Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 Buy

[brianweis]

First of a huge thanks to everyone who participates in these forums. My goal is to do some golf course flyovers, photography, etc.

Trust me..I spent atleast 20-30 hours on these forums, reading, studying and asking questions. Even when I bought the quad I felt like I was over my head.

SO A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ANSWERS/PARTICIPATES HERE.

To the newbies out there...wrap your head around as much as you can but do feel overly intimidated so much so that you cannot take the plunge. I had no idea what the software was and all the mumbo jumbo about gains/calibrations.

I figured it out in a few hours last night (the whole thing, setup, software, remote, upgrades). I just took each step slow and it was a lot easier than I thought.

Truth be told..I couldn't figure out how to turn the battery on until I watched a video...lol. One push checks battery...then hold down until it counts through the bars, release. When I finally heard the music it almost brought tears to my eyes.. (ok..slight exaggeration)

I am fairly knowledgeable in the tech world...but the RC world is a greek language. Setup of the gimbal was a breeze (although it probably took me any extra 10 minutes because I watched the video 6 times in fear of screwing anything up)

Hooking up to the computer is as simple as downloading the software..making sure you have batteries in everything then following directions.

If you are on the fence or something is holding you back (beyond the $)...pick your platform and jump on in. (not as scary as I thought)

Way too much info..but here was my thinking on the platform and why it was the BEST CHOICE FOR ME.

I bought a quad (xproheli) 1 1/2 years ago and the thing was way over my head. (you need to be a RC junkie or maybe the perfect model after you mastered the phantom) I sold it and was pissed I didn't even get a single photo in the air. The Phantom 1 looked intriguing but people had to do way to much out of the box tinkering to make video look good. (atleast that was my opinion 14 months ago)

I really liked the simplicity of the Vision but just felt the video quality of the P2 with a gopro 3 or 3+ was way better. (I do not want to start the war here but I even saw photos from the Adobe guy and he had to stitch a ton of vision photos together in RAW to do what I hope to achieve). Looks like he did the same with the gopro (non raw). If I am going to stitch photos together to have beautiful panoramas then the camera is a wash.

If I wanted video...the p2 route was way better. Plus I figure we are just months away from the gopro 4 (just a hunch). I wanted a platform independent of a camera. I did not want to be married to a 1st generation camera. The vision camera is ok but a lot of photos are grainy.

Yes the photos in the air and FVP and iPhone integration is cool...but somewhere at gopro they are fixing the interference issues or someone is building an app for the P2. If not...pushing record and flying is not the worst thing in the world. In time, I will buy a first person view (FVP) setup or hope a ipad/iPhone app will come down the pike.

Thanks again...can't wait to fly today! I am heading over to a golf course (we are under snow)...so it should be a safe place to fly.

Brian.

 

[2trickpony]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

A very helpful, honest post Brian.
Similar to you,I am a newbie and was confused with all the RC terms so have read just about every post in this forum and over at RCgroups and pulled the switch yesterday and ordered a P2 with Zenmuse,
ImmersionRC 600mw TX, iosd, Black Pearl FPV screen and CP antennas.

Looking forward to shooting video/photos of surrounding countryside.


Thanks for all the info folks!

Stu

 

[richparry]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

My story is similar to yours, got into this hobby 1-2 years ago but never gained the skill to control the copter I purchased. After reading this forum and watching tutorials, I purchased the P2 with gimbal and all the extras, it should arrive in a week, so I am going to try again.

Your post talked about your success on the kitchen table (setup), but I'd like to hear about your success in the real world (flying it).

 

[neil64]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

Here is my advice to anyone timid about flying the Phantom 2. Just go do it. If you are expecting it to be difficult or hard to control, then you will be surprised at how simple it is once you start. Of course, before you go out flying, make sure you know what you are dealing with and make sure everything is prepared properly (such as calibrating the compass, being aware of surroundings/interference, etc). I would also recommend enabling IOC and Attitude mode with the Phantom 2 Assistant software, so that just in case you have some weird GPS problem, you can quickly switch to manual and possibly save yourself a major headache.

 

[PetePerrim]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

Wow, what a relief to see that I'm not the only one who is in the same situation. Throughout 2013 I had watched dozens of YouTube videos taken from quads and had always thought I'd love to give that a try. Well, at Christmas I purchased a Walkera QRX350 with FPV as a little gift to myself. The guy at the store told me to learn to fly a small quad before attempting to fly the 350 but oh, no, I couldn't wait. I got home, charged it up, put it together and took it to the park. What a disaster, within 20 minutes I had lost control completely and it had slammed down onto a road near my home. Not much damage (visually) but my confidence was pretty knocked around. I replaced a couple of damaged props and went for another try. The second time the RTH failed after it got a little out of control and I temporarily lost it about 2 blocks away. After much door knocking and yard searching I found it again but with a smashed body shell this time. I was gutted but pragmatic. I went online and ordered 2 new body shells, several sets of props, extra batteries etc but the most important purchase I made was a WLToys V959 mini quad. While I was waiting for the new Walkera parts to arrive I actually learned to fly (very roughly) the smaller, lighter quad and even though I was constantly breaking parts off it, they're cheap and easy to replace. Finally the new body shell arrived and I rebuilt it (video on YouTube: Walkera rebuild) the previous hard crash must have done some damage to the gps because on its maiden flight, once again it took off and hit a tree about 800 metres from home. Once again RTH failed and the machine was heavily damaged. It was at this point that I lost all faith in Walkera products. After reading a load of the forums I discovered that you have to update the firmware right out of the box before flying it but here's the thing, until you buy the firmware upgrade connector (sold separately), you can't update anything. Another bad omen was the instruction manual and the Walkera website. They're written in very poor pigeon English and are contradictory to each other about how and when to calibrate. I have listed my 3 week old QRX350 on TradeMe (New Zealand's version of eBay) with a no reserve and being sold for parts only. I ordered a Phantom 2 late last week which should be here any day. I am greatly heartened by all the technical support and know how on this forum and I am also amazed at how much beautiful video is available for viewing online which is really what I brought mine for too. There is something fascinating about seeing things from a birds eye view and I am really looking forward to starting to contribute some footage online. I ordered the Ground Control for iPad as well at the Zenmuse package with the FPV kit and all the goodies. I really hope that the Phantom is as reliable as I've been told because it would break my heart to have another really bad experience with what is going to be a $2,000 set up.

To all the other new owners and users, I look forward to sharing your 'ups and downs' with you as time goes by. I am 43 years old and have not had a full nights sleep since I ordered my P2, that's how excited I am!

 

[Ravecreative]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

I'm 45 and I was the same.

I drove for miles to collect my p2 on the day it shipped to the uk

Just from my experience, I too was worried about flying it.
I dabbled in helicopters for a while when I was younger, but it cost me ssssso much in repairs that I gave up , I was terrible.
I flew planes for a bit but not that long - crashed too many!
So I was a bit scared about flying the phantom.

Just to reassure everyone, it's as easy as driving a car.
The lovely thing is the GPS basically takes over and sorts out all the hard bits of flying, and hovering is simple.
If you've ever flown one of those cheapie indoor helicopters that sell for £30, trust me, it's way easier than that. Fly forwards, stop, take your hands off the controller, talk to a mate, don't even look at the p2, it almost flys itself..
Even nose in isn't really hard, believe me, 2 mins and you'll be an expert.

 

[ppdrone]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

another newbie here....I have same set up as OP.
i did fly it a few times already but dont dare connecting to software and updating firmware.....

 

[Ravecreative]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

Ha ha

I know what you mean.
But connect it up - it's probably the easiest bit of software you'll ever use
It's not like updating firmware on a PC, this is pretty simple and easy to understand

Trust me

 

[brianweis]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

I bought my p2 last week and it had all the latest updates. I installed the assistant software and it was way easy. It was not as rc techie as I thought.

The big thing is to install in order top to bottom. The rc needs to update before the gimbal. The. Calibrate...super easy.

My first flight will come later this week. Waiting for warmer temps.

 

[ppdrone]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

So did everyone update to the latest software/firmware that is out there? or are you waiting?

 

[LeoS]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

So did everyone update to the latest software/firmware that is out there? or are you waiting?

If you've got no complaints with your current firmware, give it a few days or a week tops to see reports of new firmware on forums. Usually any major problems with new firmwares will be known within hours\days.

 

[Jaybee]

Re: Got My P2 - Note of Thanks - Note To Newbies Looking 2 B

Here's my advice to new flyers: buy a GPS tracker asap. Read here what happened to my P2 yesterday, spoiler - it flew away and is lost.

Never get complacent. These devices can go wrong, the code running inside, interference, whatever.

Don't leave it to chance, buy a tracker.