What should DJI do for the P5?

[Norval]

Things that are within reach for DJI, without taking a toll on the price:

Less noise
30 (real!) minute battery
Better design (better looking).
Better camera
And, maybe, a bit of water resistant (not waterproof!) so it can take some moisture and light rain while coming back to home.



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[normr]

1. Zoom

2. Dual battery bays for longer flight times

3. Props on bottom like the Ehang Ghost 2

4. Retractable landing gear

5. Waterproof

6. 360 degree avoidance






Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[John Locke]

Retracts are only useful if you have a rotating 360 camera, and to include the 360 camera adds too much weight to this size drone, decreasing flight time and increasing cost.....all for little gain. I personally like the fixed P4 landing gear for camera protection in case of mishap. I would like a P4 face lift but the P4 changes were targeted at efficiency, skinnier motor arms and smooth aerodynamic surfaces, which is most important for flight times. Most of all I like the portability of Phantom, I don't want that to change. I love backpacking with it, and the carry on ease when traveling by plane.

 

[John Locke]

My wish list includes:
1. Lightbridge 2
2. Optical zoom, like recently announced for Inspire.
3. Micro 4/3 sensor (likely too heavy and expensive)
4. Little planet software in the app.
5. Bigger battery

 

[syotr]

there are some water proof drones out there but your wright they start at 3 GRAND

Making a drone waterproof and floating is not that difficult or expensive. The motors are not bothered by water. The electronics can be cooled by heatsinks. The barometer needs to be vented.

 

[syotr]

My wish list:
Waterproof
Floating
Retracting landing gear which also folds for more compact transport
Removable camera
Dumb batteries
360 degree camera
Ability to do a controlled landing with 3 rotors
More crash worthy

 

[Foosy]

- automatic ND filter
- variable zoom
- stealth mode: no propeller noise

 

[m0j0]

What I want:
Lightbridge 2 - more range
More efficient battery / bigger battery = longer flight time
Better camera/sensor/higher bitrate
Removable camera - upgradeable and easier to fix if you crash it.
Make it so it doesn't sink if it hits the water
Design it so that it doesn't develop stress cracks.

What I don't want:
360 camera - I would not use it
Retractable landing gear - This is just another mechanism that can/will malfunction and it adds weight. I want longer flight times with more range...

 

[ftttu]

In actual seriousness, I'd like to see at least 2 different versions like a "Phantom 5" and a "Phantom 5 Pro" since these things are used commercially. Apparent sophistication over the older Phantoms is what turned me on to the P4 because, even though it was a toy to me, it appeared to be a more "serious" direction in the prosumer drone market.

I'd like to see the "pro" have robust parts, and I'd like to see those parts made to be easy to remove and replace. Getting back to my previous post about cracks, I'd like to see the motors connected to some type of inner frame so there are no cracks when R&R the motors, and I'd like to see quick disconnect connectors to the motors for their easy R&R.

The "pro" could also have some type of a better body like aluminum or CF, and OA added all around would be a plus. Also, the camera on the "pro" needs to be upgradeable since it is more likely to be used commercially. If DJI wants that on the regular P5, I wouldn't stop them.

Back to batteries. I'd like to see a top/center mounted battery to keep the battery and any higher capacity battery to maintain center of balance. I think that a other than the ability to up battery capacity, there would be no fear of the battery ejecting during spirited flight.

Again with the HDMI on the RC from the factory, and have the RC with some type of screen. I don't know anything about Lightbridge 2, but if it extends the range, then I want Lightbridge 3 to better that.

 

[Erised]

All of the above plus graphene batteries.

 

[John Locke]

I don't expect more range from Lightbridge 2 given the trend of DJI reducing range with Lightbridge 1, time after time, for no reason. Go figure. I worry about this because I want to buy an Inspire 2 and phantom 5 with LB2. But I'm not interested if it won't go at least 2 miles, RELIABLY, which means 3mi in ideal conditions.

 

[Stealthmatt]

I personally feel people are looking at the phantom 4 as a pro drone. That is what the Inspire 1 is for. However, for a hobbyist or startup company/start up person the phantom 4 is great or recreational use.

Also what function would waterproof be useful because when your flying in the rain the camera is getting wet and blurry so whats the point. If you want a waterproof drone get a cheap $100 toy or a drone with a go pro.

The one thing they could do now before the Phantom 5 is better quality control.

Being more realistic:

- Collision avoidance 360 or at least back facing cameras so it can see when going backwards.

- Longer flight time, a true "28 minutes" would be great.

- Better range. (Upgradeable antennas)

- Ability to change Antennas on the drone and the controller.

- Ability to generate a tone for easier search and recovery

- Ability to install a sim card to send SOS coordinates via mobile network

This is probably a long shot:

- Tripple IMU and Compass redundancy (2 is great but how can it truly determine if one is at fault.)

- 360 Degree view camera attachment/functionality

Extreme ideas:

- Ability to link with multiple phantom 4 and control them to create patterns in the sky etc (like the intel) with the ability to know how close there partners are. (id say a maximum of 4).

- Ability to fly the drone via 4G/3G network

 

[daytona125]

Retracts are only useful if you have a rotating 360 camera, and to include the 360 camera adds too much weight to this size drone, decreasing flight time and increasing cost.....all for little gain. I personally like the fixed P4 landing gear for camera protection in case of mishap. I would like a P4 face lift but the P4 changes were targeted at efficiency, skinnier motor arms and smooth aerodynamic surfaces, which is most important for flight times. Most of all I like the portability of Phantom, I don't want that to change. I love backpacking with it, and the carry on ease when traveling by plane.

Well said. I love the design of the phantom because it is portable and very trans-portabe. A lot of people would like to see retractable landing gear but as you said, the fixed gear gives a lot of protection to the very costly camera and gimbal and I've NEVER seen the landing gear in any of my shots. And its simple and lighter. I have a flamewheel 550 and yes, it does look more impressive with the 6 motors and big radio and it does draw a crowd wherever I go but since I got my p4 I don't even plan on flying that thing again, even though the p4 looks like a toy in comparison. The 550 was also a pain to lug around. I hope DJI keeps the size an shape of the phantom for ever, Its a good design if you ask me. Tilted horizon NEEDS to be addressed though or this will be my last DJI purchase.

 

[John Locke]

Tilted horizon NEEDS to be addressed though or this will be my last DJI purchase.

I've had two P4's, neither had this tilted horizon problem some talk about. Have you considered sending it in? DJI swapped out my drone in a week, not counting ship time. They're pretty quick, but you need to provide them with proof up front to "grease the skids" when it arrives in Carson, CA. It took me about a week to give them the proof they needed for my symptoms. I would think samples of your video would be easy to prove a tilted horizon. Since only a small percentage (I'm guessing less than 5%, am I wrong?) of pilots seems to have this issue I'm thinking it's more of a hardware issue, not firmware. However, a more reliable gimbal would be nice on a P5.

 

[John Locke]

Extreme ideas:
- Ability to fly the drone via 4G/3G network

I think the latency through cell networks would be prohibitive for safe operation, not to mention the added weight and cost would be too much for this class of craft. In addition, this would blatantly provide the public with the ability violate the FAA's desire for VLOS operation. And what networks would DJI have to support? ATT, Verizon, Tmobile, Sprint, Rogers? Yes, too extreme I think.

- Ability to generate a tone for easier search and recovery

Great idea! This is something I think DJI could do today in firmware on P3 and P4 without a hardware change, if they wanted to. These birds makes noises already during startup, so there is a speaker that could be utilized. This assumes the craft isn't totally incapacitated, such as losing it's battery upon crashing.

 

[Alien Warrior]

They should get the product right when released. Should work straight out of the box without having to upgrade FW ever!
The product should be durable with clear comprehensive instructions covering all points.
There should also be better after sales customer service and full range of spare parts available.
The advertising and specifications should reflect real life, if they say "Range is 5000metres" or "Flight time 30 minutes" then that should be obtainable in real life.

 

[John Locke]

They should get the product right when released. Should work straight out of the box without having to upgrade FW ever!
The product should be durable with clear comprehensive instructions covering all points.
There should also be better after sales customer service and full range of spare parts available.
The advertising and specifications should reflect real life, if they say "Range is 5000metres" or "Flight time 30 minutes" then that should be obtainable in real life.

These suggestions are absolutely absurd. DJI could never do this, and we wouldn't have all the fun of fixing their issues. I don't think DJI would ever release a product if it had to meets these reasonable demands for quality. Total fantasy..... Hah!

 

[ftttu]

I think the latency through cell networks would be prohibitive for safe operation, not to mention the added weight and cost would be too much for this class of craft. In addition, this would blatantly provide the public with the ability violate the FAA's desire for VLOS operation. And what networks would DJI have to support? ATT, Verizon, Tmobile, Sprint, Rogers? Yes, too extreme I think.


Great idea! This is something I think DJI could do today in firmware on P3 and P4 without a hardware change, if they wanted to. These birds makes noises already during startup, so there is a speaker that could be utilized. This assumes the craft isn't totally incapacitated, such as losing it's battery upon crashing.

Walkera’s new superzoom camera drone can spot you a mile away

You probably already saw the link above which was posted in the General area. I put it forward a while back that I thought it would be neato to be able to use cell service or satellite phone type service to control a drone, but you are someone else said that there may be too much lag time. I don't know anything about Walkera but if they can get it to work, I'd be on board. The zoom is pretty cool, but I'd actually rarely use that feature.

 

[daytona125]

I've had two P4's, neither had this tilted horizon problem some talk about. Have you considered sending it in? DJI swapped out my drone in a week, not counting ship time. They're pretty quick, but you need to provide them with proof up front to "grease the skids" when it arrives in Carson, CA. It took me about a week to give them the proof they needed for my symptoms. I would think samples of your video would be easy to prove a tilted horizon. Since only a small percentage (I'm guessing less than 5%, am I wrong?) of pilots seems to have this issue I'm thinking it's more of a hardware issue, not firmware. However, a more reliable gimbal would be nice on a P5.

Life would be MISERABLE if I had to give up my phantom for a whole week!!! The tilt I have seems to be a better most of the time with the firmware updates, most times its good but once in a while it comes back, then goes away. Weird.

 

[John Locke]

Walkera’s new superzoom camera drone can spot you a mile away

You probably already saw the link above which was posted in the General area. I put it forward a while back that I thought it would be neato to be able to use cell service or satellite phone type service to control a drone, but you are someone else said that there may be too much lag time. I don't know anything about Walkera but if they can get it to work, I'd be on board. The zoom is pretty cool, but I'd actually rarely use that feature.

That's a good looking Walkera. Too bad it doesn't have Lightbridge. I can't believe anyone would trust cellular to control a drone, given the latency issues. That seems destine to cause an incident that will affect us all. However, I'm really interested in that zoom camera. That's quite a feat to make it light enough for a drone in that class.