DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter for GoPro
DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter for GoPro
- Complete quadcopter and remote transmitter, pre-tuned by the factory and ready in minutes! Just charge the included battery, attach the propellers and landing gear, and add 4 AA batteries to the remote and you’re flying.
- Fun flying by itself or even better with a GoPro to record the action. Tested with Hero2, Hero3 and Hero3+ models, sold separately. Produce dramatic cinema-quickly results from the air! Note: Wi-Fi streaming from a camera is not possible because it may interfere with the Phantom’s remote control.
- Outdoor flight is made possible by advanced GPS positioning that compensates for light wind. The Phantom has a fail-safe function and can be configured to automatically fly to and land at its take-off position if connection to the transmitter is lost. Note: indoor flight or operation by persons under 18 years of age is NOT recommended.
- With a maximum horizontal speed of 22 miles/hour (10 meters/second), the Phantom lets you capture the action of almost any sport, event or scene.
- The Phantom’s high tech Naza-M autopilot system lets you configure advanced parameters via software (USB port and separate download required).
View larger Shown with GoProHERO3+ (not included)
View larger Ready-to-fly Aerial Filming Rig with GoPro Mount DJI’s Phantom quadcopter is the gear of choice for next-generation filmmakers, extreme sports enthusiasts and R/C hobbyists. Despite all the advanced functions, it’s easy to learn, so if you’ve never before owned an outdoor helicopter, this is the place to start. With innovative features such as Intelligent Orientation Control, automatic navigation back to home and a s
List Price: $ 385.00
Price:
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Phantom vs.Tree,
Customer Video Review Length:: 0:53 Mins
*NOTE: before taking it out for its first flight, grab a Sharpee and write your phone number on it clearly with the words “REWARD”. If you lose it, you just might luck-out with a phone call. You may want to put the reward amount on there, too. $50-100 is well worth it if someone calls.
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Okay, this is too cool. First I should state that I have *never* flown a radio-controlled aircraft. Never, as in zip.
What drew me to this was that it’s made for use with GoPro cameras, which I already own, and I needed a new way to use the camera. Mine is the original GoPro, and although the DJI Phantom includes an open “basket” to hold your camera, it also uses the same GoPro mounting bracket elements, so I kept mine in its GoPro case (for protection) and hung it upside-down from the Phantom. Anyone with a GoPro camera knows that it’s very easy to invert the video ride-side up.
I put mine together after watching the five videos on the DJI site (Amazon deletes URLs in reviews, so I’ll add the URL to a comment), but I do recommend downloading the PDF instructions from the DJI site, also, since no instructions are included with the Phantom. Their reason for this is that it’s their way to make sure the instructions are always current and up-to-date. Okay, I’ll buy that (I guess).
There are firmware upgrades made available via USB, but we Mac-users are currently out-of-luck. You do not need the upgrades except for advanced features (at least for now).
I assembled my Phantom with no problems (again, after watching the five videos) and headed out to a large field. It was fairly breezy. Since I really didn’t know how to use the controller, except for setting it on GPS and where the throttle was, I calibrated the compass, set it on the grass, turned on the Phantom, and slowly raised the throttle. It immediately tipped forward, without leaving the ground. The second time it did the same thing. I had wondered how it would balance itself with the weight of the camera on the front, and I discovered it technically didn’t.
So, as to try an option, I loosened the GoPro mounting screw and tilted the camera back to where it was looking almost straight down, but it made the Phantom more center-weighted. Sure enough, the Phantom lifted straight up on the third try. I’m sure there is a way to have it lift-off with the camera pointing more horizontally, since the vibration of the props quickly permitted the camera to rotate into more of a horizontal view.
Since only the throttle was known to me, I just slowly raised it to full throttle with a cross wind, and it went probably as high as it will go, and simply remained stationary while hovering. It was windy on the ground protected by trees, so it must have been quite windy at altitude.
I did slowly rotate the copter while it was up there, and it was well above the communications tower used by our law enforcers, which seems taller than a typical cell tower. You’l notice the horizon dipping on the left or right. That’s how the Phantom stays stationary in the wind by using its GPS. It must lean into the wind.
I brought it all the way back down, hovered it in front of a interested stranger, moved it towards me and set it down, with a bounce. I decided to test the homing function by turning off the controller. For those who don’t know, when the Phantom losses connection with the controller, it automatically enters “go home” mode. It climbs to 60 feet, and makes a beeline to its home position, which is where it took-off from, all by using the GPS. Once it loses that connection with the controller, it will not regain it. Turning the controller back on will do nothing while it’s heading home.
That was about the time I realized I really messed up, as I wasn’t paying attention to the tree branches that extended far out over my Phantom, about 20 feet up. I was sure I was watching the destruction of my Phantom when it hit those branches. But after battling them for a few seconds, it ricocheted out into clean air and righted itself. Whew, I thought (but it wasn’t over).
Because it was using its GPS to climb and head home, as soon as it righted itself, it headed right back into the tree to continue its climb. Pieces of branches were flying everywhere. It retuned to the tree three times total, and when the tree spit it out after the third time, it hovered down low enough for me to grab a skid.
Amazingly, the Phantom suffered *no* damage. None.
A fully charged battery will keep it aloft between 10-15 minutes, so I already ordered an additional one, and will probably order more. They take over an hour to charge.
Some users have referred to the “jello” appearance to the resulting video. I now know what they mean. I understand, though, that it’s cause by the propellers vibration which…
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|Ten months and 2 Phantoms later…,
I purchased my first Phantom when they first came out in January. I had been flying a Hawkspy copter with a low resolution camera for a couple of months and became hooked on aerial photography and the fun of flying. For less than $100, the Hawkspy was a good value for what you got: Remote control Helicopter with Gyro and Spycamera!! -3.5ch Hawkspy LT-711 Black A large helicopter capable of filming low resolution video. The copter flew okay in calm conditions, but any kind of breeze would make flight control difficult, to say the least. After a few landings in people’s backyards, and host of apologies later, I decided to upgrade my equipment to the Phantom and attached a GoPro3 Black edition camera to it’s hull.
Flight control of the Phantom is vastly superior to the Hawkspy and video resolution of the GoPro is vastly superior to low resolution camera that came with the budget priced helicopter. For a toy, the Hawkspy is a good value for what it does. If you want an entry level, professional piece of aerial filming equipment, the Phantom is hard to beat for the price. My first Phantom cost about $670 and now you can find them for around $470. A really good deal for a quad copter that is well built, is easy to control, and has GPS.
If you read the other reviews, you will find as much technical detail about these quad copters as you want. I’ve decided to write this review based upon experience and I have several recommendations:
1. With flying time, screws can become loose. Check screws on a regular basis to make sure things are tight. I checked the screws on my second Phantom when it came out of the box and found 3 were loose and needed a little tightening.
2. Get spare props and if you plan on shooting video, get the carbon fiber props and balance them with a prop balancer. i have a rubber isolated camera mount as well, but I don’t think it’s necessary for shooting Jello free video. There is zero jello when shooting 1080/60 with balance carbon fiber props and no rubber isolated camera mounts. While the isolated camera mount is added insurance, it can cause problems. On one flight, one of the rubber bushings for the camera mount became detached and when I landed, the GoPro came out of the mount all together resulting in a scratched the lens. Here is a video I shot with balanced graphite props and no camera isolation mounts.
3 Besides paying attention to trees, wind, and wires when flying pay attention to those props when spinning. I got a pretty good cut when I reached for the Phantom and caught my finger turning blade.
4. When I first got my Phantom, I flew it on a regular basis, weather permitting. With practice, I became pretty comfortable flying it. Then I didn’t fly it for about two months. I quickly found I had lost my skills and promptly flew it into a tree. My first and only crash. The blades got banged up, but overall, the Phantom came out of the crash in good shape. If you haven’t flown for a while, get yourself familiar with the Phantom in an open area until your skills come back.
5. The prop balancer I use has two powerful magnets to hold the shaft in place. Keep the prop balancer away from the Phantom. We recently moved to a new house, so I packed the prop balancer with the Phantom quad copter. Unfortunately, the magnet was too close to the compass and I had a compass error problem I needed to resolve. Keep magnets away from the compass unless you want to spend a lot of time getting the compass right again.
6. Get at least two backup batteries. Ten minutes of flight isn’t very long before landing again. The spare batteries get you back in the air quickly. I have four batteries and also bring along a portable battery charger if I plan on flying for any length of time.
7. If you are into performance flying, you won’t want the added weight of the prop guard. I’m into filming more than performance flying so I use a prop guard for several reasons. After cutting my finger, I don’t want to cut anybody or anything with those props. The prop guard helps eliminate this possibility. The prop guard also makes the Phantom more visible when flying. I painted the two front prop guards red, so I could more easily tell front from back when the Phantom is flying high in the sky. Works great. I also recently added a very bright light over the battery cover. This combined with the red prop guard make it easy to keep the Phantom oriented the way you want it.
8. Join Phantom Pilots: […] It is an online group of folks who fly Phantom Quadcopters. It’s a friendly group and they have good tips for both novice more experienced flyers, alike.
9. Keep a common sense pre-flight check list and go over it before…
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|Amazing Product,
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