So I recently sold my P3A to buy a 2nd hand inspire, unfortunately there was damage to the motor mounts and now I'm droneless . I considered bighting the bullet and buying a new v2.0 inspire. Now I've been considering a new P4, I was really impressed with my P3A and the added flight time of the P4 is very appealing to me, the tracking modes aren't really important and the collision avoidance is a nice extra (but not too excited about it), I'm going to Lanzarote in December so the portability of the P4 as hand luggage is great (although I don't intend to take it abroad regularly). I've nearly bought one several times this weekend but I can't help looking at the inspire. How are you folks finding your P4's are they living up to your expectations?
possible new P4 owner
- Thread starter jskdog
- Start date
msinger
Approved Vendor
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2014
- Messages
- 31,958
- Reaction score
- 10,786
- Location
- Harrisburg, PA (US)
- Website
- phantomhelp.com
The Inspire 1 and Phantom 3/4 are completely different animals. If you really require the unique features of an Inspire 1, then a Phantom 3/4 likely won't fit the bill.
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
Heard new P4 version on the horizon 
don't know it's a rumor or a fact.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
don't know it's a rumor or a fact. Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
If the prime appeal of a P4 versus a P3 is battery life you will likely be disappointed. A P4 gets nowhere near the 28 minutes advertised. Think 14-22 depending on how you fly. 14 in full-out Sport Mode. 22 if you fly mellow in P-mode. The longest P5 flight I ever had was performing a battery running test. I got 24 minutes hovering a few feet above takeoff point. This was running the battery all the way down to 0%.
I really am lost at the moment, I flew the 2nd hand inspire for 5 mins and it was incredible, the speed was fantastic and the presence in the air made it much easier to see at distance, but I wouldn't be able to take it on as hand luggage.They are both great birds .....which doesn't help my choice.
msinger
Approved Vendor
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2014
- Messages
- 31,958
- Reaction score
- 10,786
- Location
- Harrisburg, PA (US)
- Website
- phantomhelp.com
Yes -- they are certainly both great in different ways and for different uses. That's why I own both
I think it really matters why you bought the Inspire. Sounds like you haven't had it long, or even flown it yet. Unless you need it for something specific I think you'll miss the portability of a Phantom. I would almost guarantee you'll be disappointed in the range of the P4 compared to your P3A. You'll need an antenna upgrade to the P4 controller to be happy.
msinger
Approved Vendor
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2014
- Messages
- 31,958
- Reaction score
- 10,786
- Location
- Harrisburg, PA (US)
- Website
- phantomhelp.com
I'm very happy with my P4's range. Then again, I don't try to break any long distance flight records.
I have a P4 I bought 2-3 months ago, and I love it. I tried flying an Inspire and found it very aggressive in movement, but no faster than my P4 and I found the battery life on my P4 to be more than enough given that a second battery doubles it. I bought a hard flight case and as it is lighter than the Inspire, I was able to take it to Turkey and Guernsey recently without paying for extra baggage, and got some amazing pictures and videos. The P4 camera is the same spec as the Inspire X3 camera so don't expect anything more for your extra bucks. For my money the P4 is a great all rounder. Be careful - the Inspire high capacity TB48 battery is not accepted on commercial flights as it is over 100wh limit. Oh, and spares are cheaper with the P4...
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
I flew the inspire for 10 minutes and loved it, felt more responsive then my P3, If the inspires flight time was closer to the 20 minute mark it would be a no brainer. My P3A would do 5k (out to sea so unobstructed) what kind of range does the P4 have?
Furthest I've got is 2k. That's stock, out of the box, clear LOS over water. Disappointing, but I will get over that very soon with some cheap upgrades.
I would suggest that if possible go and see (in the flesh) a P4 flying, try one if you can. The videos on 'Youtube' etc are very good but nothing like being there when it's really happening before your very eyes (and ears)!
I am not qualified in any way to comment on any of these other machines but from my own point of view I'm most certainly not disappointed in any way (I am a patient learner and having flown a number of full sized real aircraft types I can appreciate the problems one can get into when flying) For me the P4 is very good, not cheap (neither do I think it should be, it seems very well made and thought out). There can always be improvements, some of those come down to personal taste. It's probably not a racing machine, or amphibious (without a lot of personal input), but is is I believe a good camera platform capable of some exquisite video and photography from comparative beginners to experts.
I have to ask, "do you actually know what you want your drone to do", if the answer is 'YES' then you are probably half way there. I'm sure in that case you would find loads more helpful info within forums such as this. If you don't really know what you want (and you have the money) I don't believe you can go far wrong with the P4 and the VERY HELPFUL comments for beginners withing the pages of this forum.
I am not qualified in any way to comment on any of these other machines but from my own point of view I'm most certainly not disappointed in any way (I am a patient learner and having flown a number of full sized real aircraft types I can appreciate the problems one can get into when flying) For me the P4 is very good, not cheap (neither do I think it should be, it seems very well made and thought out). There can always be improvements, some of those come down to personal taste. It's probably not a racing machine, or amphibious (without a lot of personal input), but is is I believe a good camera platform capable of some exquisite video and photography from comparative beginners to experts.
I have to ask, "do you actually know what you want your drone to do", if the answer is 'YES' then you are probably half way there. I'm sure in that case you would find loads more helpful info within forums such as this. If you don't really know what you want (and you have the money) I don't believe you can go far wrong with the P4 and the VERY HELPFUL comments for beginners withing the pages of this forum.
My friend has a P4 (I showed him how to fly it) and I owned my P3A for 7 months with more then 12 hours flying time, which I loved every minute. The range was incredible but it really struggled in wind (not that it's safe to fly in windy conditions anyway) the power of the inspire is a real plus as it wasn't affected by the wind when I flew it briefly (I was flying with my dad who has a P3A and couldn't really hold a hover)
I guess I want an inspire that can go on as hand luggage and fly for 20 mins .
Thankyou LoomsterReally nice stuff there, you obviously put a bit of thought into what you were filming.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2016
- Messages
- 28
- Reaction score
- 4
- Age
- 46
I have both a p4 and inspire 1 v2, I have the inspire for windy conditions living in Scotland it's windy quite a lot.
The inspire is a pain to carry around and setup.
I've had my P4 2-3 miles away and I still have good signal on my iPad display.
The inspire is a pain to carry around and setup.
I've had my P4 2-3 miles away and I still have good signal on my iPad display.
I've got an Inspire and a P4. For me they are two different purposed birds with some cross-over. The Inspire is great if you are really into ariel photography, meaning you want the ability to change out cameras, you want the ability to have two operators, one for the camera and one to fly and don't mind its larger size.
Flight times with the Inspire are shorter than the P4, its much bigger than the P4, so its not as portable as the P4. Personally, I like some of the features of the P4 like the ActiveTrak and its smaller size which allows me to take it on the back of my motorcycle (along with camping gear)...
Flight times with the Inspire are shorter than the P4, its much bigger than the P4, so its not as portable as the P4. Personally, I like some of the features of the P4 like the ActiveTrak and its smaller size which allows me to take it on the back of my motorcycle (along with camping gear)...
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2016
- Messages
- 1,626
- Reaction score
- 418
- Age
- 49
Agreed on all but for some odd reason YMMV on the minutes. This was me doing tests which I don't do anymore because I want to keep my bats fresh but I could routinely get 25 and 24 but is have to run the bat all the way down to about 5-8% but I won't go below 15-20% now.
