I just got back from my first flight. Glad I didn't have prop guards. OK. The background is my wife wanted the Phantom, not me. I have a Gopro 3 though so I'm like ok whatever. We live in the desert so it's not like I could not have driven 10 minutes and had 50 square miles of treeless terrain. No, we go to the park with trees up the street. Everything goes perfectly, the compass orientation etc. We each have a couple of flights. She landed it hard one time and I had to clean some grass off the props. Then, after the first battery dies, I get carried away and fly it into a tree. The Phantom falls into a tangle of blackberry vines which proceed to rip me and stick in my *** as I fight my way to the Phantom, while my wife (not inappropriately) laughs her *** off. Had I been flying with prop guards I'm pretty sure it would still be stuck 20 feet up in either the tree or the vines. Amazingly there was no apparent damage. It flies just fine. I'm willing to pay for new props. And learn about the LOC thing.
Why use prop guards?
- Thread starter GearLoose
- Start date
I have a 10 yoa and a 14 yoa that love to get close to the thing. I am very careful when they are around, but I certainly feel better with the prop guards. The only drawback I have found is trying to find a case if fits into with the guards on. It gets it outside of the standard sizes. I will eventually take them off, but for now I feel better with them on.
When and if my Phantom drops from the sky , or lands out of control i want it to stuck on the tree please .... falling and stuck on the tree means saving your phantom from direct ground impact and probably shell/body break .... i also fly it in public places .... where there is kids .... prob guards give me an extra sefety option ... kind of driving with a seat belt ... love them ...
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- Dec 8, 2013
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I was practicing an ascending and moving backward shot with the FPV and a tailwind made the P2V move faster than I expected. I wasn't able to gain enough altitude fast enough and it ended up about 20 ft high in a Norway Spruce. Since I had the Prop Guards on it was prevented from going too far into the tree. I was able to throw a ball of string into the tree and it (eventually) landed through the prop guards. I then tugged the string to get it down while positioning myself below it to catch it. Just one prop guard broken and one prop but I think it would have been much harder to get down without the prop guards.
My experience with prop guards has been more negative than positive. I bought them to help my props last longer on my Phantom 2, however, I broke my first two props during my second flight with prop protectors. I went a year without ever breaking a prop before on my Phantom 1. And I believe it was the prop protectors that caused the hard landing that broke the props in the first place. After many flights with the protector on and now 5 flights without, what I have deduced is that wind can make the phantom very hard to control with the protectors on and even cause it to crash. I removed the protectors and I have had 5 perfect flights and landings in fairly windy conditions. The Phantom is far more responsive and stable without them.
I always thought they were so you can get some cool shots of them when you are flying. Then to find out your Phantom no longer fits in the $200 dollar case you bought. So you take them off and put the long screws into the motor windings. I didn't do that one, but I here it has been done a time or two. Since then I have placed them in a place where of most use, a trash can.
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