Thoughts on Upgrading Tx/Rx on Phantom v.1.1.1?

[astroguy]

I had a thread here which described a loss issue, and the short-short version is that my receiver likely is broken (came broken)? I'm in Australia starting a month-long vacation. At this point, I have two options:

1. Wait 'til I get back to the US (Jan. 21) and then send it back to California to dronefly.com and have them replace it, since they're the ones from whom I bought it and the Ark RC place doesn't have any extra, or

2. Buy a Tx/Rx and have the shop that verified my Rx was broken install it ... as Driffill predicted in my original thread, the proprietor tried to sell me on a Futaba.

Item 1 has the benefit of being cheap, relatively speaking, and should be under warrantee minus shipping. Maybe. It has the con of this trip being blown with respect to any aerial photography.

Item 2 has the con of being expensive -- $285AUD for the transmitter/receiver, plus battery and charger apparently. It has the benefit of being a much stronger signal and larger range and less likelihood of losing the signal and getting lost. On the other hand, I had been considering a different Tx/Rx setup because one of the biggest cons of the Phantoms seemed to be its poor range and signal loss. And, if I were to buy it here, along with whatever to get the price above $300AUD, apparently I get 10% back in the taxes at the airport and with the exchange rate makes it relatively cheap compared with the buying the same model anywhere else.

Thoughts?

 

[JTheed]

IMHO, if you want to fly it while you are there, then buy the new Tx. See if you can send back the defective one for a refund instead of an exchange due to the fact that you were down under when you found this out, I didn't read the other thread, so don't know if this applies. It's what I would do.

 

[Driffill]

Get a new receiver once your home and list original Tx/Rx for sale to recoup some more $$$, I did a quick search for dji phantom spare part number 31 (d-bus receiver) and found surprisingly little available.

Buy a new Tx/Rx combo while your here and get some footage of your travels

 

[astroguy]

Driffill, you don't work for Ark RC, do you?

 

[Driffill]

Driffill, you don't work for Ark RC, do you?

Nope, I live on the opposite side of the city! They have just always been able to solve any issues I present them, as you might imagine I have some interesting complications at times

I keep telling them, next time I come in, I'll be buying my 8FG

 

[astroguy]

BTW, thanks JThread. Based on the GST scheme (that's what Australian customs calls it), and the current exchange rate, the $285 part that they'll sell to me +$15 installation to get to the $300 needed would cost about $243USD. And I need to factor in what it's worth to me to have it to use on this (likely) once in a lifetime trip touring at least certain parts of Australia.

 

[DeweyAXD]

Comes down to how much of an addict to flying you are becoming. If you think the Phantom is your last stop on the RC flight then go the cheap route. If you think you will move on to bigger things (or planes) then, while more costly, a Futaba T8J or 8FGs will not dissapoint you. As long as you are not paying a crazy difference than US rates then well worth investing IMO.

I think I speak for many in here saying the T8J is a cracking unit and gives you sooooo much more possibilities than stock (and confidence too).

 

[astroguy]

Thanks, DeweyAXD. Based on US prices I can find for the model, this is cheaper with the "scheme" and exchange rate. US prices seem comparable in number to AUD prices (as in, around $280 USD).