Hi All,

Many moons ago I was an RC plane builder and flier.   Many, many moons ago..  When people just half a generation older than me  had RC planes with tube radios.  Yep, they really did.  Nice and heavy,  but well built.

Anyhow, just ordered our first quad-copter.  We  bought some $100 units at the local electronics stores and they were so  impossible to try to fly for me and my daughter that I decided to return  them and take the plunge into a P4.  

While eagerly waiting for our P4 (order 001163849998 in case DJI wishes to update me   )  I have been browsing all the forums with deep interest and a little  anxiety.  These are complex beasts and crashes will no doubt be  expensive.  So are there any pre-flight settings on the RC I should set  up so that we have have a reasonable VTOL and not turn it into a missile  into a tree 3.1 miles away?  

I see there is some feature like  a geofence that can limit it's range from the RC or the Take-off point  (which one, by the way?).  Can that be set arbitrarily low like 10m or  something?  I also read there is a 'beginner' setting but it seems there  are other settings that could be on or off that degrade beginner safety  or alter it's performance settings.  Just curious if any of you have a  patient step-by-step uber-beginners guide so it doesn't tweak into a 45  degree angle and barrel into a tree at 45mph in front of my daughter's  eyes.  

Best,
Mark

It's worth ordering a set of prop guards. They at least make it possible for the craft to deflect off a surface and remain in flight orientation. As an RC veteran you know the importance of maintaining cockpit orientation on the right stick. The aircraft is extremely stable. Apply the same rules you learned on past RC and this thing will not let you down. Keep in mind that changing Units of Measurement from metric to imperial affects only the height and distance read-outs in-flight. Max height, distance, and RTH altitude settings are always in meters

You need to be real careful about putting on prop guards on the P4.  The latest firmware version disables obstacle avoidance with prop guards on.

The info about the latest firmware for the P4 can be found here.

Make sure to calibrate the IMU, Gimbal and RC when you get the aircraft before flying.  

While the DJI Go app is slightly different the video tutorial that DJI-Tim put out to calibrate the P3 is effectively the same.  You can find that Here.

Khsalum83@hotma Posted at 2016-3-17 01:19
It's worth ordering a set of prop guards. They at least make it possible for the craft to deflect of ...

Thanks for the info!

Khsalum83@hotma Posted at 2016-3-17 01:19
It's worth ordering a set of prop guards. They at least make it possible for the craft to deflect of ...

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

Lastly DJI-Patrick put together a compilation of "how to" videos for the Phantom 3 that should cover any questions you have about the Phantom 4.  Lots of people here will help with the other questions you can't find answers to.

The compilation thread can be found here.

Good Flying and Be Safe!