Howdy fellas and gals. INTERESTING situation

JamesAllison · Jan 29, 2017

This all started at Christmas.
I received a 30.00 quad copter from my wife and three kids.
Got good with it, flew too close to a car flipped in the air wash ran over by a big truck lol.
Got a new one, teaching my 1 year old (22 month) daughter to fly(mostly inside)
Friend at work has the phantom 3.
He says ultra model... I'm supposed to trade a 223 rifle for this particular one, that a crow attacked and destroyed the gimbalance and camera.

Admitted knowledge one: drone flies

Question one. what does no camera and no gimbal effect?

ADMITTED knowledge two: camera and gimbal are 400.00 plus

question 2 Is there an alternative, or a good source for these parts.

Admitted knowledge 3: dji offers insurance

Question 3 Should I buy this and wait a month then contact them on the problems?

My guy says you can fly it but only manual. which is hy I'm me concerned with question one. please help me out! I'm in love with drone piloting and imaging!!

JamesAllison · Jan 29, 2017

Also to finish a thought I assum the drone is a pro or 4k will determine that as soon as I trade

joet · Jan 29, 2017

Run away. Buy something with no damage.

JamesAllison · Jan 29, 2017

joet said:
Run away. Buy something with no damage.

Haha, I've got literally nothing in the marlin 223.

Fancher9-76 · Jan 29, 2017

Trade, marlin lever action, yeah go get the bird then get you a gimbal and GoPro

JamesAllison · Jan 29, 2017

Fancher9-76 said:
Trade, marlin lever action, yeah go get the bird then get you a gimbal and GoPro

This is what I'm talking about. thanks for the insight. any advise on the questions? is the gimbal universal?! do I need it to gps?

desert phantom · Jan 29, 2017

DJI insurance won't cover this unfortunately, even you want to do it fraudulently.

JamesAllison · Jan 29, 2017

desert phantom said:
DJI insurance won't cover this unfortunately, even you want to do it fraudulently.

Oh I'm Sure it wont! but I still may take it out in case one of my daughters decides to break it further

Alex Baxter · Jan 29, 2017

Not sure you'll be able to insure an already broken drone. A crow attacked it, you say?

JamesAllison · Jan 29, 2017

Alex Baxter said:
Not sure you'll be able to insure an already broken drone. A crow attacked it, you say?

My coworker says, he's flying a crow came to attempt a take down of the drone and the bird got all tangled up in the props both fell to the ground dead. lol

Richard R · Jan 29, 2017

Per question 1, having no gimbal and camera should not affect flying the bird except for the obvious having no video coming back. If it's a A or P model, theccablecto the VPS is probably also gone which would make it potentially less stable in holding position at low altitude (5-6 meters above ground). When he says that you can only fly it in manual what does he mean? If it doesn't worjpk in P mode (GPS) but only in A mode, then there is more wrong inside the bird. By the time you buy a new gimbal and camera, you are pretty close to the cost of a new Phantom 3 4K and you know it would work! Remember, free advice is worth every penny that you pay for it, but I would pass.

DmaxSurveyor · Jan 29, 2017

If nothing else, you will have a good training drone to practice on & see how fun a nice Phantom is to fly. If you crash it a few times, no big loss. You really don't need the camera & gimbal to just rip around a field. If you can fix it cheap, so much the better! If not, get some experience on it, sell it to someone else to train on & get you a new Phantom!

It is ADDICTING!

I started with an AEE AP9 from ****'s Sporting Goods for $125. Tried to add a gimbal & fpv camera to it. Sold that & got a P3 4K in August. Fixing to sell that now that I bought a P4 a couple of weeks ago!

Gearbox · Jan 29, 2017

Walk away , There are many Drones with Cameras that you can fly inside the house that are relatively inexpensive .

Budman · Jan 29, 2017

Your friend says it's a P3 Ultra and it only flies in manual mode and no gimbal???
Take your rifle and put that drone out of it's misery

cheebs · Jan 29, 2017

P3 Ultra eh? Must be a new model

I wouldn't trade a water pistol for that, much less a working rifle.
The P3Pro camera & gimbal (4K) is $349 at B&H. The Advanced camera is $259
The "manual only" fight is a massive red flag, it means the flight controller sustained some sort of damage as well.
Honestly, only if you plan to send it in for repair is it worth the hassle. It's very difficult now to DIY repair/replace electronics inside a P3 of any flavor, as the boards are highly integrated.
I agree with the "run" suggestion.

brolland · Jan 29, 2017

I think you'd come out ahead by purchasing a new one as opposed to trading a rifle for one. JMO. To many unseen risks with a damaged drone that might cost more in getting it all up the speed to work properly. Bite the bullet and buy new. You'll be much happier.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

QuadcopterCrazy · Jan 29, 2017

Stay away like others said you can find refurbished units pretty cheap some times.

JamesAllison · Jan 31, 2017

So I got the drone to try out. the wifi won't stay connected ND when it disconnects I believe the crow spirit is inside because it attacks me. so I'll be buying a new set of props for my buddie and giving the drone back turns out to be a standard phantom 3. and dji sells phantom 3 refurbished with everything for 399. so I'll buy one of those. the drone is super sweet but too much investment into a standard with too many issues.

kenjancef · Feb 1, 2017

JamesAllison said:
So I got the drone to try out. the wifi won't stay connected ND when it disconnects I believe the crow spirit is inside because it attacks me. so I'll be buying a new set of props for my buddie and giving the drone back turns out to be a standard phantom 3. and dji sells phantom 3 refurbished with everything for 399. so I'll buy one of those. the drone is super sweet but too much investment into a standard with too many issues.

Worst case: if you don't need the rifle, trade it for that Phantom. If you're going to buy a Standard anyway, use the "crow" version for parts... you never know if there are more crows waiting for revenge...

Anthony58 · Feb 4, 2017

JamesAllison said:
This all started at Christmas.
I received a 30.00 quad copter from my wife and three kids.
Got good with it, flew too close to a car flipped in the air wash ran over by a big truck lol.
Got a new one, teaching my 1 year old (22 month) daughter to fly(mostly inside)
Friend at work has the phantom 3.
He says ultra model... I'm supposed to trade a 223 rifle for this particular one, that a crow attacked and destroyed the gimbalance and camera.

Admitted knowledge one: drone flies

Question one. what does no camera and no gimbal effect?

ADMITTED knowledge two: camera and gimbal are 400.00 plus

question 2 Is there an alternative, or a good source for these parts.

Admitted knowledge 3: dji offers insurance

Question 3 Should I buy this and wait a month then contact them on the problems?

My guy says you can fly it but only manual. which is hy I'm me concerned with question one. please help me out! I'm in love with drone piloting and imaging!!

I think you would be better off by just going out and getting a new drone of your own.
Why risk further expense down the road? Was the body cracked? Are the motors still aligned properly?