Why so much hate for the Phantom 3 Standard?

[Proud_Hufflepuff]

Thanks for the replies everyone, this looks to be a great board!

Ill be paying £325 for a refurbished P3S from an authorized DJI dealer. That's a saving of £125 compared to a brand new one! This is a big chunk of money for me at the moment and the Advanced etc (even refurbished) are simply not an option.

Having looked at distances on Google maps I think I'll be more than happy with the Standards range, and I'm sure that the image/video quality will be more than enough for my uses!

 

[robca]

Thanks for the replies everyone, this looks to be a great board!

Ill be paying £325 for a refurbished P3S from an authorized DJI dealer. That's a saving of £125 compared to a brand new one! This is a big chunk of money for me at the moment and the Advanced etc (even refurbished) are simply not an option.

Having looked at distances on Google maps I think I'll be more than happy with the Standards range, and I'm sure that the image/video quality will be more than enough for my uses!

If you live in the UK, you have to fly "line of sight" by law. Which means you cannot legally fly the P3S any further than its range no matter what (as a matter of fact, the P3S range is ~3 times more than what's usually considered LOS). Flying drones | UK Civil Aviation Authority

(3) The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must maintain direct,
unaided visual contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in
relation to other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the
purpose of avoiding collisions.

 

[macoman]

I bought a refurbished P3S a few months back, after 4 years of building all kind of drones (from 110mm to 650mm). I paid $324 for it, directly from DJI thru a Newegg special

There is simply nothing else in that price range even remotely comparable. The only thing I miss is 1080p 60 fps. I have no use for 4k, but 1080p 60 fps is much smoother than 1080p 30fps when filming fast moving objects. All in all, though, very happy

Since I live in the USA, the P3S has more range than I'm legally allowed to fly. This board seems to have a weird fascination with long range, but very few people in real life need more range than the P3S offers (and, if so, there are mods you can make).

As long as you don't overpay your P3S (i.e. buy refurb, it's as good as new and much cheaper), you will enjoy your P3S and, by the time you outgrow it, you can sell it on Craigslist (or your country equivalent) for almost the same amount you paid, making its "total cost of ownership" pretty low. Higher end drones offer a lot more, but cost a lot more, too, and lose more when resold (think Honda Civic vs luxury sport car)

Can you buy better than a P3S? Absolutely. Can you buy better value than a P3S? I highly doubt it... the only exception was the folks who managed to get the refurb P3P for $539 a few weeks back...

I couldn't agree more... Have my phantom 3 standard, yes the range is not the same as the advanced or professional version, but for a newbie like me... The range is more than enough. I do not need at the moment miles of range away. 300 to 600 meters is more than enough.

 

[bigloser2448]

I bought my P3S close to a year ago. It easily flies further away than my eyes can see, which for me, is scary as hell. I do not like losing sight of it. I bought mine new for around $500 with some extras if I recall. Shortly after I bought mine, a good friend got the itch from watching me fly. He shopped around and ended up getting a refurb P3P for not a whole lot more than I spent. Although I love mine, I often kick myself for not waiting the few months more to save up for the P3P. I think you might feel the same way after a while.
That said, I think I can sell mine for a pretty good amount with all the addons I've bought over the last year. I think I'll have a P3P or P4 before the end of this year. Good luck to you.. To give you some perspective, this is a video I shot of a nearby Bridge. This was my 1st time over significant water. I lost sight of it about 3/4 the way across the bridge before heading back. I think you will agree if you can go that far, you'll be perfectly happy with the range of the unmodified P3S.

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[macoman]

I bought my P3S close to a year ago. It easily flies further away than my eyes can see, which for me, is scary as hell. I do not like losing sight of it. I bought mine new for around $500 with some extras if I recall. Shortly after I bought mine, a good friend got the itch from watching me fly. He shopped around and ended up getting a refurb P3P for not a whole lot more than I spent. Although I love mine, I often kick myself for not waiting the few months more to save up for the P3P. I think you might feel the same way after a while.
That said, I think I can sell mine for a pretty good amount with all the addons I've bought over the last year. I think I'll have a P3P or P4 before the end of this year. Good luck to you.. To give you some perspective, this is a video I shot of a nearby Bridge. This was my 1st time over significant water. I lost sight of it about 3/4 the way across the bridge before heading back. I think you will agree if you can go that far, you'll be perfectly happy with the range of the unmodified P3S.

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To be fair you have to understand that's how technology products are... You can buy a laptop, smartphone, any tech product and in half a year later it already lost 1/4 of the original price and some times even 50% off of the price. Same thing with video games. By the way, nice video!!!

 

[Scomich]

I think P3S is amazing. Had it since last Christmas. The range has always been good enough for me. And yes I agree the adv and pro go further due to Lightbridge but other than just flying a long way away at distance are you really going to near any obstacles? If you want long range with accuracy but without video, control or telemetry use Litchi missions, You may find that the PS3 can go further than all the other 3 series due to its reduced weight.
I have the Alfa panels fitted now but not yet tested..

 

[Paul60]

I love mine. I own two of them. The P3S does everything I need and wont break the bank if something goes pear shaped

 

[Summerpaws]

I love mine. Zero issues. Never did the update and I'll wait a bit until I do. That said, I find it very easy to fly and the pictures and video are more than adequate. There are so many of these out there and even if a small percentage of them have problems and a small percentage of THEM join this forum to complain or look for help, that's an awful lot of people saying bad things. It gives one the impression that the P3s's are not good machines.

 

[wph]

I got mine at Christmas, try to fly it at least twice a week. Zero problems, mine is stock except for the crappy phone holder. Wifi is a problem but I'm getting better at dealing with it. Great drone at a good price.

 

[Pyrogen]

I'm also quite happy with my P3S. I got mine as an intro drone so that if I did crash I wasn't crashing sometjing more expensive.

I do suffer from the WiFi loss of signal issue at times and have had two disconnects so far but each time I just walk a bit closer and I'm back.

Based on a single test (very scientific I know), using a CD as a reflector helped me improvey range a little bit. Based on the one time I did get my furthest distance of 430m with a CD compared to my previous flights where I lost signal or got disconnected at 330m.

It just looks silly having a CD on the back of the controller haha

 

[Tim Dawes]

Well it's my first 'serious' drone and I'm intending to use it for hobby based photography and video. Nothing serious, mainly landscapes and scouting out some abandoned buildings.

I understand that the Standard has limitations but being at the top of my budget it's really my only option!

Having said that all the footage and images I've seen from it seem more than good enough for my current needs.

I'm very happy with my P3S! I think it takes wonderfull videos! I'm one of the guys who posred crazy rangel but that 400' altitude over water. The regular distance works fine for most you would ever want to do. And if you wanted a long range flight use Lithis waypoint.

 

[Dione]

After 2 months old, mine had a weird hardware issue where range became limited to 10% of what it was originally. Because I modded it, I could not get it covered under warranty so I have to sell it for parts. So I would only suggest that you don't modify it at all or at least until it's past it's warranty period to make sure everything is good.

I just bought a 2nd refurbished one for $319 and it's as good as new. Goes 6000ft without any modifications. I'm keeping it that way for now. Luckily, even if you have to sell it for parts, you can most likely come close to recovering the $300. I paid closer to $500 for my first one so I probably won't come close to recovering that. But $300 is a real bargain. Even if it was just a camera, that price would be pretty good.

I only paid $299 for mine NEW. It was a no-brainer. I do not get the range you are reporting and I have the ARGtek mod controller. However, to just fly around and view the scenery I am satisfied with mine.

 

[R30Rush]

I bought one about 2 months ago and am very happy with it, I am into photography and although its not a flying DSLR its a very capable Compact
I tend to use the bracketed function and use Lightroom to merge the images
Here is one of the ones from a few weeks ago

 

[macoman]

I bought one about 2 months ago and am very happy with it, I am into photography and although its not a flying DSLR its a very capable Compact
I tend to use the bracketed function and use Lightroom to merge the images
Here is one of the ones from a few weeks ago

Beautiful picture!

 

[mrfish]

Thanks for the replies everyone, this looks to be a great board!

Ill be paying £325 for a refurbished P3S from an authorized DJI dealer. That's a saving of £125 compared to a brand new one! This is a big chunk of money for me at the moment and the Advanced etc (even refurbished) are simply not an option.

Having looked at distances on Google maps I think I'll be more than happy with the Standards range, and I'm sure that the image/video quality will be more than enough for my uses!

Who is the seller please?

 

[Bruce Hammond]

I love my P3S. I have crashed it more times than I can count, once from 75 feet altitude, and it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

 

[alivilla47]

Who is the seller please?

Might not be the one the OP found but here's one for the same price

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/dji...-60-fhd-1080p-30-smart-features-(refurbished)

If it don't work just go on scan.co.uk and search phantom 3 (sometimes copying the link messes up on my phone)

 

[Jake_The_Snake]

I haven't really heard anyone mention the progressively worse impacts of firmware upgrades to the overall performance of the drone. I was really pleased with how my P3S was operating when I first got it, but as the firmware upgrades continued I noticed different things happening with the remote control staying connected and other problems (strong interference, video feed). My main concern is that because of the issues with the remote control, I will have a flyaway and the drone will crash, even worse crash into someone or something causing injury or damage. So, if you want to spend your hard earned money on something that will eventually disappoint you because of all of the little issues that comes along with supposed firmware "upgrades", then you should get one.

 

[Tomg_03]

I feel like there isn't much hate for it as a drone is always a drone but it's looked down upon as its a entry level drone.

 

[issel_13]

I love mine, but I think many people read of crazy distances some on here get and feel like theirs should do better. The use of wifi connection is probably the biggest cause of dissatisfaction with the standard imo

I love mine as well but have the same problems with wifi and distance