Seeking advise from all levels of drone operators

[jointeffort]

Thats nice distance. Did you have any antenna mods?

No mods yet. Just good conditions.

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[Pommo]

I was in the same situation as you, well more or less the same but I had no experience at all flying anything, not even cheap copters etc. I went for the Standard because I felt that it would be 'perfect for what I need' as I didn't feel the need (and still don't) to fly great distances away and was also really nervous with regards to crashes etc and £450 going down the drain as I watch helplessly as she plummets to the ground! Absolutely NO worries there as these Phantoms are SO EASY to fly as long as you're sensible with them and that allows you to be creative with your photos and video.
I live in a rural area of the U.K. With lots of farmland and I didn't think that there would be much to interfere with my signal if I wanted to go that little bit further and take photos. So I gave it a go, went that little bit further and found myself losing fpv and having to return home on numerous occasions. I found this to be quite unnerving as when you get over a certain distance away and in the sunshine, you can't visually see your bird and have to rely on video feed so you need it to be reliable. Anyway, to cut a longish story short, I sold my Standard a month or so after buying it and bought an Advanced and the difference is well worth the extra £250! The Lightbridge system is so much more reliable with regards to video feed and range. The controller is also a big step up in both build quality and functionality. I don't want anyone to think that I'm running the Standard down because I'm not, I loved my Standard and it's a great platform to start with but as you progress (and you will quickly, given that Phantoms are so easy to fly) you will begin to want to take photos of 'that' just a bit further away. Bang for buck? The Advanced is unbelievable. Save yourself the inevitable upgrade!


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[AngryBird]

No mods yet. Just good conditions.

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No windsurfer too?

 

[QuadBart]

Update Advanced vs. Standard. Today I tried a couple of the "F" modes; Follow Me, and POI. In a nutshell, the Standard had a hard time staying locked on to Satellites while the Advanced did not experience any issues.

As stated earlier, I live on the Front Range. So no tall mountains, just prairie and a few small trees. Sky was clear, mild breeze and according to UAV Forecast app, said "Good To Fly".

I started with the Standard first. It did everything well in "P" mode. Very solid flier. Used RTH and it worked great. I then switched to "F" mode and started with "Follow Me". Made a few adjustments and it "followed" me for about 100 yards. I then switched to POI, it appeared to "set-up" but it never did what it was supposed to. It just hovered in place. I went through the POI menu again and this time I noticed it said something to the affect that GPS strength wasn't strong enough. I turned it back to "Follow Me" mode and it gave me the same message. I tried landing it and recycling everything. This time I couldn't get a strong enough GPS signal to do "F" mode, Follow Me again. "P" mode still worked fine including RTH.

I then fired up the "Advanced" and checked GPS. Anywhere from 9-12 satellites in view. I flew it around and just like the "S", rock solid performance. I put it in "F" mode and did "Follow Me" and POI. Both modes worked flawlessly. I landed it, cycled everything and flew it again. Same excellent results...

BTW, they are both box-stock, no mods what-so-ever. I will do more testing, but right now it seems "F" mode works consistently with the Advanced. Which for me, Flight Modes are why I was even considering replacing my Blade QX3.

 

[Shimien]

Tks for all the good advise. Yea it basically comes down to my confidence in piloting and the money I want to invest. No doubt the p3a would give me more drone life as I grow as a pilot. Wow decisions. But I really appreciate all the great advise...

Maybe it will depend on what kind of deal I can find in the coming weeks. I can justify either one if the price is right..

Not to hijack my own thread but can anyone chime in on some good deals they saw over the holidays. I keep hearing Black Friday. So wondering how much of a discount these might have had at one time.

Best I saw was $487 for the p3s and $799 for the p3a lately

Remember, you can get a standard and 2 more batteries for the price of an advanced, that's realistically 66 minutes of flight time vs 20. More batteries is what helped me learn to fly my mini quad while I was still practicing.


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[HMR]

Yea I really think the standard is a great starter drone. But now that I know they were recently sold for $210 and $350, I find it hard to buy one at retail (store) or less from Craig's list. There must have been a few people in the Chicago area who found the deals because there are currently 4-5 people selling them between $400-$450. Rather odd for new ones still sealed unless you know they bought them at a discount.

 

[jointeffort]

No windsurfer too?

No windsurfer since I switched over to an iPad mini to fly, the windsurfer won't fit and can't position antenna fully vertical. Need another mount mod or something for that.


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[jointeffort]

Yea I really think the standard is a great starter drone. But now that I know they were recently sold for $210 and $350, I find it hard to buy one at retail (store) or less from Craig's list. There must have been a few people in the Chicago area who found the deals because there are currently 4-5 people selling them between $400-$450. Rather odd for new ones still sealed unless you know they bought them at a discount.

Or stolen.

I have yet to see less than $499 in a brick and mortar out here.


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[HMR]

The $210 and $350 were referenced in here from before on sales from target. It shows there is a lot of room on the cost.

 

[buford]

Those prices were an anomaly. Right after all the talk of target selling them at 349.00, and subsequent return/repurchase deal, they raised the price to 699.00 for 2 or 3 weeks, then dropped it back to 499. All this price jumping, along with the faa regs, and corporate america not know its proverbial butt from a hole in the ground, it stands to reason that the target prices were a fluke.

 

[HMR]

Anomaly or not, there were many sold at those low prices as evidenced by the many for sale in the Chicago area these past weeks and still going on.

 

[buford]

Anomaly or not, there were many sold at those low prices as evidenced by the many for sale in the Chicago area these past weeks and still going on.

I haven't seen ANY evidence of it in Texas. I know they sold them for that, but you had to be within driving distance of SF, Chicago, and maybe a smattering of other towns, but you cant find it on their website, the target pricechecker site does not work for that product no. anymore, so its a dead issue for me.