I own P2V+ "+" that just came out a few weeks ago.  I've enjoyed flying the hell out of it and now that I'm getting a bit more familiar with it, I want to understand better the range limits of the P2V+.   While I've enjoyed watching the video's of the P2V+ going on 10,000 foot climbs and 10 mile flights, I want to understand the practical "white box" limits.  I say white box to mean as the unit comes right out of the box with all it's white box's, no mod's, no added antenna's, no flytrex mods for tracking this, that or the other thing and no software mod's.   I ask this question, because I was flying in a wide open space yesterday and at around a 1000 foot horizontal distance away I "lost" contact.  I issued a return to home command from the DJI App and it said that it couldn't issue the command because it had lost contact with the copter.  I could see the Phantom in the direction I was flying it, but I couldn't initially tell that it was hovering.  Rather than do anything rash like flip the controls in a wild fashion I walked towards the direction of the copter and issued small commands on the roll stick to see if it would tilt back and forth.  Eventually, as I got closer I could fly it back to me. This question has 3 parts: What's the range of control with the 5.8Ghz controller (RC) transmitter? I'm assuming 1,000 feet radius, 1,000 feet altitude based on my experience yesterday and what I read on a review of the copter subsequently.   What's the range of the FPV (video) and the 2.4Ghz wi-fi extender? I read 500-700m (1,640 - 2,300 feet) on the DJI site, but this is more than double the transmitter range and somewhat confusing to me. What's the range (out and back) of the copter when put under a planned route using the DJI ground countrol App? I read 1,640 feet radius from home point and 656 foot altitude limit on the DJI site.  Does this mean that once in ground control mode and >1,000 feet away from the home point, I will have no ability to regain manual control (using the RC) of the copter again until it is once again <1,000 feet away from the home point? Thanks ahead of time for your thoughtful inputs.

Expect nothing more that is stated in the DJI manual,  anything past these numbers are a bonus but also out of normal operating parameters and thus not advised.

Its a very fickle thing as it has numerous environmental variables and other things to be taken into account, but as stock setup goes it does perform well in my world....  

Every unit and setup and every area is different,  only you can find its true limits,  but the magic is learning to set your limitations and recovery options should it go wrong.  

The best answers are available on youtube and other forums, but seriously,  don't try to push it to others achievements,  practice and learn your setup, this is really what matters not measuring to others.
If you want more , upgrade to more capable equipment, again ,  fll talk/walkthroughs on youtube etc.....

Take care and just have fun whilst learning everyday...

Are you using FCC or CE mode?   

mixstreme Posted at 2014-11-16 23:47
Expect nothing more that is stated in the DJI manual,  anything past these numbers are a bonus but a ...

I'm using FCC mode (two beeps) at turn on.  

Is my assumption on the DJI ground control app accurate?  I can (theoretically) send the Phantom out 1,640 feet, but once it breaks 1,000 feet it's flying uncontrolled until it returns to within 1,000 feet again?

Thanks

kowtow1@hotmail Posted at 2014-11-17 00:07
I'm using FCC mode (two beeps) at turn on.  

Is my assumption on the DJI ground control app accur ...

The grounstation app is automated and the waypoints and heights that you set require no input from you.

Yes, in theory (see it on youtube ) you set a flightpath out of range and it will continue to fly its route. To gain control you have to cancel the waypoints and take control or it will just perform the route requested.

Watch it in action and think how lucky this guy actually was........

mixstreme Posted at 2014-11-17 00:12
The grounstation app is automated and the waypoints and heights that you set require no input from ...

I have seen that video and it's my go-to video to show people what the Phantom can do and how damn lucky this guy was.

Why is he so close to the trees, look at his waypoints heights ?

b.w.j@joergense Posted at 2014-11-17 00:41
Why is he so close to the trees, look at his waypoints heights ?

He ASSUMED he would be safe at 100 feet.

Gerry1124 Posted at 2014-11-17 00:56
He ASSUMED he would be safe at 100 feet.

But his lowest is 496 ft. ???
Or are i missing something ?

b.w.j@joergense Posted at 2014-11-17 01:10
But his lowest is 496 ft. ???
Or are i missing something ?

He mentioned in the video that he was going to 100 feet at timeline 2:08 into the video.  The numbers at each waypoint is the distance between each waypoint, not the altitude.

10 mile flights?! What lead you to believe we could fly 10 miles? Is there a video of that?Assuming you're pretty new, please read the manual and go through startup procedures every flight.
If you wait for GPS and home lock, the Phantom should return to your location when it looses signal. You shouldn't have to "chase" it.

If not, it will auto descend on the spot - you don't want that happening over dense trees or a lake.

Cloud9 Posted at 2014-11-17 01:20
10 mile flights?! What lead you to believe we could fly 10 miles? Is there a video of that?Assuming  ...

I didn't ever think I could get 10 miles out of it, but I've been amazed at the number of people on YouTube who've claimed they have a stock bird and are getting unusual ranges out of them.  I was looking for actual flight data from others with completely stock birds.

As in the case of the video above.  You have to read deeper to understand that he had to hack the Android app in order to set waypoints that were over 1.6 miles out LOS.  Even so obviously he lost "contact" with the Phantom, why then didn't the bird go into fail safe mode and hover, or return home when it lost that contact?

kowtow1@hotmail Posted at 2014-11-17 04:47
I didn't ever think I could get 10 miles out of it, but I've been amazed at the number of people o ...

Even if you lose contact with the Phantom during a Ground Station mission it will continue to complete the mission then return home.

kowtow1@hotmail Posted at 2014-11-17 04:47
I didn't ever think I could get 10 miles out of it, but I've been amazed at the number of people o ...

There's an official app and a not so official app........  and when on "route" the bird is not required to be in contact with RC or app..., if any alarm or issue occurs that should initiate RTH then so be it, but until then it heads off on your mission.  You have give it a task to complete, it doesn't need you anymore......
You may as well go home and hope it wants to come back to you.....

mixstreme Posted at 2014-11-17 05:21
There's an official app and a not so official app........  and when on "route" the bird is not req ...

That's pretty damn cool.  It's like a NASA spacecraft, once you launch it you better hope it makes it through the atmosphere so you can talk to it once it returns.

kowtow1@hotmail Posted at 2014-11-17 05:33
That's pretty damn cool.  It's like a NASA spacecraft, once you launch it you better hope it makes ...

Pretty much yeah....  safe planning required.....