Ok guys, I appreciate any and all input to this question.  I am a fairly new pilot, most of my background is in RC planes and Nitro RC Helicopters.  

I have leads on a few businesses that are interested in having me take aerial video of real estate properties, and I am going to take the plunge and go for it.  I plan on spending at least a month training full time on the family ranch before attempting to take on any jobs.  

The Inspire seems to have a few neat features that the Phantom Vision Plus does not have. My concern is that being a new pilot would it be better for me to go with the Vision + that has been refined over time or go with the Inspire that has more fearures but is still fairly untested in the field and may not be all it is hyped up to be?  Earlier I read in the Inspire forum that the new app may not even offer waypoints as the ground station app does.

This being a big investment for me, I wanted to try and get some input from you guys that have been piloting drones, maybe even for commercial uses, for a long time.  I can do all the research I want, but in the end advice from experienced people is much more valuable.

Thanks!

Hi, The vision2 + with various updates has become more stable and reliable since its initial introduction of the first vision.  The inspire looks great but I would personally wait for it to get established and debugged by the early adopters.  I bet an inspire 2+ will hit the market at some point.

In the meantime the vision 2+ will give good results for your application. I use one commercially here in New Zealand and it does an OK job for cutaways and different points of view etc.  Best of luck with your decision.
Rod

Big investment not really sure about that since you have said that you have done rc helicopters nitro they are not cheap but these are not even 1/4 the difficult of flying a a nitro copter. Not sure what one I would choose since the inspire is new and I do not know of any quirks if any yet. If you are going professional I would think that you will want a unit that could hold a gopro or better camera.

jeepinocala Posted at 2015-1-4 09:41
Big investment not really sure about that since you have said that you have done rc helicopters nitr ...

let me clarify by just saying that it is a big investment for me now.  A few years ago it would not have been, but unfortunatelly sometimes finances go downhill as time goes by.

DJI's track record with new roll-outs, hardware and software, would worry me enough that I sure wouldn't want to be in the first round of Inspire pilots. Instead, I'd want them to do the beta testing for me, I'd go for the second round.

I might feel better about it if I had a better handle on what's going on with the motors on the Phantom v 2.0/3.0. The Inspire doesn't have any more system redundancy that the Phantom.

I am in the same position and have decided on the P2 and will go with the GP4 Black.  it does 4k and at 60 frames.  The P2V+ can only do 1080 @30 frames.  This is not enough for smooth slow motion shots.

Also the lack of gimbal parts and long turn around for a fix etc makes the GoPro route better IMO.

I was really liking the P2V+ as it all there out of the box and was willing to forego the 1080 @60 frames or even the 4k resolution but everyone will have  hard landing now or again and that gimbal is fragile from all my reading.

gunnell_s@msn.c Posted at 2015-1-4 09:59
let me clarify by just saying that it is a big investment for me now.  A few years ago it would no ...

Have you thought of an older version of the phantom? I have seen some great photography from older models that could be bought much cheaper. I also believe from your past controlling copters any of the these will be pretty easy to fly.

Totally new to this though purchased the Phantom 2 Vision+ V3.0 and absolutely loving it, it has worked flawlessly for me on the first 6 flights (20+ min each) and I have never flown anything before!
With each flight I am trying different maneuvers etc. and not the least bit disappointed. The video quality out of the box is as good as I could have hoped for and IMHO would more than satisfy the majority of realtors out there. A couple of novice photo buffs have looked as some of the video I have taken so far and are quite impressed!...I looked at the GoPro and as much as I liked it, I wanted an out of the box system that worked..and this does it all for me so far..not to say I won't be "Inspired" to upgrade down the road but this is taking me to new heights...Literally!
Good luck with your decision....

If you were seriously thinking about the Inspire and you've got the money, consider this;  you're putting all your eggs and your income stream in one basket -- if any part of it breaks, income stops, outgo starts.  

Take the same amount of money and buy TWO Phantom 2's with H3-3D and you've immediately got redundancy as well as the ability to interchange parts between them.  The GoPro and H3-3D gimbal can actually be repaired (within limits) as opposed to the P2V+ camera and gimbal which usually can't.  You'll probably have some extra funds left over for buying a Phantom 1 on eBay to practice with.  (In case you're wondering I have a total of four: Phantom 1, Phantom 2 H3-3D and two Phantom 2 Vision+)