All these long winded posts trying to convince people how superior the P4 is. Just let it speak for itself like the P3 does. It's sounding more like your trying to convince yourself you didn't waste your money than anything else. I'm happy for P4 owners that are happy with their purchase. I hate to see those that are disappointed. But I have confidence DJI will fix many of the concerns with either firmware updates or in the next model. DJI is still awesome. It's just that many of the claims and expectations weren't met. I'm glad I decided on the P3P at this point. I'll get a newer model one day, but not anytime soon. I'd do it all over again with the P3P. Awesome solid bird for a great price. It just works and meets every expectation IMO. But we shouldn't get all divided over opinions. We all love the same hobby. Opinions are meaningless. Just get the bird that makes you happy and let's talk about flying! [emoji4]
Sooooo..... Whose returning their P4?
- Thread starter oblivie
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2016
- Messages
- 1,279
- Reaction score
- 378
- Age
- 46
Guideline and Rule are not the same. It's not a rule
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
GadgetGuy
Premium Pilot
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2015
- Messages
- 6,881
- Reaction score
- 2,199
...and by registering yourself as a UAS pilot, you only agree to "intend" to follow the safety Guidelines. Maybe you changed your mind afterwards...
GadgetGuy
Premium Pilot
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2015
- Messages
- 6,881
- Reaction score
- 2,199
Flying in which mode, and starting and ending at what percent remaining battery?
Right from the start you have been argumentative. You replied to my post and told me what you disagreed with about my post. Perhaps you should have replied to the person who asked the question about which was better.
Everything in my original post was true as I was just summarizing data that had been reported by others and I presented it as such.
We're both arguing which is "better" - but the definition I'm using for "better" is "most appropriate" whereas the definition you're using is "technically superior" which I don't think is appropriate. It's definitely not more correct than my definition in the context of the question I was answering.
Somebody asked for a recap of the problems with the P4. That's what I provided. It's not disputable. You can go back and look at all the threads and see who posted what. From where many of us who don't have the P4 sit - we've seen MANY negative reports about features not performing as advertised - and we be seen your posts that day they do. We don't know any of you personally, so why should we believe you I've them - or them over you? I don't think they were lying. I don't think you're lying about most of what you reported either - but I do think it's irresponsible of you to tell us all to ignore the other posts and get the P4 when there is obviously some sort of quality control issue.
You also seem to be certain we all want those new features. We don't! I wouldn't use Sport Mode. I have no need to go that fast and I'm sure that it would put more stress on my shell leading to premature aging and cracks. And as I've said multiple times - object avoidance is useless to me in its current state! You try to joke about prop guards being a good thing to have for amateurs and that says a lot about your level of responsibility and ability to see the big picture. If you ever experienced a fly-away due to a defect - prop guards could save a child's life. Using prop guards is definitely not just for amateurs. I think it's hilarious that you tried to suggest that prop guards aren't necessary if you know how to fly while at the same time you're hyped for object avoidance! LOL. Do you see the irony?
So again - back to the "better" debate - if DJI gets quality control sorted out and fixes any other temporary problems so that the new features and capabilities perform as advertised - you'd be right that the P4 is a technically superior drone - but the real world experiences of many says otherwise. But even if those problems are sorted out - the P4 is NOT "better"'for everyone. The P4 is more expensive. If someone doesn't need the extra features, why would they pay extra to have them? I'll give you this much though - if people were given a choice between the two drones at an identical price and were guaranteed to get a non-defective P4 - THEN the P4 would definitely be the best choice for everyone! BUT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PRICE! So what makes you think that people would/should still choose the P4 when they don't need or want those specific features! It is indisputably BETTER for those people to save the $400 and spend it on the upgrades that they do want - or to put that money aside for an eventual upgrade to the P5!
Your answer to the upgrades I applied to the P3 were to purchase the same updates for the P4 which shows me that you continue to miss my point! From the beginning I have been talking about VALUE. The reason I was able to spend the $400 on upgrades for the P3 was because that's the amount I saved by buying it instead of the P4 - so by adding those upgrades to the P3 - I had brought up the 2 drones to an identical cash outlay (which is important to most people). They were both good drones and they both had capabilities the other did not - so the right choice - the best choice would be the one that had the feature set that you wanted to use!!!
At this point - if ANYONE asked me what I recommended for them, I'd ask them if going super fast was important to them. If they said No - I'd suggest they go with the P3 now and consider taking serious look at the P5 when it comes out. And if anyone is still considering the P4 - the best advice you and I could both give them would be to buy it from a store that has at least a 14-day return policy and explain to them that there have been a lot of lemons and that they should evaluate its performance immediately after purchase and exchange it for a different unit if it didn't perform like it should.
As for your windsurfer question - I don't know. I have a similar booster that I downloaded from thingiverse and 3D printed at home then slapped some aluminium foil tape on it. At home, I'm in a fairly built up area with cell towers and lots of interference. Without the booster, I'm only able to go about 450m without losing the video. With the homemade booster, I can go 1390m before losing the video signal. I expect that something people rave about like Windsurfer would perform AT LEAST as well as the home made job that I'm using.
The filters may not improve my cameras optics but again - the camera lens is not a feature I want to pay to improve. The images I capture now already exceed my requirements.
You're nit-picking with your comment about 2 batteries not providing double the flight time.. It's close enough. The P4 gets 25 (or so you say - everyone else says it's less) and the P3 gets 22 so you're technically right that it's not double. It's 44 minutes for the P3 vs 25 for the p4. Not double - but still significantly more.
Your comments about Autopilot and warranty is wrong and equates to fear mongering. The autopilot software works. If you program it incorrectly because you don't understand it - it's pilot error and if you experience a crash due to wacky sensor readings from your drone - it's still a valid warranty claim. Also - the Autopilot software is built using an SDK provided by DJI. It's licenses and approved by DJI.
The reason I keep this debate going with you is because you have been making it sound like there is only one "correct" choice for new purchasers. That's absolutely not true and I want people to know that and the make the purchase that is right for them. I don't want them to feel bullied by your words into spending extra money for features they may never use.
Your arguments would be similar to encouraging someone to sign up for a more expensive phone plan because it also gives them the ability to receive faxes. But if that person doesn't ever WANT to receive a fax - why would they spend the extra money just because the plan is technically superior. That's definitely not a BETTER choice - it's a stupid one.
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2016
- Messages
- 558
- Reaction score
- 114
- Age
- 55
I'm a newbie I have my new bird on its way in the post and have to say I'm tired of all these negative posts, when I get mine and it works well I'll be promoting dji to the hilt, I really like dji, and I think forums like this are fantastic. If it were not for this forum I probably wouldn't have spent the money, so let's keep it positive guys!!! Here's to happy flying.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
GadgetGuy
Premium Pilot
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2015
- Messages
- 6,881
- Reaction score
- 2,199
I have owned a P3A for about 7 months and really enjoy its capabilities. The P4 was released and i was very interested in its extra strength and associated features but decided to hold back until I had the feedback from early owners. In the UK due to VAT and import duty the P4 costs about £1300 which i think equates to about $1800 added to this is another battery £140 and a substantial case £150+, before you know you are spending at least £1600 so I think to enter with your eyes wide open is wise. Reviews from people such as Gadget Guy and Tenly have been very useful in me coming to my personal decision. I would love to own a P4 but the extra features over and above the P3A and P3P for me do not justify the extra expense so I have purchased an almost new P3P for £550 which gives me the same camera but without the added gadgets such as object avoidance, tap to go etc which in all honesty after the initial play period I doubt if I would ever use. For the time being I am happy to have saved over £1000 by not buying the P4 with the added bonus that the batteries and case I already have in use for my P3A can also be used with the P3P. DJI make an excellent product, as for which is better I think that can only be determined by individual needs and skill levels.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Messages
- 203
- Reaction score
- 81
- Age
- 38
So I think we all agree if your a wreckless idiot with money get the P4, if you are sensible and like to spend your hard earned money wisely, a P3P used with accessories for half the price.
Not exactly. It's a personal decision and I wouldn't call anybody an idiot for buying either product. We shouldn't be telling anyone what to do or not do - but we should help them understand what their choices are so that they're able to make the best decision and purchase the one that's right for them.
So - when a person looks at the differences between the P3 and the P4 on the DJI website, they see a somewhat compelling list of differences - some of which have been exaggerated. We're in a position to provide more information to new buyers that should result in better decisions for each of them. There are many things that are not obvious from the "brochure" which could affect a buyers decision:
- Sport Mode must be enabled to achieve the fastest speeds advertised. When Sport Mode is enabled, obstacle avoidance and certain other features are disabled.
- How you fly can dramatically affect your battery life. Extended use of Sport Mode or ascending/descending can greatly reduce your flying time per battery. Based on anecdotal reports, the P4 provides up to 3 minutes of extra flying time over the P3. Some people have reported LESS flying time than the P3. With the absence of controlled testing results, I'm not sure what more to say on this.
- The range - according to DJI is identical between the 2 models. They both use the same LightBridge 2 technology and DJI says that under perfect conditions, you could enjoy up to 5km range in North America (FCC) or 3km in Europe (CE). Reports of the P3 or P4 having superior range are more likely a result of temporary local interference or individual assembly characteristics (ie a small kink in the antenna cable in the RC or Drone) or minor variations in the aim of the antenna. On paper A range is identical. Passive "boosters" starting at $8 can increase the range of bot units pretty dramatically. Powered boosters (up to $300) can increase the range to stupid distances beyond the capabilities of your battery.
- Obstacle avoidance doesn't work if your drone is flying sideways or backwards. The sensors are only on the front of the drone. - and the camera can not be independently aimed sideways or backwards - so to capture many common video shots, the aircraft must yaw itself to remain focused on the desired subject/POI. (For many people, this reduces the value of the Obstacle Avoidance feature)
- Are you purchasing the drone mostly for flying around and exploring - or for photography/videography? If you're purchasing for photography/videography - AutoPilot, Litchi and other 3rd party add-on software is available which greatly improves upon the capabilities provided in DJI go. The software is cheap when compared to the cost of the drone and is worth every penny for the new capabilities it provides. (P4 support is imminent if not already available.). Regardless of which drone you purchase - add-on software is almost a must for any kind of serious videography.
- Active Track is one of the cool new feature and is very impressive from a technical standpoint but if you're purchasing the AutoPilot add-on software, it has a built-in tracking capability that lets you follow/track a subject by locking on to their iPhone. This ability is superior because of the iPhones built-in barometer (iPhone 6 and later). The barometer allows the iPhone to communicate accurate altitude data to the drone so tracking an object that is going up and down hills becomes possible and safe. (The DJI Go implementation of "Follow" does not account for altitude changes and "could" result in crashes when following a user that is travelling uphill - or following from far too high when the subject is travelling downhill). In any case - if you plan to purchase the AutoPilot software ($25), then the "Active Track" exclusive feature of the P4 may become less valuable to you because of the Autopilot's iPhone tracking capabilities.
- Camera - the P4 and P3 have identical cameras. In the P4, then lens has been "upgraded" to a better quality one. Some people have reported noticeable differences with the P4 - but the lens on the P3P also provides very high quality pictures. A quick search on YouTube will show you what you can expect from the P3P and P4 cameras - just be sure to set the quality to 1440p to get the full effect. If you're only looking at a 1080p version of the video - it's not representative of the cameras full capabilities.
- Tap and Go is a P4 exclusive feature. It lets you direct the drone where to fly by tapping a location on the video screen. Object Avoidance is used while the drone navigates to the specified location. I don't think this feature is available in Sport Mode. (Tap and Go is available in the Autopilot software)
So there you go. A fairly comprehensive summary of most of the differences between the P3P and P4 and what they mean in the real world. Determine which ones you need/want and then decide if they are worth spending $400 of your hard earned money on. If they are - then get the P4 and enjoy!
But remember, the P3P can be upgrade to match or exceed the capabilities of the P4 in many areas and at a much more attractive price.
The only features that absolutely require you to go with the P4 are:
- higher top speed
- object avoidance
- camera lens
If any of those are must haves for you - get the P4.
If you don't need or want those features or if you can't justify paying $400 for them - consider the P3P with upgrades to cover the features that *ARE* important to you.
NOTE:
The price comparison I've been using in my write ups uses the DJI price of brand new P3P's and P4's. Your savings could be far more dramatic than the $400 I've documented if you are willing to purchase a lightly used P3P from eBay or Craigslist. Purchasing a second hand unit may also include many upgrades and accessories - but as with anything - be very careful when buying online from a stranger.
Last edited:
I can't speak to the accuracy of all of your claims about your P4 performance. I was originally willing to take you at your word - but when your posts include outright lies like this, I dunno what to think about the other stuff... Your statement is worded so authoritatively and yet its also so wrong...
Here's what DJI has to say on the matter:
From DJI: Simply flying a DJI aircraft using a third party app does not void the warranty. However, if the pilot crashes or causes damage that is not due to mechanical failure, then it’s their responsibility to cover at least some if not all of the estimated repair cost.
That's far from a "BLOWN AWAY" warranty. Sounds like a pretty reasonable policy to me! If the pilot crashes it, they pay to fix it. If it's a mechanical error - the warranty covers the fix.
Tell the truth now - did you lie about anything else? Were all the performance stats you posted true? I can't actually disprove any of your other claims so I guess it's up to the individual reader to determine if they sound reasonable or like they might have been exaggerated a little.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Messages
- 203
- Reaction score
- 81
- Age
- 38
Bro can you not see I tried pulling out of this thread I even tried doing it as fairly as possible saying something like Phantom 4 for wreckless spenders and P3P for the smarter more conscious buyer, (yes that was me incase you didnt realise) but that didn't even seem good enough for you? Me and you spouting at and quoting each other (in this case) doesn't serve as good quality information for the forum. I would have left it and really still should, but I must say a few things. I should have made myself clearer, if the fault occurs due to a 3rd party app, using DJI,s SDK or not, based around their flight controller or not (custom), your warranty is void kapish, I have even seen examples or blatant HW faults occurring whilst using 3rd party software and DJI replying "sorry is nothing we can do". The irony is you are telling me what blatant liars DJI are and now YOU are enforcing their policies? As for me lying about performance, why on earth would I do that, I was not part of the engineering team for the P4 and stand to gain absolutely nothing from promoting it, for the last time I own a P3P and a P4, my P4 was bought from Apple and if I was disappointed with it I could just take it back for a refund and still have my P3P!
dirkclod
Premium Pilot
I've never had a warranty claim, let alone one while using a third party app so I can't speak to what kind of discussions people have had with DJI about getting service. But DJI's own statement says that if there's a mechanical issue with the drone, it will be covered under warranty even if you're using third party software - and so they should since the third party software uses a DJI SDK provided for the specific purpose of creating the third party software.
If you're suggesting that a crash won't be covered if it occurs as a result of a bug in the third party software - that's true. The algorithms in the software that send control signals to the drone are considered to be equivalent to the control signals that you send by using the remote - so yep, it's "pilot error" if something like that happens and you're on your own as far as paying for the fix is concerned - or you'd have to take it up with the company that created the software. But based on the demos, the experience of other users and my own incremental testing with Autopilot - I'm convinced that it's safer and more thoroughly tested than DJI Go is - so I think the kind of crash that would be caused by the software - through no fault of the user - is very unlikely - at least with the big ones like Autopilot and Litchi.
But I dunno why you say differently about the mechanical failures. It's pretty clear that DJI says mechanical failure are covered. Maybe it's a newer policy and it used to be different when you made your observations.
As for you pulling out of the thread gracefully. I *did* think that's what you were doing at first - and I even clicked like on it and then spent half an hour summarizing where we had landed so that anybody who cared about the info wouldn't have to wade through our entire lengthy debate to get all of the pros and cons....
But then I realized that your "exit post" was kind of passive aggressive and if I agreed to it, I was essentially calling anyone that bought a P4 a "reckless idiot". Maybe you were trying to be funny - but I don't think that's how people would have read it. Some at least would almost certainly be offended - so I edited my summary post to specifically counter the "idiot" comment.
It snowed all day yesterday and was -5C here so since I couldn't go flying, I was re-reading the AutoPilot flight school material to learn it better and I stumbled upon the information about the warranty that proved your earlier statement wrong. Perhaps your claim that "using Autopilot invalidates your warranty" was an honest mistake based on out-of-date information - and perhaps I presented my proof a bit aggressively - but I was getting frustrated by your non-stop contradictions and your attempt to "trick" me into calling P4 buyers "reckless idiots". So I'll go ahead and apologize for suggesting that the other data you posted might have contained intentional lies. I believe that the information you posted about the performance of your P4 is honest and accurate.
I also believe that it is MUCH safer to purchase - and learn how to operate Autopilot and then use it as an alternative to the "equivalent" DJI Go features - at least for "Follow", "POI/Orbit" and "Waypoints" (and it also provides far more flexible and robust control). If owners have any concerns about warranty - I encourage them to contact DJI before they start using any third party software - for clarification - so that they are not surprised later on - but it's pretty clearly stated that crashes caused by any kind of factory defect will be fully covered....and conversely, misconfiguring the Autopilot features "by accident" or due to lack of understanding would constitute "pilot error" and you'd most likely be on the hook for the full cost of the repair.
I think I've said everything I need to on this topic unless you attack me in your reply or post any serious misinformation.
I'm looking forward to hearing how the P4 works out for you over time and as DJI adds new features and enhances some of the existing ones. And if you've never used AutoPilot - I'd encourage you to take a look at their flight school or video tutorials for "Follow", "Orbit" and "Airspaces" in their 3.2 release. It's pretty powerful stuff and I'm sure you could find a use for some of those features!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Messages
- 203
- Reaction score
- 81
- Age
- 38
The "wreckless idiot" comment was just a joke and I wasn't trying to trick you. I use litchi 80% of the time so I am all for 3rd party developers but my warranty comment certainly did mean if the code it's self was to blame, something as simple as interference whilst uploading a mission and getting a corrupted but accepted mission, etc. You are right in that DJI is basically saying if an app is built using our SDK and you experience a hardware fault we will at least look into the case and take at least some or all of the responsibility, but i didnt say any different about a hw failure, maybe I just wasent clear when i said "problem or fault whilst using the app" anyway this is actually very good that we bring this up, I follow with an example. You set a litchi mission up the craft then loses GPS, whilst out of reach and flying autonomously , hovers or lands over water instead of RTH, who's to blame here? DJI can say well the craft was out of tx range so it's not our fault, we have RTH as a redundancy for that!
My point is it is a grey area, I agree with you totally that 3rd party are widely tested and probably used to put the birds through harder paces (by more advanced users) than even the go app. For any newer users though they should really heed the advice in your post and phone DJI and ask them exactly how the warranty works, I. E. If obstacle avoidance is used in app* with some kind of follow/autonomous mode activated but it fails due the some cruddy programming and smashes into a wall , am I covered? I have not looked at AutoPilot lately, simply because I'm pretty set with Litchi and Go, but I will indeed take a look and probably give it a go if it has some unique capabilites. I respect you and your last post, and I'm sure some people will gain something from this thread, even if it how to be civilised toward each other and calm things down and move on after a rocky start.
To summarise this whole thing with my honest opinion.
*The P4 seems to have differently performing units, some perform excellently and as they should and are close to, if not bang on, with DJI's specs, others are vastly under performing in the range and possibly flight time department and it is to early to tell what this problem may be at the moment.
*The P4 has some great new features that may be a deal maker for some and absolutely irrelevant for others, you are advised to educate yourself about said features and see if they are worth a premium to you.
*Due to some* P4 units having teething problems early adopters of these units may be at risk of buying a unit that under performs against previous revisions, namely P3P and P3A.
*The P4 does have a higher specification and more technology on board than any previous revision and, as long as you own a perfectly working model, you have all the features and performance of any previous revision and more.
*If the new features on the P4 are of little to no importance to you and value is, you are almost certainly better off investing in a P3P, by doing this and finding a great deal on a used item, or by spending the rest of the money you would have spent on P4 you can have a few batteries for more time flying, a modded battery for longer flight times, better range with a tx,rx, mod, or both, and/or some great extra accessories depending on the deal you can get, all for sacrificing the slightly better gimbal and optics on the P4. (Bear in mind that the P3P, will take picture and video that far exceeds what %90 of its owners need)
*In 6 or 12 months from now, provided the teething problems with some of the P4's are eliminated, after developers really start to exploit the new hardware on board the P4 and after we see range/battery mods and accessories for it, pricing exclusive the P4 will be the better bird, but even then not by any magnificent length, it doesn't matter how good the P4 becomes it can't subtract anything from the P3 which is fully capable of what most people need it for, now in 6 months and in a year.
*If value is not a priority to you provided you get a perfectly good working P4, you can rest assured you do have the most advanced phantom yet that will be capable of anything any previous phantom is plus some more, this of coarse comes at a substantially larger premium and for what is offered on the P4 >P3P at initial release and its pricing point, is not enough to tempt many a phantom user yet and rightfully so.
Last edited:
I'd be very surprised if the upload process allowed for the possibility of a corrupted mission. Checksums or post-upload verification is fairly straightforward and I'd be shocked if it wasn't implemented in such an important process.
This is not relevant, but as an FYI, Autopilot does not upload missions to the drone since they are using their own flight controller which needs to execute on the iOS device. Everybody else uses the DJI flight controller. This lets Autopilot do things that are not possible by the others - but it also poses restrictions the others do not have - for example, Autopilot needs to maintain a connection to the device at all times since it is sending the control commands dynamically in real-time as opposed to uploading them in advance. Because of this - missions end when the iOS device is interrupted by answering a phone call (but not by ignoring it).
In this example, I would side with DJI completely if none of the hardware malfunctioned. If the GPS receiver were found to be defective, then DJI would be responsible - but if it was just an area with poor coverage or if GPS reception was lost due to thick cloud cover or some other environmental factor - I think the responsibility would fall on the owner.
As far as the P4 obstacle avoidance feature is concerned - what does DJI state regarding crashes that occur while it is active? After seeing how it works (and in some cases doesn't), I can't imagine that DJI would guarantee you aren't going to crash into anything while using the feature - but I can also see how owners who have paid for the feature would expect DJI to pay for repairs for any crashes that were incurred while OA was active. And a lot of new owners are not going to realize the point I kept harping on about OA providing no value while flying sideways or backwards - in cases like that, the new owners are going to crash and then DJI is not going to fix it.
Have you seen their official statements about crashes while Object Avoidance is active?
Anyhow - I can live with the summary as you've written it up. It covers both sides fairly comprehensively.
I started looking at Litchi last night also. It seems pretty good. Less robust in the flight features than Autopilot - but has more intuitive interface and smaller learning curve. Most disappointing was the fact that it's pretty nerfed capability-wise for iOS users. A lot of cool features are labeled Android-only.
It's April 4th and we got 2 inches of snow yesterday/last night. The high temperature today was -2C. Have you ever flown your P3 in below-freezing weather? I'm on the fence about taking it out today.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Messages
- 203
- Reaction score
- 81
- Age
- 38
I honestly have not bothered looking into the warranty situation where object avoidance is concerned I do not imagine the warranty T&C's would be that specific there is room for a grey area here people could lie and say the phantom hit a brick wall, and after DJI checks it and says well the object avoidance didn't detect anything the user can then say "exactly but it was on and the birds heading was forward" it's a slightly tricky situation.
The thing with software faults is they are usually discovered after its too late, the WEP wireless security protocool was once considered secure.
Litchi's main selling point in my opinion is being able to execute an autonomous mission, which is real fun once you take the leap of faith, I have had some tense 20 minutes waiting to see that video link appear again or hear some blades spinning ha ha, but it honestly has run faultlessly for me, carefully planning, checking and rechecking of GS missions before take off is key! You will be able to fly places and get footage that would otherwise be impossible, for me that makes the app worth its cost alone. The app is now no slouch in the feature department either and you can dig pretty deep with "actions" at each way point including auto focusing on the on POI's to start/stop recording/photos, manual heading selection between Waypoints, rotation control at and between Waypoints, a stay command etc, I use Litchi almost exclusively for its GS (ground station) mode. As for Litchi on iOS I notice it is slightly slacking and haven't and do not use it on iOS so couldn't recommend it, however like I say even if autonomous Waypoints work flawlessly on iOS I would buy the app for that alone.
Flying in the cold I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but you asked me if "I" have the answer is yes a billion times and in a fair bit lower than -2 as well, all you have to do is keep your batteries warm before use and let the phantom hover for a minute before actively flying, I am fully aware of how Li-Po's function and voltage drop but if the battery is warm before use and you hover for a minute after firing things up, the ambient temperature around that battery will make the snow outside all but irrelevant, of coarse you want to warm your ESC's up before spanking them but that holds true for all weather conditions and the minutes hover takes care of this also. I have flown day/night rain/snow and winds venturing extreme, you name it, of coarse I have done this with public safety in mind, and the only problem I have had due to weather is rain on camera lenses and of coarse some very near crashes landings in the extreme winds. Ps I do not mean I have flown in heavy snowfall that would be stupid and pointless but a light fluff, sure. In dry conditions at -2 I wouldn't butt an eyelid go out there and get some snow shots man.
The thing with software faults is they are usually discovered after its too late, the WEP wireless security protocool was once considered secure.
Litchi's main selling point in my opinion is being able to execute an autonomous mission, which is real fun once you take the leap of faith, I have had some tense 20 minutes waiting to see that video link appear again or hear some blades spinning ha ha, but it honestly has run faultlessly for me, carefully planning, checking and rechecking of GS missions before take off is key! You will be able to fly places and get footage that would otherwise be impossible, for me that makes the app worth its cost alone. The app is now no slouch in the feature department either and you can dig pretty deep with "actions" at each way point including auto focusing on the on POI's to start/stop recording/photos, manual heading selection between Waypoints, rotation control at and between Waypoints, a stay command etc, I use Litchi almost exclusively for its GS (ground station) mode. As for Litchi on iOS I notice it is slightly slacking and haven't and do not use it on iOS so couldn't recommend it, however like I say even if autonomous Waypoints work flawlessly on iOS I would buy the app for that alone.
Flying in the cold I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but you asked me if "I" have the answer is yes a billion times and in a fair bit lower than -2 as well, all you have to do is keep your batteries warm before use and let the phantom hover for a minute before actively flying, I am fully aware of how Li-Po's function and voltage drop but if the battery is warm before use and you hover for a minute after firing things up, the ambient temperature around that battery will make the snow outside all but irrelevant, of coarse you want to warm your ESC's up before spanking them but that holds true for all weather conditions and the minutes hover takes care of this also. I have flown day/night rain/snow and winds venturing extreme, you name it, of coarse I have done this with public safety in mind, and the only problem I have had due to weather is rain on camera lenses and of coarse some very near crashes landings in the extreme winds. Ps I do not mean I have flown in heavy snowfall that would be stupid and pointless but a light fluff, sure. In dry conditions at -2 I wouldn't butt an eyelid go out there and get some snow shots man.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2015
- Messages
- 312
- Reaction score
- 138
Disengage on Answer Phone Call is actually a setting that can be disabled. That is, if you answer the phone you can allow Autopilot to continue to fly in the background, but we wouldn't recommend it.
Similar threads
