Well I guess it had to happen, the old P3P was savagely attacked by an aggressive tree. I swear the tree moved five meters just to savage the harmless P3. Now I wouldn't mind too much but I had spent the best part of a day or so working my way through the latest upgrades. Talk about value for money. Each update is like opening a present at Christmas. You hope it's something you want but it isn't, but you have to use it because it was given to you by a favourite relative. Anyhow how'd I do following the 'incident'?
Completely u/s shell with major fractures on one arm, around the battery compartment and inside same. Camera and gimbal completely detached BUT those drop pins worked! Funny that the drop was only 15 meters or so. Ayhow ordered a P4 Pro & sent P3P off for assessment.

So what did I learn?

• Look up from the screen occassionally.
• Don't forget trees spread out.
• My vocabulary got a good work out.
• Even a crash has a positive side - I'm still working on that.
• Pockets get a workout.
  

That's heart breaking...

Siambuddhas Gro Posted at 2017-9-22 00:52
That's heart breaking...

a dent to my ego and pocket {:4_142:} mind you, I did a pretty good job on it.

sky wombat Posted at 2017-9-22 01:14
a dent to my ego and pocket {:4_142:} mind you, I did a pretty good job on it.

Aloha wombat,

     Sorry to hear about the crash.  The skin is a real education to replace but it is doable and only if you have a reasonable expectation the components still work.  I wonder if they even sell the skin anymore?

     At least the P4 Pro will give you plenty of fun as a consolation.  Wait til you try Tripod with Narrow Sensing.  That is a blast.  Again sorry to hear about the crash.

Aloha and Drone On!

sky wombat Posted at 2017-9-22 01:14
a dent to my ego and pocket {:4_142:} mind you, I did a pretty good job on it.

That'll buff right out!

Actually it looks like if you can find a replacement shell and do that work yourself, it wouldn't be all that expensive.  It looks salvageable.  Depends on whether any other minor damage is found.  Not sure what DJI would charge.

Cetacean Posted at 2017-9-22 02:25
Aloha wombat,

     Sorry to hear about the crash.  The skin is a real education to replace but it is doable and only if you have a reasonable expectation the components still work.  I wonder if they even sell the skin anymore?

thanks Cetacean. In the meantime I have dusted of an old kite. No update problems there

endotherm Posted at 2017-9-22 02:29
That'll buff right out!

Actually it looks like if you can find a replacement shell and do that work yourself, it wouldn't be all that expensive.  It looks salvageable.  Depends on whether any other minor damage is found.  Not sure what DJI would charge.

Yeah endotherm i have sent the craft off for an assessment ($55). Depending on outcome i will know which way to go.
According to the universal shop (eBay) shells are still available (I knew I should have bought one & had it hydro-dipped). Main problem is that when camera was ripped off all the wires were stripped out. Mind you with time and effort probably get there.
Ah the joys of flying.

sky wombat Posted at 2017-9-22 02:44
thanks Cetacean. In the meantime I have dusted of an old kite. No update problems there

Aloha wombat,

     Nothing like the old tried and true technology!  I actually saw a real nice, but old, photo (and I think a video to) shot from a kite last week.  The captions said "Shot from a Kite".  The camera was apparently new (for its time) and had image stabilization (maybe even a primitive gimbal).  So much easier today!

Aloha and Drone On!

sky wombat Posted at 2017-9-22 02:52
Yeah endotherm i have sent the craft off for an assessment ($55). Depending on outcome i will know which way to go.
According to the universal shop (eBay) shells are still available (I knew I should have bought one & had it hydro-dipped). Main problem is that when camera was ripped off all the wires were stripped out. Mind you with time and effort probably get there.
Ah the joys of flying.

Sorry to hear about the crash,   the drone has been sent to DJI Repair Center, right? Hope everything goes smoothly, should you have any questions about it, please provide us with your case number, we'd like to check it for you.

Always hard saying goodbye to an old friend.  But, we all know, just like death and taxes, crashes are certain lol

Ouch, that's sad

Sorry for the loss. I lost my P3 a year ago. Every dark cloud has a silver lining. I'll bet as soon as you are in the air with your new P4, you'll forget about the crash and the P3 completely.

sky wombat Posted at 2017-9-22 02:52
Yeah endotherm i have sent the craft off for an assessment ($55). Depending on outcome i will know which way to go.
According to the universal shop (eBay) shells are still available (I knew I should have bought one & had it hydro-dipped). Main problem is that when camera was ripped off all the wires were stripped out. Mind you with time and effort probably get there.
Ah the joys of flying.

Sorry for your loss.....I'll bet it just made your heart sink when it hit the ground.

Nah dah! P4 Pro turned up today so now a matter of putting it all together and finding out it's different from the P4P.

So had a call from the assessment team and first up it needs a new shell. Really? As endotherm suggested it should buff out
I'd do the shell replacement but waiting to see what else 'rattles'.

Oh well guess I had better go read the manual for P4.

I was actually wishing mine would have nailed the trees that are in front of my pond, instead it flew over them like it knew they were there so it could nose dive straight into the flooded pond....

ntxbowhunter13 Posted at 2017-9-29 05:52
I was actually wishing mine would have nailed the trees that are in front of my pond, instead it flew over them like it knew they were there so it could nose dive straight into the flooded pond....

Gee you did more damage than mine and my P3P fell from 150 feet (luckily a tree broke its fall though}.

  Sorry that you crashed friend.  I just had my first crash this weekend, but with minimal damage.  Broke the prop guards that I had installed to protect the props, which also broke (one did anyway) but for the most part, I was pretty lucky for a 40 foot drop.   The body is separated in one spot but I think I can repair that.

  And yes, it was the trees fault.  A beautiful 50 foot red Maple.   But evil in it's own way!  

OK, continuing the never ending story.
DJI got back to me and have assessed the P3P as having suffered water damage. Now that would be OK except we haven't had any rain for eight weeks until two days ago. So am slightly perplexed as to whether the apprentice repairer was let loose or whether another P3P slipped in. Oh yeah, the estimated repair cost is greater than the initial purchase price
So am now considering the P3 standard or Advanced otherwise I have to get rid of the batteries etc etc. Anybody out there have a P3P and the Standard or Advanced & how do they compare. In the meantime I am on the steep learning curve with my P4P.

ouch!   i found that trees are actually very nice and misunderstood, they just wanna hug your drone..  LOL

  i have gotten my mavic pro up in awkward places before too, luckily i had no major tree collisions yet with my mavic, though i come extremely close several times with tree, hills, bushes and even power lines a few times i gotten my mavic caught in such a tight place that it was surrounded by limbs and was on edge of a river.... like how did that happen, i was like... POWWWAAA switched sport mode on and went for it and somehow missed the limb was in my way barely...

Ouch... No fun at all.  May your next drone take you higher and further.

Ouch!!  Sorry about the crash.  I crashed a friend of mines P3S onto the roof of my house.  Broke a blade and separated the camera (wires and all) from the mounting.  Sent it to DJI.  Cost me $197.00 and 3 weeks.  I actually think they sent a replacement instead of the same drone.  

sky wombat Posted at 2017-9-22 02:44
thanks Cetacean. In the meantime I have dusted of an old kite. No update problems there

Funny that you mention dusting off an old kite--I have been doing a major house-cleaning and when I got to the back of one of the closets there were couple of old kites that I had purchased years ago for photography. I had just gotten to the point of building a cradle for one of the kites when the DJI Phantom hit the market. They had me hooked--and still do despite fly-aways," hard landings", a gimbal  in my P2 that went spastic all of a sudden and caused a crash into a frozen salt marsh..........

I assume that when a unit goes into DJI's repair facility, they have a diagnostic program that they use plugged into the USB port on the drone. I'm sure they don't want to fiddle around testing individual components. It also appears that from model to model there now are fewer and fewer individual components. No longer are there four separate ESCs for each of the engines--they are now all on the main board, and can't be swapped out.. Take it from the voice of experience that it doesn't take too many grains of sand sucked into one of the motors to burn out an ESC-- or clipping a tree with one of the props. Too bad also that each major upgrade means a different model battery--Although having several chargers isn't all that bad.

I had a similar run in with a tree back on 4 Sep, my P4P did not fair well at all either...thankfully I had care refresh so I got a new lease with a new P4P, and I was left learning a few lessons too.
Good luck in your future endeavors with flight ops

Here's one I prepared earlier. Not the crash that wiped out the P3P but a practice

Yes, I'd say good time to upgrade to P4 Advanced. Keep a lookout on Black Friday.

May I suggest a chainsaw?  Works wonders on the tree problem.   And btw, if you have the choice, choose the Advanced over the Standard.  As you are used to the Pro, the Advanced will provide very similar performance.  You will feel quite restricted by the Standard in comparison.

Well I solved my problem by purchasing a P4P (it's interesting). Then I discovered that all my P3P gear won't work on the 4 so thought I had better get a P3A as well (not sure the treasurer in chief has woken up yet). Finally purchased a shell for $49 and started work to see if I could put the P3P stuff into the new shell and make it work. Hmm going to be a bit of a challenge though. If it works I'll com on line and brag. If shell transfer doesn't work I'll extol the advantages of the new buys.

sky wombat Posted at 2017-11-11 04:48
Well I solved my problem by purchasing a P4P (it's interesting). Then I discovered that all my P3P gear won't work on the 4 so thought I had better get a P3A as well (not sure the treasurer in chief has woken up yet). Finally purchased a shell for $49 and started work to see if I could put the P3P stuff into the new shell and make it work. Hmm going to be a bit of a challenge though. If it works I'll com on line and brag. If shell transfer doesn't work I'll extol the advantages of the new buys.

Good luck on your project!!