Remember, K4GAP, you see mostly tales of issues on places like this. The stories you don't see are the "happy" ones. Mine was a mixed bag. Bought P4P from Amazon. Defective on arrival. They promptly replaced it. Another defect. Returned for refund and purchased from B&H. When drone arrived, did firmware update and all calibrations. No issues. It has performed flawlessly for the last 5 months. I fly with two other P4P owners. They have never had any issues with their birds. I encourage you to NOT back out. You will have many hours of enjoyment from your P4P! Sincerely, K5SMG
Remember, K4GAP, you see mostly tales of issues on places like this. The stories you don't see are the "happy" ones. Mine was a mixed bag. Bought P4P from Amazon. Defective on arrival. They promptly replaced it. Another defect. Returned for refund and purchased from B&H. When drone arrived, did firmware update and all calibrations. No issues. It has performed flawlessly for the last 5 months. I fly with two other P4P owners. They have never had any issues with their birds. I encourage you to NOT back out. You will have many hours of enjoyment from your P4P! Sincerely, K5SMG
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I own a P3 Standard, so I probably shouldn't even be here, and I hope you'll excuse for hijacking this thread but, I wanted to respond to K4GAP and hopefully provide some reassurance based on my own experiences. This forum, as a whole, is a priceless resource for the Phantom community at large. The comments posted above mine offer a lot of valuable and useful information. I bought my P3S during Walmart's Black Friday last year. Although the more advanced P4 line offers a lot of value, I really didn't have the resources to buy a more expensive model, and the P3S provided me with what I really needed. A lot of people trash DJI and their drones. Although there are likely some legitimate failures due to hardware issues, I honestly believe that the majority of issues are due to operator error. I've done it myself, and even crashed my drone a few times; once from 200' up, and once into a lake. In spite of my negligence, when I fly it as it was designed, my Phantom 3 performs flawlessly, and still amazes me nearly a year into it. I can consistently get 6000'+ distance in rural areas, have managed to get over 9000' range with amazing 2700K video, all without any mods whatsoever. I sometimes get into trouble if I push my drone past its design limits. Even then, it has never failed to return to where I launched it from. It may take a while to come back from wherever it is, but it always comes back. I have no complaints against my Phantom 3. For the price, it's an amazing piece of technology, and consider it the most satisfying $370 purchase I ever made. Respect the hardware and it will serve you well. Thank you for your time. We now return you your your regularly scheduled post.
I had been looking at getting a DJI drone for a while. I checked out other alternative drones as well. Looking at the price of a P4P, it's a fair chunk of change, especially if you are new to drones and may anticipate "issues".
My RC flying experience has been helicopters, fixed pitch and collective pitch. I have flown a small bit of quads, some of these were basic attitude control models, so they tend to be a bit twitchy.
I ended up getting the DJI P3 SE. Lots of features and capabilities, for less than half the cost of a P4P. The rationale on this is a number of points:
So far I have not flown it too much as life issues (time & opportunity) have impeded that. I also have found that local regulations really cut into where you can fly these days.
The short bit that I have flown it I found it to be super stable and easy to control. I am intending to do a fair amount of "training" flights in all the different modes. The best investment you can make is in learning new skills. It's sort of like the golfer who thinks its best to invest in new clubs, than in training to improve his swing.
Don't know if all this is applicable to you, but it's my story and I am sticking to it.
My RC flying experience has been helicopters, fixed pitch and collective pitch. I have flown a small bit of quads, some of these were basic attitude control models, so they tend to be a bit twitchy.
I ended up getting the DJI P3 SE. Lots of features and capabilities, for less than half the cost of a P4P. The rationale on this is a number of points:
- If it gets crashed, damaged, lost, does a flyaway, or is a total loss it's only 39.5% the cost of a P4P.
- How much value do I get for the money? If you purchase a P4P and don't fly it that much because either you fear damaging it, or you just don't use it that much due to not having much time available, places to fly, or losing interest. Is that worth the investment of $1500.00+?
- Are the special features and capabilities of the P4P really worth the additional cost for something that you really have no experience with? A little caution operating the humble P3 SE will keep you just as safe as a P4P. Having to pay more attention to your environment will make you a better pilot, than just depending on technology to save you.
So far I have not flown it too much as life issues (time & opportunity) have impeded that. I also have found that local regulations really cut into where you can fly these days.
The short bit that I have flown it I found it to be super stable and easy to control. I am intending to do a fair amount of "training" flights in all the different modes. The best investment you can make is in learning new skills. It's sort of like the golfer who thinks its best to invest in new clubs, than in training to improve his swing.
Don't know if all this is applicable to you, but it's my story and I am sticking to it.
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I purchased Personal Property Insurance with State Farm on my P4P and pay $60/year. 8 months later I crashed into a flock of geese over water, drone landed in river and lost it. I called State Farm, made a claim, received full reimbursement without paying any deductible 5 days later. Just received my P4P Obsidian yesterday and added this Drone onto my existing policy with State Farm as I’m fully covered again! Excellent coverage and quick payout with ease. 100% recommend purchasing this Insurance.
They are wonderful tools for any avid photographer that wants to do solid aerial work. However, if you in the US and especially in CA, so many restrictions and local ordinances have been passed now that it’s near impossible to find a decent place to fly.
My biggest problem with quadcopters has been with the updates that DJI insist you perform. They usually go ok but can take around an hour to do. However, my last update in July killed my Phantom 3 Advanced to the point that I had to send it back to DJI to be repaired. I had added a gimbal protector to my camera and DJI said that this caused the failure so they want £300 to fix it. Quite frankly, that's done it for me, I shall now buy the Vitus which looks like a great alternative to the Mavic and around 1/2 the price!
I have had P4P and have an Inspire. Although DJI is the worst company for customer service and badly programmed updates. And actual lies about what their products do. I am impressed with my both my drones and will never be without. I love the P4P for all around balance of portability and quality of video and picture. If the day is sunny it is close to my inspire with X5 camera. But if it is morning or sunset my X5 is the choice. Eventually DJI fixes the bugs. Go for it.
If you download DJI assistant first, update all firmware for the controller, app and aircraft and read the manual thoroughly you'll have fewer problems. I don't think anyone hasn't had a glitch or two but they are surmountable and there are plenty of experienced pilots on this board who can help you overcome them. I started with Android devices, first my phone and then a tablet. It was difficult to see them in the bright Colorado sunlight so as soon as they were available I bought a Crystalsky 5.5 monitor. The DJI apps run flawlessly on mine and most importantly I can see what's going on with my aircraft. There is a fairly steep learning curve, IMO but I've honestly had many more issues editing the video than I've had capturing it. Flying is addictive though I warn you....
The State Farm policy is specific to your drone. Mine covers the drone and some other photographic equipment I usually have in the vehicle with me. It covers loss, theft etc. but no liability.
I can only say from my experience of going through two P4P’s is that the RTH has problems as well as known battery problems. The RTH function on my remote was malfunctioning as well as that feature in the GO App.
The battery that came with the drone was dead on arrival and would not charge.
I called Tech Support on both issues and they confirmed there were problems both times. I took my refund and put it back in my savings and will wait until the problems are addressed in manufacturing and design. Time will tell if DJI can resolve these types of nagging problems.
The battery that came with the drone was dead on arrival and would not charge.
I called Tech Support on both issues and they confirmed there were problems both times. I took my refund and put it back in my savings and will wait until the problems are addressed in manufacturing and design. Time will tell if DJI can resolve these types of nagging problems.
I can
When you get your drone, don't try to go out and fly like a pro. Go slow. Set it in the beginner mode and practice a lot. It is fun. Learn slowly. Eventually take it off beginner mode but still fly cautiously. You will have a new hobby. That means you'll want to read, watch and learn a lot. Resources online are extravagant. All you do is type a subject and you can get volumes of info, videos and insight. There's a funny sign that says "The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys." It's the most expensive "toy" I've ever bought. So take good care of it and you'll have lots of fun with it. There really is a lot to learn about flying and photography.
I have had my drone for over a month now (P4P Advance +) and love it. I have had NO issues. I live about 3.8 miles of Luke AFB and the tower has been no problem when notifying them. I bought the controller with the display on it. I own a flip phone (LOL) and will not have and I-phone anything. Too many bugs with them. I really suggest the remote with the display and believe you will not have some of the issues I have seen on here. I recommend you read, read and read some more to ensure you will not have problems. Then you can be as happy as I am now.
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M’y P4pYES. It really depends on your luck of getting a good drone new from the factory, I'm sorry to say. Some issues go unnoticed by many newbies because they don't know any better and just accept it. Such as the glitches while recording in 4096X2160 resolution. Most all P4Ps can't do this glitch free, you need to stick with 3840X2160 for glitch free UHD recordings, which is exactly what UHD TV resolution is anyway.
Phantom 4P is by far the most capable drone on the market in this price range. It's absolutely amazing, however there are issues to be aware of. If you haven't bought yet, it's very important to buy from a company that will exchange your drone for 30 days, giving you enough time to validate the integrity of the drone. By the way, DJI may not exchange it very fast if you plan to buy direct instead of a local vendor. Amazon is good, but make sure it's an authorized vendor, otherwise you won't get warranty, and you MUST have warranty support. Unfortunately DJI doesn't test their drones before shipping them, they assume they work. I've come to this conclusion because of obvious things that have been experienced by people in this forum, and myself. Had DJI simply started up the drone, and visually inspect them, these problems would be caught before boxing up for shipment. This includes dead batteries that won't charge! So..... there are things to look for when you get your new baby. This is my list of things to inspect. The tilted horizon issue has been addressed and fixed since this list was put together in recent firmware, but if you run earlier firmware from May 2017, some P4s have the tilted horizon more than others. I prefer to run earlier firmware, providing me more liberties than latter firmware. Depending on how tech savvy you are, you may have a great time, or you may struggle at times. The Go4 app is quite capable, LOTS of settings to learn and try out. Just finding what you want in the app can be a challenge to some folks, rightfully so, because there's so much to learn. If you are diligent about reading the manual, and are compelled to learn about every setting, and knowing what it does, you'll be happy. You must be curious about all the settings and how they affect flight and camera capture. There's lots to learn, and if you get the bug, you're going to be fine. When you go to bed thinking about where you're going to fly next, you're officially addicted!
The problem with the + controllers for many pilots is:
1. Display is too small, the size of a phone. If you haven't flown with a larger 9.7" or 7.9" screen, you wouldn't know the luxury.
2. You can't run third party apps that are essential for some pilots, like Litchi, Autopilot, mapping apps like DroneDeploy, phamtompilots.com app, etc.
3. You don't have access to the internet with a browser to check for TFRs at your flight location (for those with flip phones).
If you have good eyes and you don't need third party apps, the + controllers do work well, boot fast and are bright (however the S8 Samsung phone is brighter). Until you use third party apps, you won't know what you're missing.
Best price I could find for Vitus 320 was about $760. $500 would be a great price, where did you see that?
I would say that if you're going to buy a DJI drone, buy the newest, most expensive and hope for the best. While there are thousands of P3's still flying, DJI has arbitrarily cut off support of those, while Wal-Mart is still selling them for $500 and are for sale in many places. How would you like to be the poor guy who drops his hard-earned $500 to be told there is no support for it from the manufacturer?
They do it only so you are forced to buy the latest.
In protest of this sales model, I will not buy DJI products from here on out.
It would be to your best advantage to dive in deep and construct your own drone with components that are resistant to the 'planned obsolesence' program DJI espouses.
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