I'm looking towards a new drone and am curious about opinions on the route to go.

I've seen comments suggesting that it is a valuable upgrade to the Phantom 2 and 2 Vision (?) to upgrade the radio (for example to a Futaba radio) but that the radio cannot be upgraded on the Vision 2+.  If true, can the 2 Vision be upgraded to have the same camera system as the Vision 2+ AND still use a better radio system or is the Vision 2+ camera system tied to the Phantom radio?

NAZA mode; I'm an RC heli pilot bit the NAZA mode is interesting to me (since the whole reverse thing can get quite complex even for heli pilots).  Is it suggested that the drone is flown in NAZA mode or is it just a personal preference?

Repair: there has been a fair number of comments regarding repair locations and time and it concerns me that self repairs don't appear to be possible and that repair times is in many weeks (I've seen comments of upwards of 4-12 weeks).  My RC help I can repair pretty much anything if you can get the parts but the Phantom doesn't appear to have the same.  Comments?

Fly aways: is it the opinion that these happen mostly because of pilot error (e.g., not waiting for good GPS lock) rather than a design flaw?  I'm concerned on 1 points here; 1st, why would flying without GPS locks cause the unit to fly away if it has good radio connection (feels like a flaw to me)?  I could see a loss of connection (return home safety) causing a fly away if the GPS home position wasn't established but I've read people commenting about close-range, sudden fly-aways and that concerns me.  Comments?

Thanks,
Ken

The Phantom 2 Vision and Vision Plus both use the 5.8Ghz range for their controllers and 2.4Ghz for the camera and telemetry. You can't really use another controller with them. Unless you can find a 5.8Ghz one, which I've never seen, or install a 2.4Ghz receiver which would then probably interfere with/get interference from the camera. The regular Phantom 2 uses 2.4Ghz for it's control. So you can use different controllers with it.

As for Naza mode, I think it's mostly personal preference. I've never had the need for it myself.

Having repairs done by DJI does sound like it takes an inordinate amount of time. I've never used it myself though. Most of the parts for the Phantom are available so you can repair things yourself, with one GLARING EXCEPTION. The ribbon cable for the camera on the Vision Plus. For some mysterious reason DJI will not make this part available.

Concerning fly aways, I'm sure some are due to design flaws. But I think the vast majority are pilot error.   The only reasons I can think of that might cause a fly away without GPS lock would be if somehow a previous home point is stored in the Phantom, failsafe is triggered, and the Phantom heads off toward the old home point. Or if the pilot screws up without GPS lock or the control signal has interference (unlikely but not impossible) causing the Phantom to fly off, it isn't going to come back. All that said, I regularly fly without GPS lock at my house until I get above the house and hill behind it and can get a good GPS signal. I've never had an issue.

jmtw000@gmail.c Posted at 2014-11-19 00:13
The Phantom 2 Vision and Vision Plus both use the 5.8Ghz range for their controllers and 2.4Ghz for  ...

The camera ribbon cable is now available on Ebay for $85.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DJI-Phan ... hash=item19f69a08d3