Does anyone on here ever just fly with no problems?

Gator113 · Jun 20, 2014

I have a Phantom 2 that I purchased from DSLRPros -- 'Sundance Edition'.

As of tonight, I have logged 16 trouble free flights and I am loving it.

My biggest problem has been the learning curve, but the guys at DSLRPros have been extremely helpful. These guys have my respect and admiration. I have flown paper airplanes and a water powered red rocket. My red rocket was a true flyaway.

I hope to fly this Saturday with the GoPro attached.

I am trying to take it slow and learn as I go. I suffered a stroke during heart surgery a few years ago, so my left hand is not what it once was...I fly with one hand most of the time. My left hand may slow me down, but I refuse to allow it to stop me from anything I love to do. Life is full of workarounds. ;>)

I know full well that I may someday have a problem/failure and I'll cross that bridge if/when I get there.

I have also learned much from the graybeards on this forum.... and their input on this forum is greatly appreciated. Many of the videos created by members on this forum are incredibly beautiful....so much pure talent.

Some of the sad stories bother me, but life has many bumps along the road, so I simply take the bad with the good and 'just keep on livin'.

Cheers......

evilfurryone · Jun 20, 2014

Knock on wood. (ffs, im not this superstitious... okey I guess I am).

Had it for almost couple of months. No problems so far. Just don't go crazy on your first flights. I took it to a stadium and played it safe. Got boring fast. Now last week managed 2km fpv trip on my first attempt, over local fields.

Whenever it feels something is not right that is YOU think the drone should act differently, then just land it and walk away. My drone has had couple of wobbles on a pier in gusting wind while trying to hold position and I landed it asap. I also have gotten lucky by missing a pole by few feet while speeding the same stadium on my fpv kit. the lower resolution and flying towards the sun just hid that obstacle real well. But that would have been a user error, not the drones fault.

Check props and engines regularly, once in a while pop the hood and verify that soldering is okey inside. That's kind of all you can do.

If any of my friends would buy a new drone right now, I would say keep away from the vision line and I would tell them to check if power cable soldering is okey before taking their first flight. Because if there is a defect on the drone it would show up on the first flights after that the crashes will most probably be pilot errors or lack of maintenance (noticing broken prop/engine)

Tappits · Jun 20, 2014

Other than the 2 incident’s with the 3G/4G transmitters (my fault TBH) All my main problems have been with Gopro’s not working/brakeing.

gunslinger · Jun 20, 2014

I've had mine about seven months, but I've only had fifty-three flights due to crappy weather in the North East. I've only had one real problem and it's happened twice.

With my battery at forty-three percent, the aircraft started to auto land. It thought I was down to three percent. I shut it down, pulled the battery, shoved the battery back in, and we were back to forty-three percent again... The second incident was very similar. I was actually able to reach tech support in L.A. and we both felt it was due to the original spring loaded pins that connect with the battery, for battery data. The original pins have a radius, where the newer pins are crowned. The radius provides a single, small, point of contact, whereas the crowned pins provide multiple points of contact...

I use contact cleaner fairly regularly now and haven't seen the problem since.

Other than that, my P2V has been trouble free.... But you really can't lay ALL problems off to user error. At the very least, there are some design issues (the battery contact pins, for instance) and cold solder joint issues. And you really can't lay off the assortment of firmware issues on user error... :roll:

-slinger

David DJI H · Jun 20, 2014

I've had no issues. Loving it. Had it for two months now and fly it twice most days...
Had about 5 return to homes because I took it too far away, but hasn't let me down. I try not to do that now, but distances vary with weather conditions I think.

mikey · Jun 20, 2014

evilfurryone said:
If any of my friends would buy a new drone right now, I would say keep away from the vision line and I would tell them to check if power cable soldering is okey before taking their first flight. Because if there is a defect on the drone it would show up on the first flights after that the crashes will most probably be pilot errors or lack of maintenance (noticing broken prop/engine)

I'm curious. What other product would you point your friends towards? I haven't purchased yet, but from my research, most say the blade 350qx or any of the parrot products are as good (reviews) as the phantoms..

Edit: *not as good as the phantoms.

WPSPETE · Jun 20, 2014

Best thread here lol. I was starting to second guess my purchase. Every time I crashed an RC plane it was my fault.

DanCH · Jun 20, 2014

It's silly to say that all problems people have experienced are user created. There are any number of problems that can occur that a user can do nothing about.

I personally have had 1 major crash and there was enough evidence that it was not my fault that I received a full replacement of my v1.1.1 from the retailer.

On around my 7th flight (back in January) I had my Phantom decide to fly on it's own in one direction and then just full power off and drop out of the sky. I still don't know what caused it to control its self, but the reason for the power failure was clear. The grey battery power wire had come away from the main board, almost certainly due to a cold solder.

First thing I did with my replacement was to open it up and check all the solder points, and I'd advice anyone else to do the same. And do it regularly there-after. Don't just think it's enough to do compass dances and calibrations.

steveeds · Jun 20, 2014

Come on Dan, this is a good time thread

IrishSights · Jun 21, 2014

Mal_PV2_Ireland said:
Over 500 flights and still going strong, don't listen to the ********, educate yourself, fly safe and dont be stupid and get up to 500 very happy flights like me.

Good grief Mal! what part of Ireland are you in? you must have favour with the gods having your own personal good weather portal follow you around LOL! 500 flights! Weather where I am is crap for flying, well for good video anyway. Can I move to where you are? I bring my own beverage...

Back on topic... I'm very happy with my P2 with no incidents...well apart from day one when I very softly backed it into a slow moving briar bush due to disorientation. Bushes fault of course, it shouldn't have been there.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8

CallMeAlan · Jun 21, 2014

Yes, no probs at all (except one - see below) in about 7 flights now. P2V.

Just this morning, on a rare almost windless day on Greenham Common here in Berkshire I had a perfect flight, first time aloft for 3 weeks, thanks to heavy winds of late.

But once again I did what I always do - forgot to stop the movie recording before switching off the Phantom, thus leaving an unfinished video on the card. Aaargh! The answer is simply to switch on the Phantom for a few seconds, then shut it down, and this closes the file.

gunslinger · Jun 21, 2014

CallMeAlan said:
Yes, no probs at all (except one - see below) in about 7 flights now. P2V.

Just this morning, on a rare almost windless day on Greenham Common here in Berkshire I had a perfect flight, first time aloft for 3 weeks, thanks to heavy winds of late.

But once again I did what I always do - forgot to stop the movie recording before switching off the Phantom, thus leaving an unfinished video on the card. Aaargh! The answer is simply to switch on the Phantom for a few seconds, then shut it down, and this closes the file.

I do that pretty consistently too... :lol:

Khudson7 · Jun 21, 2014

+1....have flown extensively for 4 months now without any problems. When I added fpv, I've had on a number of occasions flown it out of sight and had no trouble getting it back using only the iosd information. So glad to hear there are others out there that have not experienced all of the negative things I keep reading here.

Eos630 · Jun 21, 2014

I've had my P2 since February. Always stayed on top of calibration and proper startup technique, and I never found it to be the slightest bit erratic. I was pretty relaxed about flyaways.

One time, after flying successfully for five minutes, I shut it down and then was asked to take it up again. I agreed to do a quick eye-level hover so a guy could take a picture and then I was back on my way. I powered it up and immediately eased the stick up. The P2 shot up high in the air and Took. The. F*ck. OFF. Just went in every conceivable direction. I did get it back, somewhat mangled.

So I guess my experience is that these things do work quite well if you do everything right, but don't EVER get it wrong.

p.s. I've thought a lot about what happened that fateful day. Yes, of course, don't try to fly your Phantom before it's had a chance to calibrate anything, but the first thing I wonder is, WHY IS FULL THROTTLE *UP* the go-to setting for an improperly calibrated Phantom!? Maybe some kind of timer where the Phantom won't respond to throttle input for a minimum 30 seconds after powering up makes more sense. I don't know, it's just the idea of "Uh oh! Somethings not right. Quick! FLOOR IT!" It would be like if your computer hangs, the first thing it does is start erasing your hard drive. These things never err conservatively, do they?

After I found I had no control, I turned off my controller. Pretty stupid, since the Phantom had no idea where it was anyway. I guess I was hoping it would at least stop and hover in place. Then I could switch back on and land it. Nope.

I lost sight of it in the trees (which, somehow, it magically flew JUST above - fu¢k1ng TEN feet lower was all I needed) but I do think after a while it settled down a bit and started to hover. I think it started to land itself, of course, in the trees. I think if I had been able to find it in the air in time, I may have been able to land it. Gotta figure all the time it was up there it was probably acquiring satellite lock.

So even in a disaster situation, the Phantom might just be smart enough to save itself. You just need a LOT of space.

devveldogg · Jun 21, 2014

I've had my Phantom 1 for about 3 months and have had no issues at all. I love flying this bird.

darwin-t · Jun 21, 2014

20 flights so far and the only problem I have had is when I forgot to latch the battery door and the battery slid out and disconnected.Since then I have added Velcro to the bottom of the battery compartment and the bottom of my batteries and replaced the door with a Velcro strap.

Coons84 · Jun 22, 2014

Been flying for 2 months, I probably watched 4 hours of video and read all the manuals and lurked here as I was waiting for my phantom to be delivered. I've never had a flying problem ever, I've came down a little hard a couple times because the battery was low and was auto landing and made the mistake of trying to bring it down faster. I've only had to use the failsafe once when I lost fpv signal because a huge forest was in my way. Punched it vertically for 5 secs and turned off the transmitter and 25 secs later I heard the bees coming and the thing landed right where I took off.

Lately I've been having balls and flying pretty far out over a lake and chasing boats, all fun stuff.

Still I think there are probably issues that arise after owning one and flying a bunch. I mean this things are vibrating as its flying so things must get loose or disconnected over time. Don't be afraid to open your unit and check it out and make sure everything looks good. "Could save you $1000+"

mikey · Jun 22, 2014

I might just tie a 300M string on mine, anchored to the ground. Just in case you know?

Kidding :twisted:

gunslinger · Jun 22, 2014

I had a previously mentioned problem again yesterday. The battery was at 43% and I was hovering. I made an aggressive move forward and the klaxon sounded and the red lights flashed. I looked down and the battery was at 12%. I slowly reeled it in and the klaxon stopped, the red lights stopped and the battery was back to 43%.

It was beginning to autoland. If I was over a pond, a tree, a house... it wouldn't have been a happy ending. Again... I think it's the battery pins... :shock: :roll:

-slinger