Soon to be new owner phantom 3 advanced

[happydays]

Get into a big, big open space with you in the middle. Grab some small boxes and place them out in a square. Then try to fly to each one and stop and hover over it. You can angle the camera down to check how accurate you are. Remember, always, gentle stick movements at first, you don't want full stick movements as everything will be jerky.

Next, try figures of 8. Always difficult to master. The when you have that done, put the drone about 20m or 60' away and circle around yourself while looking at the screen. Try to keep yourself in the middle of the screen. This is a really difficult one to master and should be done very slowly. Make sure there are NO trees around as for sure, your circle will widen as you rotate at first and you could end up in the trees. Ask me how I know.

The very best way to get to learn something is to attempt to film a one off event, like a person (who you know and is ok with it) running or on a bike. Try to follow them and ask them to weave about while you try to follow. Soon enough you'll have the thing licked and will be able to control it like a boss!You will need to get enough confidence not to look at the craft for this one, only at the screen.

That should keep you busy for a while!

 

[phantomi]

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

Remember to remove a little foam cube behind the gimbal. Many didn't see it and letting it there may be detrimental to the gimbal. I will also recommend you that don't use the prop guards.

 

[KingDad1985]

Remember to remove a little foam cube behind the gimbal. Many didn't see it and letting it there may be detrimental to the gimbal. I will also recommend you that don't use the prop guards.

You are right. I didn't see it until after my first flight, which was only 5 minutest or so but I took it out right when I seen it

 

[KingDad1985]

What is the proper way to disconnect or turn off the drone and controller and ipad? I looked on the screen and it doesn't say disconnect anywhere unless I'm missing it. I just turn off the drone, then close the dji app unplug the iPad from controller then I turn off the controller. Is this the right way??? I really really don't want to mess anything up especially because I went to go turn on the controller a little while ago and 4 led lights turned on for a few seconds then went off like I was checking the battery level. Ithe finally turned on. I think I wasn't pressing the buttons correctly. But yeah Ifor you guys can explain to me how you turn off all 3 drone, device, and controller and in what order that would be really helpful. Thank you

 

[msinger]

What is the proper way to disconnect or turn off the drone and controller and ipad?

You should always turn off the Phantom before turning off the remote controller. It doesn't matter when you shut down DJI GO or your tablet.

 

[MikeW]

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

Hi I too had never flown a drone before, but when I got my P3 it easy to fly as long as you don't fly to high or out of line of sight, happy flying.

 

[ElGuapo]

What is the proper way to disconnect or turn off the drone and controller and ipad? I looked on the screen and it doesn't say disconnect anywhere unless I'm missing it. I just turn off the drone, then close the dji app unplug the iPad from controller then I turn off the controller. Is this the right way??? I really really don't want to mess anything up especially because I went to go turn on the controller a little while ago and 4 led lights turned on for a few seconds then went off like I was checking the battery level. Ithe finally turned on. I think I wasn't pressing the buttons correctly. But yeah Ifor you guys can explain to me how you turn off all 3 drone, device, and controller and in what order that would be really helpful. Thank you

Make sure your startup order is correct.
RC then AC then go app.

 

[KingDad1985]

You should always turn off the Phantom before turning off the remote controller. It doesn't matter when you shut down DJI GO or your tablet.

That's what I figured but wasn't too sure. Thank you!

 

[KingDad1985]

Make sure your startup order is correct.
RC then AC then go app.

Cool. Sounds good thanks man

 

[KingDad1985]

Now that I've had some time with the P3A and the great info from this Forum I've noticed that it is extremely easy to fly aslong as I take my time and use common sense. Good stuff!

 

[Gnormand]

I recommend spending an extra $20 (amazon) get the removable prop guards...takes about 10 minutes to install the mounts. Use them
for the first month or two...you'll thank me later

 

[Charlie Millar]

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

Hi,
I got my P3A last week and like you i was apprehensive to fly it in case i crashed, I poured over the manual, tutorials ( although most are for the Pilot app ) and made sure i knew how to calibrate the drone to activate RTH as a failsafe, six days later i got out for my first flight, followed all the set up to fly and within half an hour i was "flying figs of eight" the drone is set to beginner mode so you really can't go wrong...just go slow with everything...it's a fantastic bit of kit

 

[Rance]

Another thing I should mention is I have a galaxy s7 edge but I heard ios is better to use with the phantom. So I also ordered a iPad mini 2 which will be delivered before the drone.

I use an s7, and it works just as well as anything! Buttery smooth! One thing that you'll learn fast is that screen visibility in the sun is KEY. Ipads are notorious for screen glare, so investing in a few things to combat that is a good idea. But your s7 and iPad will both give you a great flying experience. Congrats on your Phantom!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Docspud]

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

I did the same exact thing you did (bought mine last March) and I've had good luck, a lot of fun and have not crashed it. Here's a few tips:

1) Use an iPad as opposed to an iPhone or an android phone (if possible)
2) Set the iPad to airplane mode so that it turns off the wifi and the Bluetooth.
3) Consider deleting a lot of the apps you don't need as I think they
can interfere with the radio transmission between the drone and the controller.
4) Fly it high, at least 200 feet because there is nothing to fly into when you are way up there, and the transmission is usually better.
5) Fly it a number of times just going straight up and then straight down.

Good Luck!

 

[bryan_m]

Hit the record button before you take off. A number of times I would get it up in the air and with all the things going on I would forget to start recording until half way thru or till the end of the flight. You can always cut or delete boring footage, but only if you recorded something in the first place.

 

[Skyedoge]

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

 

[Skyedoge]

I ordered a phantom 3 advanced off of amazon and it should be here Wednesday. It was a bundle deal so I get the hard case backpack, extra battery, some prop gourds and a few other things. I've never flown a drone before and I'm worried I'm going to break it. I've been reading a lot on this forum since yesterday and decided I would make a thread asking everyone for tips or pointers. Any good advice for a newbie? Anything you guys think I should know before I do my first flight on Wednesday? Thank you in advanced

G,Day King dad,
Congratulations for your purchase and I hope you get a lot of fun out of it.. I have had an phantom 3 Advanced now for about 12 months . I found out a long time ago that 1. Upgrading is not as easy as they say. ( I am a 78 year old carpenter/Builder) 2. If you upgrade you can not downgrade. 3.Make sure your batteries are fully charged 4 Be wary off flying over water (especially if there is any movement/chop).Again be wary of upgrading and the use of non DJI programs. Don't try any modes you don't understand properly like waypoint,follow me etc. until you have a full understanding of your craft. If I was going to give any advice ( as if I havn,t already) Stick to p-Mode till you feel comfortable.Don't get overconfident.
If you have sufficient height in this mode (not 2 foot of the ground) Let go of all controls and let it stabilise on its own. If you think you are too far away let go and calmly hit return to home -- hands off -- it will probably stop - go up to its default height- and return to land almost ??? where it took off from. Make sure that it takes off from a reasonable distance from where you stand whilst flying. Not at your feet. Otherwise you might wear it.
Good luck
Skyedoge

 

[The Springs]

I have just bought an Advanced (after giving up on my Standard in despair .FW /range problems??) It came with 1.5 is this a bad FW version for the Advanced ? It seemed to fly alright although It was just one flight today and not far out .

 

[flySwampAirWI]

Don't you know or think my Samsung Galaxy S7 edge will work good? I'm worried about the Ipad mini 2 I have coming might not be ideal since it's only WiFi. I can turn on WiFi Hotspot from my s7 and connect the iPad mini 2 to it. Would that enable the iPad mini 2 to be able to use follow me and all features? Sorry for the rambling. I'm super excited and nervous!

I'm new so I maybe wrong, but couldn't you load the GO app on the IPad Mini using the wifi? Then you wouldn't need the S7. Doesn't the drone use something other than wifi to communicate?? (lightspeed or something like that)??

 

[JoBe]

Aside from the great info already posted, I'll add these several items:

> Do not use the CSC to stop your motors once you've landed. CSC is known to cause flip overs. Only use left stick down for three seconds to stop your motors. (Note: Use CSC to stop your motors in an emergency, but know that if you are in the air it will cause your P3 to crash!)
> Full left stick down while descending will not stop your motors while in the air. (This is probably the most often asked question!).
> Just because the app tells you that a FW update is available, that doesn't mean you must do the update. I strongly suggest that you check out and become comfortable with your P3 and what "normal" looks like before changing any FW on the RC or the AC. Batteries of course are okay to update to match the AC. [See my reasons here, but like most things it's YOUR decison]
(Important Note: if your P3 comes with 1.5 on the AC, you should move from that version).
> The FW version on your AC does not have to be the same version number as the FW on your RC.
> AC FW 1.8 and RC FW 1.6 were released together with an encryption change. If you have one, you must have the other (or later) or your AC and RC will not link.
> The video signal and the control signal are not the same. You can lose your FPV video but still have control. If you see the green LED lit on your RC, you can still control your P3 even if you've lost the video feed. [If you are within range, you can even remove or turn off your mobile device and still have control of your AC]
> Maps are not required to fly, though many find them useful.
> GPS satellites do not download map data!
> Your Phantom normally has its own GPS to know where home is located.
> Try the different RTH modes so that you know what to expect before the need arises.
> Follow Me mode will not work if your mobile device does not have it's own GPS or is not connected to an external GPS device. Most Android devices already have internal GPS, so they are usually fine. Only cellular enabled iPads have GPS, though a data plan is NOT required. [Tethering an iPad does not transmit GPS data for Follow Me to function. Click here for more info on what to expect with different iPads / situations]
> You can't recover from a CSC (with a P3) even if you are at a high enough altitude and even if you have done it in the simulator. [If you try this, please do so away from people and please record it so we can see the crash.]
> Don't forget to remove the small piece of foam that is often behind the gimbal on new P3s. Many people have not noticed it. Leaving it on will cause shaky video and could damage your gimbal.
> You only need to have 2 of the white vibration dampeners installed on the gimbal. Many people put loosely fitted plastic zip ties in the two holes that come empty when the P3 is new.
> The quick start guide that comes with your Phantom is very limited. Be sure to download the latest user manual from the "DOWNLOADS" link after selecting your model from the DJI web site. Read it several times before you fly, and then a few more times after you've flown for the first time when it will make a bit more sense to you.
> The maximum flight altitude setting and the RTH altitude always show in meters and can't be changed to feet no matter what preference you set in the GO app. Keep this in mind when you are setting your altitudes prior to flight.
> The P3 splits video files at 4GB. There are no workarounds regardless of formatting as either FAT32 or exFAT. The P3 will still split video files at 4GB even though the exFat format itself allows larger files.
> There are many outdated YouTube tutorial videos demonstrating old procedures, so try to watch only the most recent ones you can find.
> Practice ATTI mode on a regular basis in a large open area so that you are familiar with that mode and have the skills needed when the time arises.
> Also, search the forum for the many other "any tips?" threads for more great info.

Good luck!

August 15, 2016 EDIT - Consolidated a few of my "any tips" posts from the past so that I can link to this one the next time someone asks.

Legit post FR. I wish I had this.