Honestly, my obsession with how cool DJI drones are started when i saw an ad for a dji spark last year, and being a novice quadcopter pilot who had never invested into something that big, I looked into it and realised how cool it really was, and that was the first dji product i had ever bought, and my intrest for them and aerial photography has skyrocketed ever since. However, I have noticed while the camera on the spark is good, its not perfect and the gimbal has some limitations. The Phantom 4 obsidian has been my dream drone, and I want to hear from phantom pilots if I should upgrade to that. While i was going to upgrade to the mavic air, my brother got it recently and we usually dont like to have the same things, so thats out of the question. The phantom 4 seems to have a perfect camera, 20mp stills, and a long flight time and range. The only slight concern that i have is its massive size, and ive read horror stories that people are usually scared of them due to suspicion of "government spy drones". Other than that, however, it seems like an amazing top notch dji drone for consumer use. So, from your advice, should I get the phantom 4, or should I stick to the spark?

Hi there, we really admire you being interested in DJI Product. We can wait for the best recommendation or advice from an experienced user of the being said aircraft. Best Regards!

The P4 is an excellent drone for sure.

is the price a factor?

Aloha MOS,

     Yes, a Phantom 4 Series aircraft is going to be a good investment, but what will eventually be available?  After the original P4 was discontinued, the next of the P4 Series to be discontinued (but still supported) was the P4 Pro Obsidian.  I sincerely doubt you will be able to get one unless it is refurbished or purchased from a Third Party Vender.  However, the only difference between the Obsidian and the P4 Pro White is the color.  If you require the color, you can get a P4 Pro painted to the Obsidian color by yourself or a professional painter.

     After the Obsidian, the P4 Pro White was discontinued and now only the P4 Pro V2 and P4 Advanced are theoretically still viable products for purchase from DJI.  Once the problems DJI uncovered are resolved and manufacturing and sales resume, the P4 Pro V2 and P4 Advanced should go on sale again.  The P4 Pro V2 is like the P4 Pro on steroids for transmissions.  The camera is basically the same, but the firmware will upgrade the use characteristics as DJI has done with their other products.

     Right now (as in today - I just checked) you may be able to buy a P4 Pro (white) version 1 refurbished.  But it may not be available tomorrow or two days from now.  This is the Phantom you were raving about.

     I have a P4 Pro version 1 and it is an amazing bird as you have discovered.  But then I have a P3 Pro and P4 (original) and they both have amazing performance qualities.  I will probably never sell them, but I may give them to someone special for special use like research and documentation.

     Finally, the support equipment is what will be most influential factor in your use experience.  If you buy or get a relatively new tablet that is good for gaming, you will have a great experience.  But if you buy a cheap, slow tablet that has a difficult time with games, you may learn to hate your Phantom.

     This is because the Phantom is a flying computer network.  There are at least three computers involved, the aircraft flight computer, the remote control computer and the tablet computer.  In order to fly properly, all three computers in the network have to be communicating properly together in the network.

     Downloading and editing videos from the P4 Pro's amazing camera will require a decent gaming PC.  If you do not have one, editing will frustrate you.  To use the DJI Assistant 2 for updates and calibrations will require a good computer to.  So, there is a lot that goes into the fun experience of flying DJI products that you need to think about.

Aloha and Drone On!

Te 4 is a brilliant aircraft, and if you can get one refurbished, you will not be disappointed.

snowbird pilot Posted at 2-26 16:41
is the price a factor?

actually, yeah, it kinda is at the moment bc im on a budget, maybe i should save up for it?

Plenty of great deals out there so be sure to find one.

If you plan on buying a used one I would only do it in person and not online. You want to meet the person face to face and have them fly the bird in front of you while you look over heir shoulder at the controller. Have them record some footage and then use a laptop to review the video to make sure that the camera works properly. If the seller is honest he will not have an issue doing any of this. If he says he cant or wont I would move onto the next seller.

Good luck

Hurley1718 Posted at 2-28 19:34
If you plan on buying a used one I would only do it in person and not online. You want to meet the person face to face and have them fly the bird in front of you while you look over heir shoulder at the controller. Have them record some footage and then use a laptop to review the video to make sure that the camera works properly. If the seller is honest he will not have an issue doing any of this. If he says he cant or wont I would move onto the next seller.

Good luck

youre right, i never thought of that. it must be pretty easy to scam someone if you just ship it because you wouldnt be able to see internal damages that it might have.

ManOfSand Posted at 3-1 08:50
youre right, i never thought of that. it must be pretty easy to scam someone if you just ship it because you wouldnt be able to see internal damages that it might have.

Yes indeed. I bought my previous P4P from craigslist and followed the steps I outlined for you. It worked out great. Good luck on your search for you next drone.

Well MoS if you're on a budget and already have a Spark, and you don't have a real need, then hang on and save the money. The Phantom line hasn't had any real movement for a while so maybe something around the corner although to be fair knowing DJI it'll be around the corner, down the street, across the line and keep heading west..
Cetacean has provided a good comment so I suspect realistically you are looking at refurbs etc.
As with most things it depends what you want to do with the product. I prefer the Phantom line but if you want convenience then go Mavic (don't worry about your brother just hydro dip yours).
Contrary to my behaviour I'd suggest you hang off for a bit and monitor the forum.

Phantom 5, where are you? Haha



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