FantomDK
 lvl.4
Denmark
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Aburke, you break my heart with the stories of your crashes! 
I'm happy everything still works. And honestly, I would not bet that the warranty is over, even if you've crashed it. But it is a sensitive issue - just like Apple will know if your iPhone has been dunked in water - and if it does not work, thats like the reason (no warranty). But your main-board failing later is likely not caused by a tumble at some point. But honestly; if your Phantom works, I would guess it will likely keep working (just don't crash it so much, please!). DJI build-quality is very high in general. It is a solid machine - but there is bound to be some lemons.
You have probably heard me preach this before in this forum - but in my opinion it is a good idea to take baby-steps when going about learning this quadcopter-flying-thing. No need to rush it - and suffer the excruciating pain of having to send your Phantom away - maybe for months - to some repair-center that is overworked with damaged Phantoms, losing the best months of its life (where it is all new and "the best" - because lets face it - it won't be for long. I know for a fact that my Phantom 2 Vision+ is sitting in a corner like the toy in Toy Story that the kid does not want to play with anymore...).
Taking your first flights on your street with trees and houses is - in my book - highly risky. Go somewhere with room, nice open place, no other people to distract you etc. But even better, do what I did before getting my first Phantom; buy a small cheap training quadcopter that flies with the same principles as the Phantom - but does not have an expensive and fragile camera/gimbal attached to it. I got a Hubsan X4 and it is a lot of fun, and teaches you to fly without all the aids of the Phantom (no GPS-hold etc.). Being able to master the little drone and you will feel more confident (and not crash!!!) flying your Phantom. But each to his own  I can only offer suggestions and share my experience.
The thing is, flying a Phantom isn't difficult. But it is not as easy as the marketing might suggest either... I compare it to driving a car. Driving a car is easy! If you know how to drive a car! So you need to learn - and taking chances with a Phantom 3 is in my opinion a bit risky, unless a total write-off is completely without consequence to you.
There is also the Simulator, which could be somewhat useful - at least getting the basics down. But I liked learning on a small quadcopter that I crashed many many times (it held up pretty good). Knock on wood, I've not crashed my P2V+ or my P3, and I have flown the P3 50 times/10 hours or so already - and my P2V+ several times more than that. The key to that is also; not taking too many chances! Acknowledge that distance is VERY difficult to judge at distance. And so is speed! I do enjoy flying close to things to get some good footage. But I make sure I stand in a way so I have good overview and don't just "hope" it all goes well.
Good luck.
RE: Selling as spare parts. I doubt there will be business sense in that. Lets face it - the vast majority of parts that will be needed - because this is what is the most fragile and what people destroy most - is the camera/gimbal-assembly. You only have one of those. And the price should be $500-600 when they get them. Someone might pay more because of the shortage - but it still has to be way below the price of a new P3. I love the idea. Doubt there is real business sense in it. If I had to pay 50-70% of the price of a new just to get the camera, I would likely opt for a new one (and perhaps sell what was left as spare parts if that would make any sense). Just my 2 cents. |
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lvl.3
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I can only offer suggestions and share my experience.
First Officer
