First flight with the P3S - the Good and the Bad

[Travisimo]

Purchased a refurbished P3S for $350 from Dronenerds on Ebay (DJI partner) and it arrived like new. Had to wait a few days to fly it outdoors due to poor weather, but finally got my chance today!

Well my first flight was at a local school field to ensure there were no trees or obstacles nearby. I flew it for 20+ minutes with great success, except I realized when I landed that I had forgotten to press RECORD. Oops. I did have a recording from my GoPro on my head mount, but obviously that's not drone footage. Nevertheless, I consider the first flight a success because I was able to fly the P3S very well and didn't have any crashes.

I charged up the battery and flew again in the same spot later on... and remembered to press record this time! For those who want to watch the entire 20+ boring video, here it is:

At any rate, the only problem I really ran into was the dreaded "interference" message that repeatedly popped up on the screen (a LOT). I was getting this when I did a couple of quick flights in my house after I got it, but that was to be expected due to wifi in my house and being indoors. However, I did not expect interference in this big field, but I sure did get it. I didn't lose connection or anything, but I didn't go very far either (stayed line of sight). However, the app would not let me try "Follow Me" mode because it said weak signal, even though the drone was literally not far from me at all.

All in all, this thing flies VERY well and I am loving it. The camera is very good, despite not being 4k. I will eventually want to upgrade to a 4k model, but at $350 I figured this was the best way to get started with minimal risk.

 

[Dunk]

You flew it inside? Never a good idea IMO.

Anyway, despite being in a field, you were still experiencing interference from the school itself and what looks like a fair number of homes.

When I fly in my neighborhood, I get the strong interference message pretty much continuously.

 

[Dunk]

I even flew in a very large cemetery today and the strong interference message was as bad as flying in my neighborhood.

As a matter of fact, I kept losing GPS and switching to ATTI mode. I was very surprised and disappointed given the size of the cemetery and no towers or other interference close as far as I know.

 

[Travisimo]

You flew it inside? Never a good idea IMO.

Anyway, despite being in a field, you were still experiencing interference from the school itself and what looks like a fair number of homes.

When I fly in my neighborhood, I get the strong interference message pretty much continuously.

I flew it inside in ATT mode because I have flown some other smaller drones before and knew how to control it. All I really did was hover because I was anxious to try it out. Thanks for the reassurance about the interference... has it ever caused you any problems other than the annoying pop up message?

 

[Dunk]

Other than painful heart palpitations, no problems to speak of.

Seriously, no problems to this point. You just need to be careful when flying outside and ATTI mode kicks in. . . The bird will drift with the wind.

 

[Travisimo]

Other than painful heart palpitations, no problems to speak of.

Seriously, no problems to this point. You just need to be careful when flying outside and ATTI mode kicks in. . . The bird will drift with the wind.

Thanks for the tip. Despite the interference yesterday, my P3S didn't go into A mode. But I was prepared for it if it happened.

I'm not sure if the problem I had with the Follow Me mode was related to the interference or not? From what I'm reading, it sounds like when Follow Me doesn't work, it's because the drone isn't getting a good GPS signal from the phone or tablet you are using and has nothing to do with the drone's GPS or radio signals. I'm using an iPhone 7 Plus and I'm reading that there may need to be an update to the drone firmware and/or DJI Go app for it to work properly.

 

[grin factor]

I get the weak signal many times for a few seconds then it goes off, many people do & watching youtube vids it happens on there too. First few times I papped myself, used to it now.
Enjoy