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P4 first impression.. kind of disappointed
1104 18 2016-3-17
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kbjyin
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Got my P4 yesterday and went through all the steps upgrading the firmware to the latest version (Both Aircraft and RC) , my initial impression is kind of disappointed..

My Initial reason for buying a P4 is mainly for 3 things: better camera, longer battery life and a faster sport mode, so it could fly further and go the destination quicker.  Object avoidance is a nice to have but I don’t think the and tap fly, track me mode is that reliable and user-friendly as yet and I would rather fly with a control stick.
  
  
My initial testing was as follow.

  
1.     Battery life:
My  P4 has a similar battery life as my P3A if not worst..  it doesn’t goes anything near as 28 mins… My P3A can fly close to 20 mins and 2 of my flight on my P4 today is more like 18 mins… So I really don’t any improvement in real world in term of battery life …  

  
2.     Speed:
In   During my testing today, the speed of sport mode and ATT mode are the same.. Not 16M/s in atti mode and 20m/s in sport mode. the fastest speed in average is about 18m/s in no wind condition. It seems to me the battery can’t cope with flying at high speed and a kind of throttling it back.

  
3.     Camera quality :
the image does looks brighter and sharper at day time, but the noise level seem worst when recording at night then my P3A…   For me, the key part I want my P3A camera to improves is night shooting quality in which my P4 shows no improvement at all.

  
So in short,  I see no battery improvement in real life, the speed increase is a mere 1-2m/s which is not that noticeable and the camera improvement is only subtle during day time and kind of worst during night time ..

  
I really hope these can be improves with a new firmware release ..  
  

2016-3-17
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anthonytori
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How are you cycling your batteries? Are you charging to 100% and draining to 50% for the first 10 charges? I was reading that this is good to do for the battery. If someone else can confirm this I'd appreciate it. Not sure if that's the reason your battery is not lasting as long?
2016-3-17
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R&L Aerial
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As far as battery life you can't really judge till there broke in, as far as speed I'm not getting what they claim but I just got it and it's windy out. I really like the camera but for low light it won't be any better than the p3 because of the sensor size. Over all I'm impressed
2016-3-17
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kbjyin
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anthonytori Posted at 2016-3-18 01:14
How are you cycling your batteries? Are you charging to 100% and draining to 50% for the first 10 ch ...

I have only cycle my battery twice, I hope that's because my battery has not run it yet..  
2016-3-17
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kbjyin
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R&L Aerial  Posted at 2016-3-18 01:17
As far as battery life you can't really judge till there broke in, as far as speed I'm not getting w ...

I hope it's because my battery has not run it yet.. But my understanding is Lipo battery does not need to run in?? .. and I never encounter this on P3 battery and it's just good on the first charging cylce out of the box..
2016-3-17
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R&L Aerial
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kbjyin@gmail.co Posted at 2016-3-17 13:33
I hope it's because my battery has not run it yet.. But my understanding is Lipo battery does not ...

Lithium polymer batteries that are broke in properly have a much longer life span, they are less likely to swell up and on average the hold a higher voltage per cell, higher volt per cell means you can fly longer.
2016-3-17
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Ulysse
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"During my testing today, the speed of sport mode and ATT mode are the same.. Not 16M/s in atti mode and 20m/s in sport mode. the fastest speed in average is about 18m/s in no wind condition. It seems to me the battery can’t cope with flying at high speed and a kind of throttling it back. "

Maybe you can try with gain at 120% ? (I don't know, it is just a suggestion)
2016-3-17
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anthonytori
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R&L Aerial  Posted at 2016-3-17 13:44
Lithium polymer batteries that are broke in properly have a much longer life span, they are less l ...

When you say break in do you mean running from 100% - 50% for 10 charges?
2016-3-17
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solsystem7
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anthonytori Posted at 2016-3-17 13:11
When you say break in do you mean running from 100% - 50% for 10 charges?

Yes, after charging, you fly the battery down to 50% and do this for 10 times. Personally, I have done this with other Lipos and noticed the voltage decreases more slowly which translates into increased flight time.
2016-3-17
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anthonytori
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solsystem7@gmai Posted at 2016-3-17 15:21
Yes, after charging, you fly the battery down to 50% and do this for 10 times. Personally, I have  ...

Great, thanks for clarifying. It's such a tease when you only have one battery and have to do this 10 times in a row.
2016-3-17
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icsrz
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I race RC cars. And as a general rule. You don't want to deplete your Lipo batteries all the way down. You want to leave at least 20-30%. Best result is charging your battery full and running it asap. I wish DJI will supply us with a resolution to charge on site. Specially if you are fast charging and discharging. And If you will be storing your batts for at least a week without use leave them at 70% charge (2 to 3 lines).
2016-3-17
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nigelw
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icsrz Posted at 2016-3-17 20:24
I wish DJI will supply us with a resolution to charge on site.

Why can't you charge on site with an inverter & car battery?
2016-3-17
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nigelw
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Sounds like a lot of money for not much improvement for your particular circumstances.







2016-3-17
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icsrz
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nigelw Posted at 2016-3-17 14:04
Why can't you charge on site with an inverter & car battery?

I'm thinking more of those portable chargers. Try carrying a whole car battery in the middle of nowhere.
2016-3-17
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nigelw
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icsrz Posted at 2016-3-17 21:11
I'm thinking more of those portable chargers. Try carrying a whole car battery in the middle of no ...

You could use a motorcycle battery.  Or an uninterruptible power supply for computers (heavy again).  Whatever you use will get heavier with increased capacity as they all tend to have lead-acid batteries in.
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nickmedici
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kbjyin@gmail.co Posted at 2016-3-18 01:33
I hope it's because my battery has not run it yet.. But my understanding is Lipo battery does not ...

I've already noticed a big difference in battery life the more the battery gets cycled. Should keep increasing in time.
2016-3-17
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DJI-Dave
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Yes breaking them in and cycling then will make a big difference.

Dave
2016-3-17
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dacofty
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I think this review will pretty much be consistent.  I dont think the battery will come close to 28 minutes.  
2016-3-17
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QuadBart
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kbjyin@gmail.co Posted at 2016-3-17 11:33
I hope it's because my battery has not run it yet.. But my understanding is Lipo battery does not ...

I've run lipo for years starting out in racing R/C cars.  My some 8 year experience says, there is NO magic.   Never "deep" cycled, never did any of the mumbo-jumbo  and my batteries ran and run great.   

Don't store batteries fully charged (I leave mine at ~25%) , never run them till they are completely dead, use a quality charger charger (I only use the DJI charger), don't leave them in your car when its really hot or way  below freezing.   If not using them for some time, like several weeks, makes sure they have at least a 50% charge, store them in a cool dry place and in a good container (I store them in an ammo can)...

I have noticed that some of my packs did run better after a few cycles.  Nothing like getting another 5+ minutes out of them.  More like a minute or less.

I'm no recommending going against DJI's battery care recommendations, but theres no magic, cycling your batteries or NOT does not cause swollen cells, doesn't make them last many minutes longer,  doesn't hold a higher voltage...
  
2016-3-17
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