total drone noob needs buying advice (UK)

Numone · Apr 27, 2016

JamesG2571 said:
Even with the 500m max flight distance. Having lightbridge is very helpful. I had a ITElite phantom 3 standard and I got interference at 100m and the wifi is limiting.

I would spend the extra couple hundred and future proof yourself with either a Adv or Pro.

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Yep, I agree. That's why I too chose an Advanced...

sdharris · Apr 27, 2016

I would go with the P3 Pro considering the current price and if you want to track a car use either the DJI GO follow me function or use something like Autoflight Logic with their air space function or Litchi's magic leash. Contrary to the marketing material about active tracking GPS tracking is perfectly adequate and comes with the benefit of working if the view is temporarily obstructed by a tree for example.

I have had three DJI Phantoms over the years and always purchased from a reputable UK based dealer or DJI. Unless you can save 15% to 20% elsewhere I wouldn’t bother.

Billy380 · Apr 27, 2016

+1 jessops. I bought a standard and flew in many locations including open countryside and had wifi telemetry/video issues. Kept dropping out multiple times per flight varying between 30-300m. Each flight became a flight test to see how long I could keep video. Took it back and they swapped for another which was even worse. Gave up and paid the extra £250 to swap for an advanced. Lightbridge is amazing. Only gone to 500m so far but no issues whatsoever. Love it and full justification and kudos to jessops rather than a grey importer that I almost bought a standard from....

JamesG2571 · Apr 27, 2016

Numone said:
Yep, I agree. That's why I too chose an Advanced...

The advanced is a great bit of kit!! really happy with mine

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DaveB68 · Apr 27, 2016

Originally bought a Standard from Amazon, never flew it, returned it for an Advanced (from Maplin) got it for £650 inc DJI hard case. Worth checking retailers for deals.

Even though my MacBook Pro is capable of 2.7 / 4k editing I still prefer to shoot in 1080p (also with my Osmo and GPHero4 Silver).

cypher007 · Apr 27, 2016

well just used the place stoo1701 used. got it for £735. well when I say got it as in ordered. still looks a bit iffy as the UK address is a block of flats in London. plus there telephone number just has a recorded message. anyway used PayPal as the site chucked my VISA credit card out. stoo1701 said delivery was about 4 days, so let the sweating and finger crossing begin.

Bambola · Apr 27, 2016

I'm in the UK and have had my advanced for nearly a year I guess and don't regret it at all, I would recommend the lightbridge over the 4K camera and with so many people upgrading to P4s I would seriously consider the second hand market where you would probably get a complete set up with extra lipos case iPad etc for the same money.

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cypher007 · Apr 27, 2016

cypher007 said:
well just used the place stoo1701 used. got it for £735. well when I say got it as in ordered. still looks a bit iffy as the UK address is a block of flats in London. plus there telephone number just has a recorded message. anyway used PayPal as the site chucked my VISA credit card out. stoo1701 said delivery was about 4 days, so let the sweating and finger crossing begin.

p.s. I bought the p3p.

flpholt · Apr 27, 2016

standard and advance

both good birds

rabster777 · Apr 27, 2016

To the OP good luck getting your money refunded quickly from simply electronics! A quick Google Search will reveal a host of horror stories from this company! I ordered a lens, it took 8 weeks to arrive and was damaged it took another 8 months for a refund!

cypher007 · Apr 28, 2016

odered the P3P from the same place as Stoo. thanks for all the advice though. I will no doubt be back soon with questions. I haven't got it yet but I do have one or two questions regarding the firmware and batteries. does the app connect to my wifi and update the drone, controller and battery? or do I need to plug each deivce into a pc?

on the battery front, ive looked at the charger and it seems a tad basic. is the charging circuit in the battery? I have an iCharger 206b is it possible to charge these batteries with it? also ive seen some car chargers, though they seem a bit scary. would it be better to either use the 206b or use an inverter with the dji charger?

Phantom-Four · Apr 28, 2016

cypher007 said:
odered the P3P from the same place as Stoo. thanks for all the advice though. I will no doubt be back soon with questions. I haven't got it yet but I do have one or two questions regarding the firmware and batteries. does the app connect to my wifi and update the drone, controller and battery? or do I need to plug each deivce into a pc?

Sorry, short on time so rather than a proper reply, some reading material:
http://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/inspire_1/en/Firmware_Update_Guide_en_v1.4.pdf

PEEFA · Apr 28, 2016

cypher007 said:
well just used the place stoo1701 used. got it for £735. well when I say got it as in ordered. still looks a bit iffy as the UK address is a block of flats in London. plus there telephone number just has a recorded message. anyway used PayPal as the site chucked my VISA credit card out. stoo1701 said delivery was about 4 days, so let the sweating and finger crossing begin.

What will you do if you have a problem with it and have to send it in for repair. I bought mine from maplins and got a two year warranty. I had a compass problem with my advanced I called maplins and they said pack it all up and bring it in for an exchange for a new one sealed in the box. When I hear some of the horror stories on here about returning to Dji for repair I am glad I didn't try to save a couple of pounds.

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Stoo1701 · Apr 28, 2016

@PEEFA I had the same concerns, I called the company who answered promptly and assured me it was supplied with a 2 year UK warranty

not all non-uk suppliers are SLR Hut, of course there is an element of gamble, but myself and cypher007 payed with PayPal which offers good buyer protection. Knowing what DJI are like with warranties anyway, I had mine added to my home contents insurance to cover for any repair, replacement for any reason.. Cost me £51 for the year. I am willing to try a little harder than the high street for my purchase, that's why I got a P3Pro for advance money.. That's a win in my book !

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Numone · Apr 28, 2016

cypher007 said:
odered the P3P from the same place as Stoo. thanks for all the advice though. I will no doubt be back soon with questions. I haven't got it yet but I do have one or two questions regarding the firmware and batteries. does the app connect to my wifi and update the drone, controller and battery? or do I need to plug each deivce into a pc?

on the battery front, ive looked at the charger and it seems a tad basic. is the charging circuit in the battery? I have an iCharger 206b is it possible to charge these batteries with it? also ive seen some car chargers, though they seem a bit scary. would it be better to either use the 206b or use an inverter with the dji charger?

Re. Updating of FW, the answers you seek are on this forum - do a search. As I said before, given you've stated you don't have any experience of flying a UAV, as I and as others have suggested, you should download and RTFM again, again and yet again, and watch all the DJI videos again, again and yet again too, before you even attempt to undertake your maiden flight.
As for the charger, I don't actually understand what you mean by "basic?" The DJI chargers are specifically designed to charge their proprietary intelligent batteries for the aircraft and RC's... that's it. The 100w charger you'll get with the P3P will charge an aircraft battery in circa 35 mins, a little longer for the RC. Now, AFAIK (& someone far more knowledgable than me will put me straight if I'm wrong) you won't be able to charge the DJI batteries safely via the mains with anything other than the DJI charger and more to the point, why the heck would you want too? And can I ask why are you're thinking about charging batteries in the field? My advise would be to get at least two additional batteries so you can pre-charge them at home.
Anyway, good luck with the aircraft and fingers crossed you don't have an issue with it, as I doubt very much you'll get the same after sales service as you would expect from an official UK based DJI reseller.

Numone · Apr 28, 2016

Stoo1701 said:
@PEEFA I had the same concerns, I called the company who answered promptly and assured me it was supplied with a 2 year UK warranty not all non-uk suppliers are SLR Hut, of course there is an element of gamble, but myself and cypher007 payed with PayPal which offers good buyer protection. Knowing what DJI are like with warranties anyway, I had mine added to my home contents insurance to cover for any repair, replacement for any reason.. Cost me £51 for the year. I am willing to try a little harder than the high street for my purchase, that's why I got a P3Pro for advance money.. That's a win in my book !

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Stoo, why does answering the phone promptly, and saying "we're great" give you the assurance that they are? Do they have UK premises? Can you go and collect it? Probably not.
Re. the warranty, your contract is with them, the reseller, not DJI. If they're not an official UK reseller, they'll be offering their own "warranty", so you should find-out what that covers.

PEEFA · Apr 28, 2016

I thought you said that it was just an answerphone message? As stated your contract will be with the seller I believe Dji won't touch it for warranty work as you did not buy it from them. I suppose you will have to rely on your house insurance to pay up and buy a new one. I'd just rather a shop I can walk into and has been around a while. Make sure the box is still factory sealed there are a lot of refurbed ones about for cheap.

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Stoo1701 · Apr 28, 2016

Yes box was sealed. The reason I mentioned about them answering promptly is to compare to unscrupulous grey importers who offer answerphones and no human contact. DJI have covered many warranties that were not direct purchases.
I have a Meile washing machine, it has a warranty and I didn't have to travel the the factory in Europe and load it into the boot of my car directly to get the warranty. I'm in the UK, and ALL electrical devices must adhere to a minimum standard of quality referred to as 'fit for purpose'. This means regardless of a manufacturers or retailers denial of a warranty it is covered by my statutory rights for 2 years.

I did my due diligence on the supplier. I haven't made a big deal of where it was from as I know there are b&m store owners in these forums, and I've got no wish to divert business from them. (In this case, I needed a P3P with a max budget of £750 and this was how I managed that). The web store was drone-expert.co.uk you won't see a b&m address for them as they are a web store.. So no, I couldn't go collect it?? Kind of makes the whole internet retail idea a bit pointless?? They are handled in terms of servers and stock by experty, a European manager of many web stores. Deal with stock for their customers, take enquiries etc. Google and have a read. This is a perfectly legitimate way to operate this style of business. The purchase is still from a UK company. The warranty is still a UK warranty. I hope this clarifies things and unclenches a few cheeks [emoji3]

Of course I won't need to rely on that, as it came with a 2yr warranty. Why so nervous about this? It's a thing, from a shop. I bought it, I have it. Job done. [emoji106]

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Numone · Apr 29, 2016

Stoo1701 said:
Yes box was sealed. The reason I mentioned about them answering promptly is to compare to unscrupulous grey importers who offer answerphones and no human contact. DJI have covered many warranties that were not direct purchases.
I have a Meile washing machine, it has a warranty and I didn't have to travel the the factory in Europe and load it into the boot of my car directly to get the warranty. I'm in the UK, and ALL electrical devices must adhere to a minimum standard of quality referred to as 'fit for purpose'. This means regardless of a manufacturers or retailers denial of a warranty it is covered by my statutory rights for 2 years.

I did my due diligence on the supplier. I haven't made a big deal of where it was from as I know there are b&m store owners in these forums, and I've got no wish to divert business from them. (In this case, I needed a P3P with a max budget of £750 and this was how I managed that). The web store was drone-expert.co.uk you won't see a b&m address for them as they are a web store.. So no, I couldn't go collect it?? Kind of makes the whole internet retail idea a bit pointless?? They are handled in terms of servers and stock by experty, a European manager of many web stores. Deal with stock for their customers, take enquiries etc. Google and have a read. This is a perfectly legitimate way to operate this style of business. The purchase is still from a UK company. The warranty is still a UK warranty. I hope this clarifies things and unclenches a few cheeks

Of course I won't need to rely on that, as it came with a 2yr warranty. Why so nervous about this? It's a thing, from a shop. I bought it, I have it. Job done.

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Your Miele analogy doesn't work. Reputable e-tailers have "real" addresses and real people answering their phones not operating from a flat in Lewisham. Given they've sold you and the OP a P3P at £200+ less than the € to £ price, where do you think they're getting the product whilst still allowing them to make a profit? And they can tell you it has a 5 year warranty, but it's when you come to claim on it that it'll count. Do you think a Nederlands based business cares about UK consumer rights? Anyway, enjoy your P3P.