4 drones? (I hope so...Amazon is delivering one to me tomorrow and I've already downloaded Litchi).

Early on, there were much the same complaints concerning the P4 (myself included). However, over the past months, DJI seems to have alleviated MANY of the complaint items. My biggest complaint was a marked drop in the P4's altitude when coming to a hover (at times 10 - 12 ft). This was corrected in one of the last firmware updates, and I FINALLY became the happy camper that I SHOULD HAVE BEEN on the day my P4 arrived.

That being said, being an "early adopter" (I ordered my P4 within a couple of weeks of its release) has its advantages and disadvantages. I've mentioned one of those disadvantages. One of the advantages is that BECAUSE I was an early adopter, I (and many others) was given DJI Store credit in the neighborhood of $180 USD.

My drone journey started with the Phantom 1 w/FC40 camera, then to the P2 Vision, and I was ABOUT to move up to the P3P, when they announced the P4. So I actually skipped the P3 step. All in all, I'm now very pleased with my Phantom 4, and I feel certain that you will be very happy with yours!

~Joey

 

[MacCool]

I've been playing around with the Phantom 4 today. Sheesh...it's like a completely different bird. It makes the Phantom 2 look like a hobbyist's toy by comparison. Very intuitive, very integrated, very polished. I found that my trusty old iPad Mini just doesn't have the horsepower for smooth video so I've been using both iPhone 6 and iPad Pro, both of which are flawless. Åctive tracking followed my Golden Retriever across the field at a dead run and my granddaughter toddling down the driveway. The thing is super stable in the air and maintains position perfectly. I haven't tried POI, nor did I fire up Litchi yet.

I'm pretty amazed.

 

[Jayfdee]

I moved from a P2v to the P4 and the P4 is amazing. Try the Litchi app,set up your waypoints, and POIs in mission hub,and save, it should then be available on your tablet/mobile.
You can then record videos that would be almost impossible to do manual flying,the results are amazing. The DJI app is not very easy for waypoint flying.
Then have a look at Healthy drones, not available on the P2, but Litchi app links to this site and uploads all your flight data for analysis.
As others have mentioned Glonass solves all your satellite problems, I rarely have less than 18 satellites.

 

[MacCool]

I moved from a P2v to the P4 and the P4 is amazing. Try the Litchi app,set up your waypoints, and POIs in mission hub,and save, it should then be available on your tablet/mobile.
You can then record videos that would be almost impossible to do manual flying,the results are amazing. The DJI app is not very easy for waypoint flying.
Then have a look at Healthy drones, not available on the P2, but Litchi app links to this site and uploads all your flight data for analysis.
As others have mentioned Glonass solves all your satellite problems, I rarely have less than 18 satellites.

Yeah, I flew about 60 minutes of Litchi missions tonight up and down the shoreline of the lake that I live on including a couple of flights across the bay. Just amazing. That is truly remarkable software.

 

[Kahwatikid]

FYI there is a version of the litchi app for your P2V+ on android, and it's free. I don't know how it compares to the p4 version, but I like it much better than the default dji app.