I am trying to decide between an Inspire 1 and 3dr X8+ and wondered if folks could provide their thoughts.  I am looking to do basic aerial photography and just enjoy flying.   I am a decent pilot and built and fly a F450 so feel that either the I1 or x8+ should not be a problem.  I am looking for a stable and reliable platform that I can have some confidence in.  I plan to put a Gpro on the x8+ and get a monitor to see real time feed.  The I1 flight software platform seems to be more intuitive but I am concerned about al the problems I have read about regarding the craft / software / customer service.  Reviews on X8+ seem to rave about customer support and how versatile the platform is but my concern is whether the software platform is too involved if I am not interest in programing which I am not.   I would like to get the I1 (since seems like initial problems are subsiding) but wanted to ask the question in terms of thoughts on x8+ before I make the purchase.

I appreciate any thoughts.

Does anyone have view on x8+  

I am starting to think I made a mistake buying the Inspire 1. If you follow the blogs  every flight is a coin toss...There are plenty of glowing accounts and plenty that are not so flattering... I have been lucky so far just a couple of broken props. A big part of the problem is getting new ones. The dealer keeps getting told that the subcontractor cant keep up and has a lack of workers ad materials. Not to acceptable for a billion dollar company. Even the copycat props are next to impossible to get.   The parts are a major issue which may be an indicator that the platform is not as stable as the hype this machine has received.   There are also firmware issues which may be why there is a shortage of props. What is particularly irksome as well is the lack of communication to anybody as to why and when these issues will be resolved to any kind of potential  time frame.  On the plus side I believe they are working the issues as per the firmware upgrades. For anything else Silence is Golden... It is an awesome product but with hindsight I would have put off my purchase at least 3 to 6 months or gone to another product that is a bit more reliable and stable and has better customer support.

If you are looking to just put a GoPro on it, the X8 doesn't make sense. They have the Iris+ for that. I had the Iris+ for a few weeks and a headache the entire time. 3DR customer service is fantastic, I was constantly having issues and was able to call right in and speak with someone right away. Their (3DR) platform is cool because you can do a lot of add ons and adjustments to it while being open source, but was definitely not for me - a lot to learn with 3DR.

I have had zero issues with DJI

Hope that helps

flydronefly Posted at 2015-3-20 07:57
If you are looking to just put a GoPro on it, the X8 doesn't make sense. They have the Iris+ for tha ...

Thanks very much.  I bought the inspire the other day.