Why DJI may be shooting itself in the foot with the P4

Status
Not open for further replies.
It's tempting, especially since my P3P is still within it's return period until March 12th and I'd be able to return it to the tune of what I paid for it, around full price at ~$1259. Unfortunately though I have a trip to Arizona planned March 15th and had planned on taking my Phantom with me. I'd be out a drone on that trip if I decided to go with the P4... Thinking I'm going to have to consider my P3P as good enough and granted the camera isn't much different on the P4, so not like I'm missing out on a lot there, but the other features are kind of nice... Stupid vacation. :/

Pre-order through Apple and schedule for in-store pick-up at an Arizona Apple Store.
253df68e7d11be2a906ae23b871310df.jpg



Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
I just recently purchased my P3P and was very much excited about P4. I do like some of its features, however for $999 with extra battery from BB I think P3P will be good for now.
Although target tracking would be cool when I ride my jet ski.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pre-order through Apple and schedule for in-store pick-up at an Arizona Apple Store.
253df68e7d11be2a906ae23b871310df.jpg

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

This is a definite possibility! I guess it really depends though on when they'll have the Phantom 4 in the store. I've heard they'll have the drone in the stores on the 15th but not sure if I trust that. I'll call a few stores tomorrow and find out if they can guarantee me a Phantom 4 (if I pre-order in the next few days) during the week I'm there: March 14-21. I'll go as soon as get there and pick it up if I can. Thanks for all the advice!
 
Last edited:
I have a P2V, a P3P, and just odered the P4, I can take my P2V on holiday with me and if I loose it, then its not going to hurt that much...its like owning a camera then upgrading, I don't get rid of the old one just use it as a backup.

Flack
 
Negativity of this sort amazes me after the release of yet another groundbreaking camera platform by the company that does it best. I'm not a DJI fan boy as I've had many issues with them and a few of their products. Who is their most serious competition? The Blade Chroma? The Yuneec Typhoon? The Hubsan X4 Pro?

The Chroma and Typhoon are pretty much sister ships and IMHO very well implemented and intriguing. The Hubsan is an industry joke. Feature for feature and dollar for dollar... there is no real competition. DJI may have fanboys... But they also have "haters" that'll never drink the Koolaid no matter how tasty...

-slinger
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dirty Bird
Now ,even trees would not holt my PH4 from fly aways????

I have my doubts about new fixating props
 
I'll keep my p3p and wait for any bugs in the p4 to be worked out before buying


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
I'm not liking the whole thing about 400ft max height limit for the p4.
Where did you see 400 max in altitude. I did not see it. I saw same ole 500m


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Negativity of this sort amazes me after the release of yet another groundbreaking camera platform by the company that does it best. I'm not a DJI fan boy as I've had many issues with them and a few of their products. Who is their most serious competition? The Blade Chroma? The Yuneec Typhoon? The Hubsan X4 Pro?

The Chroma and Typhoon are pretty much sister ships and IMHO very well implemented and intriguing. The Hubsan is an industry joke. Feature for feature and dollar for dollar... there is no real competition. DJI may have fanboys... But they also have "haters" that'll never drink the Koolaid no matter how tasty...

-slinger
Add a lil more sugar and the kool aid taste just fine thank you. Hehehehe :)


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
All this wild consumer rush! Its thrilling to see capitalism in action. You must have this! Ohhh, let me have one of those! Thrilling.
I'll lay money on their service still sucking the big hotdog.
 
  1. Collision avoidance: Do your homework and find out the height of your surroundings first, set an appropriate RTH height before flying and make sure you maintain proper LOS with your bird.
  2. Dual IMU and Compass: Having two IMUs and Compasses is good, but that does not mean that you P3 would suddenly fail because of it. The system in P3 works fine and that's that.
  3. Sports Mode: This is one physical advantage that the P3 doesnt have, but how many of us really need the sports mode? Surely not enough to want us all to sell our P3 and pick up a P4.
  4. Subject tracking: Sure this is amazing software technology, but how many of us will constantly use it? Most of us are recreational flyers and do not make movies for a living. So we won't be hard up for that software.
  5. Motors that sit higher: Hmmm ok. So just plan your shots first and adjust your gimbal on your p3 before you film anything then.
  6. 4K camera with new glass: The P3's camera is already amazing. With proper technique and flying and grading of video, I don't see how the new camera will be that revolutionary compared to the P3's.
  7. Larger battery: Sure, the P4 battery is huge and provides 28 mins of flight time. It comes at a cost however, it takes almost 70 mins to charge one battery. Unless there is a new way of fast charging the batteries whilst maintain long flight times, i doubt any of us would be happy to wait for an hour for a battery to charge.
1. That's a silly argument, the whole point of collision avoidance is in case of user error. To say "do your homework" is like saying to a car manufacturer that you don't need airbags because you don't plan on crashing. Like it or not, collision avoidance is nice to have whether you never need it or it saves your drone.

2. Having extra telemetry is always a good thing, I don't think anyone is complaining that they have this or when the P3 got GLONASS, it wasn't something that said definetly buy it for that, but it's nice to have.

3. Does anyone need a drone period? Stupid argument to say that someone "needs" sports mode, people want sports mode and people want drones. Has nothing to do with need. If I were to buy goggles and fly a drone that way, the P4 would be so much cooler than P3 BECAUSE of sports mode.

4. Ever since P3 came out without follow me, people were complaining and wanted that functionality. Ever since it came out, people have been complaining about not wanting to have the controller with you. Subject tracking is amazing if it works well, and that is a big if but it is amazing thing to have for sure!

5. Again silly argument, plan your filming and flying. Never mind having the machine actually aid you in something, just plan beforehand and you won't need this. If I remember correctly there are a lot of people that hate when their props get in to their shots, this helps... Also apparently makes the engines more efficient, is that unnecessary too?

6. Most would say the camera is not good enough. There's always things to improve here and I don't think they went far enough. The Phantom is basically a camera in the sky, how could better pictures and movies not matter?

7. So then I'll use your type of arguments "if you just plan your day, 70 minutes is plenty". Seriously though, yes it sucks that it takes longer to charge a bigger battery but that's physics. But longer flight time is always great, every minute counts. People who have a P3 buy extra batteries this could mean that you don't need as many and that you don't have to return home to swap as soon with the P4.

Now I see where you're coming from and if I had a P3P I would probably not upgrade, but then again you and me are not the entire population and that list you made had some bizarre arguments.

It's a nice upgrade, not groundbreaking as when DJI went from P2 to P3 but it's a very nice and worthy upgrade for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tony Cowan
Interesting perspective, but I think you looking at things too narrowly... I like the direction DJI is moving with the Phantom, its what I said I wanted in an AP Quad before I ever bought my first AP Quad (only a few short months ago). I want flying to be secondary to capturing the moment. I want a nearly autonomous AP platform that I don't have to think about.

For me, as a motorcyclist first, Sport Mode and Subject Tracking are two features I would be making the most use of. So very appealing to me.

The other items you mention where you have a work-around for, well you can apply that logic till you are flying a Non-GPS basic AP quad from years ago like the Blade QX3. IF you know how to properly fly that in agility mode you don't need redundant IMUs, GPS modules, etc.

I do agree that there is or will be a point where the Phantom's tech will stop making huge advancements and will be improvements/refinements or as you mention it gets too close to the Inspire and people will question why by an Inspire when a Phantom can do it all.


With the official launch of the Phantom 4 drone on 1st March 2016, we finally have a drone with collision avoidance, subject tracking, dual-IMU and compass, and even a sports mode. Surely this would make many P3 owners sell their birds and snap up a P4.

View attachment 45648
However, I think that most P3 owners would actually just stay with their current drones.

The problem with the Phantom line is that when the P3 came out, it was miles ahead of the P2, its integrated lightbridge technology was amazing and its 4k camera gave wonderful clarity in video. Many owners wished that the next Phantom iteration would include retractable landing gears or 360 camera. That though, would mean that the phantom would slowly creep into the realm of the Inspire 1.

View attachment 45650

DJI cannot create a phantom product that will eventually become like what the Inspire 1 is, because that would obviously kill the sales of the Inspire. Unless DJI creates a revolutionary Inspire 2, or find some other ways to improve the Phantom line without affecting sales of the Inspire, we could see DJI becoming like Apple, releasing products year after year with minimal changes from the previous product.

Here is what I think of the P4's system and what you can do with a P3.

  1. Collision avoidance: Do your homework and find out the height of your surroundings first, set an appropriate RTH height before flying and make sure you maintain proper LOS with your bird.
  2. Dual IMU and Compass: Having two IMUs and Compasses is good, but that does not mean that you P3 would suddenly fail because of it. The system in P3 works fine and that's that.
  3. Sports Mode: This is one physical advantage that the P3 doesnt have, but how many of us really need the sports mode? Surely not enough to want us all to sell our P3 and pick up a P4.
  4. Subject tracking: Sure this is amazing software technology, but how many of us will constantly use it? Most of us are recreational flyers and do not make movies for a living. So we won't be hard up for that software.
  5. Motors that sit higher: Hmmm ok. So just plan your shots first and adjust your gimbal on your p3 before you film anything then.
  6. 4K camera with new glass: The P3's camera is already amazing. With proper technique and flying and grading of video, I don't see how the new camera will be that revolutionary compared to the P3's.
  7. Larger battery: Sure, the P4 battery is huge and provides 28 mins of flight time. It comes at a cost however, it takes almost 70 mins to charge one battery. Unless there is a new way of fast charging the batteries whilst maintain long flight times, i doubt any of us would be happy to wait for an hour for a battery to charge.
View attachment 45649


What are your thoughts? Would you sell your P3 to get the P4?
With the official launch of the Phantom 4 drone on 1st March 2016, we finally have a drone with collision avoidance, subject tracking, dual-IMU and compass, and even a sports mode. Surely this would make many P3 owners sell their birds and snap up a P4.

View attachment 45648
However, I think that most P3 owners would actually just stay with their current drones.

The problem with the Phantom line is that when the P3 came out, it was miles ahead of the P2, its integrated lightbridge technology was amazing and its 4k camera gave wonderful clarity in video. Many owners wished that the next Phantom iteration would include retractable landing gears or 360 camera. That though, would mean that the phantom would slowly creep into the realm of the Inspire 1.

View attachment 45650

DJI cannot create a phantom product that will eventually become like what the Inspire 1 is, because that would obviously kill the sales of the Inspire. Unless DJI creates a revolutionary Inspire 2, or find some other ways to improve the Phantom line without affecting sales of the Inspire, we could see DJI becoming like Apple, releasing products year after year with minimal changes from the previous product.

Here is what I think of the P4's system and what you can do with a P3.

  1. Collision avoidance: Do your homework and find out the height of your surroundings first, set an appropriate RTH height before flying and make sure you maintain proper LOS with your bird.
  2. Dual IMU and Compass: Having two IMUs and Compasses is good, but that does not mean that you P3 would suddenly fail because of it. The system in P3 works fine and that's that.
  3. Sports Mode: This is one physical advantage that the P3 doesnt have, but how many of us really need the sports mode? Surely not enough to want us all to sell our P3 and pick up a P4.
  4. Subject tracking: Sure this is amazing software technology, but how many of us will constantly use it? Most of us are recreational flyers and do not make movies for a living. So we won't be hard up for that software.
  5. Motors that sit higher: Hmmm ok. So just plan your shots first and adjust your gimbal on your p3 before you film anything then.
  6. 4K camera with new glass: The P3's camera is already amazing. With proper technique and flying and grading of video, I don't see how the new camera will be that revolutionary compared to the P3's.
  7. Larger battery: Sure, the P4 battery is huge and provides 28 mins of flight time. It comes at a cost however, it takes almost 70 mins to charge one battery. Unless there is a new way of fast charging the batteries whilst maintain long flight times, i doubt any of us would be happy to wait for an hour for a battery to charge.
View attachment 45649


What are your thoughts? Would you sell your P3 to get the P4?
 
With the official launch of the Phantom 4 drone on 1st March 2016, we finally have a drone with collision avoidance, subject tracking, dual-IMU and compass, and even a sports mode. Surely this would make many P3 owners sell their birds and snap up a P4.

View attachment 45648
However, I think that most P3 owners would actually just stay with their current drones.

The problem with the Phantom line is that when the P3 came out, it was miles ahead of the P2, its integrated lightbridge technology was amazing and its 4k camera gave wonderful clarity in video. Many owners wished that the next Phantom iteration would include retractable landing gears or 360 camera. That though, would mean that the phantom would slowly creep into the realm of the Inspire 1.

View attachment 45650

DJI cannot create a phantom product that will eventually become like what the Inspire 1 is, because that would obviously kill the sales of the Inspire. Unless DJI creates a revolutionary Inspire 2, or find some other ways to improve the Phantom line without affecting sales of the Inspire, we could see DJI becoming like Apple, releasing products year after year with minimal changes from the previous product.

Here is what I think of the P4's system and what you can do with a P3.

  1. Collision avoidance: Do your homework and find out the height of your surroundings first, set an appropriate RTH height before flying and make sure you maintain proper LOS with your bird.
  2. Dual IMU and Compass: Having two IMUs and Compasses is good, but that does not mean that you P3 would suddenly fail because of it. The system in P3 works fine and that's that.
  3. Sports Mode: This is one physical advantage that the P3 doesnt have, but how many of us really need the sports mode? Surely not enough to want us all to sell our P3 and pick up a P4.
  4. Subject tracking: Sure this is amazing software technology, but how many of us will constantly use it? Most of us are recreational flyers and do not make movies for a living. So we won't be hard up for that software.
  5. Motors that sit higher: Hmmm ok. So just plan your shots first and adjust your gimbal on your p3 before you film anything then.
  6. 4K camera with new glass: The P3's camera is already amazing. With proper technique and flying and grading of video, I don't see how the new camera will be that revolutionary compared to the P3's.
  7. Larger battery: Sure, the P4 battery is huge and provides 28 mins of flight time. It comes at a cost however, it takes almost 70 mins to charge one battery. Unless there is a new way of fast charging the batteries whilst maintain long flight times, i doubt any of us would be happy to wait for an hour for a battery to charge.
View attachment 45649


What are your thoughts? Would you sell your P3 to get the P4?
Wait....70 mins recharge....how much recharge do you normally get?

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
 
Does anyone know if the collision avoidance will pick up small tree top twigs or what its limitations are?
 
Here is what I think of the P4's system and what you can do with a P3.

There is a lot more you can do with the P4 IMO.........I respect your opinion Garrie, however I just don't agree with it. The P4 is one sleek, amazing flying and filming machine!

LOL - Here's a good reason up here in Canada to at least wait - $1,399.00 USD = $1,881.00 Canadian (ouch).

Actually considering all the P4 does the price is a lot less than I expected........."DJI shooting themselves in the foot" - nah....not likely!

Don't kid yourself.........."Seems like companies spoon feed the masses technology"..........LanaRain - There is a lot more to come.
 
Wait....70 mins recharge....how much recharge do you normally get?

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
It takes about 40 mins for a p3 battery to be fully charged. According to the review by a DJI staff, the larger p4 battery takes about 70mins to charge.
 
1. That's a silly argument, the whole point of collision avoidance is in case of user error. To say "do your homework" is like saying to a car manufacturer that you don't need airbags because you don't plan on crashing. Like it or not, collision avoidance is nice to have whether you never need it or it saves your drone.

2. Having extra telemetry is always a good thing, I don't think anyone is complaining that they have this or when the P3 got GLONASS, it wasn't something that said definetly buy it for that, but it's nice to have.

3. Does anyone need a drone period? Stupid argument to say that someone "needs" sports mode, people want sports mode and people want drones. Has nothing to do with need. If I were to buy goggles and fly a drone that way, the P4 would be so much cooler than P3 BECAUSE of sports mode.

4. Ever since P3 came out without follow me, people were complaining and wanted that functionality. Ever since it came out, people have been complaining about not wanting to have the controller with you. Subject tracking is amazing if it works well, and that is a big if but it is amazing thing to have for sure!

5. Again silly argument, plan your filming and flying. Never mind having the machine actually aid you in something, just plan beforehand and you won't need this. If I remember correctly there are a lot of people that hate when their props get in to their shots, this helps... Also apparently makes the engines more efficient, is that unnecessary too?

6. Most would say the camera is not good enough. There's always things to improve here and I don't think they went far enough. The Phantom is basically a camera in the sky, how could better pictures and movies not matter?

7. So then I'll use your type of arguments "if you just plan your day, 70 minutes is plenty". Seriously though, yes it sucks that it takes longer to charge a bigger battery but that's physics. But longer flight time is always great, every minute counts. People who have a P3 buy extra batteries this could mean that you don't need as many and that you don't have to return home to swap as soon with the P4.

Now I see where you're coming from and if I had a P3P I would probably not upgrade, but then again you and me are not the entire population and that list you made had some bizarre arguments.

It's a nice upgrade, not groundbreaking as when DJI went from P2 to P3 but it's a very nice and worthy upgrade for sure.


I disagree on your final point. If the collision avoidance works and the subject tracking works... How is this not groundbreaking???

-slinger
 
  • Like
Reactions: eaglegoaltender
It takes about 40 mins for a p3 battery to be fully charged. According to the review by a DJI staff, the larger p4 battery takes about 70mins to charge.

Good point and that's a lot if your flying then waiting for a re-charge, however that's why you purchase extra batteries.......cheers!
 
I disagree on your final point. If the collision avoidance works and the subject tracking works... How is this not groundbreaking???

-slinger

True, you are right. However the Tested video didn't convince me, it seems as though it has some issues. Could be an anomaly, could be worked out with software and firmware updates, but you are right, in that event it would be groundbreaking!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,359
Members
104,936
Latest member
hirehackers