Hello, just bought my Phantom a couple of days ago 2 as my first ever quad-copter. Enjoying every flight so far. 8)
I've got a simple question and I'd appreciate a not-to-complicated answer:
Can I fly it indoors without GPS lock, and without worrying of any GPS interference (like auto-ballancing or anything alike), or having it trying to "return home" when there's low battery?

Long story short; Can I fly it completely manually?
Thanks in advance!

You can fly it manually but from my experience it seems to float around a lot and requires constant correcting.  Personally  - i wouldnt fly it in a small room - too much chance for injury to person or aircraft.  Brian

You can fly it pretty well anywhere you want to...the question is should you..
I had a run in with my Phantom one evening in my living room, not good is all I am going to say,
Be careful!

If you like decorating, go ahead....
but i guess you're talking about flying it in a large indoor area (like a sports hall or something?).

Have you flown one of the mini quads like a Hubsan X4?  If not, I suggest you get some experience with that 1st.  You'll learn an awful lot about completely manual flying, and the phantom will be a doddle after that

The turbulence created by the props will create all sorts of havoc and make flight very unstable in small rooms.    It can be done in a large room with tall ceilings.  Like 30ft ceilings.   Chances of you crashing are very high.   Prop or motor damage as well.    I wouldn't.  

As someone pointed out it is mainly an issue of your flying expertise.
You need to be able to control the copter well in normal mode which includes stabilization and altitude features.
If you can fly a multicopter well you can fly the phantom inside. In normal/stabilize mode GPS will not affect the flight.
If you do not know how to fly a multicopter (this is you first experience) you should definitely get something like the Traxxas Alias to practice.
It will save you money and be safer.

Well, if you do decide to try it - make sure your RTH height is less than the height of the ceiling.  You never know - even if in manual, failures/shorts/things happen.

There was a guy here where I work that had a Phantom 1.  There are 45 foot ceilings in the plant.  He thought one night he would show it off to all his buddies and fly it in the plant/warehouse.  He was in manual and something went terribly wrong.  Needless to say he is out two things at this point: 1 - his Phantom which for some reason shot straight for the ceiling and crashed then crashed even harder when it hit the concrete; 2 - his job - when the copter was coming down, it hit a machine and severed a lead and then when it smashed on the concrete, 'shrapnel' went flying and a guy had a piece put a good slice in his cheek.

Still want to fly your Phantom indoors?

Someone above said get a Hubsan X4 - I would highly recommend this.  It is what I did and for less than 100.00 you can get the copter and enough spare parts that you won't even worry about crashing it.  It is an excellent way to learn to fly a quad.  After learning on the X4, the Phantom was a breeze.

nrgwise@gmail.c Posted at 2015-3-11 01:57
Well, if you do decide to try it - make sure your RTH height is less than the height of the ceiling. ...

The Hubsan X4 is a nice inexpensive quad that can flow indoors or outdoors with a light wind. The X4, multi-charger and 5 batteries was just over a $100. I fly with the prop guard on and have hit walls and other things and have not had to even replace a prop. It takes decent videos also, I posted on here.

Capt. Bill Posted at 2015-3-11 02:18
The Hubsan X4 is a nice inexpensive quad that can flow indoors or outdoors with a light wind. The  ...

I have to get me one of those for the rainy days!

Oh, and if the OP does fly indoors, I hope he posts videos of the before and aftermath!

ill post the video of me flying from my front yard, through my front door, into my formal living room.  then you can see that followed by the prop wash (described above) causing it to start to move around, followed by unintentional landing on the stairs, followed by me grabbing a fully operating phantom, followed by my wife wiping up blood from the floor of our entryway, yes, all caught on film.  needless to say, i dont recommend flying indoors.  

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-3-11 02:33
ill post the video of me flying from my front yard, through my front door, into my formal living roo ...

This I would like to see. {:3_48:}

I honestly wouldn't risk flying indoors, if there is a interference somewhere indoors and you lose connection between the controller and the phantom, then it will go into failsafe and fly up and hit the ceiling. You dont want that to happen, put a giant hole in the ceiling and wreck the quad!

nrgwise@gmail.c Posted at 2015-3-11 02:47
This I would like to see.

ok, so here you go.  lets all be very clear... I KNOW NOW just how unsafe this was.  those of you that have been reading my posts for months now know how emphatic i am about people flying around other people.  i vastly underestimated the damage capability of this thing before this happened.  never again.  so while i thank god that only i got hurt here (i couldnt have lived with myself if i hurt my family instead), i am more vigilant now and nobody gets near my phantom when it is turned on, period.  so please understand that im already pretty disappointed in myself for missing this very important danger, but here is the video... keep in mind this is a non-plus and before i installed my rotorpixel so i have no gimbal and it was a bit windy so that is why it has some wobble to it...

http://youtu.be/ynreuEKZHH0

Purchase a Syma X5C ($75) or X11($35) - they are a blast to fly indoors and can take a beating.  Both are available on Amazon.

Brian

briankiser@me.c Posted at 2015-3-11 04:16
Purchase a Syma X5C ($75) or X11($35) - they are a blast to fly indoors and can take a beating.  Bot ...

+1 - this is what I used. You can get them for $50 now. And I can tell you they are practically indestructible.
Amazon - Syma X5C 4 Channel 2.4GHz RC Explorers Quad Copter w/ Camera (WHITE, 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KI0 ... r_awd_WJ1.ub01C1BCW

Whoa, I left for the day and didn't expect that many replies. Thanks alot everyone! 8)

I'm sorry for not saying this in the first post, but my real question is how can I toggle into 100% manual flight?
Also thanks for the concern and advice from everyone, I've read it and I appreciate it. I want to fly it in a relatively large built (indoors) area - not huge like a sports hall, more like a 70 squared meters area.

I've flew lots of the 'simpler' electric RC helicopters in the past indoors with great success but yeah, I'm sure the airflow and all the physics with a quad-copter are much different to handle. I'm up for the challenge though so it's all good.

So yeah, question is how do I toggle into a completely manual mode. Sorry for not being clear enough the first time.

Thanks again people.

Oh, and if the OP does fly indoors, I hope he posts videos of the before and aftermath!

You bet.

motykph@gmail.c Posted at 2015-3-11 05:04
Whoa, I left for the day and didn't expect that many replies. Thanks alot everyone! 8)

I'm sorry fo ...

You do not need to toggle into manual only ATTI.  However, learning how to fly in manual is a good thing to learn.  You need to set your Phantom to NazaM and then your mode switch to GPS/ATTI/Manual.  Before you fly inside however, I would recommend that you get some prop guards.  Make sure that it is a large indoor area before you attempt it.

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-3-11 03:12
ok, so here you go.  lets all be very clear... I KNOW NOW just how unsafe this was.  those of you  ...

I wish there was audio!  I love how in the beginning your wife points to the door...I can hear her saying "Door?  You want me to open the front door?  Are you crazy?"

I didn't think we were going to get to see the blood but I love how you left it running until it was cleaned up.  Thanks for posting!

Also, the rotor wash seen here should be clue enough to not fly indoors in your living room - you had a flying carpet there with the mat.

nrgwise@gmail.c Posted at 2015-3-11 07:19
I wish there was audio!  I love how in the beginning your wife points to the door...I can hear her  ...

haha, yes.  and honestly, it was 'her idea' (the audio was 'hey, fly it through the door').  i still took responsibility because as a pilot that was my opportunity to say 'no honey, thats not a good idea'.  i failed.  my fault.  bet my paycheck nobody will ever get hurt with my phantom again.  glad it was just me.

as for wash, thats frankly the reason i hit the stairs was that the flying carpet distracted me and by the time i realized i was drifting i couldnt react.  so my natural response was 'pin it to the stairs and CSC' that way nobody gets hurt.  btw, there isnt room for your hand at the top of the phantom when running.  sigh.

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-3-11 07:51
haha, yes.  and honestly, it was 'her idea' (the audio was 'hey, fly it through the door').  i sti ...

I did not comment on the injury - did not want to make light of it (other than the clean-up).  But I do appreciate you sharing and hope others do as well.  Only a real person can share their failures with such grace.

So now that you shared...any scars?  Was your daughter traumatized? Who laughed the hardest when looking at the video afterwards?  You or your wife?

nrgwise@gmail.c Posted at 2015-3-11 10:31
I did not comment on the injury - did not want to make light of it (other than the clean-up).  But  ...

no worries making light of it.  i learned my lesson and only 1 scar but 3 fingers bandaged for a few weeks and if that is the worst of it and nobody else got hurt, i can laugh about it now.

daughter was scared but she got over it pretty quick.  i think the wife laughs the hardest but we both got a great chuckle at her wiping up blood on the video (i give her a hard time... my hand is in pieces and she's worried about the hardwood floors LOL).  

joe@heliflightc Posted at 2015-3-11 01:15
As someone pointed out it is mainly an issue of your flying expertise.
You need to be able to contro ...

Thanks,for,the suggestion. I think I'll pick one up tomorrow. While having flown planes for years and the concept helps, this is waaaay different.

briankiser@me.c Posted at 2015-3-11 04:16
Purchase a Syma X5C ($75) or X11($35) - they are a blast to fly indoors and can take a beating.  Bot ...

I still fly my Syma X5C. (X5C-1) It will fly circles around my Phantom......lots of fun and a very stable flyer. No problems with flyaways unless the wind catches it. If it falls out of the sky, it is so light it probably would not hurt it.