Hello all.
I'm looking to purchase a Phantom for a trip to Africa. I've never owned a drone and would like some advise.

I'm tempted by the P4 just because it's the latest and greatest but, here in the UK it's still well over £1000 and I wonder if it's too premium for a novice who is likely to crash it! When I add the accessories, it's going to be quite an investment.

I want the best video quality, so assume 4K should be my choice. Does that mean a P3 4K could be an option? I see that the P3 4K doesn't have the Lightbridge - which I assume limits the range at which I can view live video - which seems like a problem?

What would you recommend? I'd appreciate your comments - and comment in general regarding reliability etc. I'm concerned by some of the comments on the forum regarding the flying away of drones!!!

Thanks

Forget the P3-4K.
It has two significant points against it.
Wifi instead of the much, much better Lightbridge for control and a lowly 480p live view rather than the 720p live view all other P3s enjoy.
I would suggest that you don't assume you need 4K video although plenty of people are sucked in by the whole bigger (number) is better thing.
Look into the real differences before you jump.
Look at the P3 Advanced  .. or the Pro if you really need 4K video.
They offer almost all that you'd get with with the P4 for much less dollars.
Don't worry about flyaway drones.  It's easy to get a false impression reading here.
The Lightbridge equipped P3s have remarkably few incidents that could be called flyaways.
Last recommendation is that you get to know your drone well before you take it away overseas.

Aloha mph,

     So far you have taken the right approach as far as I can tell.  You are asking the right questions.  The second part is what is your observation hemisphere and do you think it will change over time.  Very few Phantom operators fly farther than the range of a Phantom 3 4K.  The 4K is superior to the Phantom 2 Vision+ in all ways and so many people still love their P2s.  If you want to extend the range of your 4K after you get back and do not want to spend the money for the cost of a new P4 or P3, you can get a range extender that will get you out there almost as far as a P3P.

     As for the comments of Forum users, the nature of this Forum is that if you have a problem, ask for an answer on the Forum.  Therefore, there will be many complaints about problems with Phantoms.  You see very few posts about how the operator loves his Phantom and its performance - but they are there!  In reality, very few Phantom operators have problems.  Sure, it can always happen to you, but what are the odds.  That is why you are hedging your bet by buying an entry level Phantom with a very good camera.

     Hope this helps!

Aloha and Drone On!

Great questions but not easily answered (even though some good advice has already been given) so I'm going to take the easy way out and point to things we've already written. First, here is a quick 4 question flow chart to figure out which Phantom is best, according to us, for you.
Alternatively, we've compared the P3 to the P4 in this article although we've left out the standard (and the 4k) as we don't think they're up to par for that comparison. I suggest you go through the article to compare all features and then also read the linked article (forget about the phantom 4) to see why we think the P3P is a great alternative, depending on your circumstances.

Regardless of what you buy, have a great time flying and don't forget to share the vids of your trip here.

Really depends on your budget and what you want to use it for.
Now if you want to go all out, The Inspire 1 v2.0 is on sale.
If you want to insure you have object avoidance and tracking then the P4 is a solid choice.

If you are just starting out and want to insure you can fly and not break your budget, the P3 Adv/Pro are a very solid direction.

http://store.dji.com/?gclid=CMu30dyhjM0CFQUMaQodpR8PKw

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-6-3 06:19
Forget the P3-4K.
It has two significant points against it.
Wifi instead of the much, much better Li ...

Going by the dji site all the Phantoms have 720p live view. I have the P3S and looked it up right after reading your post. But I would agree with all else you said. You know what they say about "if I knew then what I know now" saying. I would had spent the extra $300. for the P3A, but that's history now.

Are you prepared for 4k? Do you have a 4k computer that can process a 4k video? Do you have a powerful 1080p computer that will handle a 4k video? Do you have any device that you can watch a 4k video in 4k? If not, the only reason I see that you will need a 4k camera is to crop in post production and still retain some good quality resolution. These are other considerations to look at when it comes time to purchase.

wmcvey Posted at 2016-6-4 04:47
Going by the dji site all the Phantoms have 720p live view. I have the P3S and looked it up right  ...

Look again. All except the P3-4K
Quote from DJI.com P3-4K specs
Live View Quality        480P @ 30fps (depending on conditions and mobile device)

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-6-3 16:55
Look again. All except the P3-4K
Quote from DJI.com P3-4K specs
Live View Quality        480P @ 30f ...

I stand corrected, I never even looked up the P3-4K model. Since the standard is the least expensive model and it has 720p live view, it would seemed logical that the 4K unit that cost much more would not have any specs that were lower.

from one novice to another,
go with a P3 Advanced. Best bang for your buck right now. $600 US. not sure what that would be for you, 400?.
You won't need 4k let alone 2.7k.
Video is awesome in 1080 and it has Lightbridge.
Don't get the wifi version