Sports Mode on a DJI Phantom 4 Pro is in a word...ludicrous! In other words, it is so downright insane it is so unreasonable that it is almost amusing. Don't get me wrong it is awesome and fun to fly in but is also somewhat intimidating. I was in a large field and my buddy tested it out and it is so fast and could be dangerous and it would suck to have that thing smashing into you. By the way, the footage when flying in this mode is complete garbage and unless you are filming fast-paced sports there is really no need in my opinion. The propellers are in view and once in awhile, there is turbulence and could be worrisome. If you look at it closer the quadcopter is almost at a vertical angle and that is the reason there is no obstacle avoidance. If things go wrong then your over $1000 quadcopter could get totaled or broken into small little pieces. Most importantly human safety is my main concern because at such speeds you could seriously injure someone. To avoid such issues I have made these tips on how to do so safely if you want to enjoy the thrill of this mode of course.


-If you feel in doubt about flying in sports mode you probably shouldn't.   

-Always fly above possible obstacles and away from people as much as possible (100 ft is a good altitude)

-Experience in flying in P-mode will give you more confidence in your flying.

-Always practice and learn good flying techniques and how to stop manually

-Always comply with FAA rules in your area (you should be doing this anyway).

***The reason behind this post is because of the many people breaking their drones because of sports mode and the risk of flying at high speeds. I also know a guy who was flying and didn't know his Phantom was in sports mode and smashed into a tree and we all know that outcome .***

While, yes, it can accelerate at a phenomenal rate of speed and power.


But friend, Please don't lose your mind over it... Haha


Ok, settle right down. Chuckles


RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2018-2-22 19:19
While, yes, it can accelerate at a phenomenal rate of speed and power.

Looking back at what I wrote it is a little excessive.

lol I think sport mode is very scary, fastest I've gotten is 28mph.   I'm  too scared of hitting something, but today I got a high wind velocity error while she was pretty high above me.  I flipped it into sport mode and got it back to me petty quick, so that was A plus.

So I'm currently staying away from sport mode unless needed.

P4P sports mode is  a tad quick for sure but does have its uses, eg, you need to take evasive action due to other aircraft inbound, as for filming, you can always lower the gimbal and or film in 4k and crop out the props etc, if you think sports is insane, run ya test again in Atti mode ;) that is a bit quicker and you aint stopping any time soon unless you reverse the jets ;)

I think you need a bigger field ........ or something ?   but seriously  like Bashy said ATTI mode  keeps it real !! after a while you get used to it and just want more speed

DrohneMann Posted at 2018-2-22 19:31
Looking back at what I wrote it is a little excessive.

It's exhilaration at its finest.

That's all part of the game, heart pulsing faster, wet palms, nervous smile.

Thrill a minute!!

I felt the requirement for more speed too, so I bought a Heli-Max  Voltage 500 3D Rx-R
Here's Matt Botos flying his..


http://www.castlecreations.com/heli-team-matt-botos

RedHotPoker

Loki007420 Posted at 2018-2-22 20:14
lol I think sport mode is very scary, fastest I've gotten is 28mph.   I'm  too scared of hitting something, but today I got a high wind velocity error while she was pretty high above me.  I flipped it into sport mode and got it back to me petty quick, so that was A plus.

So I'm currently staying away from sport mode unless needed.

You've got to be kidding, scary at 28mph.

I understand the desire not to crash into anything. That's why it's strongly recommended to fly in clear open areas, away from trees, power lines, large buildings, or anything that may impede your progress.

Then you can fly fast and far, without fear that you will accidently hit something.

How fast do you think Tareq is flying his 700 scale electric helicopter, approximately what speed is it traveling? With No wind. ;-)







RedHotPoker

Bashy Posted at 2018-2-22 20:34
P4P sports mode is  a tad quick for sure but does have its uses, eg, you need to take evasive action due to other aircraft inbound, as for filming, you can always lower the gimbal and or film in 4k and crop out the props etc, if you think sports is insane, run ya test again in Atti mode ;) that is a bit quicker and you aint stopping any time soon unless you reverse the jets ;)

I like the evasive action stuff, particularly in "Drone Wars"!! .Haha

That's where object avoidance will certainly come in handy too.  ;-)


RedHotPoker

DEUCEDOG Posted at 2018-2-22 22:28
I think you need a bigger field ........ or something ?   but seriously  like Bashy said ATTI mode  keeps it real !! after a while you get used to it and just want more speed

That's the winning ticket bud.

More power, for much more speed. ;-)



RedHotPoker

Loki007420 Posted at 2018-2-22 20:14
lol I think sport mode is very scary, fastest I've gotten is 28mph.   I'm  too scared of hitting something, but today I got a high wind velocity error while she was pretty high above me.  I flipped it into sport mode and got it back to me petty quick, so that was A plus.

So I'm currently staying away from sport mode unless needed.

Well!  I'm glad to hear some people are finding uses for it and yes it can be good when your flying on a windy day. Yesterday I got mine up to 50 miles per hour and that was so cool but crazy.

DrohneMann Posted at 2018-2-22 19:31
Looking back at what I wrote it is a little excessive.

Not excessive at all. I've flown in this mode one time. The turn rates are what is excessive. It was very hard to for me to control, so I switched the multiple flight modes back to off and resigned myself to a life of GPS assist, or a failure ATTI mode.

Jeff

Sportsmode insane? No way. It's fun. You know you can adjust a few setting in all three modes separately? Change EXP in Sportsmode to suit yout needs.

Check a few fpv racing drone videos. These might be closer to insane than the Phantoms sports mode.

Fox

Bashy Posted at 2018-2-22 20:34
P4P sports mode is  a tad quick for sure but does have its uses, eg, you need to take evasive action due to other aircraft inbound, as for filming, you can always lower the gimbal and or film in 4k and crop out the props etc, if you think sports is insane, run ya test again in Atti mode ;) that is a bit quicker and you aint stopping any time soon unless you reverse the jets ;)

Actually in ATTI max. speed is generally slower, as the max. tilt angle is smaller than in Sports mode.

S-mode: 42° A-mode: 35° P-mode: 25°

Fox

I too find the yaw in sport mode extremely touchy with virtually no damping, at least with the default settings. I haven't played with the expo or gains yet to see if there's a way to calm it down, but I have a feeling it's the camera more than it is the copter itself. It seems fairly stable in yaw at full speed looking at it line-of-sight. I've also tried turning on and off the pan-follow setting (or whatever it's called, can't think of it at the moment) which doesn't help.

But it's definitely a useful mode for getting back home if you have to fly directly into the sun (which causes it to obstacle-avoid repeatedly in GPS mode such that you might not ever get back! ). I haven't found a use for it for actually getting footage, though, because there can be a little jello in the video at full speed.

For high speed, full manual mode FPV, I just use my old tech cheapo F550 with an ocusync air unit on it and not the expensive P4P:

iFoxRomeo Posted at 2018-2-24 02:35
Sportsmode insane? No way. It's fun. You know you can adjust a few setting in all three modes separately? Change EXP in Sportsmode to suit yout needs.

Check a few fpv racing drone videos. These might be closer to insane than the Phantoms sports mode.

I've adjusted gains on my Phantom 1 to make it perform more to my liking, but I haven't touched them in the P4P yet. The winter weather hasn't been playing in my favor. I will look into what you've pointed out, that the settings can be adjusted for each mode. That's good to know. When I tried sport mode, I couldn't fly without over steering in a turn. It made for terrible video, and it just plain made me nervous.

Jeff

iFoxRomeo Posted at 2018-2-24 02:40
Actually in ATTI max. speed is generally slower, as the max. tilt angle is smaller than in Sports mode.

Regardless of what the book says, i know for a fact that my p4p (not fiddled with) is deffo faster in atti, when i was doing a speed test just the other day (end of flight run and wasting battery) i was in sports and doing about 69kph, flicked it in to atti just to see the difference and it went up to 77kph, the heading stayed the same, perhaps the wind had something to do with it, i.e. giving it more tilt, perhaps with no wind the book figures make sense, but if there is reasonable winds then that book spec aint worth a......

Bashy Posted at 2018-2-24 20:11
Regardless of what the book says, i know for a fact that my p4p (not fiddled with) is deffo faster in atti, when i was doing a speed test just the other day (end of flight run and wasting battery) i was in sports and doing about 69kph, flicked it in to atti just to see the difference and it went up to 77kph, the heading stayed the same, perhaps the wind had something to do with it, i.e. giving it more tilt, perhaps with no wind the book figures make sense, but if there is reasonable winds then that book spec aint worth a......

IN Attitude Mode (Atti Mode) the quadcopter literally has no breaks and goes with the wind and is faster than P mode. If you go to top speed in Atti Mode and if there is a tailwind it will go much faster or a headwind will push it the other way. There are many variables that could lead to Atti being faster.   

iFoxRomeo Posted at 2018-2-24 02:35
Sportsmode insane? No way. It's fun. You know you can adjust a few setting in all three modes separately? Change EXP in Sportsmode to suit yout needs.

Check a few fpv racing drone videos. These might be closer to insane than the Phantoms sports mode.

Phantoms are not made to be racing drones they are expensive flying cameras. I guess you could argue the point but I wouldn't use my over $1000 drone to a racing competition.  Please let me know your opinion on this topic.

Op; I loved your excitement. Something about speed gets my blood rushing too!

DrohneMann Posted at 2018-2-25 14:24
Phantoms are not made to be racing drones they are expensive flying cameras. I guess you could argue the point but I wouldn't use my over $1000 drone to a racing competition.  Please let me know your opinion on this topic.

You're right! They are expensive flying cameras. I wouldn't use them for racing... as they are too slow.
I have two(and a half) racing drones for that thrill. They are also cheaper than any DJI drone.
But with the current low temperatures in middle europe, I can't fly those. My thumbs freeze to a point, that I loose my fine motor skills. Something that is not really necessary for modern camera drones.

Fox

iFoxRomeo Posted at 2018-2-26 14:24
You're right! They are expensive flying cameras. I wouldn't use them for racing... as they are too slow.
I have two(and a half) racing drones for that thrill. They are also cheaper than any DJI drone.
But with the current low temperatures in middle europe, I can't fly those. My thumbs freeze to a point, that I loose my fine motor skills. Something that is not really necessary for modern camera drones.

Cold weather is a downside to quadcopter flying in winter

Please calm down OP you're going to have a heart attack. LOL it's just a phantom wait before you try a racing quad on 4s.

Thanks for sharing all of your opinions and it was cool to see both sides of the argument and what people thought about Sports Mode.

Well you could look at it from this point of view...
Its only money .. what else are you going to do with it ? ....leave to your kids when you die?.. bugger that why should we sit here earn a packet of $$$ only to die and not enjoy the fruits of our labour.
My kids will be lucky if theres anything left i intend to enjoy life and have as much fun as i can doing it lol.

Sports mode hell yes bring it on...

Is it fast? I don't think so. I just see it as a convenient was of getting out to a shoot site quickly or get back home faster, because I can cut my return time in half by switching to Sport mode.

I saw a "modified" P4P fly, you think Sport mode is quick, this thing was pretty doggone fast! And the decent rate was way way better than what we are allowed to have. In full right stick forward it was all props in the camera. Lol