New P3S vs refurbished

[NoobDroneFisherMan]

Is buying 1 or 2 years old P3S worth it? If yes then from where?

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

With No ONE year warranty with a a old Drone.....the repairs can BE Very Very Expensive...Find a newer one. and try to find ONE close to where you are and set UP a deal that you can watch it fly and observe all systems of its flight.

 

[Daito]

From experience buying New is always your best option, and if you buy from a store you always have other options for repairs and service with a monthly fee. all comes down to how much you want to invest in a product.

I bought a New DSLR back in 2010 and for peace of mind i took out a repair / service plan for £4 a month. The DSLR set me back £1200 im still paying for the service plan now for the same DSLR.
I always have that peace of mind that if any thing should go wrong with it, kids get a hold of it or i drop it while i'm out and about. i cant just take it back to the store and get if fixed or replaced for the same DSLR or as close to the mode i have as possible or a newer model.

As this is a drone you are buying and any thing can go wrong, personal i would go for new and if you can add some kind of service plan to it that even better. These toys are becoming expensive bits of equipment.

If on the other hand you go 2nd hand then all of the above is just waffle. you can get some good deals, just make sure to try before you by and make sure what is advertised is what your getting.
and if you find your are enjoying it and using it all the time and the drone is not collecting dust some where in the man cave. Then maybe look at investing in a new drone and sell on your 2nd hand drone and put the money from that to your new 1..

good luck with your purchase

 

[With The Birds]

You can still get P3S refurbished? Refurbished DJI products are nothing more than those returned and resold. They carry the same warranty as new so no real risk.

 

[New Phantom Owner]

I bought my P3S Refurbished. $300 on Amazon from DJI authorized dealer. Looks literally brand new. The battery cycle count was 1. Came with 8 new DJI props in plastic. I have flown it every day after work for months. I have now over 100 hours of flight and 150miles distance recorded. I consistently fly waypoint mission up to 4 miles round trip using litchi. I fly over 1mile away with goggles and litchi VR. When I opened the controller to install my aftermarket antennas the internals look as they should. My camera records in 2.7k resolution perfectly. The image quality is stellar on my High def 60inch Flat screen. Even if I zoom, crop, edit, modify saturation, exposure, clarity, manual mode with added filters or auto mode the Image and video quality is unlike any other drone I have had. The GPS always brings The P3S back down within at most 2 feet from where it took off in the event of signal loss or return from third party software waypoint missions or Signal loss in VR FPV mode. Mind you I have to fly a good 6,000-7,000 feet away in high humidity around many wifi signals in order to have signal loss issues.
While I can't debate the reality these posts above each make valid points and I shared those same concerns before buying my Refurbished P3S. However since I have experienced no problems WHATSOEVER with my refurbished P3S I thought you may want to take into consideration it is completely possible to purchase a DJI Phantom 3 that has been well taken care of, reconditioned, factory tested and shipped with a new battery and new props. There was a disclaimer in my purchase description that stated the product may have minor scratches or minimal signs of wear. Although I have meticulously scrutinized its exterior and functionality still have yet to discover any imperfections. This thing looks brand new, flies very stable, responsive, and fast. Easily 40 mph consistantly in GPS mode. DJI Sells literally Millions of dollars in products, when consumers by the newer products and upgrade. Many sell thier previous models. Many end up back at DJI to be refurbished, tested and resold. If you do some research you will find the owner of DJI didn't start the company in 2007 while in college on a $2500 grant and develop a multi billion dollar company in 10 years without making the absolute best quality rtf drones on the market. DJI manufactures to the highest quality control standards of any company I am aware of and the refurbished drones would not be sold by DJI authorized dealers if they didn't meet those same QC standards. They would not risk tarnishing the company name. So maybe I got lucky, or perhaps the quality control is second to none and these are the best rtf quads on the market. The people who posted above make valid points. However I was not disappointed with my refurbished purchase. As with most things doing some research will give you the answers you seek. Find some feedback from customers of this aforementioned DJI dealer you are considering buying from. I know on Amazon sellers must maintain very high percentile of customer satisfaction with basicly non existent bad product occurrences. Worst case scenario, I don't know of any sellers authorized to sell DJI who don't assume liability on delivery of fully functional products. At cost of $300 or more, it would be theft or larceny if they sold you anything less than fully functional products.
DJI didn't get from a net worth of $2500 in 2007 to a multi billion dollar worldwide brand today without manufacturing the best rtf quads on the market.

 

[New Phantom Owner]

I bought my P3S Refurbished. $300 on Amazon from DJI authorized dealer. Looks literally brand new. The battery cycle count was 1. Came with 8 new DJI props in plastic. I have flown it every day after work for months. I have now over 100 hours of flight and 150miles distance recorded. I consistently fly waypoint mission up to 4 miles round trip using litchi. I fly over 1mile away with goggles and litchi VR. When I opened the controller to install my aftermarket antennas the internals look as they should. My camera records in 2.7k resolution perfectly. The image quality is stellar on my High def 60inch Flat screen. Even if I zoom, crop, edit, modify saturation, exposure, clarity, manual mode with added filters or auto mode the Image and video quality is unlike any other drone I have had. The GPS always brings The P3S back down within at most 2 feet from where it took off in the event of signal loss or return from third party software waypoint missions or Signal loss in VR FPV mode. Mind you I have to fly a good 6,000-7,000 feet away in high humidity around many wifi signals in order to have signal loss issues.
While I can't debate the reality these posts above each make valid points and I shared those same concerns before buying my Refurbished P3S. However since I have experienced no problems WHATSOEVER with my refurbished P3S I thought you may want to take into consideration it is completely possible to purchase a DJI Phantom 3 that has been well taken care of, reconditioned, factory tested and shipped with a new battery and new props. There was a disclaimer in my purchase description that stated the product may have minor scratches or minimal signs of wear. Although I have meticulously scrutinized its exterior and functionality still have yet to discover any imperfections. This thing looks brand new, flies very stable, responsive, and fast. Easily 40 mph consistantly in GPS mode. DJI Sells literally Millions of dollars in products, when consumers by the newer products and upgrade. Many sell thier previous models. Many end up back at DJI. If you do some research you will find the owner of DJI didn't start the company in 2007 while in college on a $2500 grant and develop a multi billion dollar company in 10 years without making the absolute best quality rtf drones on the market. DJI manufactures to the highest quality control standards of any company I am aware of and the refurbished drones would not be sold by DJI authorized dealers if they didn't meet those same QC standards. They would not risk tarnishing the company name. So maybe I got lucky, or perhaps the quality control is second to none and these are the best rtf quads on the market. The people who posted above make valid points. However I was not disappointed with my refurbished purchase. As with most things doing some research will give you the answers you seek. Find some feedback from customers of this aforementioned DJI dealer you are considering buying from. I know on Amazon sellers must maintain very high percentile of customer satisfaction with basicly non existent bad product occurrences. Worst case scenario, I don't know of any sellers authorized to sell DJI who don't assume liability on delivery of fully functional products. At cost of $300 or more, it would be theft or larceny if they sold you anything less than fully functional products.
DJI didn't get from a net worth of $2500 in 2007 to a multi billion dollar worldwide brand today without manufacturing the best rtf quads on the market.

Hope all goes well.
...I'm sure it will.