Hi All This is my first post on this forum so please don't flame me too much, my ego can't handle the negative.
I have been flying an align MR25 since March 2016. I have never flown it in anything other than attitude (Aligns version of beginner) I was smashing props and crashing the drone that often that i thought there was a god of concrete. It didn't matter where i was flying, if it crashed it unfailingly found the hardest piece of ground to hit. I was going through 10 props and one motor per month and used up 3 mother boards. I can now fly circles figure 8's and hover anywhere i want.
From £320 to nearly £2000 was an enormous leap for me. I wanted the "leaves in my hair" mavic experience as per their advert and could see the dji experience was much more professional than the repair it yourself Align (Like FORD cars spares are plentiful and cheap).
I wouldn't call myself anything other than a beginner and was so worried that the first thing i would do is crash. I read up on the mavic and the
p4p+ and decided to take a loan. After sales service and some form of crash warranty was pretty essential.
DJI care, hmm, cheap enough but the horrendous shipping arrangements, naaaahhh! So who else offers crash warranty and is there any added value.
Mavic v
p4p+, the camera is better in the
p4p+ and the software looks to have identical functionality, the + version has a screen with 10,000 nits, whatever they are, but the screen is powered by the controller so one less device battery to worry about. Battery life looks equivalent, and i couldn't get over the weakness inherent in a folding arm hinge during a crash.
I know it will crash.
So order placed with Heliguy for
p4p+ and extended crash warranty, just over £2000.
It arrived and the weather was bad for another 5 days. So, select beginner mode mantra firmly engraved, the first good day came and full of the joys of spring and the essential "press every button" experience . I pressed RTH, whoops, it tried to land between a tree and a covered wooden trellis seat. I know now that i should have just pushed the throttle up and make it climb, but my mr25 practice was to minimise the damage by stopping the motors before they chew everything to bits. First time out first battery, destroy one prop.
Over the next few days i noticed a shudder. I rang Heliguy and told them i could do the work could i have a motor please.
The motor arrived the following day and the
p4p+ was back in a pristine condition.
Beginner mode is fool proof and to prove it i invited next doors kids, 9 and 11, to come round and have a go. Two batteries later we were all exhausted.
Its so safe even a kid can fly it. They were landing in a hula hoop as part of the practice, that's how easy it is to fly.
I think the problem is that once you come out of beginner mode if you don't have previous experience of flying then you have a very steep learning curve which is probably best learned from a drone costing a lot less. The BMFA competency test for a quad is to fly a circuit figure 8 with the nose pointing in the direction of travel at a constant height.
My recommendation
1, learn to fly a cheap drone first (expect to spend at least the cost of the drone in spare parts)
2, buy from a dealer who offers a no quibble crash warranty
3, buy from a dealer with great after sales service
In the UK i would recommend Heliguy (any DJI product) and Midland Helicopter for the MR25 (great little racing quad)
Hope this helps, don't buy cheapest buy from a great dealer.
Andy
