So I've now owned my Phantom for 12 days and I'm at a point where I've grounded it and I am unwilling to fly it again and considering a return or selling out of concern for safety.
From day one I've had a number of problems:
-The charger I received was faulty, as well as a brand new extra battery I purchased had a faulty cell.
-I've learned the batteries can be a fire/explosive hazard and can become unusable if not used, charged and stored in very specific conditions.
-I loose connection with the FC40 camera if I travel more than 100 feet, the app force-closes and I spend the rest of my flights hovering while I try to reconnect the camera but fail to do so.
-The camera splits clips into three minute segments.
-Last night I became so frustrated that I just decided to dismount the FC40 and fly without a camera until I purchase a GoPro.
-I've had the battery door pop open mid-flight twice already.
-The phone mount for the transmitter is poorly designed and swings around, distracting me during flight. This is a minor issue, but is still annoying.
-My main problem is that a few days ago, I had a fly-away. Thankfully the Phantom returned home after a few minutes. Initially, I thought the fly-away was caused by me becoming too confident and flying too far to impress friends. After mapping out the distance I flew before I lost control, I determined I was well within range when I lost control. I also considered the fact that we had my buddy's GoPro mounted during that flight and that may have caused interference but then I remembered we made a point of turning it's wifi off before the flight.
After coming across this article http://www.photographybay.com/2014/...flyaway-concerns-and-safeguards-in-phantom-2/ just last night I am afraid of flying my Phantom at all again. It seems as though tons of people have experienced random and dangerous fly-aways, inspiring some ex Phantom owners to start a class-action against DJI.
Due to the fact that I live in an urban area I cannot risk my Phantom flying away and crashing. There are homes, people, pets and cars all around me and if I was to have an uncontrolled fly-away I could very easily cause a horrific accident.
Does anyone know if the flyaway issue people were experiencing in the article I've linked above has been resolved? Does anyone have any words of advice for me?
From day one I've had a number of problems:
-The charger I received was faulty, as well as a brand new extra battery I purchased had a faulty cell.
-I've learned the batteries can be a fire/explosive hazard and can become unusable if not used, charged and stored in very specific conditions.
-I loose connection with the FC40 camera if I travel more than 100 feet, the app force-closes and I spend the rest of my flights hovering while I try to reconnect the camera but fail to do so.
-The camera splits clips into three minute segments.
-Last night I became so frustrated that I just decided to dismount the FC40 and fly without a camera until I purchase a GoPro.
-I've had the battery door pop open mid-flight twice already.
-The phone mount for the transmitter is poorly designed and swings around, distracting me during flight. This is a minor issue, but is still annoying.
-My main problem is that a few days ago, I had a fly-away. Thankfully the Phantom returned home after a few minutes. Initially, I thought the fly-away was caused by me becoming too confident and flying too far to impress friends. After mapping out the distance I flew before I lost control, I determined I was well within range when I lost control. I also considered the fact that we had my buddy's GoPro mounted during that flight and that may have caused interference but then I remembered we made a point of turning it's wifi off before the flight.
After coming across this article http://www.photographybay.com/2014/...flyaway-concerns-and-safeguards-in-phantom-2/ just last night I am afraid of flying my Phantom at all again. It seems as though tons of people have experienced random and dangerous fly-aways, inspiring some ex Phantom owners to start a class-action against DJI.
Due to the fact that I live in an urban area I cannot risk my Phantom flying away and crashing. There are homes, people, pets and cars all around me and if I was to have an uncontrolled fly-away I could very easily cause a horrific accident.
Does anyone know if the flyaway issue people were experiencing in the article I've linked above has been resolved? Does anyone have any words of advice for me?