On my way to pick up P4

[Ramphex]

Hey fellas, I'm currently on my way to the Apple Store to pick up my first DJI Product: Phantom 4.

I'm not new to the quadcopter/drone scene but this will be my first "expensive" one. I'm very excited to get my hands on it.

Anyone else excited for me? Does this remind you of the day you were driving to pick up your Phantom?

 

[KiltguyJae]

I haven't gotten one yet, but plan to get one early this summer. I'd get it now, but I'm going on vacation soon and if I spend $1500 on a drone before then, my wife will kill me in my sleep and take a friend. lol

 

[Sinisalo]

Awesome! Make sure you read the manual, you have to download it from the DJI website here:
https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/phantom_4/en/Phantom_4_User_Manual_en_v1.2_160317.zip

 

[Ramphex]

Haha yeah I have a vacation coning up shortly too. Luckily I still have my Apple Barclay Rewards card with 0% APR for another year so I charged it to that. Going to get reward points to redeem for iTunes gift cards and will also pay it off before any interest. Hoping to take it with me on my vacation.

Sinisalo, thank you for the manual link, sir.

 

[George Race]

Congrats, you are really going to enjoy your new P4, it is one sweet flying bird!
Read the manual is great advice!
Before you fly, make sure it is in beginners mode and do a COMPASS CALIBRATION, before flying. That is all you will need and you will be good to go. Enjoy and have fun, it is really a sweet flying bird!

 

[Bocephus-73]

Enjoy the over-priced bird --- although if Obstacle Avoidance prevents a crash or two then I guess it's worth the extra money.

Once the luster has worn off --- sell the P4 and get a P3 Pro with a battery mod and enjoy truly awesome range with real 28 min. flight times.

 

[Justgregg]

The new p4 will request firmware upgrades so make sure you do an IMU and GPS calibration!

 

[Ramphex]

Checking back in.

Got the item, charged up the remote and the battery. Launched for the first time and registered the devices. 3 updates were installed, at first it said firmware was unknown so it installed another firmware then prompted me to update my firmware on the RC and the P4.

After about 10 mins total of updates, it was able to take it out for some quick flights. Did the calibrations and did some quick flying in the beginner mode. Took a couple of pictures in semi-low light condition and then called it a night due to the darkness setting in. For low light, pictures came out pretty good. Wore the battery down to about 46% and now charging it back up.

Definitely love the device, after flying Syma Quads for the last couple of months, this is a world of difference. The ability to hover is amazing. All of the statistics that you see on your phone are phenomenal to know what is going on at all times. Return to Home worked perfect and notifications of each step to the device were also excellent advising me when it was returning and when it was landing. I love my P4. Quality is definitely up to par with Apple and with the design and the color scheme, I'm curious if Apple has anything to do with this company or if they'll eventually try to merge like they did with Beats Headphones. So far no complaints at all. Can't wait until a nice weather day to do some day time flying out of the beginner mode.

Next items to invest into: iPad Mini 4 for bigger display, Carrying Case/Bag to replace the stock (longer term), and a couple of batteries to be able to fly while the other batteries recharge.

5/5 stars.

 

[Kman]

Enjoy!

Make sure you update the batteries and controller, update firmware, calibrate IMU, and calibrate compass before your first flight.

If you are using an apple device, use the built in simulator in the DJI Go app to become familiar with the controls.

Happy flying.

 

[Ramphex]

3 days later. Going to purchase a second battery to continue flying while one is charging

 

[oblivie]

Returning mine tomorrow...... P4 is bs.... Way overpriced ..... DJI....."there's a sucker born everyday".... Should be there new motto

 

[Ramphex]

Thanks for thread jacking. Your slogan should be "because all the other ranting of mine isn't enough".

Maybe go try whining on the DJI forums as this one has nothing to do with the company and is simply here for people to discuss their products.

 

[storrowdrive]

Congrats! You'll love it. Drive it like you stole it.

 

[r0adb10ck]

Thanks for thread jacking. Your slogan should be "because all the other ranting of mine isn't enough".

Maybe go try whining on the DJI forums as this one has nothing to do with the company and is simply here for people to discuss their products.

Outstanding.

 

[Patrick]

Congrats! You'll love it. Drive it like you stole it.

in all seriousness don't or you'll end up like this fellow in the photo below

be cautious, courteous and you'll have a great time and will get along with your neighbors!

 

[Patrick]

P4 is awesome, I love it!

Activetrack - allows great video, amazing how the camera smoothly follows the subject, i believe this shoots better video than 99% of the pilots out there.

Its solid as a rock - so stable it makes the previous phantoms feel like a toy IMO.

Sport Mode - super fast and responsive

TapFLY - amazing how it can avoid obstacles and fly just by tapping the direction.

RTH with object avoidance - if the worst happens this bad boy is staying out of the FAA/LEAs hands and likely not going to get stuck on a building.

I'm on my 9th flight , getting consistently 14 to 15 minutes flight time using 50% of the battery, i suspect when my batteries are broken in ill get fairly close to advertised time.

oh and remember to break in the batteries, its suggested not to fly below 50% for the first 10 flights

 

[Ramphex]

Thanks everyone!! I picked up the second battery today and will alternate using them down to 50%. So far got some nice pics and a couple of cool videos with it. Can't believe the clarity. My Syma X8C was taken away by very strong wind the other day and I was forced to crash land it into the woods. Probably going to use my P4 to fly over the area and see if I can locate where the X8C is in the woods.