Reading through the forums here you would get the feeling that the Inspire 1 is a dud.  Educated people don't just read a few comments though and delve deeper into looking for the facts.
As an owner of a small tech company, and a DJI dealership here in the middle of Canada, I thought it was time to present both my opinions, and a review of the current flagship of the DJI lineup.
Being an owner of a Phantomn 2 with H3 3D, an S1000 with BMPCC/A2/Zenuse, as well as quads from 200 sizes up to 450's, AND more RC Electric airplanes than I can count, I do feel my view is one that isn't tainted by a supposed flyaway, or user error.  I have been flying RC for over 20 years, starting when NiCad batteries were new technology and 2 minute flight times were long.
Having a couple of degrees on the tech side of things I am also educated enough to read manuals, follow instructions, update firmware, and trouble shoot problems.
I am not a fan boy.  Never have been.
I carry 1/2 million in liability insurance when it comes to doing commercial work, but am very active in the hobby side as well.
I buy what is best, not what I think is best.
That being said, I have had my Inspire 1 since the beginning of April, and purchased it complete with 2 controllers.
My hardware setup is:
1 x Nexus 2 7"
1 x Nvidia Shield 7"
1 x TB47
4 x TB48
1 x 27" IPS monitor with inverter and multiple battery packs for field power.
I won't say my experience has been flawless when it comes to the Inspire, but I have not had issues that have caused me concern for safety, or worry about losing my investment due to glitches or bugs.  More on that later.

First Impressions
Upon opening up the big box (knew the little box held the extra controller) I was immediately met with the included carrying case with the nice Inspire 1 logo on the front.  Unzipping the side zippers (careful as these can get messed up if you don't open them ALL the way to the back so they don't cause problems in the back corners) and opening up the case you are met first with that "new technology" smell and then see everything neatly packed in the case.  
One flaw that was revealed immediately was the bad choice of double sided tape used to secure the props to the lid, and the AC charger.  They just don't stay stuck.  Easy fix, some hot glue that helps the velcro stay where it i supposed to.  Once that is done, I haven't had issues again.
Kudo's to DJI on the case.  Everything has a spot.  
The Inspire 1, in travel mode (arms in a middle spot that allows it to pack flat), TB47 4500 mAh battery, 8 locking propellors (new version), master controller, manuals, USB cable, full harness to help with the controller weight, small case carrying the 4K camera and gimbal, as well as ND filter, and AC charger as well as an adapter cable that allows you to charge your controller in the field from a battery.
There is room for 7 batteries total, one in the Inspire, 4 that carry batteries upright, and 2 more under the controller spaces.  
Everything is top quality materials and construction.  The quality is obvious in the carbon fiber, as well as the smooth white plastic that gives almost a "star wars" look to the Inspire, Nothing looks sloppy or last minute and in pulling out the Inspire, you appreciate the fit and finish that has gone into it.
I sat down with the manuals as I always do, and read them from cover to cover a few times.  
I also did some reading online since the best way to learn more than the manual is to read the reviews from others.
I put the battery on the chargers knowing that this is a slower process (easier on batteries though so I don't mind the extra time) and pulled the controller out to get a feel.
Now this isn't the Phantom 3 controller.  Similar, but different.
First off, it has a heavier feel, maybe due to the grey metal top covering, but compliments that with the rubber side layering that makes it easy to grip.  Besides the dual spring loaded sticks, you have dual antennas, power button (just like the Phantom power up, press once, and then press and hold to turn on/off), return to home button with switch to move the landing gear from low to high, and battery level meter on the front along with a "master/slave" light that indicates status.
You also have a brilliant tablet/smartphone holder that can be adjusted for both angle and size easily.  
On the top of the controller you have a spring loaded wheel on the left for gimbal adjustment, both pitch and yaw depending on how you set it up, and a detented wheel on the right that adjusts camera settings such as shutter speed.  Also, on the left you have your record start/stop button, and mode switch for Position/Attitude/Function modes.  GPS/Atti/IOC basically with additional sensors applied.  The right side has a camera button for taking picture, and a playback button to bring up the recordings and pictures for you to view on your tablet.  The back has two more triggers, these are assignable by the user in the application.  I use mine for returning the camera to center, and on the master controller, switching the left dial from pitch, to yaw, when I am using it as a single operator.
For connections, you have 4.  Mini HDMI out, Micro USB port, CAN Bus port, and standard USB port.  
Finally, you have a charging port with a rubber cover on the right side and the included battery will last you hours, charging your tablet while you use it, and powering the lightbridge technology that allows you to have your HD feed and control far beyond any range I have reached.
Quality is top notch, as is build.  
Props were easy to put on and lock down tight.  
The camera along with the 3 gimbals feels very solid, and locks in snug with a turn of the locking ring.  Would make it easier if the caps and parts were maked to make alignment easier, but a silver sharpie took care of that for future.

Power up and Flight
Now I am not going to get into the details of this as I am not writing this for novices, as I don't feel that the Inspire 1 shoudl be purchased by a novice.  If you haven't flown quad's for some time, and/or don't understand how to pay attention to detail, then do youself a favour and get something that is lighter, and easier to use.  
THIS IS NOT A TOY.
THIS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY.
ASK ENRIQUE!!
That being said, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you are up to date on your firmware.
This isn't the easiest for some people, so I am sure that there are lots that ignore it.
The process is actually very simple, just takes some time.
Download the zip file.
Extract it to the ROOT of the memory card so the firmware file is in the root of the card.
Insert card back into the camera and turn on the Inspire WITHOUT TURNING ON THE CONTROLLER.
Wait.
Soon you will hear four beeps, pause, four beeps, pause......
This can take some time, so leave it till you hear beep, pause, beep beep....beep, paulse, beep beep....repeated.  This means it is done.
Now you need to then take every one of your batteries, and repeat this process with each of them.  This is shorter, but updates the batteries as well.
THEN you need to update your controller.
Again, take the same memory card, insert it into a USB reader that you can plug into your controller, and then power them on WITH THE Inspire OFF.  
Listen for the same beep codes till you heard the ending code, and turn off.
You can put the memory card into your computer and look to the TXT file where it will let you know if you had success.
While you are at it, make sure that you have updated your app to the latest version on your tablet or smartphone.  I always check on DJI's site to see what version is current.

Once you have done that, you are ready to power up to fly.
Enough has been written about the mechanics of the Inspire so I won't go into that here.  
What I will say is that with over 50 flights in varying conditions, that the Inspire 1 flies very tight, and precise.
Whether you are creeping along a few feet above the ground using the bottom sensors ( sonar and lower res camera to track ground differences) or hundreds of meters in the air doing fleld surveying, it does what it is told.
My only complaint would be the need for expo around center stick as the first time you go from movement to stopping you will be shocked at how the Inspire 1 can "put on the brakes".
Seriously, be ready for it.  You almost think that you will throw the camera off it stops so fast.
I haven't tried to tune this out yet, but will dig in more to see if there is a solution.
Speed wise, this is one of the fastest camera platforms I have flown.  I haven't tested against my S1000 but it feels as fast, if not faster.
Flight times on the batteries are as advertised, but I never push them past the 30% battery remaining mark as I don't like to push it, having had weaker batteries cause issues when they get in the lower quarter of the charge.  I am not a fan of RTH whether it is automatic, or triggered.  I like to take off and land under control.
I haven't had any flight issues or anomalies at all.  Not one.
Now that isn't saying I don't have issues as I have had a few, just nothing that has caused flight issues.
Here are the bugs I have encountered and on more than one occasion.
*android app shutting down and restarting
*gimbal calibration failure messages but no gimbal failure
*corrupt files that I have lost due to the recording not being able to be stopped and started.  This doesn't seem to happen with the included 16GB card, but on a Kingston card that is rated to be able to handle the data throughput.
*delay on the camera operator screen and choppy video (will try switching off the automatic channel selection to see if that helps).
*horizon needing correction as the camera operator turns the gimbal.  Seems to not hold the level horizon from one position to another.
*gimbal twitching when filming using the vision positioning system in FPV mode.  Any roll movement would almost cause a twitch instead of keeping the camera smooth.  This happened filming with the gear down.

I think that a high percentage of the problems reported by the few are related to inexperience or a lack of knowledge when it comes to firmware, and attention to detail, and even attention to environment.  That power station located on the property, etc.
The experienced users seem to be happy with the Inspire but perhaps don't speak out enough, while the noisy few make enough noise to make people think that there really is a problem.  
Not far off from the Phantom flyaways that in my case have come about from people not setting home points properly, and letting the Phantom his low voltage and treating a RTH as a fly away.
This is by far my favorite flying platform, one that I can operate easily by myself, but much more professionaly when I have someone operating the camera.  
The quality of video, while I am sure can be criticized by the professional color graders, is more than enough for semi professional work, and outside of movie productions, produces much better video without the fish eye of the GoPro line of cameras.
Once DJI fixes the small issues and gets rid of the app problems, I know that my wish list will just be the things that were originally promised such as POI (Point of Interest) as well as YouTube live broadcasting.
I am extremely happy with my investment, and when working with others in similar fields, have seen the look on their faces when they look at even the ungraded video,
Two weeks ago I had the chance to work on a job for a Japanese broadcasting company that was nature based.
We handed them 35 GB of raw data, 4K/30, and they couldn't have been happier with both the preciseness of the Inspire, but also the output they were given.
These were engineers that came to Canada to film a show about two different types of owls and their habitats who were using us to provide the aerial footage.
When you can impress people who do this for a living, then you know that you have a great piece of equipment at your disposal.

In conclusion, don't let the negative posts both here and in other forums disuade you.  
This is a great piece of equipmet that is only going to get better.
The range, and tested output of the LightBridge means that DJI is still ahead of the competition who have half the range, and try to make dual processors running linux more important than experience and tested technology.
Once the small bugs are worked out, and the feature list is filled, as well as the release of additional hardware, DJI will establish themselves as not only the continued leaders in this field, but a company that doesn't rest on past success.

I Agree. Thank you kindly.

Its good to hear some good responses regarding the I1. I'm at about 11 hours of flying time and have only experienced the bugs you have listed here, with the exception of about 10 seconds of weirdness in navigation when flying over a Vortex in Sedona Arizona.
Keep us informed on your thoughts of the I1 as you book more flight hours.

chris@corp-medi Posted at 2015-6-7 05:07
Its good to hear some good responses regarding the I1. I'm at about 11 hours of flying time and have ...

Yep.. it is not a toy...

Let me know what you find out about below:

"My only complaint would be the need for expo around center stick as the first time you go from movement to stopping you will be shocked at how the Inspire 1 can "put on the brakes".
Seriously, be ready for it.  You almost think that you will throw the camera off it stops so fast.
I haven't tried to tune this out yet, but will dig in more to see if there is a solution"

flydronefly Posted at 2015-6-7 05:44
Yep.. it is not a toy...

Let me know what you find out about below:

Nevermind, thread below about the brakes:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-12879-1-1.html

Well said!

I do agree

jimhare Posted at 2015-6-7 05:49
Well said!

Thanks Jim. Appreciate all the time you have put into making this a much better hobby for a lot of us.

You wrote... "I think that all the problems reported by the few are related to inexperience or a lack of knowledge when it comes to firmware, and attention to detail."

The Inspire is a potentially great product that seems to have some serious firmware issues.


I've posted this video elsewhere, but it clearly demonstrates a defect that is widely recognized here and the other big Inspire forum, yet entirely undocumented or acknowledged in DJI's manuals and online materials.

You can duplicate it yourself.  Leave a battery charged to about 40% for a week, then take off and fly at about 1/2 a meter for a couple of minutes.  You will see a linear charge consumption, then an instantaneous drop to 7 or 8%.  This has caused several crashes, and is an injury waiting to happen.  Obviously everyone in these forums knows not to fly on a partial charge more that a day old. EDITED HERE,the next sentence is in error - Manual says to take off with full battery. - But this isn't mentioned or prohibited in the instructions that come with the Inspire and is not normally a problem with LiPo batteries.

So while potentially great, it currently suffers from at least one potentially dangerous flaw that DJI seems to pretend doesn't exist.

f1@frankschaffe Posted at 2015-6-7 09:14
You wrote... "I think that all the problems reported by the few are related to inexperience or a lac ...

thats why the new battery firmware makes you discharge and recharge every 10 cycles and after storage..

Glad it is resolved!  

Sounds like good news for the Smart Power Charge guys.

It is easy to say that some of the more serious mishaps such as "supposed flyaways" are pilot error, until you've had your Inspire 1 suddenly decide to implement its own flight plan without your input on the controller.  I, too was of that opinion until it happened to me after over sixty successful flights.  

That being said, I think the Inspire 1 is an amazing piece of technology, and performs like a dream.  But, there are still some issues of concern that must be dealt with.   

I am always very careful with my preflights and have only flown in three locations, all of which are free from potential sources of interference, such as high-tension power lines.  So, I'm not sure what was different the time the mishap occurred.  But, the flight log from the app clearly shows the the unit making maneuvers without input from either stick, and even inputs that were in the opposite direction when I did try to correct it.  

Believe it, don't believe it—it makes no difference to me.  

There is good information in your post and my experience essentially mirrors yours.  I would not be so quick, however, to adopt such a superior and dismissive view of others' experiences as to assume bad outcomes are mostly (or entirely) the result of owner incompetence.

There have been a significant number of these events that have been reported by owners whose experience level is at least equal to ours - owners who have built and flown R/C devices dating to the 1970s, who have owned and flown Phantoms and other quads, who had dozens of successful flights with their Inspire, and then Something Went Wrong.  In some cases a firmware upgrade failed and rendered their aircraft inert.  In others the aircraft took off mid flight and went that-a-way uncommanded.  In still others the remaining charge level dropped in an instant from 60% to 8% (as shown on a posted replay of the flight recording).

No, I'm quite convinced that these things are happening.  I do not think they are happening with enormous frequency or this forum would be overrun with hundreds of complaints.  I fully agree that the majority of owners are having good experiences.

But you are not being fair to the others when you assume what their experience must be, based solely upon your own.

I can't be more pleased with the IN1 since day one.   And with care this prized possession should give us lots of service.

Nice write up!

You can adjust the brake action from 70-130 gain. You can turn it down as much as you like to start with but I run mine about 75. This control is found under the gain and expo tuning section  inside (MC Settings menu)

Hope this helps you with the brakes

Rich

this is the stock brake setting and the gain has been adjusted from 0.40 to 0.30 on rudder left

Very well said mate....love your post!

Totally Agree with you!

Totally Agree with you!

f1@frankschaffe Posted at 2015-6-7 09:14
You wrote... "I think that all the problems reported by the few are related to inexperience or a lac ...

Absolutely worded wrong on my part.  I should have said "most" of the problems.  Will correct.

whill11 Posted at 2015-6-7 11:05
It is easy to say that some of the more serious mishaps such as "supposed flyaways" are pilot error, ...

I believe you.  No reason not to.  My point in my original post was to speak out from the standpoint of someone who has not had anything major be a problem, and to state that statistically, in my opinion, that the majority of problems are caused by preventable mistakes.  Location, no GPS, improper firmware update, mechanical error, etc.
By no means was I trying to say that this is an error free bird.  It isn't.  I get ticked off when I lose a video due to no EOF, or lose the ability to start and stop a recording and have to land and reboot.
Totally frustrating.
But minor compared to the moments where I look at the video and see the result when it all works well.
All the color graders in the world can tell me how the sensor doesn't do this, or that.  They zoom in to show moire patterns in a fence, and blame the camera.
I have a GP4, and compare it to the video from the Inspire.  In my eyes, the eyes of a guy who markets as part of my living, I like the Inspire video better out of the box.  I am sure that someone can go all "protune" on me and use software to fix the bent horizon, and rerender to a level that shows me up, but the audience won't notice.
Cut up right, with the right music, and camera work, this video is more than enough for 1080P.  You get crop ability and decent control of the camera that lets you get out and capture semi pro material that will please every client short of a movie studio, and in those situations, I have an S1000 standing by the side.
I just hate seeing the few loudmouths who throw down their complaints.
As was said before, if there were truly game changing problems, there would be significant amounts of chatter going on which there isn't.
Why, I ask, would there be a fleet of well behaving I1's, and a few mishaps that fly away?
Every drone has it's share of stories, but they will be statistically skewed against DJI just due to volume.
The battery issue was a "certain circumstances" type of problem. When X and Y are in league with Z......
For most of us, those situations don't apply due to the fact that we don't put ourselves in those situations.
We copy success.
I update firmware I do all my batteries, one after another.
I check the TXT file on the memory card to make sure I have success.
Should you have to do that?
Maybe not, but when I put 3700 of my hard dollars, not including tablets and batteries, into something, I pay attention to detail.
You know how many customers don't ever read the manual?
I pour over that thing like a bestseller.
I can't say, with almost 100 percent accuracy, that I have ever had problems that weren't me missing detail, or just bad sticks.  I have a lot of toys.
But I follow the same processes, albeit different amount of steps, with all my devices.
Tx on.
Power up.
Check surfaces'
You get the picture.
I am sure a lot of others that have had success would say much the same.
Could DJI be better at Customer Support....we all know the answer to that one.  It isn't for lack of trying on the parts of guys like Tahoe Ed, etc.  I am a long term RCgroup user who sees all those guys do in there.  The fact that they also face very few issues says something as well.
I would love to see the statistics on years of experience/issues.
Again, by no means intending to say it doesn't happen cause I know stuff does.
An example, client of mine lives closer to the US border.  He has had 2 different versions of 350QX from Horizon (have one and love it for ripping around) as well as two different phantoms.  All of them were having their GPS messed with by something close to the border.  He ended up finding out more and he just simply couldn't fly on his land and expect success so he stopped blaming the drones and just understood that something about that area is not good.
I had a shoot to do some night stuff in a smaller city for a casino.
Well wanted to go up slowly close to the wall and then gets sliding shots of 4 stone carved murals they had before climbing up to reveal the neon name etc.  Well I end up having to go far into the parking lot to do the naza dance before the compass calibration would take, and then once I lifted off I noticed drift when there shouldn't have been any.  I never got higher than ten feet and I brought it down and backed up half a block away.
Restarted, completely different animal.  Well behaved again, etc.
My point is, some people fly when I landed and backed off.
I can trust the machine, but not trust the environment.
If I was a rookie, I am tearing DJI a new one due to the problem that would have resulted.
I think that some of the complaints are of that nature.
Not all, but definitely some.

PeteGould Posted at 2015-6-7 12:03
There is good information in your post and my experience essentially mirrors yours.  I would not be  ...

Again, hopefully addressed below.  In no way was I trying to imply that.
Again, apologies.

GrahamJ Posted at 2015-6-7 20:05
Very well said mate....love your post!

Thanks Graham.  Enjoy yours as well.  

Good one mate

I think you'll find that most of us will agree with you that the Inspire is the best flying camera platform for the money right now. The Phantom 3 Pro comes close (about 80% of the way), but it's hard to beat the Inspire when it comes to stability and flexibility in the air.

The single glaring issue with the Inspire and all other DJI products is the customer service if you have to send it in for repair. It's enough to turn the most euphoric fan boy into a strident hater. Hopefully you won't have to deal with that. Enjoy your virginity as long as you can :-)

I agree with your post 100% , not a toy and not for everyone !  I have the first phantom , the p2 and now the inspire Been into RC for over 35 years , dji products for me are excellent and I've had very few if any problems with all three ... Flyaways , props flying off, etc etc etc ... Huh,  just flew away on its own.... Flight logs will tell all.  

arunmehta Posted at 2015-6-7 10:03
thats why the new battery firmware makes you discharge and recharge every 10 cycles and after stor ...

New firmware or old ... In RC anything with lipos batteries you need to know about maintenance , in RC it's nothing new , battery care and proper use of.

PeteGould Posted at 2015-6-7 12:03
There is good information in your post and my experience essentially mirrors yours.  I would not be  ...

Building and flying RC planes from the seventies really is No comparison to mastering what the inspire will require of your intelligence level , and someone who never did RC flight then ad a camera, iPad, downloads for updates via laptop , etc etc ......oh my it flew away.

daver/m Posted at 2015-6-8 23:11
Building and flying RC planes from the seventies really is No comparison to mastering what the ins ...

I'm not talking about someone who did something as a hobbyist in the 70s and then came back to it today.  I was talking about someone who had been in it continuously since then, who has been hands-on, who has hand-built high performance gas operated R/C helicopters and had their hands in all the technology and advanced slowly into today's technological world, through the first quads and subsequent generations into the present, so they have a full understanding of what's under the hood.  I'm talking about people who have watched as computing functions and GPS were introduced, NiCad batteries were replaced by a succession of replacement technologies leading to the current lipo batteries.  And so forth.

As compared with the person who got on Amazon.com, bought an Inspire, opened the box and put it in the air as their first-ever experience of flying anything remotely controlled.

If that doesn't appeal to you as a measure of experience, use any alternative you want.  There are people who started out flying quads as their first experience, but got started when the only way to own one was to build it from a kit.  These folks, too, learned everything under the hood so they understand the basic systems that drive a present-day quad.

However you approach your measure of "experienced operator," you'll find people who have had these inexplicable events happen.  They cannot all be dismissed as owner error due to inexperience.  When someone watches their battery level go from 60% to 7% in an instant and their aircraft shuts off and drops into the water - and you can watch it happen on the replay within the app - or the aircraft starts going in uncommanded directions, switches to RTH mode, ignores the override and speeds directly away from the RTH point and disappears, or an in-progress firmware update ends with a single long extended beep and thereafter the aircraft won't operate (and won't reattempt the firmware update no matter what the user does), you can't simply dismiss these things as newbie errors.

Years ago in an earlier career, I was a systems engineer for a company that provided computer software for the public safety profession.  These were Unix-based systems that handled computer-aided public safety dispatching and recordkeeping.  They were absurdly simple when compared with the extraordinary sophistication of what drives the Inspire.  Yet updates sometimes introduced bugs, and some of the bugs were extremely obscure "only by the dark of the night on Tuesdays when it's raining" sorts of things that only a relatively tiny number of users experienced and were VERY hard to reproduce without making a site visit.  That didn't mean those users were doing something wrong.  It meant only that the factors that had to simultaneously occur in order to trip the bug were unusual.  I have learned firsthand NOT to automatically blame the user when something appears to go spontaneously wrong - ESPECIALLY when the same story comes in from multiple users.

PeteGould Posted at 2015-6-9 01:09
I'm not talking about someone who did something as a hobbyist in the 70s and then came back to it t ...

Absolutely agree, but we also need to filter out the new users issues.  Some of these could be GPS events that are nothing to do with DJI, some could be a bad battery that has one of the 6 cells being defective, or not holding charge properly that could cause RTH events.
I had a P2 that gave me issues until I figured out it was only with one battery.  I then started to mark my batteries with a number so I could track it, and eventually found the culprit.  Until then, I was going crazy as I would have most flights be perfect and then one would RTH, or just try to land after 5 minutes.  
Sometimes the problems are simpler than we make them out to be.
Just not a fan of globalizing the problem.

Shadrack Posted at 2015-6-9 02:02
Absolutely agree, but we also need to filter out the new users issues.  Some of these could be GPS ...

I think we're not far apart on these issues.  It's just that your default position is to look to user error and mine is to look to product failure (when the user is able to support that with evidence).

PeteGould Posted at 2015-6-9 02:11
I think we're not far apart on these issues.  It's just that your default position is to look to u ...

I think we're all on the same page here.     

I don't think Shadrack's point was that these are imaginary problems caused by pilot error, but rather to combat the very real situation that isolated issues are being presented as inherent design defects.

I relate it to the auto industry.  If 100 cars light on fire when you turn the key they log it as bad luck.   If 10,000 cars do it then they think about a recall.   There is a point where pockets of trouble escalate into design flaw.   I don't think we're there.

The fact that the vast majority of us do not experience problems deserves a voice, and in my opinion this is all Shadrack is doing here.

jimhare Posted at 2015-6-9 05:44
The fact that the vast majority of us do not experience problems deserves a voice, and in my opinion this is all Shadrack is doing here.

That is certainly true.  I will admit that it seemed to me Shadrack seemed to be providing that voice at the expense of the voices stating that the problems are happening, that they're real, and that they're happening to experienced users most likely aren't doing anything wrong. I completely agree there's room for both.

PeteGould Posted at 2015-6-9 11:45
That is certainly true.  I will admit that it seemed to me Shadrack seemed to be providing that voi ...

Absolutely!  There are experienced people having very real and measurable issues.  

I think the point of this thread is to illustrate they are in the minority and at this stage perhaps should just be explained as manufacturing defects rather than design flaws.

jimhare Posted at 2015-6-9 11:49
Absolutely!  There are experienced people having very real and measurable issues.  

I ...

Very well said.  Can't agree more with what you are both saying.

Shadrack Posted at 2015-6-9 12:56
Very well said.  Can't agree more with what you are both saying.

Thanks for starting the thread, it's important that those who have no issues are as vocal as those who do.   There are so many scared off by the reports on this forum!

Shadrack Posted at 2015-6-9 12:56
Very well said.  Can't agree more with what you are both saying.

Thank you for your post - it is really important that someone tells what a greate device the Inspire is. I know about a lot of people grounding their Inspire after reading different horror stories on different forums. That is a shame

Thanks

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-6-7 14:15
Nice write up!

You can adjust the brake action from 70-130 gain. You can turn it down as much as y ...

Rich,

When reducing the brake setting does it state in the app the number you are reducing it to or is it simply a graphic representation on the slider bar.

I don't want to adjust the brake without knowing I can reinstate back to original at any time.

jimhare Posted at 2015-6-9 13:10
There are so many scared off by the reports on this forum!

I would argue, though, that the fault in that lies not with the people who have reported these issues but with the company that has not managed its communications well.  Ironically one area I've done a lot of work in on the corporate video side is training of senior management personnel of large enterprises in managing communications.  When things go wrong, as a company you're taught that you have to get out ahead of the message and actively communicate.  If you don't, others will fill any gaps in the messaging.  The teaching is that unmanaged communications will generally be far more costly to your business than learning how to manage them well.

DJI, due I think to differences between Eastern and Western culture, continues to pretty much break all the rules.  In sum: as a company they don't communicate at all when things go wrong.  So for instance when controllers were spontaneously shutting off, they never said "this is happening, we are aware of the problem, it can and will be fixed in a firmware release and here's what to do in the interim."  Instead they remained absolutely and stonily silent as though the problem didn't exist, and the only mention ever made of the problem was a one-liner at the end of a set of firmware release notes to the effect of "fixed bug where a small number of controllers shut off during flight."  This begs the question of what other potentially disastrous malfunctions they know about but aren't telling the user base.  That's the sort of question that a company with good communication skills would never leave open.

By not talking about malfunctions, in-flight power loss, flyaways, etc., DJI allows a massive communication gap which will be filled in by those in their customer base who have actually had problems.  And with no input from the company, significant questions are left to the imagination of the potential customer base: how common are these malfunctions?  What is the company willing to do for a customer who loses their aircraft due to one of these events?  How hard are they working to address these issues - i.e. when they hear about a significant bug do they divert staff from Phantom or other development and use them as additional problem solvers?  If they do, that's great, but the base needs to hear it.  It would show that the manufacturer cares.  Ultimately customers want to know: "How safe is my $3K+ investment in this company's product?"

When customer chatter about potential answers to those questions is unflattering, and especially if it is incomplete or outright incorrect, then the market punishes the company for poor communication through a damaged reputation leading to decreased sales.  This in turn should motivate the company to improve its communication skills to fix the problem and increase profits.

So to be honest I'm not all that disturbed about the way the narrative has gone here.  The company has to learn how to manage its messaging in the West.  If it does not, marketing theory says it will eventually be overtaken by a competitor that has (or is willing to learn) better skills.  This is an absolutely normal development in free market economics.  The BIG question is whether DJI is willing to learn from the experience and adjust.

PeteGould Posted at 2015-6-9 21:09
I would argue, though, that the fault in that lies not with the people who have reported these issu ...

I certainly see your point Pete.  I agree it would boost confidence if DJI were a bit more forthright in that department.

First off...love the post!  May I ask your opinion - especially on your final paragraph - with the current threads around the new Metrice 100 platform and the absence of commentary from DJI on the I1?  I am a 100% supporter of the I1, but am also not blinded by current perceptions.