The body material on both Phantom & remote really bad

[Photofun]

I bought my Phantom 3 Advanced in October 2015. Not sure if it was one of the 1st early production units, for what it is worth, mine has the "older" Phantom 3 motors.

Here are my experience with my 1450$ investment:-

- I had a minor crash in Nov 2015 with minor damage on the Phantom shell
- Camera Gimbal were still good, battery however fell out and stopped working.......
- I had to open the P3, having had a P2 prior to the P3, I did not think twice opening the P3
- On opening it I realized just how handyman unfriendly the P3 is, open that shell is so difficult
- When opened, I realized how poor quality the body is, its cracking all over
- I honestly believe the plastic used in the P3 shell must be the worst quality I ever saw!!!
- I wonder if the plastic used in the P3 are safe for human use?
- I had to strengthened the body/shell at the motors plus at the screw fixings
- In the crash the electronic board fixings to the body came loose - had to fix these too
- Eventually I had the P3 shell at a point that I trust flying the P3A again
- Next it was the RC, one day I removed it from the DJI hard case.
- Doing that I accidentally pressed against the left stick assembly and it "pushed" into the RC
- That little pressure on the stick assembly, made it unit fall into the RC body
- On opening the RC body to find it too were cracking all over, can you imagine!!
- Next was a major operation to systematically strengthening the RC unit on the inside
- The camera....yes there are more.
- Images are sharp in the left corner and get worse (unsharp) to the top right
- Focus was probably set to 3m + the lens are probably skew to give that gradual unsharp..

And that is not all yet........

Like I said, I bought the P3A in Oct 2015 for a smooth 1450$. (P3 plus 2x batteries plus hard case) From mid December the prices started falling and falling and falling.......the downward price spiral being driven from DJI themselves........

What was the end result, I am stuck with my glued up P3 or I choose to through away 700$ plus. Will I decide to get the P4....probably never. For those interested in the P4 my advice is wait 6 months and get it at half price straight from the factory.......probably at V5 or 6 depending on the initial units quality.....

I love flying my P3 A, great with Lightbridge and FPV, distance one can go and and is just awesome.....wish it was n higher quality product and finally if only the camera could be like a Go Pro IQ and video quality....

Below is an image after extensive RAW treatment in Photoshop.......

 

[Arcticm39]

I sympathize with you on the massive price drop. I think that is to be expected with any high tech gizmo. I remember shelling out $300+ for a smart watch 6 months ago. Guess what it costs today? Less than $150 new.

As for the shell, I guess I have been lucky so far. Lots of flights and one big crash - still no crack yet (knock on wood).

Sweet photo, by the way.

 

[ObiDon]

I bought my Phantom 3 Advanced in October 2015. Not sure if it was one of the 1st early production units, for what it is worth, mine has the "older" Phantom 3 motors.

Here are my experience with my 1450$ investment:-

- I had a minor crash in Nov 2015 with minor damage on the Phantom shell
- Camera Gimbal were still good, battery however fell out and stopped working.......
- I had to open the P3, having had a P2 prior to the P3, I did not think twice opening the P3
- On opening it I realized just how handyman unfriendly the P3 is, open that shell is so difficult
- When opened, I realized how poor quality the body is, its cracking all over
- I honestly believe the plastic used in the P3 shell must be the worst quality I ever saw!!!
- I wonder if the plastic used in the P3 are safe for human use?
- I had to strengthened the body/shell at the motors plus at the screw fixings
- In the crash the electronic board fixings to the body came loose - had to fix these too
- Eventually I had the P3 shell at a point that I trust flying the P3A again
- Next it was the RC, one day I removed it from the DJI hard case.
- Doing that I accidentally pressed against the left stick assembly and it "pushed" into the RC
- That little pressure on the stick assembly, made it unit fall into the RC body
- On opening the RC body to find it too were cracking all over, can you imagine!!
- Next was a major operation to systematically strengthening the RC unit on the inside
- The camera....yes there are more.
- Images are sharp in the left corner and get worse (unsharp) to the top right
- Focus was probably set to 3m + the lens are probably skew to give that gradual unsharp..

And that is not all yet........

Like I said, I bought the P3A in Oct 2015 for a smooth 1450$. (P3 plus 2x batteries plus hard case) From mid December the prices started falling and falling and falling.......the downward price spiral being driven from DJI themselves........

What was the end result, I am stuck with my glued up P3 or I choose to through away 700$ plus. Will I decide to get the P4....probably never. For those interested in the P4 my advice is wait 6 months and get it at half price straight from the factory.......probably at V5 or 6 depending on the initial units quality.....

I love flying my P3 A, great with Lightbridge and FPV, distance one can go and and is just awesome.....wish it was n higher quality product and finally if only the camera could be like a Go Pro IQ and video quality....

Below is an image after extensive RAW treatment in Photoshop.......

Great photo! I think DJI plays the game like Apple does. Early adopters are Bata testers for the upgrades. I'm not saying that's necessarily bad as it keeps some or their R&D costs down having all of the masses identifying the "issues". Knowing this I don't jump the shark when it first comes out. Sounds like you now have a bulletproof bird now, happy flying!

 

[alokbhargava]

It's a bigger problem than what OP narrated. The problem seems to be with DJI's vendors. They seem to lack on quality control on their manufacturing processes and incoming material control. Some got good pieces, others got bad ones. Indirectly it's DJI's problem to manage their vendors to save their image.

 

[WetDog]

It's a bigger problem than what OP narrated. The problem seems to be with DJI's vendors. They seem to lack on quality control on their manufacturing processes and incoming material control. Some got good pieces, others got bad ones. Indirectly it's DJI's problem to manage their vendors to save their image.

The very classic problem with the Chinese supply chain. If you look at many, many Indegogo or Kickstarter campaigns, getting their vendors to ship various parts with decent quality control is very, very hard. Much of the engineering wizardry is designing something so that you can have a significant various in quality / tolerances through the life span of the product.

You'd think that being a Chinese company, DJI would have a leg up on this, but it appears that they have issues. In the case of the P3 shell, it clearly needs some better engineering. It will be interesting to see how they build the P4 which *appears* to be made of the same plastic.

 

[alokbhargava]

You are right a plastic part that withstands continuous stresses should be designed and manufactured with due care. I was never happy with the motor mounting arrangement and had commented on the flaws but that time there were DJI reps in the forum who shot me down with filthy language. It's ok I know how to take care of my P3.

 

[Photofun]

I personally think DJI completely under estimate the situation poor product quality and poor price strategy did to their loyal clients.

I think the DJI brand can demand higher prices, but the Phantom 3 quality problems destroyed the brand strength and DJI have no choice but to drop prices.

The Phantom poor or inconsistent quality also corroded the 2nd hand market. It is really difficult today to sell the Phantom 3 at reasonable prices. Add to that the wifi P3 S and people shy away from that I read...... One can also see that from the questions asked, buyers just do not seem to trust the product on the 2nd hand market.

I agree with some replies that yes electronics does seem to loose value fast, that said generally quality is on a much higher level than what one see from DJI. Somebody mentioned Apple.....I love buying Apple products and have spend much over the years......never, not once doubt Apple quality.......

I were able to get a newer version P3 body complete at a good price in great condition. I tested it and it does seem to be OK. Plan is to add a new P 3A camera to the body. I also picked up a late model P3 RC for 80$ making the second build up purchase affordable. Plan is to just keep this as my "last" drone for years to come......will never trust a DJI again with my 1400$

I am very curious to see how that 2nd camera will perform......it can go either way at 350$....sad to think you spend 350$ knowing that you cannot trust the quality outcome of the product......