Aloha. My wife was amazing this Christmas and bought me a drone. However, when I figured out how much she spent, I realized with a little more of my Christmas cash I could by a DJI Phantom 3 Standard. Now I've read a lot of reviews, mostly on Amazon, and there seems to be some love/hate stuff going on with this drone. I'm curious what I need to know BEFORE I buy this drone and also obviously BEFORE I start to fly. Thanks for any help / tips.
Do you really want it? Is it worth the money you'd spend on it? Those are two of the most important questions... and only you can know the answer.
Personally, I view the Phantom as a camera platform. If you think you will enjoy going to different places and taking video and photos and posting them for people to see, I'd say it's worth it. If you just want yo fly a toy in the air, it won't be.
Personally, I view the Phantom as a camera platform. If you think you will enjoy going to different places and taking video and photos and posting them for people to see, I'd say it's worth it. If you just want yo fly a toy in the air, it won't be.
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
Answer this question in your mind why do you want to pick up P3S when P3A, P3P, P4, P4P, P4P+ and Mavic Pro are available.
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The previous post is correct. However, coming from an extensive background in RC aircraft and FPV, I'm having a blast with mine so far. The camera has quite respectable performance and the smart features of the drone itself are quite impressive. I have built fully autonomous aircraft capable of flying out several miles but I'm still very impressed with this little drone, especially at the price it is going for right now.
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P3S is awesome but you will be left hungry for more . Start off with a p3p or p4 for the added range .
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What did you get for Christmas? I can confidently say any Phantom is the best drone for that its respective price range. There's nothing close.
Totally agree about the hunger. I went from P3S, to A to P to P4, all in a year's time but I see no problem with a Standard and it's a fraction the cost.
Agreed. It's a flying camera. You have to be into the videography of it to really appreciate it.
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You need to figure out first, what kind of flying do you want to do!Photography, Racing, Acro, or sport? There are different types of quads, that fly different, and you just need to find out what you enjoy. Start with a cheap one, and then go up. Fly safe[emoji106][emoji41]
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The only thing the standard is missing is the range which can be fixed without having to buy a new phantom.
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Thanks. I'm an avid photographer so having a camera attached to my drone is pretty much the whole point of me owning one.
Because it seems to have the basic things I'm looking for in a first drone. A good camera, decent flying time, ease of learning, my experience would be transferable to higher quality models in the future, it's strong enough to withstand light winds and most importantly right now it's affordable.
Thanks. I've considered the home built option, but wanted to get my feet wet with something with smart features like RTH. Plus I really don't have a place to build out anything right now where we currently live.
Thanks. I left more details for why I choose this one in a different reply, but mostly it's budget. I'm totally aware that I'll be missing out on features and capabilities the more expensive units could provide. I'm someone who can be pretty satisfied enjoying the toys in my price range. (I shoot with a Sony A6000 camera, it's not the best on the market, but for my budget, it works great and I'm happy with it.)
Thanks. My wife got me a UDI U818A WiFi drone off Amazon. Before I broke it out of the box, I started researching it. Had some good reviews, but two concerns popped up. It couldn't handle any wind from what I was reading and the FPV was sketchy at best. She also bought extra batteries so like I said, I figured for a little more...
Thanks. Definitely want it for photography / video. That's one of my other passions. But I've always enjoyed flying and being above it all so to speak.
Ages ago I actually had my single engine land pilot's license. Long story there, but just could not afford to keep current. But I've always been fascinated with flying and drones have been on my radar for a long time. Just now in a place where we can afford one half way decent.
Oh, and I ordered a Syma X11 to practice on after reading recommendations to learn to fly manually first in case you needed that skill on a more expensive drone in an emergency.
Thanks. That's good to know. Is the range extended by changing the motors or something else? I notice on this forum there are lots of posts about mods for P2's but don't see anything for P3's.
Something else.... As easy as
https://www.amazon.ca/Bestmaple-Amp...83448724&sr=8-2&keywords=phantom+3+windsurfer
will boost your range but only in 100s of meters.
Or there are several more "complex" modifications once installed may boost your range from say 700 meters to 2000+ meters YMMV. I went with the former and went from 400 meters to at least 1200 meters before I recalled my drone
Thanks for all the replies.
Right now my biggest concern is the "fly aways" I'm reading about in reviews. And of course the poor customer service. There are 676 reviews right now and I'm still scrolling through them. It still has four out of five stars, but the one stars are brutal.
But of course, so far I haven't found anything comparable to the P3. Which is why I'm trying to be as prepared as possible before I buy one.
Are there any things I can do in the first week of getting my P3 to run it through it's paces to be sure I don't have a defective unit?
Right now my biggest concern is the "fly aways" I'm reading about in reviews. And of course the poor customer service. There are 676 reviews right now and I'm still scrolling through them. It still has four out of five stars, but the one stars are brutal.
But of course, so far I haven't found anything comparable to the P3. Which is why I'm trying to be as prepared as possible before I buy one.
Are there any things I can do in the first week of getting my P3 to run it through it's paces to be sure I don't have a defective unit?
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Just my personal recommendation but don't fly it over anywhere you couldn't get it back for the first 30 flights.
It's extremely rare, I don't believe I have seen more of a couple cases of it, but I got my standard the start of last year and on its 29th flight it dropped out of the sky. It turned out something was faulty with the board and a motor shut down in flight. It wasn't avoidable or predictable. I was lucky enough to have it fall in a neighbors tree and they were nice enough to help get it down.
DJI fixed it under warranty.
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It's extremely rare, I don't believe I have seen more of a couple cases of it, but I got my standard the start of last year and on its 29th flight it dropped out of the sky. It turned out something was faulty with the board and a motor shut down in flight. It wasn't avoidable or predictable. I was lucky enough to have it fall in a neighbors tree and they were nice enough to help get it down.
DJI fixed it under warranty.
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alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
I don't think fly always should be a concern with P3S as it has limited flying range and if you do good calibrations and fly in a open areas you would be happy.
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