First drone buying advice

[Luke Smith]

Hey guys,

I am looking into getting my first major aerial photography drone (I currently have a Syma X5C that I have had a blast with).

Originally I was very set on the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced however this was before DJI released the DJI Mavic.

I can get the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced for £505 brand new (a nice deal from a friend of mine). This is in comparison to a new Mavic at £999, pretty much a £500 difference.

With this price difference would the people who have a DJI Phantom 3 advanced consider it a worthy upgrade? I haven't had the chance to have any hands on experience with the Phantom 3 so cannot comment on the main factor people seem to be switching to the Phantom and that is the ease of portability, is that along with the feature differences worth double the price? I can see perhaps if people have used a Phantom 3 Advanced for a while and see it as an upgrade, but for a first drone I can't really see the major benefits for the Mavic.

I would be grateful for your guys insight and appreciate the responses

Many Thanks,
Luke

 

[alokbhargava]

The main deciding factors are utility, price, features, craze for new....

Utility: what are you really looking into your new drone? What do you want to do with it which you can't do with other drones?

Price: how much budget you can stretch?

Features: a drone is a flying machine, different models give different features though many are common. What's that feature that attracts you most and is a must have feature? List all of them and go over again and again to come up with final list.

Craze: do you run for new phone when introduced into the market though it may have hardly any new feature?

Think on these lines, you will get your answer. If you still have questions then be specific. It's difficult for us to read your mind.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[JohnnyB]

The main deciding factors are utility, price, features, craze for new....

Utility: what are you really looking into your new drone? What do you want to do with it which you can't do with other drones?

Price: how much budget you can stretch?

Features: a drone is a flying machine, different models give different features though many are common. What's that feature that attracts you most and is a must have feature? List all of them and go over again and again to come up with final list.

Craze: do you run for new phone when introduced into the market though it may have hardly any new feature?

Think on these lines, you will get your answer. If you still have questions then be specific. It's difficult for us to read your mind.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Nicely put.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[tml4191]

get a used phantom 3 pro. Great camera, great overall, and it's a lot cheaper since it's "older." It's the closest to the phantom 4, and the phantom 4 is the closest to Mavic, so you know what I mean.

 

[Mako79]

I have a P3A and this how I justify it. Upgrade if you haven't crashed your P3Adv (or less) as I think you are a worthy pilot and should be rewarded.

But if you are new to aerial photography, then the Mavic is ideal.
You are lucky to enter the market at what I see as the revolution to drones. Look at it this way:

Inspire = DSLR
Phantom Range = Point and shoot
Mavic = smart phone

Its all about convenience vs quality.
I am no Spielberg or Michael Bay, so the Mavic will probably appeal 95% of the demograph.

 

[MacCool]

If you are interested in photographic quality, I would wait until you've seen the hive's opinion on the image quality of the Mavic. If you want it now and with proven image quality, get the Phantom 4. If you plan on doing a lot of traveling, either on airplanes or hiking, I'd get the Mavic. If you want advance features, stable photography platform, I'd wait for the Phantom 5. If you want a bargain drone, I can't be of any help.