Where to by my Phantom from?!? Helipal?

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Hi Guys, I am new here.. My name is Phil, from the UK. I have fallen for the Phantom and plan on buying the P2vision as soon as Poss.

Obviously I have been looking around the internet at prices etc. I have seen the Sale on Helipal and just wondered if you guys thought it is a good idea (or not) to use them.. It would save me a couple of hundred pounds, but I want to be sure I'm going to get a genuine model in good condition etc...

any thoughts guys? thanks very much!
 
I looked at buzzflyer.co.uk and at quadcopters.co.uk when I bought my P2.

Buzzflyer were really poor on answering my initial presales questions, in one case they gave me an answer to a question I had not asked - so they clearly had not even read what I had written. I also asked them about flyaways, and they claimed they knew of no such problem. Perhaps it is true, but it sounded a little disingenuous to me. I asked about the vulnerability of the PVision gimbals, and they said they are fine - just dont crash. I am sure plenty of people are happy with them but I was not that impressed.

So I went to quadcopters.co.uk and have got reasonable service from them so far.

Try to stick to an authorised dealer.
http://www.dji.com/product/phantom/dealer
 
Don't buy from another country, buy from local dealer whenever you can. That said, if you are from UK than your prices are inflated and I have no idea why. Plus, there is an offer now directly at DJI where they give you extra props and battery free so it is tempting.
I had vision plus on Order from DJI on Friday but cancelled as I had no order update for 3 days.
 
Welcome Phil. Do not buy from non EU. Since Royal mail sell off you WILL get hit for VAT, customs + handling charge.
UK dealers seem to have their arm forced up their back- prices are much the same.
Quadcopters are fast on delivery- slow on support.
FirstPersonView, in my experience, have been A1 all round.

Surprisingly, Helipal support is pretty good- but do the maths first.
 
Hi Guys,
Thank you very much for your kind welcomes and advice.

I have noticed a general theme on the boards about how important customer service etc is, so I think I would be a fool to discount that advice and buy from hong kong - especially with what Discv says about customs stuff.

So I will have a look at the UK sites, and maybe wait for January sales (optimistic?!?) to see what turns up!

I have been reading the forums today and noticed a theme with the batteries dying an untimely death, is this something I should be worried about or is it pot luck for the unlucky few? Should this influence my decision to buy a P2V?


Thanks again chaps.
 
I have two P2s and five batteries with no problems. Two batteries are almost one year old. The year old P2 has Zenmuse, FatShark and Hero4. That said, I set my timer for 11mins and bring the P2 back to check lights. Much of my flying has been over ocean rocks and inhospitable terrain. Thus the very conservative flight times.
 
Hi Phil,
I have just bought a pv2+ v3 from here, http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/QuadcopterNew ... F3762.html

I bought it here because it is fairly local to me, and you get a spare battery and they said " if anything goes wrong with it, bring it back, and we will sort it out for you", which I thought was a fair deal. As these are regional and or national across the uk. I am near Exeter, so that is where I bought mine from. It arrived on the Tues 9th Dec and I ordered it on Sat 6th, so great service at the mo ;). I don't know what it is like a the mo because the boss has got her hands on it ( so no playing until Xmas day) :). I hope this is some help to you and others :)

All the best and wishing all a Happy Christmas
 
Bschaub, Thats good to hear that some guys have had no problems with batteries... Its very exciting flying quads over areas where they will likely be lost if they go down, gets the heart going!

Cheers builder, I will have a look at ICE, thanks for the pointer. (I know the feeling about the boss BTW !- my one has a new watch I bought recently but am not allowed to wear yet!!)

I noticed all the guys in the US have pet trackers etc on their Phantoms so that they can find them if they fly away. Have you seen anything in the UK that we can use?

Phil
 
i got mine from HobbyMounts.co.uk, i've used them quite a few times & always had amazing service
 
Hi Phil, Welcome to the forum
 
I recommend Heliguy in Newcastle, very nice place, professional and helpful people. I bought my P2, and my brand new S900 from them. They have been very informative during the pre sales call, and their prices are great too. They can provide you with a RTF machine, prepared and flight tested for you, so you don't even have to adjust anything or plug it in a computer to update firmware and messing it up straight out of the box.
I think it's important for a beginner not to have too many things to worry about when you just start.

They are also THE authorised DJI warranty repair center for the phantom in the UK, which is quite an indication of competency isn't it?
About the tracker the TK102 is quite popular and doesn't require any membership... I turn it on everytime but frankly I've never had a sign of flyaway so far...
Read the manual and watch all the how to videos. That will help you a lot.
Good luck.
S
 
Welcome to the forum Phil. My only suggestion is to buy from within the UK. You will be protected by the sale of goods and distance selling acts. Ideally, if you can (and this is more likely down to price) buy from a local retailer (NOT MAPLINS) who you can face down if there's an issue.

Remember, the response you get from a pre-sales engagement may not be indicative of the service you'll receive once they get your cash. DJI are famous for that. DON'T buy from DJI directly. It's unlikely you'll get any special deal as DJI tend to hold the dealer chain on a pretty tight leash (it's somewhat of a monopoly).

I've used Firstpersonviewuk and their service pre and post sale has been good. Their delivery is very good as they normally will deliver to a timed slot (which is really handy when you're awaiting delivery of that precious parcel).

I bought my P2 from a local model shop so that I could go and eyeball a real human if I had an issue.

Only other thing is to get yourself insured (you probably already know that) again you have a couple of choices. BMFA and FPVUK. they both offer 3rd party insurance and can both be used on MoD property (so long as you have permission, which I think you'll not struggle with too much ;) ). The other main difference is that BMFA is £30+ for the year and FPVUK is £16ish. different cover amounts but enough to cover damaging someone's property.

Enjoy the flying and keep it out of the mess (for a while) as ceilings have a magnetic effect on these things, closely followed by plants, pets and cheeks :)

hope this helps

BMEWS
 
BMEWS said:
Remember, the response you get from a pre-sales engagement may not be indicative of the service you'll receive once they get your cash.

I disagree, if they are not keen at pre-sales time they are unlikely to be keen at any stage of the process.
 
As sergekouper says, read the manual and watch the you tube videos.
And them watch them again.
And then read the relevant part of this excellent guide
viewtopic.php?t=23597
 
I've bought all my DJI products from Marionville models (www.marionvillemodels.co.uk) in Edinburgh. Their prices are great and the owner Ricci responds to tech support and aftersales queries very, very quickly. Anytime I've emailed questions over to him, I've had a response within 20 minutes. I thoroughly recommend these guys.
 
Hello again Guys,

Just wanted to say thanks to you all for your helpful and informative replies. what a great forum this is!

I havent bought one yet but have veered (as usual) towards the vision+ with all its updated stuff and gimbal etc. I was looking at the P@ with Zenmuse etc looked like a great deal until I realised that it didn't come with any FPV capability - bugger! I don't think I'm experienced enough to start bolting on WIFI transmitters to a brand new piece of kit!

Thanks again for the advice - I don't think I'll be flying it on base any time soon - might get some funny looks from the station commander!!

Phil
 
Phil_RAF said:
Thanks again for the advice - I don't think I'll be flying it on base any time soon - might get some funny looks from the station commander!!
Phil

I think a regular 6.a.m buzz over the top of SHQ is in order :D
 
Hi guys - I've got a similar issue. Just sold my P1 and ready to buy P2 with zenmuse gimbal etc. however, prices all look fixed at £707 (except ebay of course). Anyone in the UK got a bad experience (who to avoid) ? I'm going to go with a reputable authorised dealer because of the cost (avoiding ebay for this purchase), but packing my pants incase I get an old version etc. Can't wait to get back up in the air .
 
Just had my new one delivered from Fast Lad Performance - excellent service and 12.5% off RRP of £707 with code wow2014. Result !
 

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