I'm doing the same thing in Oct. to Utah! Don
I'm doing the same thing in Oct. to Utah! Don't get arrested in Cal. for flying ( to many rules)
Already bored - how do you stay excited to fly your P3?
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If that doesn't make you appreciate the tech in a P3, I don't know what will. It's a camera platform as much as an aircraft if not more. When I take mine out I'm always thinking about how I capture the shot and other film/photo techniques. Viewed through that context, it seems like I have a lot of flying ahead of me to perfect those skills. It ain't about the flying.Get into collective pitch 3D helis. Insane agility and they are a huge adrenaline rush.
Nothing quite like them.
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Do mind sharing how much flight time you've logged in 3.5 months? Today is 3 weeks since I got mine and although I haven't flown everyday like I did the first two weeks I really enjoy seeing what I normally don't get to see from the air.
"Flying" Phantoms is about as exciting as watching paint dry. DJI calls it a "tripod in the sky" because it is designed for a specific use. Find cool stuff to video and photograph. The more interesting the subject, the more excited you will be to fly it.
If you want to "fly", get a 250 quad to beat on. It's a money pit and you end up fixing stuff all the time, but it's a novel experience for sure.
But really, this is still just sitting on your butt. If you actually want to fly, try skydiving, try paragliding, take a PPL lesson, take a heli lesson, etc. If you can afford a Phantom 3, you can afford to take a few lessons to at least feel what real flying and real piloting feels like.
If you want to "fly", get a 250 quad to beat on. It's a money pit and you end up fixing stuff all the time, but it's a novel experience for sure.
But really, this is still just sitting on your butt. If you actually want to fly, try skydiving, try paragliding, take a PPL lesson, take a heli lesson, etc. If you can afford a Phantom 3, you can afford to take a few lessons to at least feel what real flying and real piloting feels like.
Try some long-ish range FPV flying.
Can't say I'm bored when I'm 1.5+ miles out (!)
:harry
Can't say I'm bored when I'm 1.5+ miles out (!)
:harry
Do you use your dslr or go pro on a regular basis? To me, the p3 is another tool and has its time and place.
Truth of the matter is many new exciting things are the most exciting for a short period of time initially until the newness wears off.
The way to keep things thrilling with your phantom are to change the ways you use and fly it. Such as using it within new places you've not dared try before. Practice your piloting skills and hone them to perfection. And so forth. It's kind of like being married, you just need to add experiment and try new things to keep things spicey.
Racing quads don't use gimbals. They're made differently and more sturdy in many ways. They don't have long fragile landing gear or thin plastic housings. It's just two completely different animals and both need to be treated as such.
If you want a more durable camera platform you will need to custom build it tho any gimbal you use will be easily broken still in a crash tho far less costly to replace than DJI proprietary components.
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Hey emilewski, I'm from pei, thanks for the vacation plug, it really is a beautiful place to visit/live. I'm eagerly awaiting arrival of my first phantom 3 adv. Excited to see what this place looks like from the sky. Where do you usually fly when you visit?
I was afraid to say this out loud but am bored as well. BUT, as said, the phantom is a media platform. It's made to take photos/video. It is not made to keep the RC flyer entertained.
Over the weekend I gave my wife the controls to the P3P(got her to 200ft first....and she can not fly RC at all) and flew this little guy around.
200 QX: Blade - #1 By Design
My FPV ONE
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2451511
This is a great racing type quad. It has just enough tech in it to keep a newbie flying and you can change settings to allow more flight control as you get better.
As mentioned above, gimbals go with photography. True FPV(first person view) is a camera directly attached to your aircraft.
RCGroups.com(my second link) is the forum for all radio control. There is a lot out there, it's overwhelming at first. Phantom flyers are not considered RC flyers in that arena. Our beloved Phantoms simply have too much tech, it's made so anyone can fly it. Not a slam, just a different platform.
Over the weekend I gave my wife the controls to the P3P(got her to 200ft first....and she can not fly RC at all) and flew this little guy around.
200 QX: Blade - #1 By Design
My FPV ONE
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2451511
This is a great racing type quad. It has just enough tech in it to keep a newbie flying and you can change settings to allow more flight control as you get better.
As mentioned above, gimbals go with photography. True FPV(first person view) is a camera directly attached to your aircraft.
RCGroups.com(my second link) is the forum for all radio control. There is a lot out there, it's overwhelming at first. Phantom flyers are not considered RC flyers in that arena. Our beloved Phantoms simply have too much tech, it's made so anyone can fly it. Not a slam, just a different platform.
Get a Hubsan X4 H107D and fly it in the house, buzz your pets, your kids, your wife (though they tend to become EX-wives if you do that too much) and pretty much anything else you care to buzz, knowing it's cheap to fix if you do break it, and it's always fun to drive your kids mad 
For the P3 as everyone else has said, learn a new skill. Get some photo editing software, some genuinely good editing software, join a photography forum, and then stretch your photography skills, learning all the way. My shots now are so far ahead of what they were when I first started flying my P2, and I've learned so much, it drives me to try new things and new places. Even if you're not in Australia, the ausphotography forum are fantastic to learn from, they will bring your skill levels up no matter how high they already are, and you'll see things that will inspire you to try more with the camera - especially given that you can get angles most photographers can only dream of.
These aircraft aren't really an exciting thing to play with, they're not a thrill a minute, and they weren't really made to be that, they're a photography platform and that's about it, so stretch your photography skills with it. That's when you'll be using it the way it's designed, and so continue to be inspired by it. Go new places, try new angles, as you go through your day, look at everything around you and think how you'd place the bird to get the best shot of it.
Where I am, a nearby building site has two massive identical tower cranes on it at the moment, and they light them up at night, especially as two of them together is a little more rare, they'd make an amazing photos (if it was legal to fly at night
) It's almost enough to tempt me to break the rules, but there are plenty of legal things just as interesting to shoot if you look for them.
I agree also with the suggestion to travel with it. You don't even have to go far. Most places have something different and interesting within an hour's drive or so of them. Make a day trip of it, include something your wife will love, whether that's a classy restaurant, or whatever she loves, and include something that the kids will find new and interesting for them, and they'll probably even tolerate you spending an hour or so with your bird.
Then if all that fails, soup up the specs and go out to break your records - longest flight time after stripping down the weight the most you can, or longest range flight after souping up the vtx and antennae etc,
And one final idea, go join a model aircraft club. Some of them are welcoming of quad owners. Nothing makes something more fun than doing it with like-minded people. They might even like the idea of a stable fixed position filming platform to get new interesting shots of their aircraft, and shooting a moving fixed wing model has to be a bit of a challenge for any quad pilot. That could add to the challenge level, though I'm not sure if they'd allow two craft in the air simultaneously, but you could possibly sell them on the idea if they saw the footage potential you could give them.
Mind you, having said all this, I pretty much need to preach to myself as well. Lately I've been so tired after work that I crash in the lounge instead of taking the P2 out to crash. And weekends there's just too much to do at home. But then it has been winter here for 3 months, so it's dark before I get home, and it's below freezing after the sun goes down, so both of those do test the resolve a little. I'm sure now Spring has just arrived I'll get a bit more enthusiastic again.
For the P3 as everyone else has said, learn a new skill. Get some photo editing software, some genuinely good editing software, join a photography forum, and then stretch your photography skills, learning all the way. My shots now are so far ahead of what they were when I first started flying my P2, and I've learned so much, it drives me to try new things and new places. Even if you're not in Australia, the ausphotography forum are fantastic to learn from, they will bring your skill levels up no matter how high they already are, and you'll see things that will inspire you to try more with the camera - especially given that you can get angles most photographers can only dream of.
These aircraft aren't really an exciting thing to play with, they're not a thrill a minute, and they weren't really made to be that, they're a photography platform and that's about it, so stretch your photography skills with it. That's when you'll be using it the way it's designed, and so continue to be inspired by it. Go new places, try new angles, as you go through your day, look at everything around you and think how you'd place the bird to get the best shot of it.
Where I am, a nearby building site has two massive identical tower cranes on it at the moment, and they light them up at night, especially as two of them together is a little more rare, they'd make an amazing photos (if it was legal to fly at night
) It's almost enough to tempt me to break the rules, but there are plenty of legal things just as interesting to shoot if you look for them.I agree also with the suggestion to travel with it. You don't even have to go far. Most places have something different and interesting within an hour's drive or so of them. Make a day trip of it, include something your wife will love, whether that's a classy restaurant, or whatever she loves, and include something that the kids will find new and interesting for them, and they'll probably even tolerate you spending an hour or so with your bird.
Then if all that fails, soup up the specs and go out to break your records - longest flight time after stripping down the weight the most you can, or longest range flight after souping up the vtx and antennae etc,
And one final idea, go join a model aircraft club. Some of them are welcoming of quad owners. Nothing makes something more fun than doing it with like-minded people. They might even like the idea of a stable fixed position filming platform to get new interesting shots of their aircraft, and shooting a moving fixed wing model has to be a bit of a challenge for any quad pilot. That could add to the challenge level, though I'm not sure if they'd allow two craft in the air simultaneously, but you could possibly sell them on the idea if they saw the footage potential you could give them.
Mind you, having said all this, I pretty much need to preach to myself as well. Lately I've been so tired after work that I crash in the lounge instead of taking the P2 out to crash. And weekends there's just too much to do at home. But then it has been winter here for 3 months, so it's dark before I get home, and it's below freezing after the sun goes down, so both of those do test the resolve a little. I'm sure now Spring has just arrived I'll get a bit more enthusiastic again.
ATTI mode and a strong wind. My 70.38mph was over a golf course next to the ocean @ 300'
wow 87mph - I've had 22 meters per sec/ 49mph in a tail wind. surely anything over 50mph isn't great for the props etc
Flying recently in a tail wind - I've checked the data from when I let go of the sticks (as I was approaching trees in the not too far distance) & the P3 travelled 20 meters (60ish ft) before it came to a hover..
Take care out there
Flying recently in a tail wind - I've checked the data from when I let go of the sticks (as I was approaching trees in the not too far distance) & the P3 travelled 20 meters (60ish ft) before it came to a hover..
Take care out there
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