Talk me out of the Typhoon H

[JWarren]

I'm a previous owner and a fan on a PV2+. Only issue I had was with range. Never any major issues, loss, damage or crash. I owned 2 as a matter of fact and both had the same range issue, whether I was out in the boonies or neighborhood park. My reasons for leaning toward the H is the fact it has the screen built into the controller. This saves me a few hundred dollars on having to buy a tablet. My phone, an iphone 5s isn't up to it. Another reason is that in theory you can lose a motor and still get the aircraft home. And I was very happy to learn the 400 ft height restriction can be overridden. As far as range, I can see no reason of having to go out more than 1500 ft, vertical or horizontal.

Now, reasons for the P4. No wifi. I hadn't heard of Lightbridge until the Phanton 4 and still don't know too much about it but it sounds much more reliable than wifi. With that being said though, watching the forum over the 3 weeks I'm seeing guys bring up a lot of connection issues failures and loss, so maybe Lightbridge isn't as Heaven sent as it would seem to be.

So TH or the P4 for an additional $400.00 or so.

Thanks

Joel

 

[JWarren]

Oh yea, one more thing. I called Yuneec and it was so nice to hear and chat with someone fluent in English.

 

[Chopstix Kid]

Already got the green light from my wife for an H. I'll wait about a month after they hit to give time for any initial bugs to get worked out.

 

[Meta4]

Now, reasons for the P4. No wifi. I hadn't heard of Lightbridge until the Phanton 4 and still don't know too much about it but it sounds much more reliable than wifi. With that being said though, watching the forum over the 3 weeks I'm seeing guys bring up a lot of connection issues failures and loss, so maybe Lightbridge isn't as Heaven sent as it would seem to be.

Lightbridge is fabulous.
Ask anyone that's used wifi and then gone to a Lightbridge controlled drone and they'll tell you it's 10 times better than wifi.
Some users of the P4 are reporting difficulties which may or may not be due to their equipment but it's not because of Lightbridge.
You should try to get a test flight with both to see what will suit you best.
They both have their good points but I'd never consider another wifi drone after flying Lightbridge for the last year.
If $$ are an issue, you could also consider the P3 Advanced or Pro which offer the best bang per buck.
They are a huge leap beyond the technology you are used to and not much behind the P4.

 

[JWarren]

Thank you Meta4. Money isn't a real issue, I'd gladly spend a few hundred more for the best. If I do chose the P4, can someone recommend a tablet that should be problem free and there have been no grips about on the forum? I'm not talking a big screen, just 6 or 7 inches.

 

[Chopstix Kid]

Thank you Meta4. Money isn't a real issue, I'd gladly spend a few hundred more for the best. If I do chose the P4, can someone recommend a tablet that should be problem free and there have been no grips about on the forum? I'm not talking a big screen, just 6 or 7 inches.

I just returned a Galaxy Tab A for the NVIDIA Shield K1. The K1 appears to out perform my wife's IPad Pro in terms of video lag.

 

[John Locke]

Thank you Meta4. Money isn't a real issue, I'd gladly spend a few hundred more for the best. If I do chose the P4, can someone recommend a tablet that should be problem free and there have been no grips about on the forum? I'm not talking a big screen, just 6 or 7 inches.

I use an iPad Mini 4 and iPad Air 2, both 64GB with cellular. I've also got a Mini 2, but I don't recommend it because it overheats in ambient temps of 90F or higher. The Air 2 is a little big but fits the clip and offers a nice big picture. The mini 4 is pretty much a perfect size and the screen is very nice to mitigate reflections. I normally don't like iPads, I'm an android type of guy, but for my Phantoms I use iPad because they just work. I've measured video lag of 180 to 220ms, which is about as good as it gets for Lightbridge. Gotta have hardware decoding on. I've never used the Nvida K1, I'd like to see one work someday to compare screen brightness and finish. K1 is definitely less money. One thing to know, the 2X camera zoom on P4 doesn't work in the Android Go app yet (from what people are saying), it only works on IOS Go app, and I really like it!

 

[peterepeat69]

P3 advanced best bang per buck guaranteed


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[AIRSPACE]

People on RCG have been saying the full motor load is only 30% so if you do happen to lose a motor, you wont be able to keep the bird in the air anyway. False sense of security.

You wont have any of the DJI SDK apps, there will never be a SDK released for the Yuneecs (from the typhoon forums)

I dont actually even see the Yuneec as a competitor to the P4 its more of a P3A/P3P competitor in terms of technology.

 

[Jussaguy]

Thank you Meta4. Money isn't a real issue, I'd gladly spend a few hundred more for the best. If I do chose the P4, can someone recommend a tablet that should be problem free and there have been no grips about on the forum? I'm not talking a big screen, just 6 or 7 inches.

As someone that has a P4 and will have an H, I am in love with all my Phantoms but I did just have a period of maddening frustrations with one of them. But everything is fine now. And the future is probably DJI but I am looking forward to my H. I don't know. If I had to choose between both, in all honesty, it would be a tough decision. iPad isn't a concern for me because I was going to get the Pro 9.7 anyway. Meta had it right.

 

[Jussaguy]

I use an iPad Mini 4 and iPad Air 2, both 64GB with cellular. I've also got a Mini 2, but I don't recommend it because it overheats in ambient temps of 90F or higher. The Air 2 is a little big but fits the clip and offers a nice big picture. The mini 4 is pretty much a perfect size and the screen is very nice to mitigate reflections. I normally don't like iPads, I'm an android type of guy, but for my Phantoms I use iPad because they just work. I've measured video lag of 180 to 220ms, which is about as good as it gets for Lightbridge. Gotta have hardware decoding on. I've never used the Nvida K1, I'd like to see one work someday to compare screen brightness and finish. K1 is definitely less money. One thing to know, the 2X camera zoom on P4 doesn't work in the Android Go app yet (from what people are saying), it only works on IOS Go app, and I really like it!

View attachment 53866

I just wanted to say I laugh every time I look at your avatar. It's so awesome!

 

[PROJEFFREY11]

Lightbridge is fabulous.
Ask anyone that's used wifi and then gone to a Lightbridge controlled drone and they'll tell you it's 10 times better than wifi.
Some users of the P4 are reporting difficulties which may or may not be due to their equipment but it's not because of Lightbridge.
You should try to get a test flight with both to see what will suit you best.
They both have their good points but I'd never consider another wifi drone after flying Lightbridge for the last year.
If $$ are an issue, you could also consider the P3 Advanced or Pro which offer the best bang per buck.
They are a huge leap beyond the technology you are used to and not much behind the P4.

Honestly my current P4 is my first Lightbridge DJI product, and I'm not blown away at all. My 3DR Solo had similar range with a after market heilex antenna.

 

[PROJEFFREY11]

Thank you Meta4. Money isn't a real issue, I'd gladly spend a few hundred more for the best. If I do chose the P4, can someone recommend a tablet that should be problem free and there have been no grips about on the forum? I'm not talking a big screen, just 6 or 7 inches.

I use a IPad mini 4 works well.

 

[clintgeaney]

I've got a P3A and a P4. Both good machines, but DJI has no idea when it comes to Firmware or Software. And they rely on other companies devices to run the Go App.

I'm over DJI. I'm getting a Yuneec H.

 

[Meta4]

Honestly my current P4 is my first Lightbridge DJI product, and I'm not blown away at all. My 3DR Solo had similar range with a after market heilex antenna.

Whatever problems some users are having, it's not a reflection on Lightbridge technology.
People have been flying their P3s out up to 7 and even 10 kilometres ever since the P3 was released.
I've never pushed that far but mine is very reliable, going out 3.5 km whenever I choose and it would probably go much further.
It has the range and sharp video to shoot action at great distances.
I shot this yesterday at a range of 2.8 kilometres (and almost no altitude) - something you just can't do with wifi.

 

[Chopstix Kid]

I use an iPad Mini 4 and iPad Air 2, both 64GB with cellular. I've also got a Mini 2, but I don't recommend it because it overheats in ambient temps of 90F or higher. The Air 2 is a little big but fits the clip and offers a nice big picture. The mini 4 is pretty much a perfect size and the screen is very nice to mitigate reflections. I normally don't like iPads, I'm an android type of guy, but for my Phantoms I use iPad because they just work. I've measured video lag of 180 to 220ms, which is about as good as it gets for Lightbridge. Gotta have hardware decoding on. I've never used the Nvida K1, I'd like to see one work someday to compare screen brightness and finish. K1 is definitely less money. One thing to know, the 2X camera zoom on P4 doesn't work in the Android Go app yet (from what people are saying), it only works on IOS Go app, and I really like it!

View attachment 53866

I had not thought of testing latency this way! So I just tried it and my K1 came up with 22 milliseconds while my wife's Pro came up with 15 milliseconds. The mini 4 was my initial choice for this thing until I found out that the non-cellular devices didn't come with a GPS module. I also didn't know about the 2x zoom in iOS devices which I had always thought would be a nice feature. I'm hoping that it is slated for Android because I really don't want to go through a third iteration of exchanging a tablet

 

[robinb]

Lightbridge is fantastic.

I have had it far out and could keep going.

Range on TH is going to be less.
max altitude is less (until the override software comes out, if at all)

 

[D'sAdvanced]

I had not thought of testing latency this way! So I just tried it and my K1 came up with 22 milliseconds while my wife's Pro came up with 15 milliseconds. The mini 4 was my initial choice for this thing until I found out that the non-cellular devices didn't come with a GPS module. I also didn't know about the 2x zoom in iOS devices which I had always thought would be a nice feature. I'm hoping that it is slated for Android because I really don't want to go through a third iteration of exchanging a tablet

Help me understand the need to have GPS on device. How does it change anything?

 

[Meta4]

... until I found out that the non-cellular devices didn't come with a GPS module.

Correction non-cellular iPads don't come with a GPS module.
Most wifi only Android tablets have GPS.

Help me understand the need to have GPS on device. How does it change anything?

Having a GPS enabled tablet allows you to do two extra things:
1. Follow-me
2. Reset homepoint to the current location of the controller.

So it's not a big deal and has little impact for most flyers most of the time.

 

[Chopstix Kid]

Correction non-cellular iPads don't come with a GPS module.
Most wifi only Android tablets have GPS.

That's what I said. I was referring to the non-cellular iPad mini 4 lacking GPS.