Hey everybody, I'm new to the world of drones so go easy on me.
I initially bought a cheapo Protocol Dronium. The one day I had it was quite frustrating trying to maintain control of the thing, being that I'm a novice but I was able to fly around a bit for it's 5 minute battery life without any significant crashing. Anyway, the next day the thing wouldn't even power up anymore. Perfect condition, not a scratch on it. I returned it and instead bought a Phanton 3 Standard. Thing flew amazingly, but didn't have enough range for me. It would only go about 300ft at around 200ft altitude before I'd get the return to home message. But so easy to fly!! Anyway I figured the lack of range was a combination of operator error, limitations of the technology and interference in the suburban parks I was flying in.
Anyway fast forward to yesterday, I returned the Phantom 3 Standard and purchased a Phantom 4.
My first observation with the Phantom 4 is that with drones, you certainly get what you pay for. The quality of the Phantom 4 is excellent. I highly recommend that anybody who is interested in getting into drone flying, to at minimum start with something like the Phantom 3 Standard. Trying to keep one of those cheap <$100 drones up in the air would be so frustrating for most new pilots that they would be likely to give up on the hobby right away. On the other hand, the Phantom 3 Standard and the Phantom 4 are so fool proof and easy to fly that anybody with a little common sense should have 0 issue maintaining control. So much fun!
Anyway on to the questions.
1) Everything I've read seems to say that beginners should not use 'Sport' mode. I've heeded that advice so far but I have to ask why? As I understand it, the only difference in Sport mode is that the collision detection is disabled and you are allowed to fly much faster. Does the extra speed make it more possible to crash it? The areas where I fly are pretty flat and once I'm above the tree tops, there really aren't any obstacles So taking all obstacles out of the mix, is there anything about Sport Mode that would make me more likely to crash?
2) The range I'm getting on the Phantom 4 is significantly better than what I was getting on the Phantom 3 standard but it's still far less than what I read other posters on this board get. I'm not stating that there's a problem with the product. I'm sure this is operator error or some setting that I have wrong. In my suburban environment I can get around 2600ft of range at about 200ft altitude. It's pretty good range as far as I'm concerned but I see people on this board getting over a mile with the same unmodified equipment. Am I correct I'm assuming that the range is essentially the hypotenuse of the triangle made up of the distance and altitude? As such, I should be able to fly further at lower altitudes as long as I maintain line of sight, right? Would the presence of trees obstruct my signal? Is there any other settings that I could have incorrect?
3) I see lots of mention of Wind Surfer Antenna add-ons. Do these actually work? The thing I keep reading is if you turn while using a Wind Surfer you can lose communication but wouldn't that still instigate the RTH function regardless of how far away the drone has made it? Like if I had a Wind Surfer and made it like 20,000ft away and lost communication, I'd still be fine due to the RTH right?
Anyway in conclusion, I'm well aware that there is already a stickied thread for people to complain about range issues. I chose not to post in there because I don't want any of my questions to be construed as complaining. I love my Phantom 4 and am just trying to learn how to use it more effectively.
I initially bought a cheapo Protocol Dronium. The one day I had it was quite frustrating trying to maintain control of the thing, being that I'm a novice but I was able to fly around a bit for it's 5 minute battery life without any significant crashing. Anyway, the next day the thing wouldn't even power up anymore. Perfect condition, not a scratch on it. I returned it and instead bought a Phanton 3 Standard. Thing flew amazingly, but didn't have enough range for me. It would only go about 300ft at around 200ft altitude before I'd get the return to home message. But so easy to fly!! Anyway I figured the lack of range was a combination of operator error, limitations of the technology and interference in the suburban parks I was flying in.
Anyway fast forward to yesterday, I returned the Phantom 3 Standard and purchased a Phantom 4.
My first observation with the Phantom 4 is that with drones, you certainly get what you pay for. The quality of the Phantom 4 is excellent. I highly recommend that anybody who is interested in getting into drone flying, to at minimum start with something like the Phantom 3 Standard. Trying to keep one of those cheap <$100 drones up in the air would be so frustrating for most new pilots that they would be likely to give up on the hobby right away. On the other hand, the Phantom 3 Standard and the Phantom 4 are so fool proof and easy to fly that anybody with a little common sense should have 0 issue maintaining control. So much fun!
Anyway on to the questions.
1) Everything I've read seems to say that beginners should not use 'Sport' mode. I've heeded that advice so far but I have to ask why? As I understand it, the only difference in Sport mode is that the collision detection is disabled and you are allowed to fly much faster. Does the extra speed make it more possible to crash it? The areas where I fly are pretty flat and once I'm above the tree tops, there really aren't any obstacles So taking all obstacles out of the mix, is there anything about Sport Mode that would make me more likely to crash?
2) The range I'm getting on the Phantom 4 is significantly better than what I was getting on the Phantom 3 standard but it's still far less than what I read other posters on this board get. I'm not stating that there's a problem with the product. I'm sure this is operator error or some setting that I have wrong. In my suburban environment I can get around 2600ft of range at about 200ft altitude. It's pretty good range as far as I'm concerned but I see people on this board getting over a mile with the same unmodified equipment. Am I correct I'm assuming that the range is essentially the hypotenuse of the triangle made up of the distance and altitude? As such, I should be able to fly further at lower altitudes as long as I maintain line of sight, right? Would the presence of trees obstruct my signal? Is there any other settings that I could have incorrect?
3) I see lots of mention of Wind Surfer Antenna add-ons. Do these actually work? The thing I keep reading is if you turn while using a Wind Surfer you can lose communication but wouldn't that still instigate the RTH function regardless of how far away the drone has made it? Like if I had a Wind Surfer and made it like 20,000ft away and lost communication, I'd still be fine due to the RTH right?
Anyway in conclusion, I'm well aware that there is already a stickied thread for people to complain about range issues. I chose not to post in there because I don't want any of my questions to be construed as complaining. I love my Phantom 4 and am just trying to learn how to use it more effectively.
