Phantom 4 Pro or Inspire 1?

Centaurius · Apr 7, 2017

Hello, my name is Bob and I currently have a Phantom 4. Since I really like the drone, I wanted to upgrade next summer to either a Phantom 4 pro or an Inspire 1. The Inspire is usually described as a drone that stands above the entire Phantom series, but with the release of the P4P I'm not sure of this is the case anymore. The P4P has many specs that are better than the Inspire, and the camera even outguns the Inspire's X5 when looking at the fps of 4k video's and the number of megapixels on the camera. On the other side, The Inspire's landing gear goes up, the camera can turn 360 degrees, and you can put different camera's and gimbals underneath it. What do you guys think? Wich one would you buy?

msinger · Apr 7, 2017

Centaurius said:
Wich one would you buy?

What are you going to do with it?

Centaurius · Apr 7, 2017

msinger said:
What are you going to do with it?

With the drone or your answer? I'm just looking for some advise.

msinger · Apr 7, 2017

I'm referring to the drone. The Inspire 1 could be a great choice depending on your needs and budget. It could also be a bad choice for the same reasons. Don't be blinded by things like the fancy landing gear and 360 degree camera. They are pretty useless features for many pilots.

alokbhargava · Apr 7, 2017

What will you be gaining and losing if you buy P4P? Ask this question to you. You may get answer. .

Two different drones have pluses and minuses when compared to each other and what's make you more happier will guide your decision.

Centaurius · Apr 7, 2017

msinger said:
I'm referring to the drone. The Inspire 1 could be a great choice depending on your needs and budget. It could also be a bad choice for the same reasons. Don't be blinded by things like the fancy landing gear and 360 degree camera. They are pretty useless features for many pilots.

My budget is large enough to buy the standard Inspire 1 v2, the most important thing to me is the image and video quality.

DarkDrone 1 · Apr 7, 2017

Are you talking about upgrading this summer (like in a few months), or the summer of 2018?

I personally am going to wait until the P5 comes out before I decide on which way to go. The P4 is providing me with awesome results as is, and I'm not really looking forward to spending all the extra $$ on extra batteries, case, charging hub, etc. in purchasing the Inspire.

Hopefully by the end of this summer I'll have a better idea of what lies in my future.

As far as upgrading from the P4 to the P4P, I don't see $500.00 in improvements.

I don't play those Apple iPhone games (5/5s-6/6s-7/7s-B/BS)....

msinger · Apr 7, 2017

Centaurius said:
My budget is large enough to buy the standard Inspire 1 v2, the most important thing to me is the image and video quality.

You could get the Inspire 1 with the X5R camera if you need the best image/video quality available. The X5R camera will set you back another $5,399 though. The P4P camera will likely be good enough if you're just out shooting for fun though.

Mimoid · Apr 7, 2017

DarkDrone 1 said:
Are you talking about upgrading this summer (like in a few months), or the summer of 2018?

I personally am going to wait until the P5 comes out before I decide on which way to go. The P4 is providing me with awesome results as is, and I'm not really looking forward to spending all the extra $$ on extra batteries, case, charging hub, etc. in purchasing the Inspire.

Hopefully by the end of this summer I'll have a better idea of what lies in my future.

As far as upgrading from the P4 to the P4P, I don't see $500.00 in improvements.

I don't play those Apple iPhone games (5/5s-6/6s-7/7s-B/BS)....

The P4P is not a finished product. It is riddled with bugs, defects and poorly executed features. I would consider it an early beta. In its current state it is vastly inferior to the Phantom 4 and the Inspire 1. I would definitely wait until the bugs have been fixed before buying one.

msinger · Apr 7, 2017

Mimoid said:
The P4P is not a finished product. It is riddled with bugs, defects and poorly executed features. I would consider it an early beta.

What kind of problems are you currently experiencing with your P4P?

Mimoid · Apr 7, 2017

msinger said:
What kind of problems are you currently experiencing with your P4P?

Image compression errors ("crawling ants") with high contrast scenes
Artefacts in the recorded image (horisontal stripes)
Intermittently switching to tripod mode in midair
Shaking images when hovering
Side OAS intermittently disabled
Front OAS erratic behavior - incorrectly registers obstacle in midair and stops forward motion - sun glare?
Auto landing sometimes initiates a sudden sideways motion

I believe all of these are software related issues that will be fixed with an upcoming firmware update.

Meta4 · Apr 7, 2017

Mimoid said:
The P4P is not a finished product. It is riddled with bugs, defects and poorly executed features. I would consider it an early beta. In its current state it is vastly inferior to the Phantom 4 and the Inspire 1. I would definitely wait until the bugs have been fixed before buying one.

That doesn't match my experience with the P4 pro.
I've been flying it lots since December with no worries.
It's a wonderful machine.

Meta4 · Apr 7, 2017

Centaurius said:
My budget is large enough to buy the standard Inspire 1 v2, the most important thing to me is the image and video quality.

If you buy an Inspire 1 with the X3 camera, you will have the same 12MP camera that the Phantom 3 uses.
You'll also have a big, heavy machine that's much harder to transport and much shorter flight times.
It will go a little faster and have some features that are "cool" but won't add much.
You can add the expensive and heavy X5 camera to get slightly better image quality but the price is $$ and an even shorter flight time.
Or you can get the P4 pro that does almost everything the Inspire does, flies for twice as long, has more advanced technology, is easily portable and quick to launch, fits in tighter spaces and has a much better camera.

Mimoid · Apr 7, 2017

Meta4 said:
That doesn't match my experience with the P4 pro.
I've been flying it lots since December with no worries.
It's a wonderful machine.

That was my expectation as well. For now I have returned mine (which thankfully I could as the problems were easy to recreate) and I am back flying with my trusty P4 Classic.

John Locke · Apr 7, 2017

Mimoid said:
That was my expectation as well. For now I have returned mine (which thankfully I could as the problems were easy to recreate) and I am back flying with my trusty P4 Classic.

I heard the gimbal flip still isn't solved, as well as video glitches in 4K video @ 30 and 60fps. Are these still open issues?