The General Drone-Related Thread

Banggood are OK but I'd be a bit concerned if there was any warranty issues.
Established UK dealers are best then direct from DJI - if something goes wrong.
 
4wd said:
Banggood are OK but I'd be a bit concerned if there was any warranty issues.
Established UK dealers are best then direct from DJI - if something goes wrong.
Click to expand...

I did contact DJI and asked them about the warranty is the drone was purchased from China, they said that I would get full UK support and warranty no matter where the drone came from.
 
Jessops have the P3 4K for £550 with a free spare battery on offer at the moment. It's the top of my budget for first drone really. Anyone have any opinions on it? The 4K obviously does 4K video over 1080 but also has a newer better controller is this worth the extra £100? Or is the controller not that much better? Sorry for all the questions. Wife's gonna kill me as it is may as well make sure I buy the right one.
 
The problem with the P3 4K is it's using older generation control by wifi similar to the Vision Plus.
The range is much more limited.
If you are happy staying within about 1500 feet that's fine, and the camera is the same as the P3Pro.

I'd happily sacrifice the 4K for the more robust connection with P3 Advanced and still be able to record at 2K.
Even if it meant waiting a while for the price to edge down, or get a used one from ebay.
Don't forget you need at least one (£100) spare battery and probably a case.
Some of the deals will include that.

Not sure what they improved with the controller, it's pretty simple anyway.
The plastic they use is rather cheap and nasty considering the price, and there's been a lot of reports of switches breaking free underneath perhaps over-tightened screws (?) - though dropping it would be a bad thing.
 
4wd said:
The problem with the P3 4K is it's using older generation control by wifi similar to the Vision Plus.
The range is much more limited.
If you are happy staying within about 1500 feet that's fine, and the camera is the same as the P3Pro.

I'd happily sacrifice the 4K for the more robust connection with P3 Advanced and still be able to record at 2K.
Even if it meant waiting a while for the price to edge down, or get a used one from ebay.
Don't forget you need at least one (£100) spare battery and probably a case.
Some of the deals will include that.

Not sure what they improved with the controller, it's pretty simple anyway.
The plastic they use is rather cheap and nasty considering the price, and there's been a lot of reports of switches breaking free underneath perhaps over-tightened screws (?) - though dropping it would be a bad thing.
Click to expand...

Hmm that definitely does give some food for thought. The Advanced is about £150 more. Both with free second batteries at the moment from Jessops. That's made the decision a little harder. I may just wait for the price to fall a bit on them and go from there. Do the prices fluctuate much on them or are they proved like an apple product and only decrease when the next model comes out?
 
Changes in £ won't help but generally older models consistently creep downwards.
Once holiday season is over I'd expect further slight falls until Christmas approaches.
 
Originally it was 1080p but there was a firmware update late last year which enabled the 2.7K
If you buy one now it would be very surprising if it wasn't already on a more recent firmware.
The 16GB card will be included, you probably want a 32GB and keep the 16GB in the case for when you accidentally left the main one in the PC card reader :rolleyes:
 
4wd said:
Originally it was 1080p but there was a firmware update late last year which enabled the 2.7K
If you buy one now it would be very surprising if it wasn't already on a more recent firmware.
The 16GB card will be included, you probably want a 32GB and keep the 16GB in the case for when you accidentally left the main one in the PC card reader :rolleyes:
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That's brill thanks for all your help. I will order another card but just wondered if that one came with it to help me along for a few days until another comes.
 
Well 4wd you're a very bad influence!! P3A ordered for delivery tomorrow morning [emoji3]. Any YouTube videos or tutorials you'd recommend watching while the batteries charge? I've already read up quite a bit on caa rules and think I'm pretty sure on those. Just big open fields til I'm used to it.
 
Probably here:
http://www.dji.com/support/product/phantom-3-adv

It will say you ought to update firmware but you aren't obliged to.
I'd be inclined to just ignore that part until you have had a few flights and feel familiar with it.
You can ignore indefinitely if you want.
When you get the app, best to stop that updating itself automatically too.

Don't be tempted to try it in a confined back garden or similar.
Some even do first flight indoors which is unlikely to end well.

Choose a day with little wind and get well out in the open.
Start the motors after the app says all OK then use the left stick briefly full throttle up to above head height.
Let it settle there and gently check it responds as expected.
Before moving further away get up reasonably high like 100 feet so you are above anything you might hit.
It is very easy at first to get confused by left becoming right etc when you have turned some distance away.

When you land don't use the CSC method like starting - just hold the Left stick down for a few seconds and motors stop.
Using the CSC to stop will often tip it over.
 
4wd said:
Probably here:
http://www.dji.com/support/product/phantom-3-adv

It will say you ought to update firmware but you aren't obliged to.
I'd be inclined to just ignore that part until you have had a few flights and feel familiar with it.
You can ignore indefinitely if you want.
When you get the app, best to stop that updating itself automatically too.

Don't be tempted to try it in a confined back garden or similar.
Some even do first flight indoors which is unlikely to end well.

Choose a day with little wind and get well out in the open.
Start the motors after the app says all OK then use the left stick briefly full throttle up to above head height.
Let it settle there and gently check it responds as expected.
Before moving further away get up reasonably high like 100 feet so you are above anything you might hit.
It is very easy at first to get confused by left becoming right etc when you have turned some distance away.

When you land don't use the CSC method like starting - just hold the Left stick down for a few seconds and motors stop.
Using the CSC to stop will often tip it over.
Click to expand...

That's all very helpful thanks. Had to google CSC sounds like it's something all beginners are scared of and a few accidentally turning the blades off mid flight.
 
Do most people on here use blade guards or are they not needed if you use sensibly?
 
Ben6 said:
Do most people on here use blade guards or are they not needed if you use sensibly?
Click to expand...

I always use detachable prop guards. Not just for the safety of the drone but also, if it ever became an issue, the safety of others, e.g. if drone crashed, etc.
 
johnnypanic said:
I always use detachable prop guards. Not just for the safety of the drone but also, if it ever became an issue, the safety of others, e.g. if drone crashed, etc.
Click to expand...

Are they just some unofficial ones as I notice the official Dji ones aren't detachable very quickly ie. When packing it away into box/bag?
 
Thanks both only have my old lightroom here so looking for something half decent
 
4wd I'm looking at the case/bag similar to yours. Can you fit spare props and a tablet inside that case? Hard to tell from pictures I've seen on eBay etc.
 
Any decent third party batteries out there or best sticking with dji ones?
 
anyone using or used fat shark goggles with the phantom?...quite tempted
 
Ben6 said:
4wd I'm looking at the case/bag similar to yours. Can you fit spare props and a tablet inside that case? Hard to tell from pictures I've seen on eBay etc.
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You can if you don't take a charger or in my case windsurfer range extender.
I've never actually hit anything to need spare props so stopped taking them soon after getting a Vision Plus in 2014.
In reality if it had a bump I'd probably not be keen on flying more that day until it had a good check through at home (IMU etc)
 
StuartH said:
Any decent third party batteries out there or best sticking with dji ones?
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I read a little further up matts opinion which made complete sense to me about third part batteries being about £70 and trusting them with an item worth so much might not be such a good idea
 
I have three but often only need two, especially since I can charge from an inverter in the car.
The saving on 2 additional is not that great and there's a risk future firmware updates might cause problems.
 
Wissel said:
I'm quite interested in this little drone. Footage looks good and could easily fit in the back of my camera bag.

Hearing rumours of £439 UK price. Seems good to me.
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I'm assuming the footage shown is HD benefitting from a lot of digital image stabilisation. There appears to be no gimbal in the unit. I'd quite like to see what the 4K footage looks like straight off the memory card.
 
Agree, even with on board stabilisation you'd have to fly very gently and discard a lot of footage to get shots like they show.
However it seems to have a selection of automated moves which will execute smoother than you could do yourself if not windy anyway.
Must say some of the promo videos from DJI's Vision range were similarly gently misleading!
Most will still find it loads of fun and not be unduly concerned by less than perfect quality.
 
This looks interesting:
http://www.digitalrev.com/article/dji-leak-shows-new-foldable-drone-design

If the rumours are right, it's a new DJI foldable drone due for release at Photokina, that should fit nicely in a camera bag. Spec includes a gimbal.
2zq90ls.jpg

2zq90ls.jpg
 
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Wissel said:
I'm quite interested in this little drone. Footage looks good and could easily fit in the back of my camera bag.

Hearing rumours of £439 UK price. Seems good to me.
Click to expand...

"Electronic image stabilisation in 1080p and 720p"

4K footage is going to look pants.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
"Electronic image stabilisation in 1080p and 720p"

4K footage is going to look pants.
Click to expand...

Yep, I doubt the 4K footage is very usable.

I had a chat with someone who's flown the Breeze, he thinks the 1080p footage is good enough for b-roll. Thing is, it appears to have no removable SD - only built in memory (I heard 16gb). I think I'd find that really annoying.

I'm far more interested to see if the DJI Mavic is announced this month, and if so what are the specs and how good is the footage :)
 
Anyone recommend a decent small quad just for fun indoors and also outside in the back garden?..I used to have a husban and that was quite good fun but not great if the wind got up a bit.Looking to spend around £50-100
 
StuartH said:
Anyone recommend a decent small quad just for fun indoors and also outside in the back garden?..I used to have a husban and that was quite good fun but not great if the wind got up a bit.Looking to spend around £50-100
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Microdrone 3 is pretty good. Flies really well, next to useless for video and far better without the camera attached. Handles wind very well for a small drone.
 
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