Waiting on New Phantom, bout to jump out of my Skin..

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So, I have watched every single video on YouTube that has anything to do with the Phantom, (at least 25 or so..) and am stoked beyond recognition. I have been a photographer my whole life and just got a pair of GoPros last year for Christmas. The Phantom is going to take me to the next level of photography for sure. Mine will be here tomorrow and am not sure how I am suppose to wait till Christmas day to open it. But I have to. At least I will have the box knowing that it is in there.. I am mostly worried about loosing her so I have been researching Tracking devices. Looks like the the Tile might be the most cost effective out there but is not going to be released till spring. Looking at the dog collar ones and the service plans are crazy. But I guess once you have some serious coin tied up in the copter, $175.00 a year in tracking insurance plus a $100.00 or so for the tracker, should be considered. Will post more as I go along. Thanks for reading..

Scott Hurley
 
hi mate the phantom is awsome u will like it a stable quad nice for video
 
My best recommendation...........GO SLOW! The Phantom is really easy to fly because it is really very complicated. There are lots of hidden tricks and routines buried inside of it, and all that brainey stuff is based on electronics and circuits that would never pass a REAL aircraft QC standard. Understand it by reading the manual and taking it a step at a time. Assume until you have done something about ten times that there will be problems and crashes (the Ph is really a tough bird, hard to hurt) and STAY OUT OF HIGH RISK ENVIRONMENTS until you have solid confidence based on many flights over LOW RISK ENVIRONMENTS.

A HIGH RISK ENVIRONMENT is.....over water....or over populated neighborhoods....or over crowds of people.....stay under 400 FEET.....and away from power transmission lines. Basically, until you are a certified expert, assume the bird could just suddenly drop from the sky and come straight down....and stay over an appropriate place for that to happen. Don't push it until you have 10-20 flights with that exact set-up.

THEN....when you make ANY MOD, add a gimbal, add any electronic component, add ANYTHING....go right back to the basics and test it out fully with repeated flights over the safest environment you can find. Any mod adds weight, which changes flight characteristics, might add wiring, which (if done wrong or is faulty) can cause sudden shorts or glitches, etc..

Set a routine and use checklists. Transmitter ON first....off LAST.

Good flying and stay responsible out there.
 
Thanks for your Advice, The Phantom arrived last night and my wife promptly took the box away from me and told me I get it Christmas Morning and went an wrapped it up. I barley got to open the box and touch it.. Sheezzzz, like I'm 10 or sumtin..
Will be very well read on this bird by the time I get to fly that's for sure. Now the waiting game begins.. :cry:
 
fshurley said:
Thanks for your Advice, The Phantom arrived last night and my wife promply took the box away from me and todl me I get it Christmas Morning and went an wrapped it up. I barley got to open the box and touch it.. Sheezzzz, like I'm 10 or sumtin..
Will be very well read on this bird by the time I get to fly that's for sure. Now the waiting game begins.. :cry:

Ask for her permission to drill a hole to get to the Phantom's microUSB cable port!
That way you can start with all the firmware updates and get it ready to fly first thing on Christmas morning... :D
 
HAHAHAHahaha I just told my wife that this guy on the forum told me to tell my wife to let put a hole in the box so I could get the firmware right and could I please do this.. she looked at me like I was crazy. :lol:
 
LOL my bad, now she'll know exactly what it means when she sees that cable dangling from a small hole on your present... :lol:
 
I got my Phantom last week and have about 10 flights under my belt. This is one of the coolest experiences I have had and I look forward to many more flights. I have not flown with the gopro yet. I am still really nervous about a fly away, so I am taking it slow. Keeping the nose / tail orientation inline when the bird is down field a hundred yards is tricky. One thing you might want to talk your wife into is letting you order a few extra batteries. I am flying about 9 minutes on a fully charged battery and using the dji charger, each charge takes an hour. I bought 2 more batteries is can fly for about 30 minutes each session. The firmware upgrade doesn't take too long. You can get a jump start by downloading the NAZA asst and driver on what ever PC you will be using. Have fun!
 
Enjoy your new phantom!

As someone else said...take it SLOW...and do not get too cocky too fast. The thing is very easy to fly, and it is very easy to get over confident with it.

I would also suggest always flying in CL mode. That way no matter which way the phantom's orientation is, you yourself wont get confused.
I always set the CL mode to ON before I take off (that is, after its plugged in, warmed up....and all the lights flashing correctly...including having all GPS).
Now I have one of the very first versions of the Phantom so this may have been fixed already....but I have found that each time I put a new battery in, I have to turn the CL mode to OFF and then back ON. As in, if you plug your battery in with the mode on your controller set to be CL on...it will not actually be on.

Also, once you do take off in CL mode....the first thing I ALWAYS ALWAYS do is twist my phantom 90 degrees in the air and pull the joystick towards me. If it still comes towards where I am standing I know CL is active and working. If it does not....CL did not take and I usually will land it and restart everything over (including unplugging battery and reconnecting).

One last piece of advice....never lose a visual on your phantom. Out of the 80+ flights I have done, I have flown it behind an object twice where I lost a visual on it. Both those instances....it never came out where expected and I didnt know where it was. Luckily both times I was in a pretty wide open space....so after 30 seconds or so I pulled the joystick towards me (was flying CL mode) and eventually heard it....and then from that point I eventually was able to get visual on it. I have yet to try out the return home functionality.....and I really do not want to ever have to try it.
 
ok...forgot one thing I would like to throw out there....

I recommend every couple minutes to fly it close enough to see the flashing lights. As soon as I see red flashing lights, meaning the battery is starting to get low, I immediately bring it in and land it. While I probably have another 1-2 minutes once it starts flashing...it is not worth gambling. I have a total of 5 batteries, so it is so easy and quick to pop in another battery and get it back up in the air.

One thing I do also do to test the battery is.....if the battery is flashing green (for good, no low battery), ill sometimes let it hover close to me....and push the elevation joystick straight up so it gains altitude as fast as it can. If it starts flashing red when i do that, I know my battery is getting close to its limit.

Also....I HIGHLY recommend buying a good charger. I would not rely on that stock charger...its a piece of junk.
I got a real nice one for ~$100. It has a LCD display to tell you how much it puts back in....and has the storage feature (which you should use if you dont plan on flying for a week or so). It also charges the batteries much quicker (I charge at 2amps and it charges a battery in approx 45 minutes).
 
Peter Patricelli said:
My best recommendation...........GO SLOW!

The best advice. It will be difficult, but resist temptation and do you first flights in an open field with plenty of room. I crashed my Phantom on the 2nd day I had it because I was flying around my house and basically freaked out when it got close to a wall and made it fly right into it. Gimbal came off, sheared the 8 pin ribbon cable :(

I'm much more comfortable now, but flying can still be nerve wracking for me. Good luck and congratulations on your new Phantom!
 
WoW, Thanks everybody for you comments. This thing is the coolest UAV that I have ever touched for sure. I have had a few flights now with my GoPro on and its incredible. I got the anti-jelllo mount and it seems to do its job as I have seen no jello in my video. Will post a compilation soon... Thanks again and Happy Flying...
 

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