Yesterday I was flying 150 feet above a river, 1/2 mile from R/C to the Inspire.

I kept waiting for something to go wrong.  Flyaway, sudden battery drop, loss of reception, anything.   

As with every single other flight I have made in the last 4 months the Inspire performed perfectly and never gave me a single reason not to trust it.

I will always be prepared for anything but I continue to be 100% happy with my Inspire.

Two months after my repair and I am happy to report the same

Awesome view Jim ! I've been out to 4800 feet distance at 300+ alt .. no glitches.

Nice view Jim!

Rich

I think that posts like this are very usefull not only for the new users but mosty for the current ones. Their rise the trust and awarness that the money we have invested were not wasted. BTW I have just finished my 12 th flawless flight. Jim what kind of filter have You been using?

I must admit, despite one battery which had a faulty cell and gave me a bit of a scare on a job recently, my I1 has performed perfectly. Even on one job which was very demanding from my piloting skills and the Inspire itself she shrugged it off and did what I needed her to do.

Except from a battery dropping on me (didn´t charge it before flight) and the drifting horizon level I am very pleased with my Inspire this far.

Also got my new iMac and Final Cut Pro with it, so now I can do those adjustments, in post, that gives the video that "professional touch", with the color corrections.

Did a shoot yesterday, 120 meter over a forrest lake ... got some amazing video out of it of our cabin.
Even the horizon level was fairly ok (nothing that can´t be fixed in post).

Jim ... do you have the problem with tilted horizon, on and off, also ?

iSkyUnmannedSys Posted at 2015-6-14 14:54
I must admit, despite one battery which had a faulty cell and gave me a bit of a scare on a job rece ...

Great response!

As for the filter I used, that was the supplied ND4 as it wasn't a very bright day.  Everything else was done in Photoshop.

w1der Posted at 2015-6-14 15:15
Except from a battery dropping on me (didn´t charge it before flight) and the drifting horizon leve ...

Not so much a problem for me.  Mine doesn't drift and while it isn't always straight, correcting is one of the basic things I do in post.

I could adjust it during the shoot but I purposely leave the shoot as simple as possible, basically getting good exposure, doing the safety checks on the bird and off I go!  

Every other decision I leave for post, which is the real beauty of shooting in LOG.

jimhare Posted at 2015-6-14 15:47
Not so much a problem for me.  Mine doesn't drift and while it isn't always straight, correcting i ...

Yea ... that´s probably the biggest key to leave the scene with shoots that you know you can use.

When you are a single operator (both pilot and photographer) it´s easy to mess things up if you don´t keep it simple.

w1der Posted at 2015-6-14 16:26
Yea ... that´s probably the biggest key to leave the scene with shoots that you know you can use. ...

Absolutely agree. With the above shot for example, the bridge was at a 20 degree angle and the horizon was almost level.  I decided to cut the horizon out completely and level the bridge.  

Perfect example of not worrying on the shoot and finding the real beauty after the fact.

Jim,

I think you hit it on the nail regarding the attention to pre-flight checks prior to flight.  After completing my commercial training etc. I rigorously follow my check lists each and every flight not only for compliance with CAA and insurance requirements, but for my benefit also.  We are all human and can easily forget a check during pre-flight checks if we don't have a formal list to follow and I think this may perhaps be where some pilot error or human influence comes in to play.

I still enjoy flying the Inspire better than my Phantom 2 although I do get it out of its Peli now and again just to keep my skills up to date with that aircraft also.

Fantastic photo Jim.  


By the way did you source that music I emailed you about ?  If you are having trouble don't worry.

Cheers

Very Nice Picture!! And very glad your Inspire its flawless!!

I love a post like this, otherwise its more scary things that make me keep in in the case  

Im new to flying, done about 30 minutes so far, and all reports of things happening sometimes make me wonder if an expensive Inspire was the right choice for a first quad

Great pic Jim, my Inspire got to just over 1km (1.179km) before it told me weak signal and I returned. This was over water as I was trying to get to a small island with a lighthouse on it. I think that is still pretty good. Have had my Inpire for over a week and have been very happy with it. Pre-flight checks routine is the key and keeping up to date with firmware and this forum.

That's such an awesome post, mate!  Must admit, I feel the same way.  Has done wonders for my technique, just having confidence in my bird...  (

Hope for the Best and Plan for the Worst...Nice pic Jim. Last couple of months have been pretty good for me as well. Starting to trust this bird more and more.   A good checklist makes me feel a lot more at ease before a flight.

Well said Jim. Almost every time I fly I do so knowing if something goes wrong its bye bye baby forever! So far my Inspire has done everything perfectly, other than app crash/restart of air 2 that was addressed by previous fw update. No doubt some copies are dud's with bent connector pins or suchlike making the bird faulty - really feel for those owners, must be hard.

This shot taken while on land at sea level a mile down the shore.

What I would like to see offered for inspire.....

PIP of height above ground/ahead (picture of sonar reading) with audio alarm (when landing gear not down) Useful for close quarters maneuvering when surveying etc
Better camera with pro bit rate recording (charge me another grand+ if you want!)
POI (point of interest)
DJI HD FPV goggles with intelligent HUD display

Wish I was head of R&D at DJI.

Thanks Jim for this thread. Ive been very apprehensive about flying since a problem i had with RTH after the last update but found that the problem was in the app not the bird. Reinstalled app and every thing OK. I have had no problems with the I1. After reading the comments here it will be nice to go out and concentrate on the flying rather than thinking something  could go wrong.

I too have been very happy with my Inspire. Mostly flawless flying (the bird, not me). Has returned when I've ventured behind a structure while too far away and lost signal. Has waited for my next instruction on the one time the iPad shutdown (I increased the altitude while waiting for a reboot). It's a powerful machine which deserves respect and attention. I follow a disciplined pre-check list and don't put myself in situations that I could lose control. When I flew, I'm very focused and I enjoy it. Never have regretted this purchase.

Ditto. I've just ticked over 9 hours flying, and still consider myself a learner driver... but I've been pretty happy with my Inspire. I'm mainly a fair weather flyer, but had to take a chance the other day, with winds gusting 25-30 knots. The scariest 10.5 minutes of my short multicopter career! The I1 ate it up...

Its a nice part of the world Middle Harbour isnt it Jim.

The Inspire gives me confidence one of the big reasons I bought it.

Signal loss 500m out over the water (suspect it was my iPad). Inspire put itself into RTH and trooped back. Just what you want. Just need to remember next time that if your flying above your RTH height it WILL descend to it (thought it was going to land - my heart nearly stopped).

I wish everyone who ever purchased one would give a status report with some honest back story of their skill level. I agree that most people only complain on forums.

It is nice to hear about good flights with no issues. I am new to the inspire and after 16 flights with 2:42 hours, only some intermittent video loss (signal) to report.
Thank You!

Great Photography as usual my friend

southerndoug Posted at 2015-6-15 11:32
Ditto. I've just ticked over 9 hours flying, and still consider myself a learner driver... but I've  ...

Fantastic vid....Sometimes wish I lived near places like this and could get some stunning footage with my s900....Glad to hear your I1 is working perfectly

Hi Jim,
Brilliant comments and photo, my thoughts entirely.
Thanks for sharing.

Regards
Mike.

This is my first post here, thought i would share my experience. Used to be a 3D RC heli pilot years ago, when having a piezo gyro to control the tail was considered state of the art. Had my Inspire for 3 weeks now. Have much to thank this forum for all the advice, from IMU calibrations to compass calibration, pre-flight check lists, etc...

Add me as one of the lucky Inspire owners. I have had 34 flights, flight time of 6hrs and total distance of 73km(45miles) logged. Never had any issues, not even a single GPS drop out or error of any kind thus far. (keeping fingers crossed and hope i am not jinxing myself)

I have gone about 4.2km(2.6miles) one way, round trip of 8.65km(5.4miles) on stock RC setup. Still had 100% RC connection, 50% video connection, but had to turn back due to battery - i only have TB47.

The Inspire is pretty amazing.

caddwizard Posted at 2015-6-15 17:32
Its a nice part of the world Middle Harbour isnt it Jim.

The Inspire gives me confidence one of the ...

Sure is!   And only 5 minutes from my house makes it a popular spot for me!

Great post! With all the lingering posts about fly ways and Inspires falling from the skies, we need more positive experiences being presented to keep us positive as a community. Thank you!

My as well jump on board here. Pretty disapointed in the noise at ISO 200 but not terrible. I am used to my DSLR not being noisy until I get to 800 or more and even then it is not this bad. Still pretty happy with that little camera though, I must say.

jimhare Posted at 2015-6-19 07:50
Sure is!   And only 5 minutes from my house makes it a popular spot for me!

Looks like you live in great placed. I have to travel an hour and the scenery isn't that great but i'm still practicing more than filming at the moment.

houston Posted at 2015-6-20 06:50
My as well jump on board here. Pretty disapointed in the noise at ISO 200 but not terrible. I am use ...

Hey Houston,
Lovely shot!   Adore the definition in the clouds!

Totally agree.  I've taken on the mindset that the Inspire offers INCREDIBLE imagery and unprecedented possibilities,  but you have to work for it and accept that a percentage of the footage won't be usable.

Think about it, a great DSLR costs about as much as the Inspire, but without a lens and won't fly nearly as far!   

If we accept the Inspire for what it is then we'll be nothing but happy!

Flight 1 Posted at 2015-6-20 07:55
Looks like you live in great placed. I have to travel an hour and the scenery isn't that great but ...

Yeah, I'm very lucky.  Pretty much everything I've ever posted was shot within 25 minutes of my house.   The vast majority within 6 minutes of home!

Here's a link to some of my other footage:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-9738-1-1.html

Glorify the Inspire 1 post. I join in if I may

All the good imagery is fine and even some income I had with I1 is even better.

The priceless thing is the childish smile of a 5 y.o. that hangs on my face after a flight.