I am considering a P3standard or advanced at the moment, I have lots of experience with RC cars, should I buy a cheap toy drone first of with care should I be ok with the phantom straight off?
Straight to phantom or toy first?
- Thread starter Diggerrus
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you will be good with phantom first easy to fly just take your time and you shouldn't have any problems
Buying a "training" quadcopter will help you get your orientations down. also they take a beating, well the hubsan x4 I got took a beating the first hour of flight time I had with it. but after getting use to flying a quad, going to the phantom was easy. A smaller quad is twitchy and you learn to manage those micro adjustment with a small quad. so when you go up to a phantom, its easy to fly it.
Thanks guys. Have done lots with Tamiya cars over the years just never done nothing of the ground!!
Thinking of the P3A just trying to justify the cost...... And frightened of crashing it!
Thinking of the P3A just trying to justify the cost...... And frightened of crashing it!
msinger
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A Phantom is easy to fly (and expensive when crashed). If you take the time to read the manual, learn how it works, practice, etc., then you should be fine with jumping right to a Phantom.
Phantoms are far easier to fly than any cheap toy drone. And, no cheap toy drone has the same features as a Phantom. No matter what you decide to start with, you're going to have a lot of learning to do when you buy your first Phantom.
My suggestion is to get both a Phantom and a micro. Micros are cheap. The experience that you gain from flying a micro quad without any GPS or other bells and whistles will help you immensely. Then when your Phantom kicks into atti mode for seemingly no reason you aren't panicking, you're just flying. Micro quads will make you a more confident pilot.
I'm a proponent of starting cheap. If you learn to fly on a $50 quad, you will be much more confident on the sticks of a $500+ Phantom with minimal fear or nerves. Plus, I truly think it'll make you a better flier - a Phantom is very easy to fly when things are going right, but you need to be able to act instinctively when something goes wrong. And the small quads are a lot of fun by themselves.
Nail down the basics of flying a quad, build muscle memory, and then move up to a Phantom and start learning all of its bells and whistles.
Nail down the basics of flying a quad, build muscle memory, and then move up to a Phantom and start learning all of its bells and whistles.
I have no regrets spending $80 on my syma X8C before getting a phantom. I learned how to fly with it, without GPS, barometric, vision assists. I crashed it and learned from each crash. Then when I picked up the phantom, it was an easy transition and easy to fly with confidence.
Think about it this way. If you have never ridden a bicycle, would you go straight to a Harley Davidson?
If you've never played a guitar, would you go straight for a Martin? There are many more comparisons that I could make, but bottom line is practice with the less expensive toys first. Yes, granted a Phantom is really easy to fly, but you are taking more or a financial risk than anything else. Any of the Syma series are great starter's. They fly great and all manual controlled, which would possibly get you out of a sticky situation with your Phantom. Just a few cent's worth.
If you've never played a guitar, would you go straight for a Martin? There are many more comparisons that I could make, but bottom line is practice with the less expensive toys first. Yes, granted a Phantom is really easy to fly, but you are taking more or a financial risk than anything else. Any of the Syma series are great starter's. They fly great and all manual controlled, which would possibly get you out of a sticky situation with your Phantom. Just a few cent's worth.
add me to the list of advocates for starting with a cheap toy...I used the syma x5c, marvelous little thing. I've been flying planes and helicopters since 1982 and STILL found quads to be a little difficult because they are so symmetric. after some practice with a toy quad orientation will become instinctive. when the phantom is working properly (and mine ALWAYS has) you would almost have to try to make it crash, but things aren't always perfect. also, when you are comfortable with your new phantom, practice in ATTI mode with it a lot too, just in case. plus it's fun.
Closest I got to real flight time was WSO systems analysis in and F-4E. Oh and the Pun is F4E-Phantom. Odd coincidence.
OOOPSS! I meant to say "RC planes and helis..." only in my dreams have I flown real ones lol. my bad.
only reason I didn't say get a cheap one first cause I got in trouble for telling someone that crashed a p4 they should of got a cheap one first
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I would recommend getting a cheap quad first. It will make you appreciate the phantom a LOT more.
Exactly what I did. It's good to know full manual flying. Makes moving to Phantom so easy.
My first flying model was my Parrot AR Drone 2.0 but that is flown using an iPad alone, as the controller and has no RC.
Yes, Definately learning to fly the basics with an inexpensive drone can be fun. I bought several in my journey, listed in SIG. Some fun lessons can be had also in using the basic @dji onboard flight SIM. ;-) or buy RealFlight.
RedHotPoker
Yes, Definately learning to fly the basics with an inexpensive drone can be fun. I bought several in my journey, listed in SIG. Some fun lessons can be had also in using the basic @dji onboard flight SIM. ;-) or buy RealFlight.
RedHotPoker
A buddy of mine has had one of those cheap ones for a few months. He had never seen a Phantom fly in person. I met him last evening and let him fly my Professional. As we all know, he could not believe how easy it was to fly and how precise it was. He called me this afternoon to tell me he went to Micro Center and picked up the professional for $699. 
As others have said, start with the cheap one to get things down and when you move over to the Phantom you will appreciate it that much more.
Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
As others have said, start with the cheap one to get things down and when you move over to the Phantom you will appreciate it that much more.
Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
