http://www.tested.com/tech/460662-testing-dji-phantom-vision-quadcopter-drone/ The site, tested.com, is by the mythbuster guys and crew. Certainly a decent review of what is probably a breakthrough product in terms of price/performance. Once they add the full waypoint (autonomous GPS map following) capabilities, it will certainly be even more competitive in the marketplace.
The tested folks have released a full length video review on youtube (below). They claim this is the most exciting piece of technology they have gotten their hands on since the iphone and similar other breakthroughs.
Sure does. I flew my basic phantom the other day for a couple quick still pics and the wind was easily 13-15MPH. I was amazed that I was able to easily go up 100 feet or so and the gusts only moved it 10-15 feet at most. With a non-GPS quad, it certainly would have blown away into the trees, etc. - in fact, I lost a v262 and Mobius on a day like that. I wouldn't want to take video in very high winds - but with the gimbal, that new model probably does a decent job (with vid) up to 10mph. The tests in the video above were done in San Francisco, which is extremely windy most of the time.
What about "satellites." How would I know how many (if any) satellites there are at any time? The GPS works best off of 6 satellites? What happens if there is only 1 satellite hangin' around up there? "All bets are off?"
I think it works fine with 5... The satellites are always up in the sky. It's only if and when you fly inside a quarry or next to large buildings where they may cut of the path between you and the GPS satellites. This is fairly rare - something you may have seen with your car GPS or smart phones - they work most of the times. If you have little or no GPS signal (fly inside, etc.) then you have to flip the controller to atti mode which allows you manual control. It will still drift, but be relatively easy to keep stable if you have some stick practice. The most important think with a Phantom is to calibrate the compass (use their instructions) and also to be patient enough to wait for the GPS signals. I usually wait until mine is "all green" (that means 6 satellites) before flying. Also make sure your TX switches are in the positions you want. Many mistakes are the result of impatience.
I bought the Phantom Vision 2 last week Good luck trying to get support from their e-mail or tel lines. It has been about 10 days since they acknowledged my emails, but never responded to my simple and basic questions. I have tried to call them every day this week, only to be knocked off the wait list due to their busy phone lines.
Chance, this is well known....there is not a single consumer-level quad maker who I know of that provides support of the type most of us are used to... You are much better off getting answers on the many forums - rcgroups, phantompilots, etc. - many of the users know more about them than the makers. I'm not saying their lack of support is OK - just that this is the way things are at this point. I wrote an editorial last year about it...it's my feeling that the first quadcopter company that provides "apple type" support is going to do a good business!
I'm talking about other forums - we don't have enough of a critical mass of DJI users.... Examples: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2141332 http://www.phantompilots.com/ http://www.phantompilots.com/viewforum.php?f=27 If the questions are very general, you can try them here - but they have so many more users of that exact machine that you may do better searching (not asking until you see that it's not already answered) there.
