Ive been considering a Drone Parachute for my new P3P,due to all the horror stories of them falling out of the sky.
When i used my previous P3A,it didnt even enter into my mind that it would just drop out of the sky for no reason at all.I would fly it all the time and just enjoy the experience.
I think thats Called Trust.
This is something ive not got with my new baby.Ive not even put props on her yet, since Xmas...Wheather is abit poo her, plus the stories have kinda taken the shine of it.
So has anyone had any experience with:
Mars Chutes.
SkyFallX.
Fruitychutes.
From what i can see,the SkyFallX system is the only one that triggers itself, due to readings from its own smart flight/gyro system thingy.
What have you used/Got.
Thanks.
Graham.

You dont need one

How do you know i don't need one??
I think it would be a nice Ace to have, just in case it decides to take a dive.

I just looked at Mars. They don't have anything noted for P3. Just P2 as of now. It would be a nice addition.

SkyFallX would be the one i would go with, but looking into it more,they are still in the design stages. The SkyFallx system would trigger itself if it detected, free fall, tumble and acute tilt angles.
The pilot wouldn't need to do a thing, but fly your Phantom.
The other two, i think you would need to trigger yourself if you felt something was wrong.

There is also the Mayday smart parachute system: http://northuav.com/

Keep in mind, if a chute did work perfectly it could not do much to control where you landed.  Water/trees/buildings are all hazards that remain.  The extra weight may be more of a performance penalty too.  It comes down to risk management and risk acceptance.  Flying in general is high risk and you can mitigate via many methods.  Think about general aviation--there are ballistic chute solutions available and they do save lives.  The percentage of use remains low due to the likelihood of need being very low if your aircraft is well maintained, the pilot well trained and operating within the limits of the design.  

Trust me, if mine came plummeting down in a free fall into an open field I'd be kicking myself for not having a rescue chute.  But, if I spent the dollars for a chute and it floated onto a highway and was squished by a passing semi truck I would be double upset.  Do a good assessment of your risk, skills and operational state of your quad--time/money is better spent on that side of the equation vs trying to mitigate every possible risk.  

I have thousands of hours of flight time in real aircraft and only wear a chute myself when required (acrobatic flight requires wearing of a parachute).  Even with a chute for acro work I don't push the airplane beyond its design limits.  Good luck with your search & ultimate decision!

How much do they cost

My biggest concern would be either having the reaction time to activate it in time, or worse, if it was self activating, having it malfunction & activate when it didn't need to, wrapping itself round the props & causing a crash.

I am also concerned about a chute malfunctioning. The only time it would be OK is if all the motors stopped at the one time. If even one motor was running, the prop would most likely tangle in the shroud lines and the chute would be useless. I have looked into this before, and I have never seen any video of one of these systems working on a Phantom, so I remain unconvinced.

I am Looking at the North UAV package seems kind of pricey but hey if someone gets a fly away or...  they can just shut off the props which will pop the chute and save the day!

There is also the Stop Flyaway system,  which has a bigger parachute from Mars and its own remote controller to stop the motors and trigger the parachute or even connect with the Mayday module.

http://33dev.ru/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=55
http://33dev.ru/index.php?route=product/category&path=59

CaveDrone Posted at 2016-1-11 12:16
I am Looking at the North UAV package seems kind of pricey but hey if someone gets a fly away or...  ...

I tried to find a review of the Mayday system. Could not find a single one.

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-11 10:45
I tried to find a review of the Mayday system. Could not find a single one.

They have just released them after long way with money collection at kickstarter. The price they want for the module is $130.
But it's kinda tricky to use automatic fall detection. Mayday must detect the rollover of your drone, however many youtube videos show that drones may fall straight without rolling. Also Mayday can't detect if drone is flying away and lost control so it won't activate parachute and drone will continue moving out.
Stop Flyaway, as perseas said, seems to be more useful thing since you make your own decision if you have troubles and must activate the parachute, you don't need to wait when internal chip (if we talk about Mayday) will recognize rollover or unusual fast landing speed.
Try youtube for "flyaway", they all wanted to return their drones by moving and switching sticks. All of those Mayday-like devices would think everything is ok, drone flies as usual. And only you see that it it must be stopped right now. How many people were dreaming about the immediate stop button in those moments?

FYI: http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/11/10741622/solo-drone-new-hardware-parachute-360-camera

would be a nice addition if it wasnt clunky looking, i would get one

We shouldn't even be talking about about parachutes!!!!!!!!! DJI SHOULD START MAKING RELIABLE PRODUCTS. BOTTOM LINE.

New rules for drones are on the way here in Latvia. Flying in urban areas will be allowed from 50 to 120m height, outside from urban areas only up to 120m. This is for drones with max weight up to 1,5kg. If you own heavier drone and want to fly it over city it must be equipped with parachute...

Same in Russia, but our law seems to be copied from USA law with limits of 250g and registration rules. Looks like 2016 is a year of the end of free drone usage.

mdji Posted at 2016-1-11 20:43
Same in Russia, but our law seems to be copied from USA law with limits of 250g and registration rul ...

We will have to go underground

Underground . not many places to fly Above ground never mind underground

The phantom seem to be top heavy so they should always roll over.  Some where there's a video of the phantom falling and spinning when the chute opens on the NORTH UAV site.  

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-10 18:49
I am also concerned about a chute malfunctioning. The only time it would be OK is if all the motors  ...

Even if that were the case, it would become a drag chute.  ANY air resistance at that point is a good thing.  It slows the possible terminal velocity rating of the aircraft.  Sure, it will still fall, but it will fall slower than it would have.  Will it save it?  Crap shoot.  

But I would much rather be wearing a failed collapsed chute if I were personally falling from the sky than to go it alone.  Falling is fun.  The sudden stop at the end is what kills you.  Make that stop take longer, and your possible survival rate goes up.  Same goes for the drone.

And, no the chute won't protect against falling in water, lava, mud or anything else.  Its just another CYA option that COULD help.  Nothing is a guarantee.  Seat belts don't guarantee your survival in a crash, but they increase your odds substantially most of the time.

CaveDrone Posted at 2016-1-12 03:52
The phantom seem to be top heavy so they should always roll over.  Some where there's a video of the ...

As you might see on youtube many crashes are because of battery failure, lack of energy forces the drone to land unexpectedly or do unwanted maneuvers
look at this video
you may note that gimbal was rotating almost 360* but Phantom itself was in usual position, props upside. Would you wait when Mayday recognize the failure or force to use Stop Flyaway button?
I rely on human decision in such cases, not automatic.

Wolfiesden Posted at 2016-1-11 20:12
Even if that were the case, it would become a drag chute.  ANY air resistance at that point is a g ...

It doesn't help if the drone isn't falling though.

I've negated the need for some sort of parachute by chasing my Phantom around with a manky old mattress I found at the dump.

I can't see how a phantom that stops flying for what ever reason, isn't going to tumble to the ground. The tumbling action is the only way in which it will fall to earth. It will never fly like a glider to the ground. I'm not thinking of getting a chute to completely depend on it, just as an added safety net to limit the damage of your expensive toy crashing to the ground and completely destroying itself. It's go to be better than nothing..

reggy72 Posted at 2016-1-12 09:10
I've negated the need for some sort of parachute by chasing my Phantom around with a manky old mattr ...

Hah, that conjures up interesting images.

Hawks100 Posted at 2016-1-12 07:22
to limit the damage of your expensive toy crashing to the ground and completely destroying itself

...or completely destroying someone's property or human head. This is the first reason why all drones must have parachutes. Unless they will have 2-3 duplicates of their navigation and electric systems as airplanes have to avoid crashes

mdji Posted at 2016-1-11 15:25
As you might see on youtube many crashes are because of battery failure, lack of energy forces the  ...

Hard to say for sure,  we will wait and see how it turns out.    Mayday has multiple on board sensors:

Sensors: "The Mayday uses more sensors than the average smartphone. Onboard it has a high-resolution Altimeter to detect relative altitude, a 3-axis Gyroscope for rotation speed, 3-axis Accelerometer to detect angle and gravity, and a 3-axis Magnetometer to for angle and heading relative to magnetic north."

The thing has firmware that can be updated (OH NO...).    Seems the software determines when the Chute will deploy or not based on the inputs of the sensor package.  

Here is the link for further information.  

Personally, I am interested in this (after it's proven) for safety first then recovery.   Interesting bit of technology to say the least.

perseas Posted at 2016-1-10 19:24
There is also the Stop Flyaway system,  which has a bigger parachute from Mars and its own remote co ...

The remote control is very kool!

mdji Posted at 2016-1-11 07:52
They have just released them after long way with money collection at kickstarter. The price they wa ...

I would do a CSC to trigger the chute!

Hawks100 Posted at 2016-1-11 13:43
Underground . not many places to fly Above ground never mind underground

Then you would have to worry about the FUA!  (Federal Underground Administration)  

mdji Posted at 2016-1-11 15:52
They have just released them after long way with money collection at kickstarter. The price they wa ...

I totally agree with you. Although the Mayday can be connected too with the Stop Flyaway system via  an external module, the Russian module is better, because it stops the motors and you can trigger the release of the parachute which is bigger than other ones and save the gimbal. I suppose it needs a soldering job with the P3's board and this is the only reason I haven't bought it yet.

my concern is chute deploys and wind takes it.

mdji Posted at 2016-1-12 05:25
As you might see on youtube many crashes are because of battery failure, lack of energy forces the  ...

Ouch...it hurts to watch these crash videos!  Good luck and so sorry this happened.

mdji Posted at 2016-1-12 00:08
...or completely destroying someone's property or human head. This is the first reason why all dron ...

Or you could just not fly over peoples heads, which is the law in the UK.

nigelw Posted at 2016-1-12 17:49
Or you could just not fly over peoples heads, which is the law in the UK.

Agree. Also, the P3P has a very sensitive GPS /Glonass unit in the very spot where a chute would be mounted. Likely to case more problems than it solves.

Fly within the aircraft's limits, not over anyone or over congested areas and if the worst does happen (and assuming it's not pilot error that causes it) recover the wreckage and send it to DJI for repair at their cost. If you're in the UK, splash out on 3rd party insurance (about £15 per year and covers you to £5m) and sleep well knowing that unless a crash is your fault, you're taken care of.

After all, that's what we're talking about here isn't it, device failure. The only way to force them to improve the product and stop these (rare) issues is for it to be too expensive for them not to.

Just my 10 cents worth ;-).

nigelw Posted at 2016-1-13 01:49
Or you could just not fly over peoples heads, which is the law in the UK.

Say this to uncontrolled Phantom or Inspire when they flyaway :-\ Only God knows their direction in that moment and there can be buildings or people on the way. That's why alternate control channel and safety system is a must.
Even big airplanes have problems and crash and we want damn toys work as swiss clocks. Safety system and double connection channel is a must for these small killers.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=phantom+flyaway

For me, it would be that extra safety net. If I'm honest, i couldn't care less if its my fault or a fault with the craft,firmware,battery,bird strike,etc.
If something brings my phantom down, anything that could/would slow the rate of decent down, to help limit the harm/damage must be a very good thing.
As always on here, most people want to over engineer every idea that someone has come up with. It doesn't have to be this way.
Anything to prevent harm/damage is a sound idea in my book.
Safety is paramount.