Hello All,

I have been looking into getting a "drone" for a couple of months now, and I seem to be coming back to the DJI Phantom 3.

Now after reading a few of your horror stories of craft dropping out the sky and poor follow up support, it does make you wonder if this could be move into a hobby that I could regret.

That said, I think DJI may be pointing in the right direction with this forum, as it is publicly visible and I suppose they will seen to be more accountable. I have seen a couple of threads where members of DJI forum support seem to have taken ownership, which will be interesting to see how that develops, but hopefully support is pointing in the right direction.

Now that's out of the way, onto the my main questions...

1. Is the DJI Phantom 3 a sensible move into the drone world. It seems to be easy to fly and captures good footage?

2. As for what model, I seem to have narrowed it down to two, the advanced and the professional. If I am looking at it right the main difference between the two is that the camera is better on the pro, and it has a better charger. But as there is a significant difference in price, I'm not sure as I am just a hobbyist, do I need the better camera, as it's potential surely won't be recognised as I don't like most people have a 4K monitor?

3. But, as the price has been reduced for the Phantom 3 range, and this seems to be the time to buy. Would I be better delving in now, or is it the price seems to have dropped due to the pending announcement that the Phantom 4 is going to be released in a couple of days. I think I have ruled myself out of the 4, as I would imagine that the new version would be out of my price range, plus I fear there would be some teething issues that may be needed to ironed out over the first few months or so.

4. Finally, I live in the middle of the United Kingdom, and unfortunately I don't have vast open country side to play in, I will have to travel to get out amongst it. I have a couple of fields local that I can "learn" in, but I am aware and concerned that this hobby is getting attraction from authorities and thus could be restricted by newer, and tighter laws on top of what seems to be already limiting legal use.

I look forward to hearing your responses and advice.

Regards

Dougy

I've had the Advanced for a couple of months. I am very happy with the build quality and the camera. The only time it dropped out of the sky is when I hit a tree. I think it's important to treat it with the respect that $1,000 camera deserves. there are a lot of safety features built in that works quite well if you don't try to hot dog or see how far you can fly before you really understand how everything works.

artworksmetal Posted at 2016-2-27 21:47
I've had the Advanced for a couple of months. I am very happy with the build quality and the camera. ...

As another relative newbie, yes, the DJI Phantom is a great product.  I got  mine for Christmas, watched a couple of hours worth of video, read the manual, and spent some time here.  I have yet to experience a single issue or crash.   I had a bit of an advantage in that I flew R/C fixed wing for years.  But flying this drone is MUCH easier than a regular R/C airplane.  

Most folks don't post to report problem free flight, but the fire it up in a hurry when they crash.  

Thanks for your quick replies.

Totally agree with you both, we are "playing" with a lot of money out there, and it craft deserves to be treated with respect, and as long your are sensible, would be nice to know that they can go on a "mission" without complications.

Now there is another question that I forgot to ask earlier.

What is the best interface to use. I have a Samsung S5, and have access to an oldish Ipad 2 and a iPhone 4S. Which of any is the way to go?

I think a tablet sized device would be better, only because the screen would be easier to see/use. But I think the Ipad I can use, doesn't have any connectivity to a Network. I am guessing that if it isn't already impossible, you shouldn't be flying without a GPS connection.

As for GPS connection, is that the minimum you need, or do we need 3G or 4G etc. How do people manage to fly and get amazing footage in the middle of nowhere? Half the time I struggle to get a mobile phone signal in the city I live!

Dougy

Hi and welcome to the wonderful world of Quadcopters. I'll try to answer your questions in-line.

I have been looking into getting a "drone" for a couple of months now, and I seem to be coming back to the DJI Phantom 3.

The Phantom 3 is a fantastic machine that has given myself and thousands other pilots many hours of trouble free service.
The Phantom 4 (or the next version) is being released in just a few days, and you may want to wait to see what's on offer before you purchase a phantom. That said the P3P is on offer at a very good price right now.

Now after reading a few of your horror stories of craft dropping out the sky and poor follow up support, it does make you wonder if this could be move into a hobby that I could regret.

Don't get scared of the stories. 99% of P3's that have fallen out of the sky have, I'm my opinion, have been due to pilot error. and NOT due to the HW or SW errors/bugs.

A number of pilots have flown on partially charged batteries. At the best of times, lipo chemistry can be difficult to understand, and by flying with partially depleted batteries inexperienced pilots have got caught with voltages hitting critically low while in the air. This situation is completely and easly avoidable by ensuring you fly on freshly charged batteries, and if the temp is low, then bringing the battries to the correct temperature before taking off.

For an explanation see my post here: http://forum.dji.com/thread-41951-1-1.html

You will Not regret getting in this hobby. I have been in the hobby for over 25years and I have only one regret......, I should have got into it earlier!!!

That said, I think DJI may be pointing in the right direction with this forum, as it is publicly visible and I suppose they will seen to be more accountable. I have seen a couple of threads where members of DJI forum support seem to have taken ownership, which will be interesting to see how that develops, but hopefully support is pointing in the right direction.

Yes the Admins have been very supportive, Ken & Patrick are Fantastic, and always keen to help out in any way possible.

Now that's out of the way, onto the my main questions...

1. Is the DJI Phantom 3 a sensible move into the drone world. It seems to be easy to fly and captures good footage?

YES! - The P3 is the BEST drone for the money you can buy today. It is easy to fly and the video and stills are incredible!!!I personally just cannot wait to see what the P4 brings, BUT im sure it will still be the best semi-pro Quad that money can buy.

2. As for what model, I seem to have narrowed it down to two, the advanced and the professional. If I am looking at it right the main difference between the two is that the camera is better on the pro, and it has a better charger. But as there is a significant difference in price, I'm not sure as I am just a hobbyist, do I need the better camera, as it's potential surely won't be recognised as I don't like most people have a 4K monitor?

I have a P3P and I have taken 4K video many times and played it on a capable monitor, however I find myself using 1080p more and more because it is easier to edit and play on many devices. A lot of my friends have the advanced and are very happy with it.
You can buy much more powerful after market chargers, that charge 3-4 battery's at the same time in less then 1 hour. So no biggie.

But, now due to the discounts, for the slight price difference i'd go for the Pro. (that if you are 200% sure the P4 is not for you   )

3. But, as the price has been reduced for the Phantom 3 range, and this seems to be the time to buy. Would I be better delving in now, or is it the price seems to have dropped due to the pending announcement that the Phantom 4 is going to be released in a couple of days. I think I have ruled myself out of the 4, as I would imagine that the new version would be out of my price range, plus I fear there would be some teething issues that may be needed to ironed out over the first few months or so.

If I were you, I would wait it the 2-3 days even if Just curious to see what DJI release. Then make a much more informative decision between the P3 and P4.

4. Finally, I live in the middle of the United Kingdom, and unfortunately I don't have vast open country side to play in, I will have to travel to get out amongst it. I have a couple of fields local that I can "learn" in, but I am aware and concerned that this hobby is getting attraction from authorities and thus could be restricted by newer, and tighter laws on top of what seems to be already limiting legal use.

Cant help there... Sorry Buddy - Im in Australia.

I look forward to hearing your responses and advice.

Regards

Dougy

    I would buy the Pro version, there is little price difference and if you wanted to sell ( to Upgrade) everyone wants the Pro version.  At the new Price Point  this is the best aircraft out there for value , reliablity and  aerial photograpy  .  You are making a good choice.   NOW is the time to buy.  I have flown several other quad-copters and they are toys compared to DJI.


-donnie

There aren't as many problems as you'd imagine reading these forums, at least, not with the aircraft anyway.  I have a couple of issues with mine, but really, they are very minor & I can easily work around them.  Buy from a dealer (like amazon) who have a quick & easy return policy.

Personally, I'd suggest you buy the Advanced & spend the saving on a couple of spare batteries.  I have the Professional, but as you say, you can't see an advantage unless you buy a 4K monitor.  I'm sure there are differences, but they're so minor it's not worth worrying about.  The only benefit in my mind is the video will be slightly more future proof as good monitors come down in price & you can pull 8mp stills from the video rather than 2mp stills from 1080p.

Check the compatibility of your devices against the spec for the P3 as older devices often won't cope (or even download the app in the case of incompatible iPads & iPhones).  If you need to buy a new device, I'd go for the iPad Mini 2 (in fact, I did!).  It has a good sized screen but isn't too big & heavy on the holder.  GPS is received by the P3 so it'll fly fine even if you don't have GPS on the device.  The only thing the device needs GPS for is if you want to use the follow me function & if you want to see a blue dot on the map showing where you are.  You can download & cache the maps on the device before leaving home, so you don't need a signal.  I switch mine onto aircraft mode more often than not, just to conserve battery.

Don't worry too much about the laws in the UK.  The CAA are a few years ahead of the FAA in the States & generally not very strict in comparison, especially for recreational use.

Whereabouts in the UK are you?  I'm in Warwickshire & have no difficulty finding places to fly.   Farmers fields are the obvious choice & you only need the landowners permission if you actually take off from there.  Most of them couldn't care less & will even come over & have a friendly chat about your drone. There's nothing stopping you flying over land unless a byelaw exists preventing it (some councils have them for public land, parks etc.)  You just need to use a bit of common sense & avoid bothering people & you'll be left alone.

There's a lot of excellent advice posted already in this thread and your decision is a difficult one.

This is a rapidly advancing market so with the possible release of a new model on 1 Mar , there will be a surplus of older model inventory and you'll probably see even further discounts by dealers looking to off-load inventory (Already Beginning) -> like the automobile industry with end-of-season deals.

If your interested in the industry, it's never to early to jump into it. Just ask yourself why? If piloting drives your decision, then look to the P3 model that will get you into the air for the best performance at the lowest price.  If photography is your real of interest, then get the P3P or P3 4K, downscaling the 4K video to 1080P gives you the best results.

Remember that the Phantom line is somewhat consumable in design so factor replacement, maintenance, pilot error, or DJICare into your equations.

Certainly wait until after 1 Mar to aid in your cost .vs benefit decision. My P3, which is almost a year old, has provided hours of enjoyment without a single problem. DJI remains the market leader in innovation and technology.

Best of luck with you decision!

Like terrylewis said, there's TONS of good info above, especially from dji-p3p1.  Since prices are down, I would probably go with the pro.  I say that, even though I don't have a thing that would play it, much less a computer powerful enough to edit it.  In fact, I've only got one that will even play 1080/60 properly out of 5 online computers in the house.  But it would be an easier resell in the future with 4K.  From what I've read here, I wouldn't touch the standard or the P3-4K.  

There's some really neat stuff on the horizon.  The problem is time.  This is an "expensive" hobby to get into but  it's very easy to lose your investment.  Many newbies jump in, buy a quad, and go out with little or no education on the topic and try to fly.  Some do okay, many do not, with likely results of a crash.  These things are VERY fragile, and only take a fall of a couple of feet to do some expensive damage to themselves.

It all depends on your age, income, and wealth.  A $1K investment is something that would be hard to replaced in this household.  I'm retired and on a fixed income.  I've crashed it once.  It was minor, but I thought it was the end of the world.  As it would have cost me many weeks without my P3 to send it in, not to mention the actual repair cost, I looked up the parts and determined I could probably fix it myself.  I've been a technical type all my life, so I ordered parts and repaired it.  Had the damage been worse, it may not have been repaired.  The parts weren't bad, but labor and shipping would have taken its toll if I had shipped it in.

Do keep in mind that a drone can do some really serious damage to someone's body if you have a run-in with a bystander.  You have to keep people away and follow the rules to keep everyone safe.

Get yourself a lesser quad to begin with, one that doesn't have stabilization.  Learn to fly it and become an expert.  That way, when/if the guidance dies due to terrain, trees, or buildings causing loss of GPS quality, you can guide it out of the problem area manually with ATTI mode.

It's an exciting time to get into the hobby, especially if you are a young person.  The technology that's right around the corner is amazing.  The FAA is pushing very strongly on object avoidance, and it is right around the corner.  Some of it will be more expensive, but much of this tech will trickle down to the cheaper stuff as time goes on.  Want to get really excited?  Take a look at THIS.  Play the 6 minute video.   This is the technology that is going to get Amazon and Google FAA approval to fly.

Enjoy your P3, whichever one you get, and fly safe.

dougy Posted at 2016-2-27 08:19
Thanks for your quick replies.

Totally agree with you both, we are "playing" with a lot of money ou ...

I forgot to mention your phone/tablet question.

Grab yourself an iPad Mini 2 (under $200 here in the USA) and dedicate it to flying.  I love mine.  The phone just didn't cut it for these old eyes.

You don't need GPS in your device, but it's nice to have the map.  You can manually load the map for the area you'll fly while you're still at home on wifi.  To get GPS on Apple, you have to get the cellular version, but you don't need it.  The GPS in the Phantom does all of the guidance work.  GPS is only required on your device if you are going to do Follow Me.

Wow! Thank you all for your responses, I would like to mention everyone's comments individually, but it is past my bed time. So for now I will just recap.

I have looked at a couple of websites offering deals on the Phantom range, main because of this thread on here...

SLR Hut deals

I have added my thoughts on what I found on there, but it does seem that a P3P with extra battery is at an acceptable price.

They even have Ipad Minis that as I mention on the other thread, for about £1500 I think I would get a nice set up.

Now another question that looking at these packages has thrown up, it may be stupid, what are the SD cards doing. I am guessing holding software, and storing any footage? If recording 4K what is a sensible size of SD card. I imagine that you will only need to really get approx 25mins of footage on there, as you can download it to a laptop while replacing, charging the next battery?

As for a P4, I may just hang on and see what their about, you never know!

Oh by the way I'm in Worcester, so not a million miles away from Warwickshire, and as my Mother in Law lives over in Shropshire, that gives an opening to some lovely scenery like the Long Mynd.

Regards

Dougy

It will come with an SD card.  About the iPad Mini, make sure it is a Mini 2 or better.  The early stuff didn't have the horsepower to run the pilot app.

dougy Posted at 2016-2-28 09:36
Wow! Thank you all for your responses, I would like to mention everyone's comments individually, but ...

As AG0N-Gary says, the P3 comes with a 16GB SD Card. The P3 can hold up to a 64GB card.

A 10 minute recording is around 4GB, so a couple of 64GB cards is helpful.

If I were new I would buy the phantom 3 standard. Because it´s a great beginner drone and you will get a UHD camera.

SwedishDroneDud Posted at 2016-2-28 10:22
If I were new I would buy the phantom 3 standard. Because it´s a great beginner drone and you will  ...

The P3P & P3A are more reliable due to their much stronger signal & the fact they don't rely on wifi.  The last thing a beginner would want is problems with the RC or video signal.

Hello again all.

I'm still lurking in the side lines! But I was up on the Long Mynd in Shropshire today, and it would have been ideal for a flight, and it's my birthday tomorrow, the money is place so now might be the time to dive in.

I have been trying to follow the progress of the P4 as it develops.

Yet I'm still unsure which way to go...

Do I get a new P4, or,

Do I go for a new P3P,

or, do I go for a second hand P3P?

I have watched a couple of P3Ps finish on ebay today, and bid, but not win. But having said that I didn't expect too (didn't try hard enough). Mainly because I was worried about problems and warranty etc. One was about 8 months old and had 4 batteries, and would have been a good launch into Phantom ownership. But I must admit I would like to have some "back up" and "piece of mind" a new one should give. Now if i were to go down the route of second hand, what is the best way to check that I'm not buying a potential "brick".

Is there a way to identify if a second hand one has a non crackable body as isn't there a couple of versions, wasn't there a early and late motors? Biggest worry most say they are selling to upgrade to a P4, but that could be a good chance to move on a poor performing phantom/camera etc?

Think I've answered my own question, buy new?

Any thoughts gratefully recieved?

Regards

Dougy

nigelw Posted at 2016-2-27 07:49
There aren't as many problems as you'd imagine reading these forums, at least, not with the aircraft ...

Nigel: "I have the Professional, but as you say, you can't see an advantage unless you buy a 4K monitor.  I'm sure there are differences, but they're so minor it's not worth worrying about.  The only benefit in my mind is the video will be slightly more future proof as good monitors come down in price & you can pull 8mp stills from the video rather than 2mp stills from 1080p."

In my mind, it's more than just future proofing it for when better monitors become more affordable. You're just capturing the highest quality source available for any future capability. You may re-use footage in the future for some other project. This may sounds like the same thing, but I think there's enough difference.

For one thing, your future DRONE may be 4K and you could easily see mixing footage from that with what you already have.

As me grandpappy used to say, get the best you can afford and you'll always be happy!

Also, Doug, just to comment on something you said and I may have totally misunderstood: you do not need to buy a tablet / device with cellular. It is nice to have to always have access to maps (even if your device doesn't have a cellular / data contract, it will pull down maps), but the bird will fly and access satellites on it's own. The GPS capabilities of a tablet have nothing to do with your craft or remote control in respect to flying.

With a wifi only device, the map may be blank in so far as topographical features, but it will still work. And you can cache maps at home via wifi before going out into the field.

I have the iPad Air 2 (~10" screen) and its great. I wish it had cell, not just wifi only, but that would have cost a couple of hundred more. I'll get that on the next tablet.

Don't panic, I think the tablet interest was more fantasy league. Initially I was planning for worst case scenerio cost, more realistically I hope that my Samsung Galaxy S5 will be enough the get me in the air, or a least know that there might be an additional purchase in the wings.

Plus I suppose that's one vote for a P4, "buy the best you can afford"

Dougy

Forgot to mention that I went to Jessops, which is a camera retialer here in the UK, and an official DJI supplier.

It was the weekend before the release date of the P4. As soon as I went into the shop I was asked if I wanted help, and for a change I actually bit their hand off and said yes straight away. Unfortunately the sales assistant didn't have a clue about Phantoms, so promptly went to get the manager to help. Well, I have never met a sales mamager that doesn't want to sell you something! He was completely hateful of drones and had absolutely no information on any of the craft, let alone info on the new P4. Obviously I left there a bit disheartened and deflated, I didn't expect to come out with a shiny box under my arm, but maybe a piece of paper with a collection date!

Anyway, I'm off to the nearest Apple shop to me today, I wonder if they will be more fruitful?

Dougy