Just purchased my P3P yesterday and had one hell of a time just getting the firmware updated.. Simple task right..  Went into DJI go and updated the firmware and the controller went fine.  Said reboot controller.  Couldn't get the craft or battery to update. Went out and downloaded the firmware file and when attempting to copy it to the sd card it failed.  Tried to format it failed.  Tried this on another computer it failed.  Gave up for the night and started in again this morning with same results.  Went searching for another sd card and found one.  Copied file over no problem.  Updated firmware on craft and log file says that was fine but the battery was forbidden. Launched DJI go and everything shows normal now.

It would appear the SD card is bad..  Not a good way to start off my DJI experience.  What is sad about this is I was excited to get my first drone until I had issues and started reading the forum looking for answers to my update process.  Reading about all the crashes and possible firmware defects has me scared to even fly it. Like quite a few others I read about I will be really mad if it takes off on its own and either crashes or worse disappears.

I purchased this for stress relief not to add stress to my life.

I think that it is safe to say that on a support forum many of the post will skew towards individuals who have had "issues." You should not necessarily construe what you read here as a microcosm of the larger Phantom flying community. Furthermore, deeper analysis of many of the accidents reported here are in fact operator error. But many of these operators fail to acknowledge the truth.

Make sure to fully read the Phantom manual and there are a treasure trove of videos available for support. Once you get into the air you will be amazed with how stable a Phantom is in the air and just how easy they are to fly. My first drone experience with a drone was a $75 'toy' drone. From that experience I made my Phantom flight with great trepidation. Once the Phantom was in the air I could not believe how easy it was to fly.

Don't worry. You will get past the firmware update step. And when you do you will have a great time flying.

Best regards,

Dont worry about the crashes , just fly the quad in open areas ,   a lot of people crash because the they try to do crazy stuff of  because they do long distance  flights or the fly with low power all that stuff
check the videos and most of the crashes are pilots errors , or people that fly only with fpv  (i do it   )  to be honest the phantoms are so stable,    in the beginning DJI had some issues with the fly away but that was with the phantom 1 and 2  i think that that was solved in the p3
i fly in open areas  and i like to do long distance flights and the RTH  feature works amazing  once you set it properly

just have fun and dont do risky stuff try to  lean how to fly it in open areas then you are going to know how to fly everywhere ,     

Just fly and enjoy it. Simples.

Read the manual, don't skip a single line or note. Then read it again. No fast reading and understand every single paragraph.
As said by GTDrone, most of the "flyaways" are just operator errors and even after showing the logs, and facts, they try to blame someone else (human nature).
So be a better man and read the whole manual, and fly accordingly.

Have fun flying!

As a P3P 'Old timer', I have to ask...
Did you happen to visit the forum pages BEFORE you purchased?

Good Luck with your new experiences

Cheers

You know on the questionnaire where they ask you to check the box with your age? Well I'm in the very last box you can choose and I have stumbled my way thru the updates and survived all my flights with the P3 and the Inspire1. Trees, fences, power lines, buildings etc don't jump out in front of you so find and OPEN area to fly in and once you start feeling cocky  YOU WILL CRASH and that's on you not DJI. But you will read where some think it is. Good luck and fly smart

Your feeling is normal. Once the newness wears off and you start getting a good feel for everything you'll actually start to enjoy the challenges. Some people never get past the pick up, fly, put away phase. But most of us here enjoy learning the broader experience of ownership. as others have said, enjoy learning before flying and you'll have a hobby you'll love. Happy flying!

I felt the same way after I bought my P3P!  As your confidence builds, your fears crumbles. There are some who will buy their P3, take it out of the box and put the "pedal to the metal" from the get go! They will crash the same day they took it out of the box! Read the manual! Watch the tutorials! Do your pre-flights! Find a safe place to fly! Take baby steps as a pilot, small stick movements! Fly!

    Remember the aircraft is off when you load the firmware on the aircraft, then after SD is loaded you turn on the aircraft.  Also make sure your TRANSMITTER  (RC ) is NEVER on when updating the aircraft.

   I was freaked out doing my first firmware update, now I help others.  You are going to have a blast with your Pro.  But please  go slow and Understand what every function does on the kit  so that you will be ready for anything.  Most crashes are simple human error .  You will have a lot of fun with this hobby.

Keep in mind, you are going to have the hardcore flyers here and people who want to say there crash is DJI's fault ( Sometimes but rarely) posting.  Just fly smart , go slow and Do your own Due diligence.

all the best and welcome !   -donnie

Looking forward to the first actual flight...   I took it out this afternoon and took my time doing the preflight checklist.  I practiced my take off and landings with slow moments around the close area of where I was.  Winds are pretty high today so I didn't get over about 10'.  I can see where if a person doesn't learn how to fly they can get in trouble very fast by instead of moving out from the wall they fly it straight into the wall.

I need to go buy another SD card since the one that it came with is bad.  I have formatted it several times but when I try to take a picture I can't remember what the exact msg is but something like card is full. Once again trying to focus more on flying than photos but I wanted to get a pic of the first flight and couldn't.

Should I be concerned that the battery will not update firmware?  Says forbidden when I attempt it.

LOL I hear you.  I just got mine and I'm stressed too for the exact same reasons.  I knew I should have bought the iPad Pro!

You don't have to worrie about crashes. We do see all those car accident compilations but we keep driving our cars... same here...