Hi, I'm looking to hopefully become a new pilot of a DJI Phantom 4 drone but only if it promises not to crap out on me.

I purchased a Parrot Bebop 2 drone back in May 2016 and since then, it has been working wonderfully, despite the rather crappy live stream quality and the random disconnects when flying too far or too high. I use a wireless range extender, along with a battery pack, to send it out further but only to around 600-700 metres or so. There's always signs of wifi interference and random disconnections.

Just a week ago, my Bebop 2 drone experienced a crash from a altitude of around 20-25 metres. I believe the battery blew as there were odd sounds of the motors slowing down and then a short but loud bang, resulting in a sudden drop. It landed directly onto the roof of my next door neighbour's shed. Luckilly he was out at the time, and I managed to climb out to it and retrieve the drone. Battery was snapped out of its case, and the drone was upside down. It's now unable to stay connected to wifi and it's casing around the camera needs to be replaced.

I think the battery blew because I used it shortly after it had been charged so the temperature for the battery may have been a little hot. Should have waited a bit for it to cool down before using it for a flight.

So it will take a while for me to save up and pay for the repairs for the drone, send it into RMA, etc. Which is why I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to save up for a DJI Phantom 4.

I've watched many YouTube videos of the P4 in action, and I have to say that I've been a lot more impressed with it than with the Bebop 2. I like that the radio transmitter controller is a lot smaller than the Parrot Skycontroller and the streaming quality is 720p HD no matter the distance. I find it weird how the Skycontroller for the Bebop 2 has to have that rather big block-sized antenna at the back, and the P4 only has two antenna poles. And yet the P4 can fly higher and further out. I guess that you get higher quality with that much higher price tag.

Id like to know how stable in flight the Phantom 4 is, during 13 km/h wind. Can I trust the Phantom 4 to stay in the air and not have its battery blow up while its above a lake? Seeing that happen would break my little heart, honestly. I'd have saved up so much for all of my hard-earned money to be lost so quickly.

I think that once I do have the Phantom 4 in my possession, I will be more careful or have more caution with its flight batteries. Giving them time to cool down before each flight, and not putting them charge straight after flight. It helps that those flight batteries have cooling vents on the sides, I like that very much.

It seems that the Phantom 4 is the best performing drone to own so far.

Some reassurance about the Phantom 4's ability to stay in the air no matter how high or far I fly would be good.

The UK weather may put a stop to any flying at the moment. But mine has never let me down yet despite only owning it for just over a month. According to my data on Healthydrones i have flown with gust at 29mph.

I'm not sure of what it can handle but I was in some really gusty winds n the drone stayed in place really well, I let it hover and watched the winds try to push it, the engines rev'd n dropped to fight n hold it in place, I must say I was impressd. I haven't flown overlly far (500 feet high n about 1200 feet away), and only about 3 weeks exp on it, but its easy to get the hang of and I would recommend it to anyone who was thinking of buying a drone. I had looked at the bebop2 but I went for the P4 cuz of the camera diferences, and tho I never tried it I am glad I chose the P4. I had watched several reviews n vid before I made my dicission, prolly what pushed me to it

hope this helps Heebus

I moved on from a Parrot 2 to the Phantom 4 and the difference is spectacular. The stability of the video and how easy it is to fly are heads above the Parrot. I live in a mountainous coastline so I don't fly it far away but the range gives me security to fly with out stress. I have only had the thing two weeks but I can fly through narrow spots like a pro. For all the dollars I have spent in replacement parts to repair my Parrot I could have owned two phantoms.

The P4 is startlingly stable as long as you are calibrating and following logical good-sense rules.  The other night was the first time I noticed any drift in the hovering, but I have no doubt it was because I was flying in near dark and the VPS couldn't get a lock.  Overall, I have to say, it is surreal how steady this thing is.

That said, you ALWAYS want to be careful.  Just look at the flyaway and crash posts here in this forum.  The P4 is incredible, but like all technology there can be failures or issues.  It is just that when your computer fails, you reboot.  When the P4 fails, it crashes dramatically.  Life on the cutting edge.

Buy the P4, you won't regret it.

Thanks for the posts guys. I have hardly any doubt in my mind that the Phantom 4 will surpass the Bebop 2 in terms of flight stability, distance/range and having confidence when flying it. The one thing I hate with the Bebop 2 is the shoddy live stream quality, it looks very messy even when the drone is close by, it's never a clear smooth picture. Same goes for the recorded 1080p footage, not perfect, usually losing focus when flying at a high speed. I also hate how you have to purchase the big skycontroller separately in order to save money, and it doesn't even extend the drone's range in a correct manner. You need to be in a very open area with hardly any wifi devices in the area to fly up to 2km. I've only reached around 1.2 km and that was only because I was heading in a direction in a large park where there were no houses and buildings of any sort.

Most times I can only get the Bebop 2 to around 400-500 metres or so in distance in my neighbourhood, above those houses. I've seen YouTube videos of guys piloting the Phantom 4 over cities and around huge skyscrapers, close to 400 metres in the air, and at distances of at least 1.5 km. And the live stream on the iPad is always 720p HD.

Put two guys side by side. One holding the P4's controller and the other holding a Parrot Skycontroller. I'd honestly find it pretty laughable to see with the large size difference between the two controllers. If you've seen the Skycontroller, you'd know what I'm talking about, huge amplified 36 dbm antenna block on that thing. And a wireless range extender is just as good as the thing in extending wireless range, which is shocking. Why is the P4's controller so much smaller and yet able to provide the same if not more range for its drone? Suppose it comes down to using better and much newer technology.

The Bebop 2 guy has flown his Bebop 2 across his neighbourhood, or at least has tried to going about 500 m in distance and an altitude of 50 m, and is currently waiting for his drone to return to home because it's lost signal. Whereas, the Phantom 4 guy is there flying his drone 450 m in altitude and flying in large circles around his neighbourhood in sport mode, with almost zero to no lag on his iPad, connected to the P4's controller.

I'm fairly sure I'll be seeing a huge difference when it comes to flying the Phantom 4 in comparison to the Bebop 2, according to those many YouTube videos I've watched. It's the drone I should have bought in the beginning. At least that's how I feel about things so far. We'll see how my thoughts change once I've had a month with it.

I just have to add that the way DJI have designed the Phantom 4 in that to put the propellers on, you simply press them in and turn is a very good idea. So unbelievably easy to do in comparison to putting propellers onto the Bebop 2. I lost the small black coloured propeller mounting tool a long while back, it's used to put the propellers onto the Bebop 2, and in the previous weeks I've had to use the edges of my fingers to tighten the propellers in and it's very painful to do.

That and the fact that the Phantom 4 is able to provide a much smoother live stream on the iPad during flight is enough reasons to push me towards ditching the Bebop 2 for it. Though there are many more reasons for why I've decided to save up for the Phantom 4, of course.

Believe me, if you had a choice between either the Bebop 2 or the Phantom 4, and you went for the Phantom 4, you definitely made the right choice.

I am new to drones and I bought the phantom 4 as my first drone.  I was nervous at first because I'm used to flying model aircraft. This was so simple to fly I couldn't believe it.  I've had it for a couple of months now and have logged 81 flights with no problems at all.  I have tried all the flight modes and safety features out and all work great.  I only get about 1 1/2 miles of range due to trees but that's good enough for me.  My only complaint is when I drop down in a field behind trees I get video lag, but I think a Randell extender might solve some of my issues.  Hope this helps.