To replace a P3s with a non dji??

[Squirrel!]

Autel is one to look at. I love mine. (and I still love my P3S even though it sees less time in the air since the X-Star Premium arrived. )

 

[solentlife]

I am ripping the dead guts out of my P3S .... using the motors and shell to create my own setup.

Intention is to create a better FPV platform with video as secondary. The reverse of Phantoms setup in fact.

So far the cost is $110 for everything except video camera gimbal. That is Flight controller, GPS / Compass, PPM encoder, FPV camera / Tx, adaptor + Rx for FPV for android, 4 esc's .....

The P3 will then be fast - aerobatic - open source - with 2km range from my FrSky radio system.

Eventually she will be flown via goggles and with Go-Pro slung underneath.

For me its not a question of equaling the quality of video. Its about making a dead P3 fly again with better FPV.

Nigel

 

[apollo64]

I have given this a lot of thought, and clocked up a few more good flights with my P3s, including having a total signal fail at max range (it ran out of signal close to a local supermarket !) but it did what it should do and failsafe kicked in and came back (phew) i have also recently flown over water (scottish lock) and again it behaved like clockwork, thinking this out i could get 3 yes 3 mint used P3s quads for the price of an H hex!
So looks like i am keeping my P3, she is already 2 years old but other than one tiny and i mean really tiny stress crack she is still like new, even still on first set of props, if and when it does fail i think i will just get another mint used one the same

 

[solentlife]

For an out of box Camera solution ... the P3 takes some beating ... whether an S or A or P.

Nigel

 

[BigAl07]

Life is blooming complicated, i had got to thinking i would sell the P3s and a few of the homebuilds to get a Typhoon h, and i now read these things can just "drop out of the sky", so i may have to eat a big ole slice of humble pie and stick with Phantoms, of to start a thread about the new P3 se

Almost any consumer grade rotorcraft has high potential to "fall out of the sky". With zero redundancies and multiple "single points of failure" it's almost lucky we don't see more. With that being said, a LOT of failures are user related (battery not seated, flying beyond limits of the design, flying beyond pilot abilities etc).

Keep what you've got and fly it like you stole it. One general rule of thumb you can write down and remind yourself... "If it's a flying machine and you fly it eventually you will crash it. The ONLY way to never crash it is to not fly it."

 

[KentA]

Autel is one to look at. I love mine. (and I still love my P3S even though it sees less time in the air since the X-Star Premium arrived. )

I agree that Autel is a viable alternative to DJI. It's not just a dependable platform with a great camera, but the company actively listens to & supports its customers.

 

[apollo64]

Have just taken a look at the Xiaomi MI 4k drone, actually looks a pretty good bit of kit, might be able to fund one early next year and keep the P3s

 

[Huge Bama Fan]

I bought my P3S at Wal-Mart for 399. Order the ARGTEK range extender. I haven't installed it yet. I love this drone for the money it can't be beat.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

On the subject of impressive hardware, I would agree that, for the price, you'll be hard pressed to find an off-the-shelf drone that performs as well, and offers as many features, as the Phantoms, regardless of which model you buy. Dollar for dollar, anything else looks to be a compromise on some level. I celebrated one year with my P3S on Black Friday. I paid something less than $370 at Walmart in 2016. In spite of some errors on my part, I've managed to log several hundred miles, fly it well beyond the advertised range, and have it perform one truly amazing feat - it has always returned home, even the times it lost signal and I thought it was gone forever. As basic as the P3S is, its still one amazing engineering marvel based on what it's capable of doing. We've all seen the postings of "fly-away", or, "it just dropped out of the sky like a rock without any warning". And certainly nobody wants to be on the receiving end of that sad news. As painful as those situations are for the owners, it might be helpful to keep those postings in perspective with the whole hobby. In one ironic way, drones are just like real airplanes; you always read about the few flights that don't go well (or crash), but you never read about the thousands of flights that go as planned and land safely every single day. Just my $.02.