Dji Phantom 3 Advanced Quadcopter Drone 2.7k Hd Video Camera (CP.PT.000160) 83

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The F.A.Q. for Dji Phantom 3 Advanced Quadcopter Drone 2.7k Hd Video Camera (CP.PT.000160)

After battling it out (not really) with my wife and myself (do i really need a $700 drone? ) on getting me a drone for my birthday, i finally decided to get one. I chose the dji advanced as i feel the features where what i was looking for. I could have went with the standard but i wanted the range, not necessarily because i would fly out that far, but rather so i "could" if i ever wanted to. . As soon as i got the package in, i was excited to unbox it and get it up and flying. Unfortunately i had to charge everything up, then update everything. Which by the way, the update is no where near as difficult as others have claimed. You literally download the file from dji website, extract the bin file to the micro sd card, insert that card in the drone, then power it on. It will go through a series of beeps and light flashes until it's done. Then you take the card, check the txt files and make sure it succeeded. Then you put that same card into a usb that can accept a micro sd card and put into the usb port on the front of the controller, power it on, and it will also go through a series of beeps until it's done. Then you check the file to make sure it succeeded. I may have missed something, but i have only had to do it once and this is off memory. Check out the many tutorials out there on youtube. . So, after i get the drone charged and updated, i am ready to fly! i take it outside, get the controller hooked up to my samsung tab s2. The battery at this point read 100%, on the battery and on the app itself. I get the drone up in the air and i'm flying. This thing fly's amazingly well. I take it up about 300 feet and fly it around a bit up there. Now, right behind my house is a large park that is completely open field. After flying it around for awhile to where i am comfortable, i decided to take it over to that field, between my house and this field is a creek. If anything happens, i have to drive down to the bridge to get across. . Here is where it gets bad for me. I am flying over towards that open field and my battery reads 30%, still plenty of juice to finish what i was doing and get back to my house for a safe landing. I literally got to a point where i was bringing the drone home, and i get a message alert that said battery low, auto landing. Wait what? i have 27% battery at this point and i'm over in that field. I can't cancel the auto land feature to bring it home, the return to home button didn't work either. Then i the entire video feed cuts out, i am no longer connected to the drone. At this point i am kind of freaking out, i just lost connection to a $700 piece of equipment. So i get into my vehicle, drive down to the bridge and i run to about where i landed. I see it, but the closer i get, i realize it didn't land. It's tipped over and i can tell the blades are all busted, wtf happened? once i get to it, the entire gimbal with camera was snapped off. I was furious! . . I take the drone back home all busted up. I take a look at my flight record, it shows the exact path i was taking and how much battery i had left. When i lost all connection, that last recorded bit of information was saying 72ft high and i had 27% battery life left. However when i tried to power the drone back on after i got home, there was 0% battery life. So really my only conclusion is that my drone completely lost power and fell from 72 feet as that was the last recorded elevation. . Thanks to online stores amazing customer service, i was able to return the drone. I explained what happened and said that i felt it was a defect in the drone. They didn't refuse the return even though the product was now broken. . I won't be purchasing this drone again. I am giving the autel x-star premium a go as i was pretty disappointed in dji customer service. They are still refusing to refund me my dji care that i purchased. . Even though i had a bad experience with this drone right off the bat, i think it is still an amazing piece of equipment and that is the reason i am only taking 1 star off. Sometimes you just have a faulty product. Even though i won't purchase their drones at this time because of their customer support, if you can get past that, then i would still recommend this drone. I would just recommend you fly it close to home for the first few flights to ensure that everything operates smoothly.

A number of questions have been asked here.

Q&A

(0) Question: Am i correct in assuming that the difference in the dji phantom 3 advanced and the professional is just the camera?

(1) Question: Is this drone different from the one availble on dji website, especially the camera? dji website says 2. 7k/12 mp camera, whereas online store says 1080p.

(2) Question: How long does battery last?

(3) Question: Dji phantom 3 advanced in what country is it built? do you need cell phone coverage to send signal back to a smart device?

(4) Question: Hello. i am living in saudi arabia. is it possible to ship a new phantom drone here? please advise.

(5) Question: What is the flight range?

(6) Question: Does it have a follow mode?

(7) Question: Do you need to have data for this? places that i intend to take video have no service, or will it still connect to your phone?

(8) Question: Can someone address the video quality. is it worth the extra money for 4k or would most anyone be happy with the 1080.

(9) Question: I've noticed the warranty on this drone vary widely depending on the part that dies. can any existing p3 owners describe any failures with their drone

(note) Question: where/how to get Dji (manufacturer's brand) accessories & similiar Dji's products

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Best dji phantom 3 advanced quadcopter drone 2.7k hd video camera (cp.pt.000160) in review

Absolutely fabulous.

Y. Hakala, Arizona

G. Hakala, District of Columbia says

Got this as it was on sale (as they have released the p4) do not buy a phantom "standard" it will have too short of range. Only real differrence in this drone vs the pro is the uhd camera. This 2. 7hd camera is really great, uhd is overkill imho. The video files get huge really quick. I own about 10 lower priced drones and sport models, this was my first dji drone. I researched all the other brands and found hands down dji is the clear winner once you get to the gps camera drones. Phantom 4 is nice but the extra features were not attractive to me (at the newly released price points) but still you can't go wrong with a p4. . You need an ipad mini to really see live camera feeds. Be sure to get a 1ft apple cable to connect your ipad. Iphone works also any android thing. Dji go app is free and has nice flight data, tools and is what you use for advanced control during flight. Be sure to run the simulator a few times before real flight. . Easy to fly. Actually you don't fly as much as you tell it where to go. It's gps stabilized, so when your not touching the sticks it holds still. Nice return to home function that brings the drone back to the place it lifted off if you lose it. (be sure to set the rth altitude higher than any trees in your area. ) while this is fun to fly it is not a sport drone, it is a camera drone, primary designed to fly to take video/pictures. It is still really fun to fly. I added a bunch of blue led strip lights (for like $8) and at night mine looks like a ufo. . You do need a 2nd battery, and perhaps a case. I went with the dji hardshell and think it was best. If you have never flow before then also buy a dromida ominus - it's a $50 toy but a great trainer and good sports drone. You can practice flying on the dromida and it's mostly indestructible. Don't learn to fly with your camera drone. Get some stick time on a toy and the dji go simulator. . Dji support is so/so (was really bad but getting much better) the dji community forum on the dji website rocks. Be sure to check out the forum. Great people, great videos and great stories shared. You can see video from these drones there. Be sure to find the hd video as it is amazing. . Stock props are mostly safe, (mythbuster tested a smiler drone and with stock props could not get it to cut skin).

F. Joanna, Idaho

Very well done, easy to use quadcopter. I'm using it with an ipad mini 2 without any issues. My main use for this is to scout out my rural land for features (brooks, swamps, hills, thin areas) and possible locations to build paths through and to make clearings for potential building sites. Previously, this had been quite tedious bush whacking for hours just to make one pass across the land, and there's only so much you can tell by standing on the ground surrounded by dense trees and no view of the horizon. Being 200+ feet up and traversing the land back and forth makes this much easier. Besides this, i enjoy photography, and this results in some very nice photos and video from above. . The only issue i have is that i'm starting to get the dreaded shell crack near one of the motor screws. I haven't contacted dji yet for repairs since it still looks intact; i'll wait until it is more severe, since it is likely their replacement shell will also develop new cracks.

O. Audrey, Alsace says

Are you kidding? we have the dji ii and a few other off brand quad copters, but this one is the bomb! with the ipad screen hooked up to this my husband can see everything he is doing, where he is at in the sky and the camera controls are also at his fingertips. I used to have to help him because he needed a second person hooked up with the ipad via bluetooth to help him, but now he can fly by himself and do all the controls. I can still go out with him and fly and use the ipad in my hands and not on the dji ii as well. The camera on this is so much better than the dji ii. There is no bouncing videos or having to fix the curve afterward. The videos come out really nice right off the quad copter the first time around. We are really impressed with this drone. We got the aluminum case to travel with this and it will be much better than finding bags and places to set all of his equipment in the back of the truck. He is really happy with his dji ii.

K. Cathy, Oldham

Fell out of the sky. Gimbal didn't survive but p3 did. It's everything it should be.

H. Teresa, Leicester says

After about a month of owning the phantom 3 advanced and i think i am up to 80 some flights with over 7 hours of flight time it has been exceptional. I am sure a lot of people who are looking to purchase their first drone would like to read a review of someone who has owned the drone for a touch longer than myself. I will say this to any new pilots though, there are a lot of people on youtube that offer tutorials and things like that. Watch those. Seriously take time to familiarize yourself with the phantom and the flight controls. I watched so many videos and so many tutorials that when i finally got my phantom 3 advanced i had a pretty good idea of what i was doing. Also to new pilots, take it easy. Don't stretch it out to its limits your first flight. . But as for owning the phantom for a month and had never flown a drone prior, it has been great, very intuitive. Performs so well and all the safety features really inspire confidence to fly. Super easy to learn to fly. The camera is spectacular. The way the controls are integrated onto the controller/transmitter is perfect. It feels so natural. And 2. 7k is a lot better than i imagined. Pictures look amazing as well. Low light pictures are amazing. First class camera all the way. . One last thing that i didn't see in any youtube videos but i had an issue with is the radio quality. Now i was at panama city beach for a church trip and we were getting some footage of the beach and i had the connection cut out on me. The app said "aircraft disconnected" not sure what caused it but i will say this. Because i properly set my home point, the phantom automatically engaged the rth (return to home) failsafe and safely landed with no damage and no issues. But this is the point i want to make. I found out later from a guy who was flying a phantom 4 as part of the camp staff told me that he noticed on his app that he was getting a message that said something to the effect of "strong outside radio interference. Do not fly far" i checked it out on mine and sure enough i too was getting the same warning and under the "radio channel quality" it said in red "poor". So for the rest of the trip i did not push the limits, though i did continue to fly the next day. When i got back home to ohio i checked again and it said the connection was strong so i can only assume that there was just something down in pcb that was interfering. So before you take off, check the home point and always check the radio channel quality too.

Z. Wimbish, Pennsylvania

I have had my phantom 3 for a few months now. I will say this. It freaking rocks! . . The good. 1. ) the lift and speed are amazing. I came from flying small little hubsan x4 quads, this thing blows that out of the water. 35mph easily achieved in open areas. 2. ) the controller is super comfortable and feels solid in your hands, you're not going to accidentally drop this thing. It has a very premium feel to it. The batteries are built-in and rechargable. 3. ) indoor flight is scary, but it actually works really well. It's not something i would recommend jumping into immediately, but definitely doable. 4. ) ease of flight. One button take-off and landing. The phantom in large part flies itself. It does exactly what you tell it to do and hovers and waits for more commands. There is very little trimming, and or manual adjustments that you need to make while flying this thing. I offers e very good collection of videos (found on their youtube) that really helps you learn how to fly this quad safely and quickly! . 5. ) fpv and camera. The phantom 3 advanced has lightbridge which basically blows everything else out of the water. I have a few other quads with fpv and with cameras for taking stills and video. Nothing compares to this at this price point. 6. ) comes with a 16gb microsd card. Yeah, i know, they're cheap, but it's nice that they included it. . The bad. 1. ) lots of time consuming firmware updating. There are updates for the controller, the software on your phone/tablet, updates for the phantom itself, updates for the camera, updates for the battery (yup you read that right, the battery has it's own software that occasionally needs to be updated. ) when i first got the phantom 3 i spent the first 5 - 10 mins just doing updates, which drains the battery a little bit. Which will reduce your first flight time experience. So be aware of that. 2. ) expensive batteries. I know there is a ton of technology built into these things, but $150 for a single battery! thats a little nuts. I have 2 batteries and they work great, but man it's pricey. . The ugly. . None this thing rocks.

C. Crawford, Oklahoma says

I just received my phantom 3 today and must say this thing rocks! it is very very easy to fly and i love the feel of the new controller! . . New:. 1. ) the motors are now larger and the power can be felt! . 2. ) the new controller rocks and with the built in lightbridge the wifi range is now much better and the fpv being put out on my phone is amazing. 3. ) they can now be flown inside (if the area is big enough) due to the new "sonar" type sensor on the bottom. . Ease of flying: one thing i love about phantoms is their ability to hover. This is the hardest part of learning to fly quads in my opinion. The phantom will take off and then hover wherever you leave it so that you can control the direction or camera much easier. Also, dji offers e very good collection of videos (found on their youtube) that really helps you learn how to fly this quad safely and quickly! . . Quality: dji has some of the best quality quads on the market. Yes, there are better quality quads out there (usually cost more than $1, 000) but the dji quads are much higher quality than basic hobby grade quads. You can tell this quad has been inspected and the qc is top notch on these items. I opened my dji up and everything on the inside looked great and well engineered. I also noticed the motor wires are much thicker now. Overall the quality of this drone is very very good! . . Fpv: the main reason i decided to get the phantom 3 is because of the lightbridge and much better fpv offered on this rather than older phantoms. The fpv, i found to be nearly hd quality and i noticed its range was amazing! i still have my quad limited on distance (i choose 400 ft high and 400 feet out) but the quality of the fpv was amazing the entire time. . Camera quality: i already own a gopro so this is one reason i was so hesitant at buying this quad. I really didn't need the camera and i wish dji had a gopro version that didn't come with a camera! but i found the dji camera is really great and i actually liked it better than my gopro hero 3+ black. The video looks great and the photos are very very good! no fisheye in the lens is also a plus! i found the video to be stable and the photos to be in focus. . Overall i am very excited and love my new phantom 3. I feel it is much better than previous phantoms that i have tried! . . Tips:. 1. ) make sure your update the phantom before use. I found this to be very easy and found youtube videos that showed how to do this. 2. ) if your android phone (or tablet) doesn't have the dji pilot app, you can find it from their site if its not in your market. I did this on my kindle fire hd. While google maps doesn't show on the fire i can still see fpv and flight stats. 3. ) i wasn't able to get my phantom activated at first. I found my issue to be the usb cable that came with the phantom wasn't working with my phone for whatever reason. I used the cable that came with my phone and the app plus phantom activated quickly. 4. ) watch the dji phantom 3 videos on dji's youtube. This really helped me get off the ground quicker and i felt much safer! . 5. ) it comes with extra decals (like previous phantoms) in case you dont like gold or silver. . *this review will be updated as i fly and learn my quad*

F. Alexia, Ealing

This thing was more fun before they implemented drone laws and my neighbors thought the government was spying on them. Does not do well under fire. Camera will break when exposed to buck shot.

R. Susan, Ohio says

No comments at this time but thanks beyond solutions

M. Anonymous, Iowa

What more can i say, just awesome

C. Alma, Warrington says

Awesome quad, super responsive and the 2. 7k camera was perfect for what i needed. Battery lasted as expected

O. Olga, Cheshire

Dji keeps in the top 1, this is the best drone you can find, it is easy to fly, great pictures and videos, very fast and simply said amazing.

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