That...Was...AWESOME!

[mrpercyfrazier]

So the old man and I got the drone yesterday but couldn't take it out until today. We were impressed! We love this thing.

We took off and landed twice each in Beginner Mode or whatever it's called. Right after that we turned off beginner mode and tore up the skies. We didn't crash it. My father came close to crashing it on our first take off just because he had to get familiar with the concept of moving forward, relative to where the drone is pointing. Anyways, it didn't crash and that was the only close call.

I need to mess with the menu a bit more. Seems after beginner mode was turned off it was set to only 150 meters height by default and 50 meters or something distance. Is it safe to manually adjust these to the max or????

I didn't bother updating firmware yet. I wanted to cruise straight out of the box. and that's what we both did. Got some beautiful shots too. Only thing I need to do is calibrate the camera/gimbal I think.

Here are some shots from today.



I still got a lot to learn but today was mainly to get a handle on flying this thing. A couple more sessions and then we start moving onto some advanced stuff. So far we're loving this thing though, the only problem is the flight time. You NEED extra batteries because if not, you'll be pulling your hair out wishing the battery would charge in 2 minutes so you can get it back up in the air!

 

[RedHotPoker]

The very first thing I did, out of the box was read... ;-) RTFM in Go app or the PDF manual.
Then check firmware version, next a cold calibration of the IMU and Gimbal, followed by a proper compass calibration out side.
If you want to set the max height at 500m you will need to sign the waver that pops up. Don't set the maximum distance, if you want to fly farther.. Sounds like you are both off to a great start. It's a lot of fun, when you start off in smaller chunks of air space and work your way out slowly.. Have memorable moments too, while you enjoy the vids and pics you share with your friends and family. The fun never ends, if you upload to Vimeo or to your own YouTube...;-)

RedHotPoker

 

[CafeRacer]

Great pics, the area in which you were flying is beautiful, plenty of space to hone your skills. A couple of the intelligent flight modes will help with orientation, course lock and home lock are the ones you should look into. It's very easy to initiate them both and when running will never need to worry about which way your bird is facing, it's great when focusing on filming. Enjoy it and send more pics soon.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[BDOG]

Here are some tips that have helped me.

1. When you set your drone down - Always , Always , Always make sure it is at least 5 feet away from you and point the front of the drone with the stripes on the arms in the direction away from you.
I did not check for this one time and came close to slamming into something behind me as I had the drone pointed towards me as I overlooked this step. I thought it was pointing away. Full power and pushed the stick to fly away. I slid out of the way of the drone P3A and it nearly smashed into the truck directly behind me. Close call.


2. Practice flying out and watching the arrow on the radar after the drone is in the air. Fly in any direction and then rotate the drone while watching the arrow on the radar to line it back up with the flight line that has already been drawn and manuver right back down that line to fly back to yourself. Do this repeatedly. Why you ask. Well when the drone gets way out there beyond line of sight proper orientation cannot often be discerned. So one can think they are flying right when in point of fact they are pointed left. All the while the drone gets farther and farther away.

3. Since the drone is new run the battery or batteries down to only 50 percent for the first 10 flights. This "conditions" the LiPo cells and extends the batteries useful life.

4. If ever trying to "top off" a battery you cannot do so if the battery is already charged to 95 percent or above. Plugging in the charger will not initiate charging. One must turn the battery on [Short press, Long Press sequence] and then connect the battery charger. That one stumped me for a bit and I thought I had a defective charger.

5. Strongly consider a GPS tracking device for the drone if you plan on any long distance or extended flights. Popular brands are listed all over the forum. Many require cellular service with a pay as you go plan. H20 wireless seems to have the cheapest price on 4 G service which is great as 3 G will allegedly disappear in a few years time. These devices can allow you to pinpoint your drone in the case of an unexpected crash - low , battery, fly away (rare) or other issue.

Its a small investment to save a large one.

6. Turn off Ground Sensors if flying low over water or over animals.
The sonic waves emitted drive dogs nuts! They also interfere with stability over water at low altitudes.


7. Master flying basic maneuvers by practicing in open and unobstructed areas before trying out more advanced settings like - Point of Interest, Follow Me, Course Lock, etc. Practice Practice Practice.

 

[alokbhargava]

Happy to see your excitement.

Few tips:

1. Always fly with 100% charged batteries, start landing at 30%
2. Set maximum height to 400' (~130m)
3. Fly above any obstructions such as trees, buildings. Keep flying at 200' in GPS mode.
4. Set Fail Safe height for RTH as 150-200'
5. Calibrate compass at site before flying if it was not calibrated last time on that site.
6. Don't fly until home point is reached
7. Keep P3 in sight. Radar on Go App is your best friend.
8. In case of confusion, leave all the sticks, it will hover at a point, decide next action with peace of mind and move ahead
9. In case of feelings of getting it lost, press RTH for 3 seconds.
10. Follow smooth stick movements.
11. Don't fly in high winds

Best wishes

 

[Wayne Roberson]

Use caution with the wind. Given a choice fly so your return trip has a tail wind. Also the RTH doesn't use full forward throttle. Case in point on my third flight I was at about 125 ft and the craft was drifting away from me due to the strong wind. I quasi panicked and initiated RTH. The RTH altitude was set at 150 ft. The aircraft climbed which put it in even stronger winds which the RTH could not overcome. The craft was drifting even farther away. Luckily I figured out what was going on and descended to about 40-50 ft and flew it back using full throttle. Was pretty scary for some moments. P.S. Welcome to your new addiction.

 

[With The Birds]

Lol.... i would have suggested start slow and build your skills.... guess we are passed that. As has been said, do your calibrations and make sure you know what to expect when aomething goes wrong. Make sure you know RTH and failsafe and return altitude are set appropriately. When all is good the phantom is ridiculously easy to fly. Its knowing what to expect and how to manage it when things go wrong that becomes important in a big hurry.

 

[JoeyJoe]

So the old man and I got the drone yesterday but couldn't take it out until today. We were impressed! We love this thing.

We took off and landed twice each in Beginner Mode or whatever it's called. Right after that we turned off beginner mode and tore up the skies. We didn't crash it. My father came close to crashing it on our first take off just because he had to get familiar with the concept of moving forward, relative to where the drone is pointing. Anyways, it didn't crash and that was the only close call.

I need to mess with the menu a bit more. Seems after beginner mode was turned off it was set to only 150 meters height by default and 50 meters or something distance. Is it safe to manually adjust these to the max or????

I didn't bother updating firmware yet. I wanted to cruise straight out of the box. and that's what we both did. Got some beautiful shots too. Only thing I need to do is calibrate the camera/gimbal I think.

Here are some shots from today.

View attachment 48272 View attachment 48273 View attachment 48274

I still got a lot to learn but today was mainly to get a handle on flying this thing. A couple more sessions and then we start moving onto some advanced stuff. So far we're loving this thing though, the only problem is the flight time. You NEED extra batteries because if not, you'll be pulling your hair out wishing the battery would charge in 2 minutes so you can get it back up in the air!

Did you let your dad fly it too???

 

[mrpercyfrazier]

Howdy all,

Great advice and tips across the board! Thanks everyone for leaving tips, advice and feedback.

I went back home again yesterday to my parents house to get another session in. And yes, my dad is flying it too. My dad actually took it out to about 800 meters, the furthest we took it out yet and he returned it back to our home point safe and sound. We got some "Weak video signal" flickering around that distance which is weird. Because we are in an open space as you can see from the photographs I posted above. Wondering why we are getting this hiccup? I'd like to take it out 2 miles on the next run but that is going to be hard to do if we get Video Signal problems.

Another new thing we tried is flying with first person perspective. I must say it's pretty awesome. I used an app called DroneVR which i prefer much more than Litchi because you can adjust the size of the first person perspective where from using the Litchi app you can't.... DroneVR only cost half the price of Litchi too. Very scary though flying without the official Go App because you have Radar and an arrow pointing giving you a sense of direction. When I used the DroneVR app I set it so I am only seeing what you would see out of the cockpit. As scary as it was, it was definitely a success! Was able to take it out a couple hundred meters and cruise around and bring it back safely. My father was able to take it out and bring it back as well.

Let's see... What else. I need to figure out how to calibrate. My father and I tried on initial set up, and I span around 360 degrees holding the drone horizontal and the lights changed to green but when I held the drone vertically and span around, the second set of lights never changed to green. So I need to recalibrate everything. Also, is the Return To Home point automatically set upon takeoff?

Still much to learn but we're getting pretty comfortable flying this thing. Next flight, Sunday! Going to record some 2.7k video.

I'm also having a huge issue importing video. I recorded 1920x1080 60fps video and when i try to import it into premiere I'm getting jaggy edges all over the place... What preset is everyone using when importing into premiere? wondering if it's because it recorded at 60fps, I don't think CS5.5 handled 60fps..... could that be causing a hiccup!?