Phantom 3 Professional- Garbage

[Monte55]

Just to make a point of all the smart people here. You can post and edit videos, do all kinds of stuff with your smart phone etc.....but you can't post a sentence without misspelling, proper punctuation, make sense with your post...yeah...I'm really impressed. I should not have to have a decoder ring or lower my intelligence to understand you.

 

[rstekeur]

I think someone got to many participation trophies and can't take it when everything doesn't go their way. I little patients goes a long ways

 

[Wibble]

The technology in these devices is pretty amazing. It is a semi autonomous flying 4K camera platform for about $700. I'm continually impressed with how well it flies and the quality of the video that I get from such a small sensor.

The fact that it is a ton of fun is also a plus

I agree - having been brought up on R/C since I was 14 I still watch in awe as the P3P just sits there rock solid in gusting winds!!!

 

[thrash_273]

received my P3P refurb last week via amzon (dji) in replacement of my P3S. open the box- update the firmware. no problem on the bird at all, except for my compositions lol.

 

[royster]

I still get the chivers watching my P3A hover at 20 meters, rock solid. Just In awe of the jump in technology from a few short years ago, but, if you don't work on computers everyday, & if you have never had to download programs, send/transfer data.
Firing up a Phantom for the first time, & being asked to download latest firmware, which is totally foreign to you, can lead to the "circle of frustration" update failed,& so on & so on,etc. Then you call the makers of your drone for help,
Over an hour later, of being transferred from one "expert" to the next & then they hang up on you. You call back, & your asked to repeat everything you;ve just told 3 experts.
Almost 2 hrs later- You get the -" Please send your phantom in for service."
I can fully understand some peoples frustrated posts

 

[Habanero]

Sound to me like this guys just work for the competition that can't keep up with Chinese dji ... costumer support sucks with every gigant company that I know off ... it's the nature of the beast ... that's why forums like this one are so popular.....

Mods should erase this thread as who started don't care about and his intentions are not clear. Using the forum for advertising without paying it's not fare.

 

[Othan1]

Whatever the intentions, I'll throw my anecdote in there. I had my P3P shelved for eight months and took it out just to get some pictures of my mom's roof for her insurance. 11mph winds at ground...thought, no biggie, 30' up, the wind was stronger poor machine was almost at a 45 degree angle and I got the shots.

The important part to take away is that after eight months of sitting, the thing can still hover like a champ even in strong winds. Seems like solid tech to me.

 

[Habanero]

I had pushed my poor p3p so hard and it has impressed me so much that if they make a riding size one I had no problem riding in one ... I would just make sure no more 0% battery landing any more ....lol

 

[wolf~928]

@Carbon <I believe you might have stumbled into the wrong forum, and your ignorance might be showing.

 

[randyvanscoy]

i will pay for shipping your bird if u give it to me!!!! what a luck trash man he will have.....

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

No, this guy doesn't work for the competition. It's legit -- we see one like this every 6 months or so, right down to the "I literally tossed it all in the trash" BS.

It's pure anger. He wants someone else to hurt in his frustration. Alcohol was probably involved. Time to move along.

 

[beakeru2]

Early on, Probably my 2nd bird out of the 6 or so i have now owned.. I got soo totally pissed off .. I darn near threw it away also.. It was (coincidentally) during an update.. On one last desperate attempt, I contacted you guys here on the form and Msinger walked me through a few more attempts at the download with several back and fourth messages and I finally got it.. (only with his help) otherwise It was very close to getting the full body bird slam in the street .. Where sooo many of chainsaw and weedeaters have wound up..
If Msinger stumbles across this post.. I am still very appreciative of his taking the time to dumb it down for me... I enjoy this hobby very much and I am positive had he not taken the time to help me on that day, I would have been in the same boat as the OP and I probably would NOT have given this hobby a 2nd chance..

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Drones, like computers, require knowledge of, and tolerance for, technology. If this kind of thing frustrates you, drones aren't for you. I had a P4P and now have a P4P. Both take maintenance. Both delivered excellent photographs and video streams. A calmer approach to your problem could have returned to you some of your money. There are many waiting for a "used" DJI Phantom 3 Pro who would have paid you for getting out of the hobby.

 

[Grandpa Don]

Bought my P3Pro in November 2016. After unboxing I turned it on to do an IMU and gimbal calibration and noticed it needed firmware update. Shut it off, did some research, watched some videos then went on to do a successful firmware update. Restarted both AC and RC then did the calibrations. I haven't had a problem with the P3P since.

Same here! I've been flying a P3Pand a P3S for over a year now. Never had a problem that I didn't most likely create myself, but was able to fix by figuring it out. One thing I really thing is important when owning and flying sophisticated drone like the DJI series of drones. You need some basic computer, and networking skills to understand what is wrong when it won't connect or an upgrade fails. Sometimes you get lucky, and everything goes according to plan. But when It doesn't, for what ever reason, if you don't have some basic computer skills...you're in for a hard time.

In my line of work, I have worked as a customer tech support person. That is a really hard job! Especially when talking to, and trying to help, someone who is pissed off in the first place. Sometimes they can't describe what it happening in terms that you, the specialist, can understand. You, on the phone, can't see what they are seeing, or what they are doing. They sometime try to make you believe that this is a unique problem that can not be fixed. They try to make you believe that this drone, or what ever you are working on, is a POS, that is poorly designed and DJI should go out of business. All of this despite the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of this things flying around the world without problems.

I could not take working phone line tech support for long. I didn't have the temperament for it, or the patience! Most of the customers that called in for help were really trying to find a fix. They were polite and had patience, as did I in their case. Together we generally fixed what ever problem they had. But now and then that one guys would call in with a chip on his shoulder, and off to the races we'd go. I didn't have all the answers, and would sometimes have to get some help myself from the other techs in our company. Troubleshooting anything is an acquired skill in itself. I now go to customer locations to troubleshoot a device. I do much better when I can see for myself what is really happening. I've been in this line of work for 49 years now, and I'm still learning.

 

[Grandpa Don]

Just to make a point of all the smart people here. You can post and edit videos, do all kinds of stuff with your smart phone etc.....but you can't post a sentence without misspelling, proper punctuation, make sense with your post...yeah...I'm really impressed. I should not have to have a decoder ring or lower my intelligence to understand you.

Don't forget. Some of the folks posting here are from other countries. Maybe English is not their primary language. I would sound like an idiot if I tried to post something in the German language.

 

[Don Holmes]

Just my humble opinion, but you may be a bit too petulant for a drone pilot. Might be best that you and your UAV parted ways.

 

[carbon951]

It's obvious some people on this thread are very protective of their beloved phantom. They failed to read that this would have been the 3rd time I have sent in the phantom for replacement. They tried to fix it but it was always a system failure. As for this problem the firmware installed correctly, but caused an RC failure. No one a DJI I have ever spoken to ever cared soooo.... done.

 

[KennyJr]

Same here! I've been flying a P3Pand a P3S for over a year now. Never had a problem that I didn't most likely create myself, but was able to fix by figuring it out. One thing I really thing is important when owning and flying sophisticated drone like the DJI series of drones. You need some basic computer, and networking skills to understand what is wrong when it won't connect or an upgrade fails. Sometimes you get lucky, and everything goes according to plan. But when It doesn't, for what ever reason, if you don't have some basic computer skills...you're in for a hard time.

The only problem I've ever had was was having to relink my controller with my old P3S. Took me less than a minute to correct.

In my line of work, I have worked as a customer tech support person. That is a really hard job! Especially when talking to, and trying to help, someone who is pissed off in the first place. Sometimes they can't describe what it happening in terms that you, the specialist, can understand. You, on the phone, can't see what they are seeing, or what they are doing. They sometime try to make you believe that this is a unique problem that can not be fixed.

I used to work for Radio Shack as a field service tech. We had a company in Pittsburgh who called every day because the computer wouldn't read the floppy disks. I was out there every morning and could never find a problem. Then one day I was running late and didn't get there until the end of the day. As I was leaving the woman took the disk out and stuck it to a filing cabinet with a magnet. "Ma'am, I found the problem!"

 

[Freebird1]

Ok... I have had a DJI Phantom 3 Professional for over a year now... I have to admit I did not use it for a few months. Being in Chicago the weather sucks in the winter. I took it out and upgraded their **** firmware and had a RC Signal Loss. I waited on hold for tech support for an hour only to get some Indian who tried basic solutions and then made it a point to get off the line with me since he couldn't fix the problem. Considering the money I spent on this POS I cut my losses and threw the whole thing in the garbage "literally" since that what it is. For all those out there... Save your money. Great concept but the company sucks. This would be my 3rd drone replacement. My first call to customer service a year a go, the girl actually said I "breaked" it by messing up the firmware update. Again.... Save your money.

I'll take it

 

[Monte55]

Don't forget. Some of the folks posting here are from other countries. Maybe English is not their primary language. I would sound like an idiot if I tried to post something in the German language.

This may be true but how am I to know that if not in their profile. What excuse for people of the US born and raised?