Is anyone actually happy with their P4P??

[Dronefriend]

So far, nothing to complain about. Except a slightly tilted horizon every now and then. Have only had about 8 flights.

 

[Advexure]

Look into Advexure. I received an Osmo that would not charge, and they sent me a new one without charging my credit card or waiting for me to return the defective one. Their customer service is excellent and I used them to purchase my P4P and Mavic. Some of the best customer support I've seen in recent memory. Highly recommended.

Thanks this is the kind of service I like. If companies want to compete with big box they can't wait to ship out replacement for DOA.

Thank you folks for the positive feedback here on the PP forum. We appreciate it and are glad to hear your faulty unit that was received was properly exchanged for a replacement unit, @Rom3oDelta7. Enjoy your P4P and Mavic and please don't hesitate to reach out to our Support Team if we can provide any further assistance. Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you back soon. -The Advexure Team

 

[F3honda4me]

Oh, how better is it? I have the P4 too... and considering an upgrade - I'm hesitating between the Mavic's portability and the 1 inch sensor of the P4P... What's your take on the differences between the P4 and the P4P?

Faster with OA, the all around sensors is great for tight spaces in tripod mode, and the camera speaks for itself. I wouldn't hesitate again. I'm a hobbyist, not a pro just FYI.

 

[photoskyview]

Mine is perfect, 113 flights with th 53 miles flow. That says dji app

 

[Advexure]

Oh, how better is it? I have the P4 too... and considering an upgrade - I'm hesitating between the Mavic's portability and the 1 inch sensor of the P4P... What's your take on the differences between the P4 and the P4P?

The 1-inch sensor is SUCH an improvement from the regular P4. If you do more still imaging you'll love the P4 Pro/Pro+ camera. Not sure if you do any professional/commercial work but if yes, you're definitely going to want to go the P4 Pro route.

 

[F3honda4me]

I still have some mixed feelings:

- I've had 3 GPS losses in 34 flights where I had none with my P3 Pro in 278 flights. The P4 Pro was even blown away a bit by the wind in ATTI. Without sight it would have gone.

- The camera has better quality when there's no motion, no question. But in motion (even in slow) it shows visible ghosting/smearing effects that visible affects image resolution in UHD. I wonder why only few people complain about that. It's even visible on a Full HD screen and reported by several users.

- The codec, even H.264 is somewhat crappy. Both Premiere CC and EDIUS show very bad performance and even crash sometimes while editing. Rendering hardly is a problem.
I have many other cameras that operate in 4K/30p/100Mbps from other vendors (Sony, Panasonic) and none shows this problems with the files.

All drones will blow in the wind in ATTI.... I suggest you contact Dji about the loss of gps.

Motion is way better on my p4p than my P4. Especially when using the h265 codec. There are some that are affected by an issue though that is being fixed in a firmware update. Doesn't affect all drones. That's why very few complain about it.

I use premiere pro CC to edit. Never had a single crash. I have no performance issues either editing in PP. you're using proxies right?

 

[hambone435]

This is an interesting comment, as I see others saying that 5.8Ghz is the secret to long range. I'm getting mixed signals (no pun intended).

do you switch manually 2.4 to 5.8 i thought its automatic if it is manual how do you switch it

 

[Nowelly]

My P4P is supposed to be here on Wednesday and I'm beginning to wonder if I made a mistake. There are so many threads dedicated to issues people are having I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth getting.

I got mine before Christmas and I have to say, from the flights I have so far conducted, very good drone indeed... Very stable, very good camera, intuitive to use, but definitely a learning curve in some ways. The only thing I do strongly complain about where DJI are concerned is that these aircraft are far from being cheap disposable items, and DJI support is both amateur and seems to be squarely focussed more on sales and marketing rather than customer support. I have spoken with many "authorised dealers", for example, who have informed me that they are STILL waiting for up to £400,000 (that is pounds sterling, UK) orders to be satisfied for spare parts. I had a brief moment where I accidentally flew it into my hose reel in the back garden: my fault, I had switched it off of tripod mode to positioning (which speeds it up dramatically), and in a confined space, not a good idea if you touch the throttle a bit too heavy handedly, which I did. Long story short, a rotor blade shattered, and an LED light cover was lost. So, I try to get spare blades - no probs - the P4 blades fit. Then I try to get flight LED light caps for spares, order them in and they don't fit (the P4 covers are convex whilst the P4P ones are concave). Tried to get prop guards for use in confined spaces, nope: DJI have changed the design of the slots to have 2 teeth instead of 3 like on the P4. DJI focussed in their marketing on the improvement differences, but the information they supply is shockingly bad confirming the actual differences between the two drones which, to the untrained eye, does not look a great deal when you see them side by side. The rotor motors are also different as it turned out, so an order I made for spare motors was a waste of time too. In addition, be very careful with choosing micro SD cards: for a kick off, if you format the card anywhere but the Phantom and the DJI GO 4 app, you might risk the drone rejecting the card when you slot it back in. This is completely poor of DJI considering DSLRs and high end full frame digital compacts therefore appear to have superior chipsets/ bus controllers/ software than the Phantom to ensure they are not nearly as temperamental and selective where memory cards are concerned. DJI just specify UHS 1, Class 10 up to 128GB. Unfortunately there are MANY different card variations, and I have bought 3 or 4 cards all of which were rejected by the phantom UNTIL I either formatted them in my Sony RX1R Mark II, or, only formatted them in the drone. DJI need to supply far better information about what is and what is not compatible with its products and I am glad to say they have indeed acknowledged this flaw.

Other than these irritants (which just mean DJI really need to match service and support quality with product quality, especially for such an expensive product that can easily be damaged), AND, make the parts and spares available to market at the SAME TIME as releasing the product (many parts of which they still are not in a position to confirm a date for annoyingly), the drone itself is a very good product. Please, please ensure your compass is calibrated well out of the way of any interference, and ALWAYS calibrate the IMU and pair the controller before taking off. I do habitually ensure I do all of the calibration activities pre-flight to be doubly sure the aircraft is ready and happy. Do not take off until 10 or more satellites are seen either. If your 2.4GHz link is showing too much interference and you are doing a close quarters flight, switch over to 5.8GHz manually - I find that helps in cases where risk of mobile or WiFi interference is increased.

The camera (the reason I got it) is simply brilliant... Couldn't be happier, but then I use a Sony RX100 V, and I knew the BSI stacked sensor in that was superb anyway, which is what this P4P uses along with the InSpire 2 Xenmuse X4S camera.

Happy flying - try not to crash before DJI have all the spare parts to market!

 

[Feez]

I absolutely love mine!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Kman]

Just picked one up tonight. Battery is charging now.

 

[Mitch hammer]

My P4P is supposed to be here on Wednesday and I'm beginning to wonder if I made a mistake. There are so many threads dedicated to issues people are having I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth getting.

I got the p3 and love it . I bought the 4 about 3 months ago . It wouldn't connect with my tablet and the s.d.slot would not eject the card . I finally found someone with DJI to help me out . They had me send it back for repairs . I mailed it out at the beginning of December. I got a email yesterday saying they just got it . If that's the case I won't get it back for several weeks . That's a lot of money out for something I have never used !! When it comes back , ( if it's anything like the p3 ) and is fixed I'm sure it will b worth it !!
My Hammer

 

[ReubenMru]

Not sure if you do any professional/commercial work but if yes.

Thanks, and yes, I'm totally into the professional/commercial work now

 

[Dronefriend]

I shot video in 100 ISO after sunset. With the wrong WB. Video was very dark and blue to the extremes... managed to save it all in DaVinci Resolve. Incredible save when comparing to my old P3S. The amount of info stored is awesome. Will upload video later today it came out very nice considering the time of day and WB settings.

 

[Jason Porembski]

Love my P4P


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Chesapeake]

Got 2 P4P+. Video freezes up on both. Talking about the vid feedback to the tx. Updated both including the TX. Have never had a prob with DJI except on these. Wish I had kelp my Mavic. But glad to see some people are having success. I'm sure dji will come out with a fix they always do.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

im loving my p4p! the biggest issue so far is that the batteries run down, so ive ordered more...

Are you using the 5350 or 5870 battery? A vendor has posted that he has received many DOA 5350s. How many minutes are you averaging per flight on which battery?

 

[Mier]

I'm liking mine so far. I've flown it a bit and I've not seen any image quality issues. I need to shoot some stills to be absolutely sure but the video I've got all seems sharp so no camera issues so far. I've got that care refresh thing so hopefully I will get some semblance of customer support versus what others report. It'd be a shame to have to pay for good treatment.

For a first time drone I've had a good experience so far and perhaps I've spoiled myself for other drones. I was debating on getting a Mavic for those traveling pictures but I may not be satisfied with the picture quality.

 

[cr6]

I came from the Phantom 3 Professional and couldn't be happier with mine. It's a tremendous upgrade from the P3P. No gimbal issues, GPS/transmission issues, nothing.
Their are a number of locations where I live in which my P3P had magnetic interference or transmission issues, yet my P4P flies in the very same locations without a single problem. No transmission issues and spot on video connection every single time I fly no matter where I'm at.

What boggles my mind is just how many folks purchase a brand new drone and never bother to read the actual manual. Not the quick start guide or the tiny 5pg thing that comes with the quad, but the actual 69pg PDF that you need to download off DJI's website. I print them out with every new quad I buy. IMO, it's so much easier to use as a reference, then trying to read it off your phone, tablet or pc. People think that just because they have a previous model or experience flying that somehow they know all they need to know. Most of the issues that have been reported since it's release have been resolved due to simple user related corrections.
Granted there have been (and always will be) minor issues reported here and there that arise with a any new model. This happens with everything, whether it's a new model car, smartphone, tv, etc etc. Yet everytime it happens, people act surprised that it happened to them and swear off ever buying from said manufacturer again. That or they bad mouth the company all over social media and make others doubt their purchasing decision.
I will say that DJI has less than ideal customer service. But even that can be explained. The fact that DJI is the number one supplier of consumer/prosumer drones, coupled with them being a Chinese company makes the wait times to speak with someone in English painfully long. DJI is like the Samsung or Apple of the drone world. BUT, when you do finally get in touch with someone they are always friendly and extremely helpful. (Unless you're trying to get Mavic ship dates) LOL.

<----climbing off my soapbox now. all I can say is that this is one bad@ss quad and by far the best I've ever owned. I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
I got mine through Drone Nerds in South Florida and received amazing service.

 

[Anticipate]

I have had the Phantom 1 & 2, and the Inspire 1 (original and X5 upgrade), and now the Mavic and the P4P. I skipped the P4 and P3.

I sold the Inspire mostly because it was a PITA to carry around and use. For my purposes (fun/hobby, or quick shots for jobs... when I get certified or for people I hire), the I1 was just too big and took too much time to set up. The lack of OA on these things was also troublesome because in some areas I cringed when RTH.

The P4P is a revelation. It flies as stable as the I1 if not more so, and nearly as fast. It flies at least 5 min longer in real world use than my old I1 (given same battery use to 10-20%), if not more so. I can fly at least as far as the I1 if not longer without signal breakup in complex environments (more testing needed but so far - very good). It is MUCH smaller, fits in a backpack, and takes only a couple of minutes to get in the air. The video quality is vastly improved over the I1 X3, with the CODEC being far more tuned to pro work and the sensor still large enough compared to the X5 to get nice filmic shots with good dynamic range and lack of artificial sharpening. And it seems for the most part, all the flashing pixels and noise caused by the previously poor H.264 implementation and poor bitrate are gone. Basically you're getting extremely high quality, clean footage that looks natural with wide dynamic range ... which unless you had a X5R before was difficult to impossible without some poor artifacts.

And I haven't even begun diving into all the intelligent features, which I didn't have many of on the I1.

The downsides are that useless high wind warning, the way OA sees the sun as an obstacle, and the fact that flying 4 miles out seems to be a fantasy unless you're over open water.

As compared to the Mavic, there is no contest regarding video quality. The Mavic is too sharp, lacks significant detail, and has all kinds of mushy artifacts and compression artifacts compared to the P4P. It's still decent for what it is, and seems to have better processing than the P4. But it doesn't hold a candle to the P4P, except being decent at stills. I also have seen less range and oddness like blurry parts of the image in cold weather.

So far, anyway, I LOVE my P4P.

I also picked up a Mavic. I think that thing is truly a revelation in size and agility.

 

[Mac Drone]

I got mine before Christmas and I have to say, from the flights I have so far conducted, very good drone indeed... Very stable, very good camera, intuitive to use, but definitely a learning curve in some ways. The only thing I do strongly complain about where DJI are concerned is that these aircraft are far from being cheap disposable items, and DJI support is both amateur and seems to be squarely focussed more on sales and marketing rather than customer support. I have spoken with many "authorised dealers", for example, who have informed me that they are STILL waiting for up to £400,000 (that is pounds sterling, UK) orders to be satisfied for spare parts. I had a brief moment where I accidentally flew it into my hose reel in the back garden: my fault, I had switched it off of tripod mode to positioning (which speeds it up dramatically), and in a confined space, not a good idea if you touch the throttle a bit too heavy handedly, which I did. Long story short, a rotor blade shattered, and an LED light cover was lost. So, I try to get spare blades - no probs - the P4 blades fit. Then I try to get flight LED light caps for spares, order them in and they don't fit (the P4 covers are convex whilst the P4P ones are concave). Tried to get prop guards for use in confined spaces, nope: DJI have changed the design of the slots to have 2 teeth instead of 3 like on the P4. DJI focussed in their marketing on the improvement differences, but the information they supply is shockingly bad confirming the actual differences between the two drones which, to the untrained eye, does not look a great deal when you see them side by side. The rotor motors are also different as it turned out, so an order I made for spare motors was a waste of time too. In addition, be very careful with choosing micro SD cards: for a kick off, if you format the card anywhere but the Phantom and the DJI GO 4 app, you might risk the drone rejecting the card when you slot it back in. This is completely poor of DJI considering DSLRs and high end full frame digital compacts therefore appear to have superior chipsets/ bus controllers/ software than the Phantom to ensure they are not nearly as temperamental and selective where memory cards are concerned. DJI just specify UHS 1, Class 10 up to 128GB. Unfortunately there are MANY different card variations, and I have bought 3 or 4 cards all of which were rejected by the phantom UNTIL I either formatted them in my Sony RX1R Mark II, or, only formatted them in the drone. DJI need to supply far better information about what is and what is not compatible with its products and I am glad to say they have indeed acknowledged this flaw.

Other than these irritants (which just mean DJI really need to match service and support quality with product quality, especially for such an expensive product that can easily be damaged), AND, make the parts and spares available to market at the SAME TIME as releasing the product (many parts of which they still are not in a position to confirm a date for annoyingly), the drone itself is a very good product. Please, please ensure your compass is calibrated well out of the way of any interference, and ALWAYS calibrate the IMU and pair the controller before taking off. I do habitually ensure I do all of the calibration activities pre-flight to be doubly sure the aircraft is ready and happy. Do not take off until 10 or more satellites are seen either. If your 2.4GHz link is showing too much interference and you are doing a close quarters flight, switch over to 5.8GHz manually - I find that helps in cases where risk of mobile or WiFi interference is increased.

The camera (the reason I got it) is simply brilliant... Couldn't be happier, but then I use a Sony RX100 V, and I knew the BSI stacked sensor in that was superb anyway, which is what this P4P uses along with the InSpire 2 Xenmuse X4S camera.

Happy flying - try not to crash before DJI have all the spare parts to market!

Great...so what do you use to download ur footage? What specs on ur computer?

 

[Dirby]

flew two batterys today all is good.