DJI Phantom 2 Vision---25min Flight Time

[sixshooterstang]

Roswell Flight Test Crew said it was heavy. SPecs say 1160g. Not too heavy but I imagine the motors are made of a high grade magnetic material and military-esk spec stators. Either way I wont buy one. DJI is like playing russian roulette with the poor quality of their testing and poor customer service. People only buy their products for convenience factor/laziness and inability to fly without GPS and altimeter crutches.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

I disagree with your premiss. DJI has made a lot of progress since the original Phantom. I think that their quality of construction is great. What are you comparing it to? I do agree that they need to continue to improve their customer service. They relied on their dealers to be the first level of support and that was a major fail. The dealers were not up to the task. I purchased the 350QX and had bad props. I sent in a replacement request to Horizon. They emailed me back about a week later and made me go to another site a fill out another form. That was two weeks ago, no response, no props. DJI is not the only one that struggles at times.

 

[sixshooterstang]

I am comparing to Ardupilot, Open Pilot and Zero-UAV based aircraft. I do not believe in RTFs except for small toys like the nano qx. A good pilot knows his aircraft inside and out and with a RTF you just know it works.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

I have owned them all. The Zero UAV was a science project gone bad. They were not up front that you had to jail break your phone to make it work. OP is dependent on a group of dedicated volunteers to make the project work. It will eventually happen but my patience is not that long. Pretty much the same for the Ardupilot, many promises and very few actual advances. I sold all of them, with the exception of the Revo, last year. I want to fly not futz, and yes I know my copters inside and out. Don't dismiss DJI products because they are easy to use.

 

[sixshooterstang]

I dismiss them because I have clients who have DJI products so I have experience with both.
Ardupilot is now ridiculously stable with the release of 3.0, you have telemetry functions from your laptop which is much better than from your phone, you get to choose your video link system, all of the add ons like OSD and sonar are easy to setup and cheap and with Mission Planner, it really is very close to being as easy as the Naza. Tuning is required with the DJI controllers and any non-RTF aircraft so do not let the "not so easy to setup" myth fool you. If you can read you can set up arducopter in a matter or an hour and have it fine tuned in two.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

That is fine. I have no issues with individual choice. You and your clients are part of the 20% that claw for a place in the market. I can build a DJI quad and have it flying in 30 minutes. I use default settings and it works. Those that choose to fly other platforms are exercising their pocketbook. Great! No issues with me.

 

[DennyR]

I agree with ED I have a lot of systems in active use and all have had problems at some point. The fact is that when I need a go-to ultra reliable platform it invariably has a DJI controller. Before anything gets to be online we test the **** out of it. I have a recent 2.6 Tarducopter set of stuff and it will need work to get to the level of my latest Nazas. Both in endurance and stability. Plenty of in depth features but the code still needs work. Read the forum....

The future of pro aerial photography and video lies in the fact that you must be able to fly over anything without the risk of failure i.e. sub 1.5 kilos that can shoot 2.7K without fish eye distortion. That day has arrived....

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Thanks Denny!

When I fly over water I do not want to loose my copter. That is exactly what you are talking about. I want something that just works, verses a work in progress.

 

[sixshooterstang]

DJI products exercises pocketbooks quite well. The big APM quad I built has been used frequently for 4 months now and it is no "work in progress". Has only been crashed once (flying inside a barn hayloft via FPV and snagged a hanging rope in a dark section). And I see plenty more technical failures from DJI equipment than Ardupilot.

 

[baker2055]

Lets be real the Phantom 1 or 2 is for fun flying. Its user friendly and easy to take with you. If you want it for something more then you might be disappointed.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Compare the number of users of APM vs the number of DJI users. Yes the fails will be greater, but as a percentage, I don't think so.

 

[HighGainTuning]

Compare the number of users of APM vs the number of DJI users. Yes the fails will be greater, but as a percentage, I don't think so.

Ed... I don't know how this forum handles shills but members need to be aware that your compensated by DJI and Empire Hobby to post on all the forums you can in support of their product.
Anyone can search your posts and see that you never post an issue although you do post them to the DJI Team. I think it would be in the best interest of the forum and it's members to know when you post it is in the best interest of DJI

Shill: A shill is a person who publicly helps a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with the person or organization."Shill" typically refers to someone who purposely gives onlookers the impression that they are an enthusiastic independent customer of a seller (or marketer of ideas) for whom they are secretly working. The person or group who hires the shill is using crowd psychology to encourage other onlookers or audience members to purchase the goods or services (or accept the ideas being marketed). Shills are often employed by professional marketing campaigns.

How do I know this? I was on Team DJI as is Ed and 3 others until they required that we keep all issues off the forum and not report anything negative. To me that is not tech support. That is a cover up and I will not be both a member and a shill for anyone. If anyone feels this information is false I have every e-mail that the Team copies us on. If you want to know who the other members are, just PM me.

Forums should be a place to come for honest information about a product. Not to be filled with false information from compensated members.

If you want to see all of them do what they do best, take a look at this thread. It is pathetic. There are more DJI employees in there then owners.
Blade Strike, Tahoe Ed, Sidney W and TJ Gilbert all received a FREE Vision to start this thread and promote the Vision. Despite all the issues.... Guess what. None of them have had a single issue... Go Figure
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2019429

 

[djneils98]

i just don't get how they are doing this. phantom 1 with 2200mah battery goes for <10mins yet phantom vision with same motors, presmably heavier, and with (heavier) twice capacity battery flies for 2.5x the time of phantom 1

 

[Tahoe Ed]

DJ,

It has to do with the "smart battery" and the design of the props that are more efficient than the stock DJI 8" props on the P1. I just got a P 1.1.1 that I am installing the upgrade board into and will be controlling it with my Futaba 8FGS. I can swap out the 8" for the 9" Vision props and see if I get any more flight time. I wish I had iOSD capability on the upgrade board but no joy there. It would be nice to have telemetry.

 

[baker2055]

Now you can buy a Phantom 2 with an extra battery for same price, boy I wish I would have waited. Not impressed!! (just received my extra battery for $159)

 

[SamaraMedia]

DJ,

It has to do with the "smart battery" and the design of the props that are more efficient than the stock DJI 8" props on the P1. I just got a P 1.1.1 that I am installing the upgrade board into and will be controlling it with my Futaba 8FGS. I can swap out the 8" for the 9" Vision props and see if I get any more flight time. I wish I had iOSD capability on the upgrade board but no joy there. It would be nice to have telemetry.

Tahoe, I recently put in a pre-order for a Phantom 2 with Zenmuse H3-D2 combo and thinking of switching out the stock control with a S-Bus and 8FGS as well. Do I need to install an upgrade board? Hope the hype for 25 minutes flight is all it's cracked up to be.

John

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Right now, I am not sure on the flight times. Mine has not arrived. As far as the 8FGS, the board/Rx is Futaba compatible. Sidney has posted the same over on RCG with a preproduction model. For the rest of us we have to wait.

 

[blade strike]

Yep that wait shouldn't be to long.. Robert over at UAVProducts and BnH both have stated they will start to ship Friday or Monday. I'm hoping that the flight times will be minimum 15mins.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

That is my expectations as well. I get 8-10 minutes on my F450 with virtually the same equipment. The Lipo and props are the difference.

 

[SamaraMedia]

I would be happy with 15 minutes too, right now I'm getting about 6 minutes on my DIY aluminum frame quad with T-Motor MT2216 900KV, 4000 4S, 10 props, Tarot and Hero3, FPV gear and Quad Frame landing gear. Very solid machine but would love some more flight time.