To the OP - before it all goes off topic completely
- with each iteration of the phantom range, a significant improvement over the previous model has been shown by DJI (like them or hate them, as many do).
Remembering back to the early days.
The P1 - flight time 10-12 minutes if you were lucky and had a light one (you had to time your flights yourself and know when to get back safely); no camera - you had to use your own GoPro or similar; no provision for ANY sort of FPV device - you had to add your own and this added both cost and weight. No gimbal, lots of jello etc. The only way to understand what the phantom was doing was via a series of flashing lights that were harder to learn than morse code. Flyaways. Lots of flyaways. Oh yes.
The P2V came out with a HUGE advance - an included camera, an app and long flight times. The ability to see where the home point was. Now with the app you'd know how long you were in the air, you could control the camera from the app, start / stop recording from the ground - see what you were filming / photographing, HUGE improvement over the P1, BUT - they fell out of the sky like no tomorrow until the firmware was upgraded. Waypoints.
The V+ came with all of the above, but with the advantage of a gimbal - now buttery smooth video was possible and the P2V looked like a wobbly brick by comparison. But again, problems with wifi units overheating, poor GPS shielding, FPV signals dropping, replacement motors not matching ESCs - lots of issues.
The P3 range - wow! Lightbridge made long range flying standard with no FPV drop - the app, well it's simply unbelievable, if complicated. Again, firmware issues with phantoms falling, shells cracking etc - nothing is perfect. POI, follow me - all lovely stuff.
So what possible improvements can come with the P4? Well, I thought the V+ couldn't be improved on - really. But the P3 with lightbridge is simply superb. I'm looking forward to seeing the P4 range - but it WILL come with its own set of teething problems, but they'll get ironed out eventually. One thing is for sure, it will have geo fencing included. I'm lucky - none around my area.
Every time I hear anyone on forums such as these spitting feathers about how dreadful it is that DJI dare to bring out an aircraft that is TOTALLY flawless, well I remember my old P1, how it flew away because I didn't understand the light sequence and the need to establish a home point, was found in a pile of horse manure by a local farmer, patched up and sent up in the air again. How it eventually ended up in a watery grave, ah happy days (well, they are now - at the time I was gutted and wanted to blame everybody except the real guilty party - me)!
The thing is, these are really, really complicated things, they'll never, ever be totally perfect and they really are evolving at a hugely rapid rate of knots. All we as pilots need to remember is where we are on the journey - some jump off on their first encounter with a minor irritant, some stay the distance and enjoy the flying despite the knowledge that some day, with absolute certainty, the phantom will crash. To last the journey will cost. But the rewards are so much more than the cash invested.
