grangerfx
lvl.4
Flight distance : 817713 ft
United States
Offline
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The differences between the 3DR and P3Pro as I see them (and I have seen them both in person and asked many questions of both companies).
Design Appearance: The 3DR is the clear winner with a sleek looking drone. The P3 is based on an old design and looks fugly in comparison. The 3DR has wide landing gear and can land itself. DJI warned against doing this with the P3 even though it can.
Hardware: The P3 is the winner with more powerful motors, higher flight speed and a proven design. Flight times on a single battery appear to be similar based on claims but there is no way to know until we get user reports from shipping drones.
Software: Here the 3DR wins hands down -- for now. It can fly waypoints, rewind its path if it loses contact, has points of interest for the camera to follow, smooth waypoint interpolation for better cinematography, a built in flight simulator and much much more! However this is a lot of promises until they ship something. Again we will have to wait to see what they release and how well it works in the hands of real users. DJI relies on a robust SDK but it only works on a smartphone or tablet. There is no way to write software that runs on the drone so if the SDK does not do it, the app can't add the feature. There is no way to add rewind with the SDK for example.
Camera: Not only does the P3Pro have the best camera in any consumer drone, the 3DR does not even come with a camera or a mount. Of course this is actually an advantage for 3DR since it lets you use any camera and it is designed to work as well as possible with GoPro cameras. While I like the ability to upgrade the camera over time as GoPro releases new models, let's face it the GoPro is not well designed as a drone camera. It is large and boxy. It has to be charged separately. It has a very wide FOV and generates spherical distortion. It is not an ideal FPV camera in many ways. The stock P3Pro camera is 4K and has no distortion so no post processing is needed. The video looks better than the top of the line GoPro 4 Black in most reviews I have seen.
Controller: I see this as a tossup. The 3DR has a nice built in display for critical information such as altitude, battery power, etc. so even if your tablet or smartphone has a problem, you can still get that information. The P3Pro has excellent range (based on the prerelease videos posted on YouTube and the specs). I preferred the feel of the P3Pro controller in my hands. I it is more ergonomic than the 3DR controller. I think that in the end I prefer the range and 720p video from the Lightbridge on the P3Pro. Those rubber grips feel great as well.
Price: For me this may be the most important criteria. Every dollar you put into the drone is a dollar you will lose if the drone is lost or destroyed so price is extremely important. For similar camera specs the P3Pro costs $1260. The 3DR with their gimbal and a GoPro 4 Black camera costs $1900. If the 3DR does everything it promises and you have a FAA waiver to use it commercially to shoot videos then the 3DR makes sense. For the rest of us I think the P3Pro is the better drone as long as it proves to be reliable.
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