In-depth Phantom 4 review (by Romeo Durscher)

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found it interesting (and intuitive when you think about it) that object detection/avoidance shuts off when you switch to sport mode. wonder how many new pilots, after impulse buying at the apple store, are going to switch to sport mode immediately and take it full speed toward objects thinking the bird will autonomously find a route around the object?

A lot!


UK
 
In the FAQ on the website it says this:
"19. What is the difference between Sport Mode and ATTI Mode?

Though Phantom 4 can fly up to 44.7mph in both Sport Mode and ATTI Mode, Phantom 4 will use GPS/Glonass and its Vision Positioning System to achieve precision while hovering. In ATTI Mode, GPS and Vision Positioning System will not function to aid the aircraft in terms of hovering or navigation."

Although the wording is a little off I believe it is saying that Sport mode will use GPS/Glonass. I can't wait to read the manual though.
OK, this is good. It confirms ATTI mode is still available, but now we need to find out how to enable it, since it was removed from the RC PAF switch. I would assume ATTI mode is enabled in the app somehow, kind of like how "REPLAY" was taken off the RC and put into the app.
 
I had already posted this same review. :/

Oh well! More eyes on it the better.
 
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OK, this is good. It confirms ATTI mode is still available, but now we need to find out how to enable it, since it was removed from the RC PAF switch. I would assume ATTI mode is enabled in the app somehow, kind of like how "REPLAY" was taken off the RC and put into the app.
The controller now has P S A on the switch, so I think the multiple flight modes are selected via the app and attitude mode is selected via the switch
 
Very nice! Judging from the videos and explanations it seems the P4 makes easier to perform autonomously some advanced movements that otherwise demand serious control from the pilot. But I still get the feeling that most of that is in the app rather than the aircraft - meaning that a P3 could perform almost the same, except obstacle avoidance (the jury is still out on this). Even the increased speed (has some utility in specific situations) could be done by switching AC tilt, but who knows. Time will tell.

Anyway, all that goes along my opinion that DJI (and flight app developers) aim to increase user-friendlyness and accelerate what is a rather steep learning curve, in order to offer better cinematic experience to novices. A good and experienced pilot can do some pretty awesome and complex stuff even with less capable drones, but it takes yrs of practice to get to that level. And techonolgy exists today to provide the "instant gratification" that most people demand :D

I´m an old-school pilot and I like to be in control most of the timeI, so I believe pilot input will always be necessary, if not desired, at some level for better filming... but the day of safer, high-level, complex and at the same time easier drone filming is drawing closer!
 
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Hi

I ordered P4 2 days ago, I consider myself an average pilot , and my experience was all with cheerson cx 20, I flew P3 few times before deciding to return it for P4.
I had a horrible experience last month when my beloved CX 20 decided to take my camera and the gimbal to the drone's heaven and not responding to my range modified remote.
Any way it is bad experience that I do not wish to happened to any of you guys!!
My question what are the odds that my P4 would not fly away. Keeping in mind that I will fly it only in gps locked home position mode.
What can go wrong with P4 that would result in flying away. My cheerson cx 20 had some ESC issues before she flew away, I changed a capacitor on one of its ESC when it came loose after about 50 flights.



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My question what are the odds that my P4 would not fly away.
That would be tough to answer at this point since there aren't many P4s in the wild yet. As for the P3, the closest thing we get to a flyaway is usually the bird switching to ATTI and drifting away with the wind.
 
one tip this guy says to use to prevent a flyaway type situation is to set a max distance when using tapfly as your drone will fly to the max distance if tapped above the horizon.
 
Review by someone that works for DJI? Of course it will be all positive.

I'm excited to see reviews by people that don't work for DJI like the guys at Tested. Based on their short review the P4 had trouble following people.

I'm also curious to see how the shells hold up.
 
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Let's imagine this hypothetical situation for P3 or P4.
I will lock my home point and fly it gps mode . Take my bird to 400 feet above , push it forward to the maximum till it disappears and I cannot see her anymore.
What should happened if.
1 . If I panic and push Rth

2 . Just do nothing and sit looking to the stars.

3. I switch the remote control off.

If you imagine what are the results of these different scenarios. Share with me please . I have to tell you that I still suffer from post traumatic disorder and flyaway is my nightmare. LoooL


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What should happened if.
1 . If I panic and push Rth

2 . Just do nothing and sit looking to the stars.

3. I switch the remote control off.
Assuming nothing caused the RTH feature to fail and you're using the default DJI GO settings, it should eventually return to home in all cases.
 
This would be reassuring , do you think I should try these scenarios when I got the bird just to overcome my fears?


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This would be reassuring , do you think I should try these scenarios when I got the bird just to overcome my fears?


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Yeah I would, I actually do it quite a bit myself just in the normal course of flying.
 
do you think I should try these scenarios when I got the bird just to overcome my fears?
Sure. It's a great idea to understand how all of the different RTH scenarios work. That way, you'll know what to do in a real emergency.
 
Fear is still my enemy , after I lost my cx 20 I bought a Cheerson cx22


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And now I am buyers my the p4 I go not want flyaway to ever happened again , I am fine with crashes which I did not have that much


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Do you guys know if the HDMI module for the P3P controller will work on the P4?
 
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