Should I upgrade from ARD 2 to FC40?

[Dazzys]

Hi All,

I've only been flying the ARD 2 for a week and love it. It's so simple to fly and I love the autonomous flight aspect either on wifi using the freeflight app or even better using QGroundControl for longer distance autonomy. I've been looking at the FC40, which is the only DJI Phantom I can actually afford with a camera but I'm put off by a couple of things. 1. You cannot fly autonomously with it and 2. The battery life is poor at around 8 - 10 minutes.

My questions are:

1. Should I quit now and forget about an FC40 due to the points raised above?
2. Are there any mods to enable autonomous flights that don't involve ripping the thing to shreds?

Thanks in advance
Daz

 

[lostkiwi]

1. Only you can answer that.
2. Ground station will allow autonomous flight but you will need to modify the FC40 to make it work.

 

[DiceOfSeven]

Mods to make it Ground station worth are not difficult...worst part will be soldering the connection for a CAN Bus port to use the Ground Control module. All the videos are online, modding these things is half the fun. Just can't be afraid to get in there and do it.

 

[lake_flyer]

Or you could use the ARD2's stuff to build in your FC40. search this forum, there are multiple threads about using ARD's components to get telemetry on the FC40.

So, if I were you, and i had the dough lying around, i would buy the FC40, get used to flying it and later install the ARD stuff in it.