I bought the Solo when it first came out and went through all the frustration waiting for the gimbal. But once I received it and started flying it I really liked it. I have been extremely careful and will always plan my flights. I have never had any serious crashes but a few "side drift" landing issues have given me concern. Every time I send the bird up, I have crash anxiety with the Solo. Now yes, with continue diligence and planning, I am sure that I can continue to fly the Solo without incident, but I bought it as a camera platform first and foremost. This means that I have two tasks when flying the Solo; cameraman and obstacle avoidance. I really want to spend my time as a cameramen and less as a pilot. I also want to spend time capturing me and my friends kiteboarding, windsurfing, mountain biking etc. I think the P4 will give me the opportunity to do that if it lives up to the hype. I must admit that the tracking feature (Activetrack) has me excited as does the obstacle avoidance. (this will be 360 coverage on Phantoms and other consumer drones soon I am sure) So I have ordered the P4 and will try it before I put my Solo on Amazon. 3DR has had great customer support and the sister forum (3DRpilots) has a great community where I have learned tons. I know that DJI's rep for customer service is not quite as stellar but I bet the community on this forum is great. So, hello all!
Why I am switching from Solo to P4
- Thread starter Pogopilot
- Start date
Both obstacle avoidance and tracking feature are important improvements. However in a sense the P4 is going to be a beta product for these features. Over the next year - until the P5 comes out - these features will be continually improved upon. I have a feeling these features will work but the shots will probably need to be set up and only work well in a relatively narrow scenarios. For instance, on the water following windsurfers, you will probably need to find times of day where the reflection from the water is low in order for flight tracking to work well enough to hold for a nice shot.
I do sympathize very much with that sentiment. I'm going back and forth on getting a P3P or a P. Right now those new obstacle avoidance and subject tracking features are often portrayed as "noob" features but the bottom line is, whether I'm a confident pilot or not, if I can spend less mental energy on flying and more on good shots, I'm doing more of what I love.
Josh
Yes good point but with every iteration there is something new. I had a P2 before the Solo and for me these features are almost revolutionary and not just evolutionary. I believe there is enough here to make the switch. I am sure your are correct about P5 but I will have crashed my Solo if I wait until then. Thanks for reply.
Subject tracking and obstacle avoidance are the main reasons I'm going from the 3 to the 4. Right now the follow me mode sucks on the P3. I try to use it when I take my family out in our RZR 4 1000. My wife can drive OKish. She is nowhere near as an aggressive driver as I am and she will not fly the P3P out of fear of crashing it. So we have to switch seats so I can fly because with the current follow me, we have to shoot from really high or risk the 3 crashing into objects while following. But, when I fly the footage sucks because she is putt putting around. I'm hoping with the obstacle avoidance and the subject tracking I can get some really good rock crawling and high speed shots with the new sport mode.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Don't forget obstacle avoidance isn't on during sport mode.
Anyway, you made me think.. I wonder if subject tracking tries to maintain a given height from ground using the VPS? If you are trying to track much more closely, say 50 feet, and you go up a hill, I wonder will it rise to try to maintain the height?
josh
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