Like many of you, I bought the Phantom 3 Pro just a couple months back figuring that this was a most amazing thing and lightyears ahead of the pack.. And it was! For a couple months... Imagine my surprise to see the new Phantom 4 introduced now with even more amazing features! Makes my P3-pro kinda obsolete... after 3-4 months.. Thanks a lot DJI Marketing team. At least Apple waits a year to tell us they have something good to replace the junk we bought last year. Very disillusioned with DJI at this point. Great stuff for sure. Technically wonderful.. But why even bother rushing to buy something that's going to be obsolete in a few months?

A little bit dramatic maybe..

your pro is still the SAME PRO you bought.
It did not suddenly no longer do what you bought I to do....

does not the amazing Lightbridge STILL work .

P4 intro March 2016
The p3pro was intro ----MARCH 2015
The P2V+ was in 2014

did you NOT enjoy it and have fun for many months now?

I think , like Apple , a track record was/is there of pattern of new releases.

Get your P3 and just go fly and have fun NOTHING is changed with your purchase. It is what YOU bought.
It is worth the price paid then and now.

all BRAND  new tech ,moves faster than old saturated markets.
its the nature of the technology we are witnessing / helping  grow...

good luck and have fun flying!

how is the P3P obsolete,  I bet if you go and tighten the props turn it on, you will find that it still flies and takes wonderful video/pics.  I bet you could even fly it without hitting something when flying forward.  It more than likely can even hold its own against the flying pillow
What DJI did was hook those who cant do without a tech update.  They could have added antenna to the camera and people would be going nuts.  Why do you think Apple is multibillion dollar company, they learned to add one thing and call it an S

It's always tempting to feel anxious about the "upgrade treadmill". Never buying something because you're afraid that you'll want the next one that's due out soon. Only problem with that is that you run the risk of never buying (and subsequently enjoying) anything. I too bought the P3P about 3 months ago. I had a budget, I had a spec in mind and the P3P met both. And I love it.

Is the P4 better? Well, that's subjective. Maybe, maybe not. It's newer and has features the P3 doesn't, but then again, so does the Inspire. As other posters have pointed out, your P3 is still the awesome machine you were excited about buying and flying for the first time. By the time you're ready and able to upgrade, all the early adopters will have worked out the P4's bugs, DJI will have released firmware updates to address the teething problems and accessories will be available for it.

Until then, fly happy mon ami!

As long as you didnt pay more than $999 for it I wouldnt worry yourself.

I bought my P3A on Black Friday in 2015 and at that time thought I got a great deal at $899 but then a month later or so I seen that prices had dropped and I could have gotten the P3P for the same price. I even thought about returning mine to Amazon and getting the Pro but then I thought that my P3A does everything I want and it has no issues so why would I want to upgrade possibly to a problem child?

Unless you have tons of money to spare, you will never keep up with the latest and greatest.

It depends what features you think are must have on the P4.  Collision detection? You could improve your flying skills and not need it at all.  The collision detection is a bit limiting, but works in a basic way (ahead only and narrow field of vision.  Tracking someone - again a bit limiting (very clever) but with good flying skills you can perform this function as well.  The sport mode might be of use if that's your thing.  Improved battery life by about 4 or 5 mins - useful.  There maybe other functions I've missed?

So do these functions make the P3P obsolete?  No.

the only difference is , that the p4 has the obstacle avoidance 3 minutes more of flight time and more speed (more speed  lees flight time ) , after that you have all you need in the p3 pro
so enjoy it

The p4 has no major improvements to a competent flyer. As I see it they are for newbies.  Also as yet we have to see what teething problems the p4 has once the beta testers have had them a while rotfwl;)

The p3p will be around for many years and be far from obsolete... It's a fantastic drone in its own right.

Sounds like your main concern is you no longer have the "latest and greatest" and not that there is anything more the P4 will do for you...   With that attitude you will never be happy with what you have, always looking for what's better...   
Bought my Advanced a month or two ago.  Happy with it, but I do like the a couple new features the 4 offers and will buy one later this year.  Just par for the course in the world of "tech"...

thumb Posted at 2016-3-3 00:30
I bought my P3A on Black Friday in 2015 and at that time thought I got a great deal at $899 but then ...

I think this explains the feeling most people get with any product. For some, it may be cars, clothes, films, gossip, housing, business, games, consoles, PC's, phones, furniture, etc. it's possible we all have experienced this emotion with something at some stage (perhaps not drones though).

I.e. I drive a '95 hilux and own an old Samsung S3 phone.., yet I want the best drone money can buy.
Some may consider me a fool for my drone purchases, yet that person has bought every iPhone model since iPhone 2 was released.., and I may also judge that person subconsciously.

I think it's called selective saving.

The frustration is coming from the way companies market products, up selling, having "special anniversary" deals and further price drops.., only to reveal a newer model weeks later.
For most, this is seen as intentionally being manipulative and greedy with little respect for customers.

I have owned my P3P for almost 1 year, and have flown it enough to eventually feel like upgrading. However if I had recently purchased my P3P, only to find I could have waited a month.., and saved up a few hundred.., to aquire a better model (regardless of how much better it is).., I'd feel cheated.

A few hundred dollars difference over the lifetime of the drone is not an issue really, if you get a few cool new features.
I feel for those who recently purchased a P3.

For what it is worth, i bought the P2V+ V3.0 Dec 31, 2014 and paid top dollar for it, no sales on at the time, 3-4 mo. later the P3 came out...WHATEVER!!.
My P2 has delivered everything i bought it for and no regrets and still does everything i bought it for so definitely not obsolete for my needs,
Sure i would have liked an upgrade path to the P3, then P4..but having seen the previous iterations of the Phantom i knew that whatever i bought would be what it was till the day i recycle it...
Enjoy what you have, have fun with it....and know this, next spring or sooner you will see a P4 "X" or P5 etc...they will continue to evolve....just at TV's, cell phones, computers and anything pretty much else does for that matter.....

I won't be upgrading from the P3P until they improve the onboard camera. I really don't care about the other stuff it brings. The follow/collision avoidance functionality certainly isn't worth an additional $400 (to me at least). Hopefully I won't be eating my words on that one when I slam my drone into a lighthouse lol.

tm0054 Posted at 2016-3-3 07:36
I won't be upgrading from the P3P until they improve the onboard camera. I really don't care about t ...

If they released collision avoidance landing gears for the P3.., I'd buy it for $400.
Over 1 year of flying.., $400/52= cheap insurance. Even better if you keep it for longer.

Kit Walker Posted at 2016-3-3 08:35
If they released collision avoidance landing gears for the P3.., I'd buy it for $400.
Over 1 year  ...

And the landing gear plugs into what.....

It is not all there is to collision avoidance, you need a powerful image processing system to process the information, and it is not fitted to the P3.

I bought my P3P 2 weeks ago!!! Yes only 2 weeks ago. I had been looking at them for a good while trying to decide if it was a right time for me. Originally I said I wanted a drone when it could do the exact thing I would like one for (bear with me) My best mate who lives 35 miles from me just left an hour ago. He left his scarf by mistake..... Now I want a drone that I could throw that in the cargo area or hook it on etc and punch in his address and send it off to land in his back garden. It would need to climb about 2000ft above sea level to avoid terrain but sure it could just coast 200ft above the highest obstacle to be out of each of trees and masts and clear of airspace etc.  Then he takes of the scarf and it comes back.... NOW THATS A DRONE!.

Unfortunately I think thats maybe a few years away yet. As for the P4 they announced 2 weeks after buying my P3P! Meh.... who cares... I spent a lot of time looking for what I want now and it's still that machine. I have my hard case. My 3 batteries. Prop guards and a load of light spares building up in stock in case of accidents. I love flying it... I am having so much fun... All the locals in the village park and coming over to chat to me and enquiring about this new fangled modern toy. Its opening up the community a bit more for me... I took a few pics of a guys house the other day and emailed them to him right there and then from my iPhone.

If you can't do without the latest tech toy then really your never going to me happy...... Fly it.... Enjoy it... Live it.....

Happy P3P Pilot
Dave

p.s. I also paid £730 for my Phantom 3 Pro brand new from an office import trader... At that price how can I not be happy!

Bhujang Posted at 2016-3-2 11:10
The p4 has no major improvements to a competent flyer. As I see it they are for newbies.  Also as ye ...

The key words here are "competent flyer".  Not all of us are.  Some of us are getting on in age, etc.  You are insisting that we all be ace pilots.  All of us don't have the same flying conditions, the same eye sight, etc.

Would I have a P4?  You betcha.  I may just bite that bullet in the future, but I may also wait to see what the P5 will be in a year.  I love my P3A, but I feel the FAA is going to seriously curtail flying without object avoidance and other features at some point.  I just hope I'm around to enjoy all of it for awhile.  I'm in great shape for my age, but I'm nothing like I was even 20 years ago.  I can still pass a flight physical with no problem, and I've got lots of time with a yoke in my hand, but things have changed a lot.  Therefore, I no longer do it, even when I've got a spare buck in my pocket.

I personally have decided on a 2 year upgrade cycle on my drones. Like you I bought the p2 vision+ not too long before the p3 was announced.. I ended up buying the p3p the first day it was available for preorder and sold my p2. I didn't regret it as I was excited about the new features and got at least most of my money back. From now on for me.. 2 years or more before I purchase a new bird.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-3 09:34
And the landing gear plugs into what.....

It is not all there is to collision avoidance, you need ...

Hi Geebax...
That was a hypothetical "if".
I'm sure DJI won't bother releasing any P4 tech to the older models.
Have a great day!

toddf.perkins@g Posted at 2016-3-3 10:25
I personally have decided on a 2 year upgrade cycle on my drones. Like you I bought the p2 vision+ n ...

I was hoping for a Phantom with Lightbridge 2 (1080p live feed).
Perhaps I will wait also...

I do believe DJI is rushing devices to the market because of competition… can’t hardly blame them. But by doing this they may be tarnishing their reputation with faulty firmware and poor customer service because of being overwhelmed with warranty repairs.

You would hope that they not introduce new products without  perfecting those that they have. All we can hope for now is they continue support and improvement of their existing products. If their customer service is any indication…we will be deserted I’m afraid.

Butch

daviskw2004 Posted at 2016-3-3 12:04
I do believe DJI is rushing devices to the market because of competition… can’t hardly blame them. ...

I seriously doubt there was any 'rushing' going on. The new systems on the P4 would have been in development two years or more ago, they are not a 5 minute job. They have still beaten all the others to the market anyway.

As for 'overwhelmed by warranty repairs', those issues are being handled by staff in countries other than China, and it would never impact on their development division.

Geebax Posted at 2016-3-2 19:22
I seriously doubt there was any 'rushing' going on. The new systems on the P4 would have been in d ...

"As for 'overwhelmed by warranty repairs', those issues are being handled by staff in countries other than China, and it would never impact on their development division."
Maybe it should

Butch

Obsolete now, I'll take it off your hands if you're just wanting to rid yourself of old technology

Yup.  That's how life works in the tech industry.

Your upgrade path is SELL your P#.  BUY a P4 if you need those features.

Just like cars, it's good to drive a manual/ stick shift over an automatic to be in complete control and have a more engaging driving experience.

Driving an automatic transmission car makes you lazy, much like owning a Phantom 4.