Great post! Very informative. I am still using the Phantom 3 Pro. I love it, but i don't get many occasions to fly it. Restrictions here are pretty numerous and the weather can often also be a hindrance (it gets too windy to fly pretty quick here).
I mostly do still images as opposed to video so the P4P is on my wishlist for the next upgrade (I want that 20MP!), but for now the P3P keeps me happy - if only I could fly it more here! :)
One question though, I have a DJI backpack for my P3P.. Would the P4P fit in that or would I need to get a new bag? Are the batteries for the P4P much bigger?
Hi Fifty, where do you live that you have so much restrictions?
I know what you mean about the weather. I've had a few stretches where I was bound indoors. After 2 days I'm pretty upset.
I remember having difficulties if it was 10mph winds with the P3P. I would be afraid to take it anywhere over 100-150 feet.
With the P4P, I've taken it up at 15-18 mph over 300ft and it held up extremely well, I was nervous tho for sure :) But it was all good and the footage was usable and stable.
As far as the back pack goes, it's tricky. The P4P camera is slightly larger, so I know the foam inside the hard cases are very different. What I've seen, 90% of them are not interchangeable.
The batteries on the P4p are huge compared to the P3p batteries. The battery actually feels heavier than the Drone itself, and last almost twice as long. I ended up getting 3 batteries in total, so I can take it on a shoot for almost 1.5 hours. I never let the battery drain completely when I'm out flying.
Thanks for all that information. That's super helpful! I live in the UK in a pretty urban area, and you're not allowed to fly in built up areas or too close to people unless you have a professional certification and submit requests to the local council and submit a risk assessment etc first. Which really isn't worth the effort unless you are working commercially.
There are locations outside the city but getting a free day where I can go and have the weather conditions be good dont happen often :)
They just passed a law here in the states, if you are flying for non-commercial use, you no longer need to register your drone, but we do have a rule that says do not fly over a crowd.
Yeah I heard you needed to register regardless in the US until recently. You've never had to do that here, but then the rules are still developing. Unfortunately we are reactive here and not proactive, so rules usually come in the form of new restrictions after someone has done something stupid. Like fly over an airport or crash into the palace gardens while the queen is in residence, or (and this i find rather amusing) use them to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into prisons! Gotta give them credit for ingenuity :)
You're absolutely correct, there is always one person who messes it up for the rest of us by doing something stupid. I can see the temptation in trying to get some amazing footage by flying near an airport or next to a helicopter, but it's not worth other peoples lives.
As far as the drug smuggling, I can see that being a norm in the years to come.
The drone i purchased does quite a bit, but i'm sure it doesn't even scratch the surface of more sophisticated ones. Here is an article where the New York City Firedepartment purchased an $85,000.00 drone. It's amazing what it can do.
And then there is this
Taxi Drones.
Unbelievable where technology is taking us.
That is amazing. I think so far we have only scratched the surface of what we can do with drones. Im not entirely convinced by the drone taxi as a mainstream form of transport but who knows how the technology will progress!
The drone taxi may be something that will most likely be popular when you and I are long gone, but I'm sure it's coming. I think we'll see deliveries from Amazon soon as well.
as the software improves and the drones get smaller I'm sure the next application (after logistics like amazon deliveries) would be for these drones to follow journalists around when reporting in the field. we are only still scratching the surface :)