P3 4K = Underrated

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I've owned my P3 4K since July, and absolutely love my bird. I recently bought a new P3 Advanced, and although I find it superior, the 4K will always have a special place in my hobby/heart. IMO, the P3 4K is the most underrated model in DJI's lineup. You get a fantastic 4K camera, upgraded transmitter, VPS and decent range (for Wifi that is).

Last weekend, I took my P3 4K out 1380m (4527ft) with a completely stock transmitter (aside from a cheap pair of windsurfers). At its furthest point, I started to get choppy video feed, but still had full RC signal. Had I have taken it up another 30-40m in altitude, I could have probably gone even further. The Phantom 3's are truly awesome machines (even if/when they don't always cooperate).

A quick snap of my flight is attached to this thread.
 
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It seems that its the least advertised too. I didn't even know there was a P3 4k until I came here. I seen it priced around 634 on Amazon, you could get the Advanced for 699 on Amazon.

For me the Standard is enough I don't plan to take really long flights, I stay line of sight anyway plus 2.7k resolution is fine, plenty sharp for me, especially coming from mounting 1080p action cams like Runcams on my other quads. The 2k camera on the Standard is plenty enough for me.
 
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Yea, the prices on the P3 4K seemed to spike a bit over the past month. I paid $599 for mine back in July. As for the Standard, it's a great unit.
 
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Lucked out on mine and got it for 499. but added the itelite panel on it . I had rather have it than the Pro/Adv .
My longest was 20,000 in no noise and it fly's great . 3+ miles is the norm for it on runs and with what I have for a PC all I use is the 1080 .
Most likely my last Phantom as I have the Mavic ordered but Rebel will not go anywhere . Is very stable and has never let me down .
 
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Lucked out on mine and got it for 499. but added the itelite panel on it . I had rather have it than the Pro/Adv .
My longest was 20,000 in no noise and it fly's great . 3+ miles is the norm for it on runs and with what I have for a PC all I use is the 1080 .
Most likely my last Phantom as I have the Mavic ordered but Rebel will not go anywhere . Is very stable and has never let me down .
That's awesome, man! I usually shoot in 1080 as well, but it's nice having the 4K option.
 
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The Standard is way underrated, as well. It's on Amazon new for $437 today. My Standard broke the mile barrier with the DBS-01 antenna upgrade, and flies just as well as my Pro. Plus, I can get a bit more reckless with the Standard, less money on the line...
That makes it a great trainer.
 
4k is awesome to watch, but CPU hungry when editing is involved. Just spent $600 to rebuild my desktop, hoping to speed things up a bit.
 
The Standard is way underrated, as well. It's on Amazon new for $437 today. My Standard broke the mile barrier with the DBS-01 antenna upgrade, and flies just as well as my Pro. Plus, I can get a bit more reckless with the Standard, less money on the line...
That makes it a great trainer.
Completely agree.
 
View attachment 68409 I've owned my P3 4K since July, and absolutely love my bird. I recently bought a new P3 Advanced, and although I find it superior, the 4K will always have a special place in my hobby/heart. IMO, the P3 4K is the most underrated model in DJI's lineup. You get a fantastic 4K camera, upgraded transmitter, VPS and decent range (for Wifi that is).

Last weekend, I took my P3 4K out 1380m (4527ft) with a completely stock transmitter (aside from a cheap pair of windsurfers). At its furthest point, I started to get choppy video feed, but still had full RC signal. Had I have taken it up another 30-40m in altitude, I could have probably gone even further. The Phantom 3's are truly awesome machines (even if/when they don't always cooperate).

A quick snap of my flight is attached to this thread.
When you were talking about the range and said with Wi-Fi that is I don't really understand because the range is not ran from the Wi-Fi my understanding is that the range is controlled strictly through the controller to Wi-Fi only sends a signal from your app to the controller. But you are correct the p34k does not allow you to use a dongle wire so you must connect from your device to your controller through Wi-Fi. Andy 1500 meters that you went out really does sound great because DJI says the Phantom 3 4 K will only go 500 metres out. It seems like reading things on the web about updating the firmware can make it more difficult than it really is according to DJI when updating the firmware on your app it will send the signal to the controller and the bird so that they will update automatically once you have started doing your update on your app as long as they are turned on any feedback on my comments would be appreciated thanks
 
I have never owned a DJI before I recently bought my P3 Standard but coming from all the cheap and garbage quads I've flown. The Standard feels and performs WAY better than most quads.

The first GPS quad I ever owned was a Cheerson CX-22 and my god what a piece of trash that was. The body was made out of egg shells and the GPS never worked right. That's what kind of scared me into getting another GPS quad. Because of the bad experience I had with the Cheerson but i'm glad I bought the standard because its everything the Cheerson isn't.
 
When you were talking about the range and said with Wi-Fi that is I don't really understand because the range is not ran from the Wi-Fi my understanding is that the range is controlled strictly through the controller to Wi-Fi only sends a signal from your app to the controller. But you are correct the p34k does not allow you to use a dongle wire so you must connect from your device to your controller through Wi-Fi. Andy 1500 meters that you went out really does sound great because DJI says the Phantom 3 4 K will only go 500 metres out. It seems like reading things on the web about updating the firmware can make it more difficult than it really is according to DJI when updating the firmware on your app it will send the signal to the controller and the bird so that they will update automatically once you have started doing your update on your app as long as they are turned on any feedback on my comments would be appreciated thanks
The P3 4K (and Standard) transmitter creates a Wifi "hotspot" that the aircraft connects to/with. Although this connection is amplified, it is still Wifi. The distance range for the P3 4K is rated at 1200m under optimal conditions. Mind you, this is for FCC. The 500m you're referring to is for CE. I was able to get this range because I was flying over water where there was zero interference from other Wifi "noise". In densely populated residential areas (where there's a ton of Wifi and other interference), the range is greatly reduced.
 
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I have never owned a DJI before I recently bought my P3 Standard but coming from all the cheap and garbage quads I've flown. The Standard feels and performs WAY better than most quads.

The first GPS quad I ever owned was a Cheerson CX-22 and my god what a piece of trash that was. The body was made out of egg shells and the GPS never worked right. That's what kind of scared me into getting another GPS quad. Because of the bad experience I had with the Cheerson but i'm glad I bought the standard because its everything the Cheerson isn't.
Yes, the Phantom 3 series is quite excellent. Even though the Standard is considered the so called "beginner model that DJI offers), it is still leaps and bounds ahead of the competition elsewhere (Hubsan, Cheerson, UpAir, Parrot, etc.). Pick yourself up a cheap pair of windsurfers on Amazon, and you'll get a noticeable improvement in range. Glad you're enjoying your new drone!
 
The P3 4K (and Standard) transmitter creates a Wifi "hotspot" that the aircraft connects to/with. Although this connection is amplified, it is still Wifi. The distance range for the P3 4K is rated at 1200m under optimal conditions. Mind you, this is for FCC. The 500m you're referring to is for CE. I was able to get this range because I was flying over water where there was zero interference from other Wifi "noise". In densely populated residential areas (where there's a ton of Wifi and other interference), the range is quite bad.
Shouldn't be a problem with line of sight flying right?
 
Shouldn't be a problem with line of sight flying right?
Yes. But again, even with LOS, you need to be flying in an area free from any interference. The furthest range I've achieved in a dense residential area was 700m. I was flying at 90m altitude and had my windsurfers directly aimed at the aircraft. I recently ran the same test with my P3A. However, this was in a much denser area, and I was surrounded with trees and houses. The bird was only in LOS for about 300m before it disappeared over the trees. With the stock P3A transmitter (no windsurfers), I was able to hit 1100m before losing connection. I would imagine that I would have no problems hitting 2-3 miles if I was over water, or out in a rural area. The difference is night and day.
 
Yes. But again, even with LOS, you need to be flying in an area free from any interference. The furthest range I've achieved in a dense residential area was 700m. I was flying at 90m altitude and had my windsurfers directly aimed at the aircraft. I recently ran the same test with my P3A. However, this was in a much denser area, and I was surrounded with trees and houses. The bird was only in LOS for about 300m before it disappeared over the trees. With the stock P3A transmitter (no windsurfers), I was able to hit 1100m before losing connection. I would imagine that I would have no problems hitting 2-3 miles if I was over water, or out in a rural area. The difference is night and day.
I try to avoid densely populated area's. Don't feel like getting harassed by people. I tend to find either country area's or empty ball fields to fly in.
 
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I bought my P3 4K about 2 months ago and it has been flying 1200 to 1400m on numerous occasions with windsurfers. The last few flights though, the video cuts out very early and LOS comes soon after that. I contacted DJI about problems upgrading the firmware and they told me 1.5.4 was the latest. What are you using for firmware? Is there a way to update it past 1.5.4?
To correct the video loss they had me reset video link then rebind the RC to the AC. Hopefully I'll be able to try it tomorrow if the weather clears.
If anyone can help it would be appreciated. Thanks
 

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