totally new, have a few questions

[lightningdan]

hey gang, let me first start off by saying isnt the internet great! im so glad i found this community, the other night i spent a few hours reading and man it can get overwhelming..

so let me begin, i am interested in purchasing a DJI phantom 2 vision. I was looking online and it seems 1200 bucks gets you abosuletly everything u need, drone, controller, wireless extender, phone holder and camera.

i was curious if there is any site recommended for order a complete drone setup? i am totally new to this but have been doing alittle home work. I have a friend that has a Blade 350XQ or something by that name. i was telling him how i was looking into buying a DJI P2. and he said he wouldnt purchase one because of so many " fly away issues"

so i found this forum and started reading back threads, im under the impression now after reading the P1's had some fly away issues but the P2's i cant find anything on?

is it true that there is issues with the P2? if you guys would purchase a drone all over again would u have purchased your phantom 2s?

just looking for some guidance before i drop all this cash on something so i can watch it wave and fly away never to be found again lol i live in a very small historic town and would love to use this to fly around all the historic buildings, and battle grounds

thank you for your time

danny

 

[Visioneer]

I've been here for a couple months and it does seem like the fly-away posts have settled down some. And there seems to be a school of thought that fly-aways which aren't the result of pre-flight errors have to do with some malfunction in the GPS system, as some have mentioned that they regained control by switching to ATTI (you have to change from Vision mode to NAZA mode via the assistant to be able to do this).

Though lengthy, you may find the following helpful in putting your arms around the P2V.
http://www.lsvl.info/Phantom2Vision.htm

 

[mikeydaddio]

I did extensive research on the fly away issue (we're talking probably 10-15 hours total) before buying and found that it's not a simple matter. The majority seemed to be caused by pilot error and improper pre-flight. Educating people about the blinking home position and proper use of the failsafe and even including how to regain orientation when disoriented took a big bite out of the complaints. Yet there were still a few from experienced pilots who had followed the procedures.

Of the remaining few, some could be explained by RF interference (somewhat mitigated by the newer DJI firmware). I found that the GoPro even has enough RF interference with WiFi turned off to make an impact. What remains after that appears to be a very small percentage that could be caused by some sort of equipment failure: GPS error where the GPS suddenly thinks you are in a new (and erroneous) position, radio failure, motor failure, etc. You are always going to have a non-zero failure rate of equipment regardless of what model or who makes it. All it takes is one of the 4 motors to suddenly lose partial power due to a bad ESC or internal winding and off she goes (or down she comes). So the most reliable quad on the planet is still going to have some instances of fly aways. Also a reason I try not to fly over (or close to) people. You never can guarantee 100% control.

Mike

 

[Pull_Up]

A few things to remember:

People who's aircraft has crashed or head off into the sunset are far more likely to post about it than people who have had 100s of trouble-free flights, so there is naturally going to be a bias creating "lots of posts" on one and not so many on the other!

People who have a financial and emotional investment in the aircraft are not the best-placed (either in terms of bias or recall - they were busy trying to fly at the time) to accurately dissect what happened before and during.

The post above is spot on - once you distil out all the other factors the number of absolute, no reason, undisputed, dead-on "flyaways" dwindles down substantially, some would say almost entirely but I won't go that far - with complex electronics you can never discount something glitching.

Personally I haven't had anything remotely like an uncommanded flyaway, and I've had my Vision since 1st November. But then again I'm a middle-aged, boring fart who likes to use things like check lists and do preventative maintenance and not calibrate my compass next to metal railings (well, I do now after it caused the aircraft to fly like a rodeo bull back in my early days - lesson learnt!). The other thing you might like to say to your friend with the 350QX is you wouldn't buy one of those because of all the problems they had with props failing in flight: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2005278 :shock:

So, whilst you should never say never, it's not quite as simple as Phantoms have "so many flyaway issues". Just sayin'.

Oh, and welcome!!

 

[iResq]

i was curious if there is any site recommended for order a complete drone setup?
danny

I'd recommend B&H Photo. That's where I bought mine. Excellent customer service. And free 2nd battery.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/9 ... ision.html

 

[lightningdan]

thank you all you guys who responded, sorry for the super late reply. I have been super busy with life, and now had a few days to relax, so i figured i'd jump back on the drone subject.

i personally want a P2V. im going to read the following links you all have provided, i still need to learn all the terminology "ATTI"

i appreciate the help, and friendliness! thanks guys!

danny

 

[lightningdan]

i was curious if there is any site recommended for order a complete drone setup?
danny

I'd recommend B&H Photo. That's where I bought mine. Excellent customer service. And free 2nd battery.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/9 ... ision.html

are u serious?! a free 2nd battery? was there a promotion or internet coupon?

 

[Visioneer]

i was curious if there is any site recommended for order a complete drone setup?
danny

I'd recommend B&H Photo. That's where I bought mine. Excellent customer service. And free 2nd battery.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/9 ... ision.html

are u serious?! a free 2nd battery? was there a promotion or internet coupon?

There was a DJI promotion ...for the past couple(?) of weeks. It was right on the page the above link goes to, but it's not there now. You might try other vendors, but it may have ended. You also might try calling them if you're ready to buy in case they still have some. I never saw any dates listed.

 

[AnselA]

There was a DJI promotion ...for the past couple(?) of weeks. It was right on the page the above link goes to, but it's not there now. You might try other vendors, but it may have ended. You also might try calling them if you're ready to buy in case they still have some. I never saw any dates listed.

http://www.dji.com/orders/new?product_s ... m-2-vision

 

[Jermz]

I'd recommend B&H Photo. That's where I bought mine. Excellent customer service. And free 2nd battery.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/9 ... ision.html

That's a really good place to pick one up. They have been around for a long time, and are one of the most well known photography and a/v places around. And free shipping on it, and no sales tax outside of NY.


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[its]

thanks for the great info.

 

[Rowdy13]

Regarding the P2V. If I want to change to a Go Pro camera in the future, can I do that, or will I always be stuck with the camera that came with the unit?

 

[Pull_Up]

You can take the camera of if you want but it kind of defeats the object of having the WiFi fpv and telemetry link to smartphone the vision camera has. If you have a gopro or think you will get one soon because you feel it's better quality then it might not be worth buying a Vision as a "stop gap", although as an out of the box package, ready to go with remotely controlled camera and fpv it's currently one of a kind...

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

If you have not purchased one yet then make sure you go for the right model. I didn't and so ended up with 2.

It all depends on your intentions and how you think you might take to the hobby. The Vision is fun but will give jiggly video until you fit the Rotorpix Gimbal. Thats extra expense. Its great for close in work but will struggle if you need to fly further away, unless you add upgraded antennas. Even then it is very limited in its FPV abilities. When I bought mine I convinced myself I didn't need FPV and I just wanted to fly very local. That has now completely changed.

The P2 with Zenmuse gimbal, gopro, Mini IOSD FPV will simply amaze you with its capabilities and additional safety features, i.e. the telemetry from the IOSD. It will give you the confidence to easily film a subject over 1km away from you. It lets you use larger monitors or goggles. Think hard and be honest with yourself about what type of flying you want to do.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Encantador]

The P2 with Zenmuse gimbal, gopro, Mini IOSD FPV will simply amaze you with its capabilities and additional safety features, i.e. the telemetry from the IOSD.
Welcome to the forum

Can you elaborate on this, I am happy with my Vision but may want to move on eventually. I would be interested in how the Mini IOSD FPR differs from that of the Vision and what the extra safety features are.

Thanks

 

[Rowdy13]

If you have not purchased one yet then make sure you go for the right model. I didn't and so ended up with 2.

It all depends on your intentions and how you think you might take to the hobby. The Vision is fun but will give jiggly video until you fit the Rotorpix Gimbal. Thats extra expense. Its great for close in work but will struggle if you need to fly further away, unless you add upgraded antennas. Even then it is very limited in its FPV abilities. When I bought mine I convinced myself I didn't need FPV and I just wanted to fly very local. That has now completely changed.

The P2 with Zenmuse gimbal, gopro, Mini IOSD FPV will simply amaze you with its capabilities and additional safety features, i.e. the telemetry from the IOSD. It will give you the confidence to easily film a subject over 1km away from you. It lets you use larger monitors or goggles. Think hard and be honest with yourself about what type of flying you want to do.

Welcome to the forum

Shrimpfarmer, thank you so much for your input, and I'm going to buy the exact Phantom and extras you mentioned in your post. And one of my future questions I was going to ask the forum, was tips on editing, but then saw that you pretty much took care of that with your link. Oh yea, while I was goofing around on the computer, I saw a you tube video comparing the Phantom 2 to the "ultimate phantom". What the heck is the "ultimate phantom". The copter looks the same, but the batteries look different, and the transmitter looks different, and is black instead of white. Have you or anyone heard of the ultimate phantom?

 

[Pull_Up]

For those in the UK just remember that immersive FPV flying (i.e. using goggles) is currently illegal unless you operate under the strict conditions laid out in the specific exemption to the Air Navigation Order issued by the CAA and won by fpvuk.org . Details of the specifics are on their website, but it includes requiring having a competent spotter with you as a lookout. Use of a screen whilst still keeping the aircraft within visual range is not covered by this and doesn't require the additional operating procedures to stay legal (and therefore also insured if you have bought third party liability insurance).

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

For those in the UK just remember that immersive FPV flying (i.e. using goggles) is currently illegal unless you operate under the strict conditions laid out in the specific exemption to the Air Navigation Order issued by the CAA and won by fpvuk.org . Details of the specifics are on their website, but it includes requiring having a competent spotter with you as a lookout. Use of a screen whilst still keeping the aircraft within visual range is not covered by this and doesn't require the additional operating procedures to stay legal (and therefore also insured if you have bought third party liability insurance).

Absolutely correct. I am lucky as my wife is normally my spotter and she is also a phantom pilot. When I recently filmed the lighthouse at Newhaven a fellow forum member was my spotter and I was his when he used his goggles.

 

[Pull_Up]

Yes and it's thanks to people like you doing the "right thing" that the new exemption this year is going to raise the height ceiling from 400ft to 1000ft provided the spotter can still maintain visual contact - hopefully people will continue to be responsible so those who want to can enjoy these "extras".

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

Yes and it's thanks to people like you doing the "right thing" that the new exemption this year is going to raise the height ceiling from 400ft to 1000ft provided the spotter can still maintain visual contact - hopefully people will continue to be responsible so those who want to can enjoy these "extras".

Good news I had not heard that. Trouble is my eyesight may not be good enough to use the extra allowance