Lots of good information about weight and the affect on flight time. Here's something for some of you to consider....and save yourself $80 in the process. Standard landing gear = 44g. Simonsays foldable landing gear 88g(not the V2). The new stuff I just bought off infinity hobby (DJI carbon fiber adjustable landing gear, advertised at 94g).....108g. Just putting it out there for whats it worth.......
I wish there was a giant excel spreadsheet where we could share and compare accurate battery weights, accessory weights, what works and what doesn't work....propellors, motors, gimbals, flight times, transmitters, receivers, FPV, antennas, etc. It can get awful expensive trying this all out yourself. Like Martcerv I like to try out things for myself...so i can control the research and elements of my experiments and see for myself what is working and trying to figure out why.....but it's very hard on the pocket book. I have probably spent as much money on things that I will not use or didn't work (props, landing gears, gimbals, dual battery mounts, and batteries) as the cost of the phantom itself. I'd be embarrassed to say the exact amount and i stopped keeping track of expenses long ago. I still learn something almost everyday reading posts shared by the many phantom pilots that are out there.....and I thank those who contribute proven information. I am a retired military pilot, so i've got time at this point in my life to putz around with all this stuff.
I have tried many types of batteries, 2200, 2500, 2700, 2800, 3200, 5000, 6400 and even an 8000 that i now use on my F550. I have used storm, thunder power, venom, DJI, enerland, onyx, turnigy, and zippy. I could have bought two more phantoms for what i've spent on batteries alone...lol! But it is exciting and interesting to see where the experiments will take me. These are ALL 3s 11.1v batteries BTW. The best all around flight time on my phantom (weighing currently 1504g) is about 11 minutes with dual 2700 storms and 9050 GWS tri props. This is with fat shark fpv, hero3, IOSD, and a few other odds and ends. The point is I love doing this....if i didn't i would have stopped long ago. I have had a couple fly aways early on....there are so many variables on what not to do....for instance I thought it would be fun to land my phantom on the hood of the car one day. Shut it down....refired it up and took off....what i didn't realize is the affect all that metal had on my compass..... i almost lost it right there but quickly realized what had happened...and brought her down and did the compass dance, fired back up and worked perfect. Another time I had my wifi on my gopro on and was controlling the gopro with my smart phone while flying the phantom....not a good idea....you can see exactly what effect a wifi has on your transmitter if you have a dx8 like mine you can see your transmitter/receiver signal strength...as soon as i started messing with the phone to gopro wifi the signal faded in and out affecting control of my phantom.....again avoided yet another disaster.
I say all these things to share with my fellow phantom pilots in considering where to fly and what to try and not to try. I am glad too of the stories others have shared....i enjoy all the readings and information. Lets keep the wealth of information flowing!
I wish there was a giant excel spreadsheet where we could share and compare accurate battery weights, accessory weights, what works and what doesn't work....propellors, motors, gimbals, flight times, transmitters, receivers, FPV, antennas, etc. It can get awful expensive trying this all out yourself. Like Martcerv I like to try out things for myself...so i can control the research and elements of my experiments and see for myself what is working and trying to figure out why.....but it's very hard on the pocket book. I have probably spent as much money on things that I will not use or didn't work (props, landing gears, gimbals, dual battery mounts, and batteries) as the cost of the phantom itself. I'd be embarrassed to say the exact amount and i stopped keeping track of expenses long ago. I still learn something almost everyday reading posts shared by the many phantom pilots that are out there.....and I thank those who contribute proven information. I am a retired military pilot, so i've got time at this point in my life to putz around with all this stuff.
I have tried many types of batteries, 2200, 2500, 2700, 2800, 3200, 5000, 6400 and even an 8000 that i now use on my F550. I have used storm, thunder power, venom, DJI, enerland, onyx, turnigy, and zippy. I could have bought two more phantoms for what i've spent on batteries alone...lol! But it is exciting and interesting to see where the experiments will take me. These are ALL 3s 11.1v batteries BTW. The best all around flight time on my phantom (weighing currently 1504g) is about 11 minutes with dual 2700 storms and 9050 GWS tri props. This is with fat shark fpv, hero3, IOSD, and a few other odds and ends. The point is I love doing this....if i didn't i would have stopped long ago. I have had a couple fly aways early on....there are so many variables on what not to do....for instance I thought it would be fun to land my phantom on the hood of the car one day. Shut it down....refired it up and took off....what i didn't realize is the affect all that metal had on my compass..... i almost lost it right there but quickly realized what had happened...and brought her down and did the compass dance, fired back up and worked perfect. Another time I had my wifi on my gopro on and was controlling the gopro with my smart phone while flying the phantom....not a good idea....you can see exactly what effect a wifi has on your transmitter if you have a dx8 like mine you can see your transmitter/receiver signal strength...as soon as i started messing with the phone to gopro wifi the signal faded in and out affecting control of my phantom.....again avoided yet another disaster.
I say all these things to share with my fellow phantom pilots in considering where to fly and what to try and not to try. I am glad too of the stories others have shared....i enjoy all the readings and information. Lets keep the wealth of information flowing!