So I hear dji is putting a new style main control wa aboard inside the newer P3's because different built on esc's are needed to run the newly designed motors and I noticed in the P3's specifications that the range is now 2.5 times farther than the original 2 km it was rated at in May. Now the P3 has a 5km range in fcc mode, just 5 months ago it was 2km. I noticed the change when lightbridge 2 came out....   New p3's also have a redesigned shell that is reinforced around the motor mounts to cure the cracking problem the first P3's had.
I understand things change, but this is allot of serious changes from the original model of p3 I bought in May and it's frustrating Dji isn't doing squat to remedy my issues with the P3 I bought in May.  I had to spend almost $100 getting the replacement shell I needed to repair my P3 original faulty design!  Just 5 months after its release the P3 isn't the same thing anymore.  More efficient motors although Dji says it's purely cosmetic and there are no differences between the original motors and the new motors, but they require totally different esc's  hence why the main board change.  Since when does only a cosmetic change require new hardware to run? I should of at least got the new shell for my P3 professional for free! Along with the required tool to seperated the upper and lower sections of the new shell they Ship together..

Anyone else know about these changes or more that I may not heard about?

Uhh, yeah... pretty much anybody who keeps up and reads the forum on a regular basis.  

It almost sounds like you're upset because DJI has a program of constantly improving their products?  Seems like one of the ways they would know about problems is from feedback from customers.  Sure, there are going to be some products that leave the factory with problems -- sheesh, how many companies can you name that have 100% zero defects in their products?

But I do understand your frustration.  Every time DJI makes a better quad I'm dumb enough to buy it.  Crap, now I've got five different models of the damn things cluttering up my house.  I'm still hoping DJI will release a firmware update that will include a "swarm" mode...

Question? How can you tell which P3P you  posses ? Do you know the new stat serial number?
Thanks

rodger Posted at 2015-11-5 07:57
Question? How can you tell which P3P you  posses ? Do you know the new stat serial number?
Thanks

Rodger, a quick visual is that the new unit has larger vents on the arms.

Otherwise, the only way to tell for sure is to open the unit up.

rodger Posted at 2015-11-5 20:57
Question? How can you tell which P3P you  posses ? Do you know the new stat serial number?
Thanks

The original and updated internal parts can be viewed on the DJI Store P3 Spare Parts:
http://store.dji.com/phantom-accessories/phantom-3-spare-parts

The original 2312 Motor:

Operating voltage of 14.8 V, KV of 800 rpm/V , and maximum thrust of 850 g.
Compatible with the Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced.

The newer 2312A Motor:

Operating voltage of 14.8 V, KV of 800 rpm/V , and maximum thrust of 850 g.
Compatible with the Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced.

The original motors came with a metal wrench to tighten/loosen the blades, while the newer motors come with a gripper band instead of the wrench. The two motor models use different ESCs and are not compatible. So the motors must be matched to the correct MC board.

I know, the 2312 motors are the E310 motors and the 2312A motor is a version of the E305 motors that are 7% or more, more efficient..  But I'm not upset about that, I'm pissed about them updating a crap shell and then charging me $70 for it plus shipping. And to make matters worse it's assembled so I even gotta dick around getting the replacement shell open and hope it don't break..  They should have paid for shipping on the old shell and then issued a refund for it once they got it back and seen the motor mount cracks..

But I guess whatever, from now on I will just wait 6 months to a yr to buy a new product so I end up with the version that is right.  I didn't pay $1500 to be their beta tester ya know..  I got may toys to keep me busy for the first 6 months after a product releases so no more early adapting for me.  I wouldn't mind if I was able to get the defective parts replaced without having to send it in for 2 months 3 weeks after I bought it...

gregg1r Posted at 2015-11-5 08:05
Rodger, a quick visual is that the new unit has larger vents on the arms.

Otherwise, the only way  ...

Actually you tell by the picture on the box. It shows the new motors.
Also on the side of the box the new model is listed as W323A. The older one is W323

Could someone tell me how to determine FCC vs CE region etc.. I understand the phantom decides on the range based on its GPS location?

alirz1 Posted at 2015-11-6 07:26
Could someone tell me how to determine FCC vs CE region etc.. I understand the phantom decides on th ...

I'm not sure what you are asking here, the range is determined by battery consumption, not some arbitrary value plugged into the aircraft.

Product updates happen all the time - you makes your choice and pays your money at the time...

I'm more concerned about the constant pushing out of faulty/unreliable firmware and the associated problems.... It won't be long before we're not reading about someone losing/crashing there drone, but of a serious injury or fatality...

Two weeks today there's going to be a feature on the UK 'WATCHDOG' TV program about misbehaving drones... Will be interesting to see what they report...

alirz1 Posted at 2015-11-5 15:24
Actually you tell by the picture on the box. It shows the new motors.
Also on the side of the box  ...

I wished you were correct, but they started phasing in the new motors a few months back. It's only been the last month or so that the new shells have started showing up.

There are probably three or four configurations of the Phantom 3 floating around of each of the Advanced, Professional and Standard models.

justin.owen Posted at 2015-11-5 21:13
Product updates happen all the time - you makes your choice and pays your money at the time...

I'm  ...

not spotted this, hmm i wonder what they are up to, they do like to give a company a good kicking , our had features a few times but nature of being big

When Drones Plus (an "authorized" DJI retailer) charged me $220 to replace my shell, they replaced it with the exact same one (not the updated one)...

gregg1r Posted at 2015-11-5 08:05
Rodger, a quick visual is that the new unit has larger vents on the arms.

Otherwise, the only way  ...

Thanks Greg. I will see if I can determine that on mine.

terrylewis Posted at 2015-11-5 08:35
The original and updated internal parts can be viewed on the DJI Store P3 Spare Parts:
http://stor ...

Thanks Terry. I don't remember seeing either the wrench or band.

alirz1 Posted at 2015-11-5 15:24
Actually you tell by the picture on the box. It shows the new motors.
Also on the side of the box  ...

Great info Al, thanks

So after looking into all the p3's spare parts, I'm failing to understand how the 2km range listed in May more than doubled to 5km in November when the antennas and the odfm module didn't change.  Did new antennas with higher gain come on the newer controllers? Or did a firmware update increase power output?  Anyone know? Lol...

Mark97564 Posted at 2015-11-7 12:22
So after looking into all the p3's spare parts, I'm failing to understand how the 2km range listed i ...

" I'm failing to understand how the 2km range listed in May more than doubled to 5km in November when the antennas and the odfm module didn't change."
The Phantom 3 has been able to reach much more than the rather conservative numbers originally shown in the specs.
DJI just updated the specs to better reflect what users have known all along.

gregg1r Posted at 2015-11-5 08:05
Rodger, a quick visual is that the new unit has larger vents on the arms.

Otherwise, the only way  ...

Thanks Greg, your reply is how I identified what I have. I couldn't find any numbers on the Box other than Serial and Model. Maybe I missed the other number mentioned. The Vents are smaller on mine and there are one or two more than the five that you picture.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2015-11-8 03:12
" I'm failing to understand how the 2km range listed in May more than doubled to 5km in November w ...

Exactly!, I always thought they might have understated the range to try and slip something past the FCC, maybe not, but my P3 could do 4KM out of the box.

Well,  the thing is a fantom 4 will be out sometime next year - most likely !
Then every phantom 3 will get out of date.

alirz1 Posted at 2015-11-5 15:24
Actually you tell by the picture on the box. It shows the new motors.
Also on the side of the box  ...

Thanks Al, you are correct. I went by the Vents.