Some people reading this forum may be under the impression that Phantoms are not very reliabile (because many accidents are reported in detail and because even relative happy Phantom owners are reporting issues to DJI and warn other users to avoid similar issues). While I understand, that I'll get answers only from only a few users on this forum, I'd like to run this quick poll about your experience so far.

I'd like to know this data:
- your aprox total numbers of flights (this can be determined by adding up the battery discharge times in DJI Vision Assistant for desktop, Advanced - Battery)
- how long you had your Phantom
- how many accidents requiring repairs you had so far (let's count only the repairs involving taking off the shell and changing parts, except the propellers); so please don't include a minor crash or tip over which required propellers change or recovered flyaways; if you want, you can split this data in pilot errors and accidents, according to your opinion, due to Phantom issues

Here's my data so far:
15 flights, one month, 0 major accidents

P2V+ V3.0, 40 to 50 flights, one month, 0 repairs or parts replaced, 19.6 gigs of saved video and pictures.

Jamie

40 flights, one month, Vision+ v3.0. No crashes, mishaps or warranty bugs of any kind. Yet.

25 flights - Vision+ (V2) - 2 months - No crashes (minor or major), no repairs or modifications. One wobbly moment in flight (environment I think - not Phantom) saved by switch to ATTI. Still using prop guards though!!

P2V+ Ver 3, owned 11 days, 5 sorties flown.  Flawless performance and zero issues.  Compass cal. before every flight and never take off without at least 7 sats locked.
**Now up to 11 sorties flown, 2 hours flight time.

P2V+, July 2014, 45 flights, zero problems, still on the original propellers, every flight ends with a hand catch.

It will be interesting to hear what people have to say. When you read the post in the forum you think the phantoms are noting but trouble. I was scared to death to fly one let alone purchase one. For me, I happen to have a local dealer nearby, after a few visits and talking to other Phantom customers at the RC store, I was relieved to hear a lot of happy customers with their Phantoms.  Therefore, I bought one and have been very happy ever since, and because I am posting in the dji forum I’ll say so far .  

I was at my local dealer on Jan 2nd and he had the Inspire 1, he was very happy to take one outside and show those of us at the store a demo of the Inspire 1. After seeing it in flight and in person I will say that I will be getting one in the future.  

Anyway, back on topic:

30 plus flights with a P2V+ V3.
Two tip overs one on take off, one on landing – my fault
Zero problem.
One month.

This is great news

P2v+ V3, 6 weeks, 20 flights, no problems, Great machine.

P2V+ V3, 3 weeks, 10 flights, no problems.

P2 v1 1 year no problems and about 30 flights with 3 batteries,  until last month and new years eve.

There is a battery issue. I have battery that came with it with loader 1.4 and firmware 1.6. and the  other two batteries I bought as a pack deal with loader 1.5 and firmware 2.0.

My phantom 2 now auto lands at various battery charge percentages. Adding throttle in the air triggers quick flashing red on LEDs which indicate low voltage. Why? I just charged it! Seems like I am not the only one and it is a rampant problem with Phantom 2 owners. BEWARE!

I see that DJI is attempting to address the issue with firmware updates and a "Smart Battery Firmware" update (2.6) however when I just tried doing the update for the battery, it says there is "no update". On November 28, 2014, DJI released another main controller firmware update 3.08 and central board firmware update 1.0.2.10 but there is no longer a Smart battery update. WTF? What is going on DJI? is the battery update working? There is obviously a big problem with auto landing mid-flight that a lot of people are experiencing. Look it up.

Anyway, I will be testing again my 3 batteries to see if the latest firmware updates helped or did nothing.

P2V, 2 weeks, 5 flights,  1 crash (pilot error), prop guards, no damage.  

P2V+ V3
7 Flights, all to full duration of battery life (I like living on the edge)..
One OOPS! on the first flight on New Year's Eve, otherwise performing wonderfully and tons of wonderful video..

Wish the tutorial for the newest V3 version had shipped with the Phantom or at least wish I had been told by the dealer that the manual coming with my new machine was dated as there were definitely some discrepancies with the newest version which I have since downloaded.

P2v+v3  four weeks , aprox 20 flights... 0 issues
So far..... Fingers crossed!

Vision+ V3, ~2 months, 40 +/- flights, mixed in some ground station flights as well.  No issues, no mods

Phantom 2 Vision---one month old.
Approx. 50 flights about 15 minutes each.
One battery.
One instance of odd behavior... over small power line. Resulted in crash in sand. (Mid Dec.---solar activity? *shrugs*)
No repairs.

No problems since.
Still going strong.

I get my Phantom Plus V3.0 tomorrow and will post first flights results an/or issues if any

P2V+ V3 with 8 - 10 flights.  No problems.  Everything operating smooth as silk.

2 p2v v3 100 flights plus no problem no crashes, max alt of 7000 feet

i take that back, one battery will be shipped tomorrow for discharge issues

I own two Phantom 2 Vision+ (original v2) units.

Unit 1 has 200+ flights, 8 months, one major unexplained flyaway 15 mins into a photographic job. The bird tilted almost 90 degrees and flew into the ground. Recovered and confirmed it could still fly. Sent it back to the distributor for inspection.

Unit 2 has 40+ flights. 3 months old. No issue except GPS loss after starting video record. GPS shield mod done to help alleviate issue, but has not fixed it 100%. I fly only in ATTI now when video recording.
For both birds, I do a mandatory compass calibation and full pre-flight check list before each flight in a new area.

My Phantom Vision has performed exemplary. The only crashes I have had have been me flying in to trees. At all times it has worked as expected. I have done about 15 full charge and discharges.

2 months (approx!) ownership, around 15 to 20 flights, zero problems. Not even a slight glitch, wobble or hiccup! The Phantom, when flown properly, is a solid incredible machine. I think this is why DJI don't bother to respond to all the alleged flyways on here as most of them are user error...

Touch wood!

Phantom 2 Vision - 7 months old too many flights to remember over Roman sites, small villages, friends houses/properties lakes and farmland.  No updates of software etc used.  Still flying as it came out of the box with the additional use of prop guards - just in case - blue to front and (sprayed) orange to rear.  Usually hand catch.  During one flight switched off the control to test RTH and it worked.  On second set of props as on the very first flight it tipped on gravel and ragged the edges of the props.  Wipe it clean after each flight to get rid of fly bodies etc.  It still looks like new and up there flying with the big boys.

3 weeks of daily flying, 2-3 times a day.  All software updated on the first day.  No problems whatsoever.

My longer term machine has been a Phantom 1 with all sorts (various) cameras on it, including 240+ gram (fairly heavy) Canons as well as GoPro's, etc.

Over 14 months of ownership - about 70 flights, not a single problem in terms of the flying manners.

I did, early on, find that one of the battery lead wires had cracked insulation and I replaced both of them with high quality silicon wires. If I hadn't done that, I think I may have had a problem with a short circuit on those higher power wires....my guess is that stuff like this can cause RF interference also (when not fully shorted).

Glad to see most have good experiences. Perhaps another relevant question is how many flights do users expect without professional or at least a through going over of the quadcopter from top to bottom? If a pilot has no initial QC problems, it would seem as if the odds of other problems cropping up increase with the number of hours in the air as well as with the conditions (dust, heat, etc.)

joeztan Posted at 2015-1-5 17:05
I own two Phantom 2 Vision+ (original v2) units.

Unit 1 has 200+ flights, 8 months, one major unexp ...

what did they say after the inspection?

Had my P2V+ for over a month now. Flown about 15 times, no problems whatsoever. No crashes ..yet!!
I always calibrate compass and never fly with below 8 connected satellites.

Phantom 2 Vision - 3 months- 20 flights- no crashes- moved GPS to outside on stand- always
7 birds with 8-9 the average

Fantastic PV2 plus, no problems, had a fly away once, don't know why, but came back  home as it should, probably my fault.

P2V+ V.3  Only two flights.  No issues.   Calibrated the RC to correct a gimbal glitch with the new remote.  I'd should have realized that required calibration too ;)

P2V+ V.3  About 20 to 25 flights. No accidents, haven't had the need to replace one single prop. Camera works perfectly and have made some sick videos of my vacations. My only problem is that i can't get it to fly beyond 300 mts without going into GO HOME mode.

cheers

P2V+ V.3.  Owned for 7 days.  About 20 flights, mostly using the entire battery each time.  No major crashes or uncommanded actions.  

One early event wherein it tipped after landing.  As many, probably, I touched down, then did the CSC and it reacted to the stick movements because it wasn't at idle yet.  Props got scuffed on the pavers, but no other damage.  From then on, I only stopped the props with the throttle full down for three seconds action.

A couple of days later, coming in to land, I got crossed up in the controls and flew it into a dormant tree, at low level.  One prop broke the ends off and the motors were still humming when the wife pulled it free a few seconds later.  No other damage.

I since changed to carbon fiber props, for less flex.  Reading in the forums, I'm not positive it is a good choice, so on the fence.

Yesterday, I came in to land and it was not stable as it touched and it drifted and tipped.  The CF props beat on the pavers and some dirt before I CSC'd it.  It didn't sense the problem and stop itself.  Amazingly, no damage or scuffing to the props at all.  Based on the idea that motors being held back or props touching things is toasting the ESC's, I was very cautious this morning.  I hovered over the lawn for a while, full throttle climb to stress them, then settle back down, a few times.  No problems.  Flew around for the full battery life with no problems and no smoke.  I count myself lucky, considering others' experiences.

Bought and returned two Parrot Bebop's before this and both climbed to the sky, uncommanded.  This is a prevalent problem with those, so it is fantastic to buy something that works, as advertised.  I am very happy with my flying camera and I hope nothing causes me to feel otherwise.

P2V+ V3.0 Owned for a month; 20 flights, no crashes or fly aways yet. Pretty solid machine so far. I've had one issue with the camera tilting after I hooked it up to the computer software. After digging through the forum and being frustrated, I hooked it back up to the software and toggled through every section and was able to fix it.

The main issue I'm running into is losing FPV on the app. This seems to go out often during flights which suck because I have so little time to get shots and when the RC is out of sight it can be a bit scary. But I haven't lost control of the RC yet. Has anyone else had issues with the App?

I think it also depends on what you are looking to do with this machine; have fun, hobby, work? That's the question you should be asking. I do video and photography and this thing has taken some impressive images, but it definitely has its limits. . .I can already see an upgrade to a better everything in the near future. . .does anyone know if we'll be able to upgrade this camera with a 4k camera anytime in the near future? That would be great!

If you have editing skills then you can do wonders with the footage: both video and photography. But if not, I would think it'll be a different story (but not sure; would like to hear (better yet see) what folks are doing with this thing. . )

Overall, I don't think you can go wrong for the price and for what this thing can do. . . it's cool.  Here's one of my favorite pics so far in the backyard.

jarek33@hotmail Posted at 2015-1-6 00:24
what did they say after the inspection?

I'm still waiting to hear back from my retailer and the distributor. I'll report back once I know more.

Bump - Any other out there to chime in?

I'd like to know this data:
- your aprox total numbers of flights (this can be determined by adding up the battery discharge times in DJI Vision Assistant for desktop, Advanced - Battery)
- how long you had your Phantom
- how many accidents requiring repairs you had so far (let's count only the repairs involving taking off the shell and changing parts, except the propellers); so please don't include a minor crash or tip over which required propellers change or recovered flyaways; if you want, you can split this data in pilot errors and accidents, according to your opinion, due to Phantom issues

Madam Concord Posted at 2015-1-12 07:11
Bump - Any other out there to chime in?

I'd like to know this data:

Phantom 2 Vision+ Version 2, upgraded to new compass and new RC, flying 9450 props, spent lots of time reading and watching videos, developing a solid pre-flight routine. Three batteries, all of which are at about 20 discharges, now fully depleting them one by one, so total flying time would be about 15 hours, no issues, other than learning and trying to avoid pilot error, and truly enjoying my Phantom!

3 weeks. ~8 flights. Very steady. When your comfortable it will just sit there and hover, that helps the confidence a lot! Lots of great footage, no problems at all. Love it!

Got the V3 done about 12 flights so far in many different areas and conditions. I lost connection once and the return to home kicked after a few seconds but when about 50m away I flicked into atti gained control and then back into gps.
Really happy and impressed so far.