Flew my P3P (version a) and P4 back to back, my results...

[Kman]

What an evening!!!

Flew both my drones tonight. Found some interesting findings. I'm out in the middle of nowhere with no wifi interference.

I flew my P4 at a height of ~100 feet out over the water to a max distance of 15,638.9 feet. I was in P-Mode with Crash Avoidence off. Speed was 38 mph. I flew out until the Smart Return-To-Home told me to return. Signal never got low or cut out. I will push the P4 farther tomorrow morning and break this distance. When I returned I still had plenty of juice so I flew over neighborhood for a bit.

The disappointing finding was I got 14 minutes and 53 seconds of flight time with 25% battery remaining. Total flight was 35,205.5 feet.

I then launched my P3P Version A and did the same route. Max distance was 15,571.3 feet at 100 feet until I started getting a weak signal so I climbed to 187 feet and kept flying. I kept going a little ways even after Smart Return-To-Home and then turned around. Speed was 34-35 mph.

I landed with 23% battery remaining and flight time was 13 minutes 18 seconds. Total flight distance was 31,436.8 feet.

I will say when I flew Treasure Island in San Francisco the P4 cut out after 3,000 feet.

The only thing I have done differently is I went into the DJI Go App and changed the channel from Auto to Manual and then back to Auto in between my flights from Treasure Island and the flight I did tonight. I have no idea if that makes a difference but maybe give it a shot?

If you have any questions please let me know! I did find the P4 is solid in the air. If you point it in a direction and fly it doesn't move left or right a little like my P3P does.

 

[BDOG]

Wish I was doing that! Nice flights! Have you done the 32 channel hack?
Those flights look like comparable numbers between the P3P and P4. Hmm? Some folks are really not all that impressed with the supposed upgrade in battery life, signal response, and distance of the new P4.

 

[Kman]

Wish I was doing that! Nice flights! Have you done the 32 channel hack?
Those flights look like comparable numbers between the P3P and P4. Hmm? Some folks are really not all that impressed with the supposed upgrade in battery life, signal response, and distance of the new P4.

Completely stock P4. No channel hack. I will go further tomorrow morning and report back.

 

[John Locke]

My P4 has the distance of a P3S, this really sucks. I watched my friend's P3S go over a mile with a windsurfer. Using my P4 from the same launch site with a windsurfer, 275' high, Ch#20, 4mb/sec link stream I got to 5800' when I started to lose video. That said, I did not lose any bars, which is strange, I simply started dropping video to a black screen, starting at 5800'. Then I turned left or right 90 degree I would pickup video again. Facing me worked at 5800 too, so I flew backwards to 6500' when I started losing video again.

Today, from the same site, using the same route, same windsurfer, and the same Ch#20 at 275' high using my GL300A P3P I went over 12,000', and never lost bars or video.

I'm surprised to hear Kman went 15,000 with P4. That had to be with some kind of antenna upgrade, no way is that stock. Am I wrong?

I'm beginning to think P4's are using Wifi for video, it's so bad. Nothing like P3A/P3P. Even my newer GL300B P3P does better than my P4. Darn.

 

[Kman]

My P4 has the distance of a P3S, this really sucks. I watched my friend's P3S go over a mile with a windsurfer. Using my P4 from the same launch site with a windsurfer, 275' high, Ch#20, 4mb/sec link stream I got to 5800' when I started to lose video. That said, I did not lose any bars, which is strange, I simply started dropping video to a black screen, starting at 5800'. Then I turned left or right 90 degree I would pickup video again. Facing me worked at 5800 too, so I flew backwards to 6500' when I started losing video again.

Today, from the same site, using the same route, same windsurfer, and the same Ch#20 at 275' high using my GL300A P3P I went over 12,000', and never lost bars or video.

I'm surprised to hear Kman went 15,000 with P4. That had to be with some kind of antenna upgrade, no way is that stock. Am I wrong?

I'm beginning to think P4's are using Wifi for video, it's so bad. Nothing like P3A/P3P. Even my newer GL300B P3P does better than my P4. Darn.

Completely stock P4 and controller. Both antennas up at a 90 degrees. I used to think running in manual mode and selecting the best channel was the way to go but running in auto is. This allows the P3P and P4 to jump channels as they get interference while you're flying.

Give it a try and report back.