Buying my first drone - Phantom 3 Advanced

Joined
Nov 15, 2016
Messages
36
Reaction score
11
Age
58
Hi All,

I spent many a month reading reviews on video drones and have decided on the Phantom 3 Advanced. My question to you good folks is:

Is it worth the risk to buy one from anywhere either DJI or an authorized dealer?

I'm actually giving thought to buying a refurbished one from DJI as it states it's merely a returned product within 7 days or purchased that goes through a full refurb and includes same-as-new warranty. Sounds like I can get one for $639.

Do you folks buy additional batteries from DJI or other sources, i.e. ebay? Looks like they're $149 from DJI and approx $58 from ebay providers...

Lastly, are there any initial purchase you strongly recommend? I'm a simple user - just want to take video flying over my house and the like. No plans for high-action scenarios or picture taking. Definitely no plans for being a flying wizard, racing around or going into dangerous areas.

Thanks in advance!

Jay
 
Is it worth the risk to buy one from anywhere either DJI or an authorized dealer?
If you're in the US, you should only buy from an authorized DJI dealer. If you buy from other sellers, DJI will not honor their warranty -- if you need to use it for some reason.

Amazon is a great place to buy from too if Amazon fulfills the order (so you can take advantage of their 30-day return policy). You can find a list of authorized DJI dealers selling P3As on Amazon here.

Do you folks buy additional batteries from DJI or other sources, i.e. ebay? Looks like they're $149 from DJI and approx $58 from ebay providers
It's okay to buy extra batteries elsewhere, but make sure you're buying OEM DJI batteries. If they are a lot less than $100 (e.g. $58), then they are probably knock-off batteries. Amazon usually has the best price on batteries. You can find them here.

are there any initial purchase you strongly recommend?
Check out my must-haves here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mark The Droner
Thank you!!! Very excited to get going. Planning to take it slow, learn how to effectively pilot this thing so as to have it for a long time.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Hi. I got my P3A from Sure RC in Amazon. They are seller from Santa Fe springs CA. They ship too fast and got mine in just 2 days. I bought the package with 2 bateries, hard shell back pack, extra 64gb sd card etc. Pretty good deal. Emailed them for a possiblity of buying extra battery (3rd one) and they sold it to me for $70, brand new combo price. Original DJI battery and ships fast also.

Sent from my SM-N920T using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
  • Like
Reactions: Numone
I got them for $849, no tax. If you are not from CA, no tax. I was looking at Amazon and they dont have that bundle anymore with the hard shell case. However, they have this, you can just buy the hard shell case separately, i think it is $70. You also have a choice for the 3 battery and the extra battery will come up to $70 only.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017LF44DU/ref=sxr_pa_click_within_right_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2329824862&pf_rd_r=7DP2HQX9YC5EGJ13WB0N&pd_rd_wg=OfsGy&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_w=umYfD&pf_rd_i=dji+phantom+3+advanced&pd_rd_r=EQF1E3TG958FF7HKJAW1&th=1
 
Hi All,

I spent many a month reading reviews on video drones and have decided on the Phantom 3 Advanced. My question to you good folks is:

Is it worth the risk to buy one from anywhere either DJI or an authorized dealer?

I'm actually giving thought to buying a refurbished one from DJI as it states it's merely a returned product within 7 days or purchased that goes through a full refurb and includes same-as-new warranty. Sounds like I can get one for $639.

Do you folks buy additional batteries from DJI or other sources, i.e. ebay? Looks like they're $149 from DJI and approx $58 from ebay providers...

Lastly, are there any initial purchase you strongly recommend? I'm a simple user - just want to take video flying over my house and the like. No plans for high-action scenarios or picture taking. Definitely no plans for being a flying wizard, racing around or going into dangerous areas.

Thanks in advance!

Jay

Wait a little bit, the prices on the P3 line will drop, as the P4Pro and inspire 2 came. You probably can get the 3 pro for that price, just wait, mabye 1-3 weeks ?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
I recently got my P3A as a package from Craigs List.
Drone with Remote + 2 batteries + 2 sets of CF props + Metal Tablet mount arm upgrade + IPad mini4 LTE 16Gb + backpack style carry case for $820.

I bet now with the Mavic Pro out, a lot of people will try to sell off their older drones and you can get an even better deal.

One of the batteries had 26 charge cycles the other had 11, several of these were self discharged so I presume the aircraft don't have to many flights on it.
I thought I got a decent dealt but the negatives of buying used is the lack of warranty as the drone was about 2 years old according to the original owner who claimed he flew it quite a bit when it was new but then it just sat for a long time before he decided to try to get some of his money back.
 
I got them for $849, no tax. If you are not from CA, no tax. I was looking at Amazon and they dont have that bundle anymore with the hard shell case. However, they have this, you can just buy the hard shell case separately, i think it is $70. You also have a choice for the 3 battery and the extra battery will come up to $70 only.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017LF44DU/ref=sxr_pa_click_within_right_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2329824862&pf_rd_r=7DP2HQX9YC5EGJ13WB0N&pd_rd_wg=OfsGy&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_w=umYfD&pf_rd_i=dji+phantom+3+advanced&pd_rd_r=EQF1E3TG958FF7HKJAW1&th=1

$849. Bargain...
 
I recently got my P3A as a package from Craigs List.
Drone with Remote + 2 batteries + 2 sets of CF props + Metal Tablet mount arm upgrade + IPad mini4 LTE 16Gb + backpack style carry case for $820.

I bet now with the Mavic Pro out, a lot of people will try to sell off their older drones and you can get an even better deal.

One of the batteries had 26 charge cycles the other had 11, several of these were self discharged so I presume the aircraft don't have to many flights on it.
I thought I got a decent dealt but the negatives of buying used is the lack of warranty as the drone was about 2 years old according to the original owner who claimed he flew it quite a bit when it was new but then it just sat for a long time before he decided to try to get some of his money back.

Many people go this route. I bought my P3P in the classifieds here (sold my P2+alot of extras on ebay). Pretty much new with boat loads of props for $630. With the money saved I got an extra battery and a backpack so I'm all set for awhile.
 
I went used as well. Seems lots of people buy one and the novelty wears off. There were many used ones available.

I bought a P3A with 2 batteries and backpack for $800 CAD ($600 US)
The batteries only had 6 charges each.
 
Hello all, my first post, although I've been reading here for a long time.

My 2 cents... if you're going with a "3" get the pro. Only one negative with my P3A is the live HD, looks great on the iPhone 7 but a little disappointing with a wide view FPV headset.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Last edited:
Hello all, my first post, although I've been reading here for a long time.

My 2 cents... if you're going with a "3" get the pro. Only one negative with my P3A is the live HD, looks great on the iPhone 7 but a little disappointing with a wide view FPV headset.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots


Pro is better! Much better! Charger is 4 times bigger ))))
 
You're right I forgot all about the charger!

I forgot because I purchased the faster charger separately, good catch!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Thanks all. For better or worse, I bought the Phantom 3 Advanced. I will try/learn on this and if I find it's not what I want, I'll move up the the Pro.

Where my goals are pretty simple, flying over my house and around the area, I think the 3 Advanced will be fantastic. Again, to start.

What's the issue with the charger you mention?
 
The P3A charger takes about 1.5 hours to charge the battery. If you buy the P3P charger, you can charge the battery in about 1 hour.
 
Ahhhhnh. A 30 minute difference ain't that big a deal to me :). Plus, I bought an extra battery.

I've started watching the tutorial videos while I wait for delivery. Not the easiest looking 'approach' to operation. Whatever, I'll spend the time and figure it out. If anyone has any good tutorial vids for me, that would be cool. Thanks again.
 
jpilk99, congratulations you will love it. I've been doing the radio control hobby since the 1970's and when I first flew my Phantom it's abilities were like something out of sci-fi, its stability is still amazing to me.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
You can get a refurbished Phantom 3 Professional for $599. If you use AMEX, you can get 25 off the order as well using the Newegg Offer, and also your order includes nearly 60$ in points to spend at newegg. 1 year warranty on these still, and sold through DJI Store.
DJI Phantom 3 Professional-Newegg.com
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,354
Members
104,934
Latest member
jody.paugh@fullerandsons.