So I took the P3P out for a little bit today and I noticed it was behaving strangely. It would tend to jump around a bit and every once in awhile it would do a strange shimmy. I had never noticed this before and I thought maybe I needed to recalibrate or that I was picking some interference, I wasn't really sure. Then I remembered I had put on a set of props I had bought on Amazon. I decided I would land and change out the props back to the original DJI props. After the change I took off again and lo and behold it was back to normal. I have not checked the balance on these new props but it wasn't a steady vibration so I am not sure if that is the issue. The props are "BTG 8PCS Upgrade Specular Reflection 9450 Self-tightening Self-locking Propellers Props for DJI Phantom 3 Professional Pro Advanced Standard XIRO ZERO Xplorer Red & White"

It's possible you may have a very badly balanced set (or at least one) bad prop(s).  It has been my experience that dji props are, for the most part, very well ballanced right out of the box. Maybe someone else has had a different experience with dji props.  Just my opinion.

It seems like it was more than an out of balance prop, possibly the aftermarket props you bought on Amazon have a defect. If it flew terrible and then flew fine when you put the stock DJI props back on then I'm guessing defective prop or props.

I don't think I'd ever buy 3rd party props.  Why would you?  They're really cheap anyway, unlike the aircraft they're holding hundreds of feet in the air.
Amazon - "Specular reflection propellers for your phantom and make your phantom look much more bright and sparkling" - when it hits the floor & bursts into flames!

nigelw Posted at 2016-2-7 22:41
I don't think I'd ever buy 3rd party props.  Why would you?  They're really cheap anyway, unlike the ...

Absolutely!! always stick to Original equipment, especially with something as crucial for flight and CHEAP!

To OP: It is my understanding that DJI have very carefully matched the props with the motors and ESC/Electronics. Unless you can buy After market props with Fairy Dust Embedded in them to make them Magic, Stick to the Genuine DJI Props.

The point of the post was that these props caused behavior that was not what was expected and might not be attributed to the props. There are many posts on here about strange flight behavior after downloading this firmware etc. or a vibration and I wonder how many times this might be something other than the firmware that caused the problem. The reason to buy the aftermarket props was not cost but convenience

Just for fun, check the props for balance. also check to see of you have cross threaded one. I did this once and thought my bird was going to explode. total User error on my part.

I have run DJI and after market props on my P3P for over 5 months. No issues noted except that the Carbon fiber props explode if this touch anything. Hit a leaf and BOOM.

so balancing the props is the most important thing. I have never gotten out of balanced props from any vendor I have used.

snoopy Posted at 2016-2-7 13:57
The point of the post was that these props caused behavior that was not what was expected and might  ...

You said yourself, the aircraft flew fine with the standard DJI props, but not with the aftermarket ones.  Seems pretty straightforward to me.

You could try them again & see if you get the same problem, but I would advise against it.  Other than that, all you can do is stick to the DJI ones & hope it doesn't happen again.  If it does happen again, chances are it isn't the props & you have cause for concern.

There's more than just balance that could be wrong, it could be the thread isn't square to the hub, or the profiles are different between props, or even between blades on the same prop.  Unfortunately, many things are cheaper to buy because less money has been spent on design, production & quality control.

We all understand the point of the post, what we're trying to suggest is don't use cheep props in the first place.  It's not convenient to have one break 400ft in the air!

cacollins0220 Posted at 2016-2-7 17:29
Just for fun, check the props for balance. also check to see of you have cross threaded one. I did t ...

"I have never gotten out of balanced props from any vendor I have used"

Really?  I've only had one set that is balanced out of 3 sets from DJI.  Their CF ones were the worst.

Having said that, they've never been so bad as to cause problems that I'm aware of.

I just checked the aftermarket and the originals. None were perfect the but original DJI props were impressively close. Two of the others were off quite a bit and the other two were off a little. I have some carbon fiber ones that I have not tried yet. Two of those were right on and the other two were a bit off. I have never even opened the second set that came with the bird. I have a XIRO Xporer and that has eaten a few props as they are a bit tippy