Phantom P3 not fit for purpose.

[Ayrtonginster]

Atki I should have said not aimed at you personally just given the amount of P3s DJI have sold 5% is not a small amount of potential failures. Volkhard completely agree. This system is adopted successfully by Microsoft ref Xbox one and works very well. I have now found a second fracture on the rear arm today. It wasn't there yesterday. Absolutely gutted. Same place on opposite rear rotor. This now suggest nothing to do with over tightening, I believe definitely a design fault.

 

[Wibble]

It is very very easy to blame dji for this. They have a tough job trying to keep weight down and strength up for the right price. I am sure they didn't realise until there were loads of shells out there that this problem was happening.
At least dji are admitting the problem and trying to do something.
Contrast that with Audi. Between 2009 and 2012 the 2l tfsi turbo petrol engine had faulty piston rings. That is a lot of cars. The A4 - A5 - TT - A3 - Q5 and lots of VWs.
Many owners were left badly out of pocket. Audi refusing to admit the problem. Trying to say using 1L of oil every 600 miles was normal.
I bought a used A5 from a main dealer last year. 1 owner 23,000 miles. Using oil like it was going out of fashion. By this stage 4 years later on audi did admit the problem but no recall and no compensation for other owners.
I had a full engine rebuild cost audi £6000 - imagine I had bought it from a back street garage or privately!
Vorsprung Durch Technik!!!

 

[gtpark]

It is very very easy to blame dji for this. They have a tough job trying to keep weight down and strength up for the right price. I am sure they didn't realise until there were loads of shells out there that this problem was happening.
At least dji are admitting the problem and trying to do something.

It is easy to blame them - they designed it! They could have used better materials or a different design.

Where have they publicly admitted to the problem and what are they doing to address it?

 

[Wibble]

I thought a few people here had them fixed under warrenty?
Many things are designed and found to have flaws later. Audis being a classic example - and yet they refused to do a recall or admit there was a problem.

 

[envisionabove]

So after reading all the information on stress cracks on the Phantom I was assured by the fact I haven't put the bird under continuous heavy load, never used rotor guards and flying in the UK never been anywhere near extreme temperatures that there would be no chance of stress cracks.

I was wrong.

I have owned my Phantom two months and flown 75 times - 11 hours 18 minutes.

This is not acceptable!!!

I read all the comments on strengthening and modifying the chassis but we shouldn't have to do this. The vehicle should be fit for purpose and if not DJI should be issuing a recall and issuing a replacement/strengthened chassis that is not going to catastrophically fail regularly.

I think all the talk on modifications is missing the point. We need to make DJI take note by petitions, posting all over their Facebook and their forum.

If we keep putting up with this standard of build quality we will keep getting it.

I know it's a lot of tech for the money but it should have retailed $50 more and been designed to last. It's also dangerous the amount of failures that are clearly happening.

I must add I love my P3a which is why I'm passionate it stays in one piece!

Thoughts please......

" Thoughts please" Unquote

This thread adds nothing new, and if you spent sometime reading the other threads on this you would have had your answer a few hundred times.
Sour grapes! if you're unhappy with the P3A you can sell it, put it in for repairs, do the MODs that are working or try and get your money back.
I don't understand why you need your own personal venting thread?

This is nothing than a waste of space.... by YOU

Those are my thoughts.

 

[atki]

" Thoughts please" Unquote

View attachment 31270

This thread adds nothing new, and if you spent sometime reading the other threads on this you would have had your answer a few hundred times.
Sour grapes! if you're unhappy with the P3A you can sell it, put it in for repairs, do the MODs that are working or try and get your money back.
I don't understand why you need your own personal venting thread?

This is nothing than a waste of space.... by YOU

Those are my thoughts.

You seem like a really great guy.

 

[Quadcopter102]

Just a thought....if DJI know it happening to a certain batch.......they could recall that batch and sort it out...thus gaining massive customer survive credibility....

 

[atki]

Just a thought....if DJI know it happening to a certain batch.......they could recall that batch and sort it out...thus gaining massive customer survive credibility....

How would DJI identify which p3's received the bad bodies? A bad batch could have been among good batches making it impossible to know for many reasons

 

[Ayrtonginster]

Envision that's you're opinion which you're entitled too. Mine is I love flying my Phantom, I just want it to fit for the purpose which means able to stand all the usual loads it will encounter.

As you can see quite a few people have there concerns and have been good enough to write. The only way a problem is fixed is if something changes so I will continue offer constructive criticism and hope DJI take notice.

As for sour grapes I'm disappointed something I paid a serious amount of money has is failing after a few hours. I'm also concerned about the possibility of damage/injury. A forum is a way to get the message across and if DJI do read this and take note reference strengthening I'd be very pleased I spent the time writing.

If you think this is unreasonable, I believe you're WRONG.

 

[Wibble]

Just a thought....if DJI know it happening to a certain batch.......they could recall that batch and sort it out...thus gaining massive customer survive credibility....

I agree a recall would be the correct way to go.

 

[fin032]

Mines has the cracks after 25 flights. I have sent it back to a UK dealer as they are repairing them under warranty. I have to agree with the first post this is DJI's problem and they should fix it. If more and more people pay and fix them there self Dji will never know how big the problem is. If everyone sent them back it would make DJI think more about testing before putting the p4 to market. I do understand the time problem but you would think a company this size could employ more techs to bring that down or at least send the parts out free of charge.

 

[Volkhard]

" Thoughts please" Unquote

View attachment 31270

This thread adds nothing new, and if you spent sometime reading the other threads on this you would have had your answer a few hundred times.
Sour grapes! if you're unhappy with the P3A you can sell it, put it in for repairs, do the MODs that are working or try and get your money back.
I don't understand why you need your own personal venting thread?

This is nothing than a waste of space.... by YOU

Those are my thoughts.

Of course, you are entitled to your opinion as we have the right to read it or not.
I assume, you are not paying for the space we are wasting so awfully?
It might be a good idea to contribute to the threads you are interested in and leave the others alone, but please don't police the forum in regard to what people are posting..... sorry for wasting your time, should you have read my post up to here.

 

[Russ]

I suppose that stress fractures also depend on how you fly your machine if you have plenty of hard landings then what else do you expect.

 

[Ayrtonginster]

How would DJI identify which p3's received the bad bodies? A bad batch could have been among good batches making it impossible to know for many reasons

Wouldn't a unit from a batch have a serial number on it to eradicate any issues with finding them?

Personally I don't feel it's a bad batch - too many people with the same fracture over a long timeline. I could be wrong though - time will tell.

I wonder if there are any physical differences to the latest shells compared to the older ones?

 

[Ayrtonginster]

Hi Russ - I've only ever flown for distance and I hand catch every time.

 

[atki]

Wouldn't a unit from a batch have a serial number on it to eradicate any issues with finding them?

Personally I don't feel it's a bad batch - too many people with the same fracture over a long timeline. I could be wrong though - time will tell.

I wonder if there are any physical differences to the latest shells compared to the older ones?

It's a bad batch, blade strike said so. Remember stock goes all over the planet and sells at different rates and then people fly more or less frequently than others so the long timeline theory doesn't hold water.

Are you honestly thinking that bodies have serial numbers and this is recorded along with other details to identify which p3 received which body? Amazing stuff for a 1k toy.

 

[Ayrtonginster]

That's exactly what I'm suggesting. If there was no way of identifying a 'batch' how can one confirm only one or a group of batches is faulty? Also each complete phantom has a serial number so one could identify the unit or at least narrow it down this way. Also Atki - four people including myself all have stress fractures. That's one very big batch......,

 

[FunN4lo]

I don't have cracks. It sux for those of you that do. DJI is replacing shells. Time frame up until now has been horribly long. DJI has said they are addressing this with a passion. In recent posts folks are reporting 10 day turn around. That is an early sign that customer service is truly improving. Do your own due diligence, decide what is best for you, and either send it in for replacement, or swap shells yourself.

DJI holds unit sales numbers close to the vest. So no one knows for sure how many they sell. Lots of folks have done analysis. DroneLife recently analysed the analysis and figures DJI will sell 500,000 Phantoms this year. They figured they sold 416,000 Phantoms in 2014. If you take into account human nature, that is, folks with issues are going to complain loudly and often, (multiple forums) that is very, very few shells with issues. For cutting edge, first time ever developed tech, that has been transformed to mass production, that is REALLY very, very few.

I would LOVE the Phantom tech, capabilities, and pricing in a F450 or Matrice form factor. Keep complaining, maybe we will get that option

 

[Ayrtonginster]

I'm not complaining about the technology. The plastic shell is hardly cutting edge? People have been making plastic for 150yrs.

What I'm saying is my first hand experience confirms a higher amount of fractures than 5% and 5% is high!

No hot weather, always caught, distance flying etc.

As for first time tech I would have to disagree with that - DJI have been making phantoms a long time.

I would suggest DJI have reduced the weight to a minimum (as anyone would) at the cost of reliability.

I'd be very interested to see if the latest shells are any different to the first P3's.

Lastly the shell never used to be covered by warranty so I will send mine in if that's the case. I can't take the risk of flying now two cracks have appeared on separate arms within 48hrs.

Have DJI changed there stance on covering the shell?

 

[fin032]

I have always hand caught so no hard landings here. Heliguy my UK dealer said mine will be fixed under warranty as its a known issue by DJI.