Help me decide! Phantom 2 again or P3 choice?

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Hi all, I am new to the site so forgive me for any lack of knowledge or wrong thread. I have been flying phantoms since the phantom 1 release. I have a situation and need your guys input and knowledge. I will try to keep this short and sweet.

I have a Phantom 2 with all the fixins I got a while back;
Zunmuse h3-3d with GoPro 3
2 extra batteries
Fatshark attitude fpv with 5.8 ghz 250mw tx
iOSD mini, etc.

At the time I purchased all this it was pretty state of the art and recent, I know its not top of the line by any means now but it did the trick for me. I am a college student in Digital Media design and used my drone for video/photo/interactive projects. I am not a professional but have a good amount of experience and it is a plus to have up to date equipment capabilities. When setting it up a couple years ago my gimbal would not power up or connect at all. So i sent it away and got it fixed. In the end the company that was going to do the repair ended up sending it to DJI and they fixed it (I believe just by replacing the main board). Anyways when i got the drone back (after a very long time) i took it up for the first time, took it easy and slow, and wanted to check out the view thru my new functional gimbal. I took the drone higher and pulled my goggles down. Before i knew it the phantom was tilting sideways very quickly and uncontrollably and flew full speed into a near by tree trunk, smashing it. Now i have been flying phantoms for a few years now at this point and have never crashed or had a fly away. I assumed it was because of the new repair and something was not right. I could go on and on but in the end i was unable to contact dji and could not get my situation resolved although im sure i could have fought it. Plus I do not know if after a 4-5 months of it being crashed they would help me at all now.

So I have a crashed phantom2 ( i think pretty much past repair) with all the accessories and I want to get back into the air. My question is: Should i buy another stripped down Phantom 2 (about $3-400) and rebuild my setup before, or buy a Phantom 3 (Standard probably due to funding) for about $4-500 and restart. I am on a budget and really just want the capabilities I had before. The equipment just has to be fairly up to date nothing too crazy.

Now the P2 was good for me, I could sort of choose my equipment and install it myself and also have a few upgrade capabilities (better gopro/gimbal, better tx or goggles you get my drift). To me it was out of this world compared to my P1 which could only stay in the air for about 5 mins after all my equipment was onboard. Buying another P2 seems like the cheapest option. On the other hand the P3 standard is a little more up to date. It comes with a decent if not better gimbal and camera than I had with my P2. BUT I cannot use my 2 extra P2 smart batteries i invested in, or my fpv set up it seems (no hdmi on attitudes). So the P3 would be more up to date but my hundreds of dollars of extra ( and necessary) equipment iv invested in would be pretty useless i think. I am also very familiar with the workings of the P2 and its main board, the P3, not so much (I know they updated and changed the mainboard quite a bit. I liked having the option to repair, add, fix and understand the inner workings of my drone on my own.

All in all my main questions for you all are:
-What would you do in my shoes?
-Is the P3 a better value and worth the extra investment in the long run?
-Can you change/update the camera and gimbal on the P3 in the future?
-Is there anyway I could use my current FPV setup without needing a dedicated ccd camera for flying sight on P3?
-I have seen and heard quite a few problems with the gimbal that comes with the P3 standard with overloading and unresponsive behavior. Is this not as common as i think?
-Is the P3 less customizable and difficult to work on yourself as P2?
-For a student who wants to get in the air and take decent clear pics and vid what would be best for value?

Im sure theres more I am missing and i apologize for a long post or any lack of information/mistakes but i appreciate any feed back, experiences, thoughts etc.

Thank you so much!
 
Do you consider yourself a long term flyer or do you think you'll get bored some day and give it up...?

If you're long term, I really think you need to go P3. And I think you need to try hard for lightbridge. In other words, if you can't get the latest generation, get as close to it as you possibly can.

MHO
 
Do you consider yourself a long term flyer or do you think you'll get bored some day and give it up...?

If you're long term, I really think you need to go P3. And I think you need to try hard for lightbridge. In other words, if you can't get the latest generation, get as close to it as you possibly can.

MHO
Yes i see myself long term. However right now i really just want a "cheaper" way to get back in the air for now until i can dump a bit more money into something more recent. But i do see what you are saying, i think the biggest thing that is bummin me out is needing a new fpv set up. I think im leaning towards P3 though. Thanks for input!
 
Sorry the P2 is now a bit outdated, I recently updated to a P4, and the improvements are amazing, however as always look for bargains. there is a new P4 pro. and the Mavic, so there are always people who want the latest and pay the price. and sell their last acquistion as a bargain.
I loved my P2.
 
With the new P4 pro and the Mavic now out on the market, you are going to see some amazing bargains for a P3P. The difference between the P2 and the P3P is like night and day, and I understand there isn't a heckava lot of difference between the P3P and the P4, although I stand to be corrected. The latest news from DJI says the P4 Pro has a longer battery time, collision avoidance in four directions, etc., but it is out of my price range just now.
In my experience with the P2 and P3P, you will love the P3P. It is a very stable craft and the still images and videos are amazing. I don't know anything about modifying it to suit your needs. Anyone quoting you a price for a P3P will probably not include more than one battery, and in your work, you will want several. Lastly, remember you get what you pay for, and a good P3P is certainly worth paying a reasonable price for.
 
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I'm a bit pissed off about the new p4 pro as I just bought a p4. and if I had of known about the new release I would of waited. I think same goes for inspire uses. very pissed off. shame on you dji.
 
I'm a bit pissed off about the new p4 pro as I just bought a p4. and if I had of known about the new release I would of waited. I think same goes for inspire uses. very pissed off. shame on you dji.
DJI has been having a huge sale on Inspires for a while now indicating that they were clearing out inventory and an update was just around the corner. And even here on the forums people have been posting clues about a new Pro version of the P4 on the way.

Can you really be mad at DJI? Do you get mad at every company for coming out with improved products?
 
Can you really be mad at DJI? Do you get mad at every company for coming out with improved products?
Things have been going downhill since Ford dropped support for the Model T.
I don't know why Boeing and Airbus keep bringing out new airliners - the DC3 was great.
 
I started with the P2V+ and loved it. Used it for photographing historical sites, mostly at distances out of view. I bought the P3S earlier this year for the same work. The two birds fly about the same, but the P3S is much smoother and seems more responsive and a much better camera (no fish-eye lens effects). For photography, I use the waypoint mode a lot, where you record a flight, then repeat it under automatic control, allowing you to fully concentrate on controlling the camera. The newer versions P3A, P3P, P4, etc. are better. I think you would be very happy with the P3S for the filming/flying you describe and starting to show up on sale for less than $400. You jump to $1000 or more for the other options. Good luck on your next acquisition, whatever you decide to do. In short, you get what you pay for. I would stay away from another P2, as you'll be buying it used at this point and DJI has improved the technology tremendously since the P2.
 
I started with the P2V+ and loved it. Used it for photographing historical sites, mostly at distances out of view. I bought the P3S earlier this year for the same work. The two birds fly about the same, but the P3S is much smoother and seems more responsive and a much better camera (no fish-eye lens effects). For photography, I use the waypoint mode a lot, where you record a flight, then repeat it under automatic control, allowing you to fully concentrate on controlling the camera. The newer versions P3A, P3P, P4, etc. are better. I think you would be very happy with the P3S for the filming/flying you describe and starting to show up on sale for less than $400. You jump to $1000 or more for the other options. Good luck on your next acquisition, whatever you decide to do. In short, you get what you pay for. I would stay away from another P2, as you'll be buying it used at this point and DJI has improved the technology tremendously since the P2.
 

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