Phantom 4 for $1150, better deal than H?

Dennis Do · Jun 27, 2016

Ebay has the Phantom 4 for $1150 with free shipping. At this price, do you guys think it is a better deal than the Typhoon H?

DJI Phantom 4 Quadcopter Drone 4K Video Recorder 12 Mega Pixel GImbal Camera

jmkreege · Jun 27, 2016

It depends on what you want to do. What kind of use do you have for it?

Dennis Do · Jun 27, 2016

I'm new to this. So far, just fly around and take videos for fun. I go hiking a lot so wanted to try and take some mountain aerial shots. I've had like 3 minutes total flying time so I'm still discovering this hobby.

jmkreege · Jun 27, 2016

I have the P4, Inspire Pro and H currently, and prefer the P4 for the type of use you're describing. You'll want something that packs up easily, and I use the Polar Pro Drone Trekker to haul the P4 if I need to get around easily, otherwise it's in a Pelican 1510 now.

With that said, the H can be made to fit in a backpack but the landing gear may be vulnerable. The H also has the journey selfie mode if that appeals to you. Another upside to the H is that you can carry the Wizard and leave the bulky ST16 at home if you want. Careful flying in national forests and national parks though, currently you must launch/retrieve from outside the bounds.

If it were me and I wanted something to carry hiking, I'd take the P4 at this time.

RiverRunner · Jun 28, 2016

Be very careful buying "too good to be true" deals on Ebay. Lots of folks got burned. You might get you money back eventually but have it tied up for a while. This seller has a history of small dollar items, no big price sales. I would be suspicious.

Dennis Do · Jun 28, 2016

Thanks for the heads up. I think I'll steer clear of buying a drone from eBay.

Ted · Jun 28, 2016

The H can do many shots that the P4 can only dream about. With the landing gear out of the way, it can shoot things the P4 cannot.

The camera in the P4 seems just a tad better than the camera in the H. DJI service leaves much to be desired from what I've heard.

You also need to have a phone or tablet with the P4, while the display is built in with the ST16 controller.

Personally, I find the new lower price on the DJI Inspire 1 version 2 at $1999 to be very tempting. The reason I find the Inspire tempting is because the cameras on both the P4 and the H for the most part suck. The X5 camera is a real camera with an aperture you can change.You can also change the lens on the X5. The cameras on both the other birds can only control the light entering the lens via the shutter speed, no aperture. I'm thinking about getting the base version of the Inspire, then upgrade to the better camera later perhaps. The 4K base camera on the Inspire is not any better than the cams on the H or P4.

jmkreege · Jun 28, 2016

Ted said:
The H can do many shots that the P4 can only dream about. With the landing gear out of the way, it can shoot things the P4 cannot.

Course lock or any variation of cable cam on the P4 eliminates the need to retract the landing gear. Yaw can accomplish the same thing.

Dragonflyerthom · Jun 28, 2016

JMK you forget about the cool factor of the TH

Ted · Jun 28, 2016

I've never seen shots from a Phantom series that the H can do. Perhaps you can send an example for me to get educated JMK. Not trying to be cute or annoying, just wondering how you can get those shots with the darn legs in the way?

RiverRunner · Jun 28, 2016

jmkreege said:
Course lock or any variation of cable cam on the P4 eliminates the need to retract the landing gear. Yaw can accomplish the same thing.

One handed spiral?

Ted · Jun 28, 2016

RiverRunner said:
One handed spiral?

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That's what I'm talking about RR.

jmkreege · Jun 28, 2016

RiverRunner said:
One handed spiral?

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Ted said:
That's what I'm talking about RR.

Course lock and yaw...OK, you got me, the P4 will require TWO thumbs for this maneuver.

jmkreege · Jun 28, 2016

Ted said:
I've never seen shots from a Phantom series that the H can do. Perhaps you can send an example for me to get educated JMK. Not trying to be cute or annoying, just wondering how you can get those shots with the darn legs in the way?

These are directly out of the camera, shot soft and a bit underexposed intentionally. Obviously some of this is trash but there are several useful clips in here. Both shot using Litchi waypoints on a P4. Waypoints allow me to set the camera path. While moving I only have to worry about controlling speed along the cable, yaw, and gimbal tilt. Do remember the TH is limited to 11MPH in CCC, so it would have to be flown manually for these shots due to the speed.

My point is just don't disqualify the P4 based on the lack of a 360 degree gimbal pan. It isn't necessary when the aircraft can yaw that same 360 degrees.

jmkreege · Jun 28, 2016

Dragonflyerthom said:
JMK you forget about the cool factor of the TH

The H definitely has more of a wow factor. The Phantom series look like toys. Best to keep them at altitude and launch from somewhere private to avoid open laughter

RiverRunner · Jun 28, 2016

jmkreege said:
Course lock and yaw...OK, you got me, the P4 will require TWO thumbs for this maneuver.

Doesn't course lock fly with forward direction relative to the direction to the compass a takeoff? Did you mean home lock?

jmkreege · Jun 28, 2016

RiverRunner said:
Doesn't course lock fly with forward direction relative to the direction to the compass a takeoff? Did you mean home lock?

It flies relative to the aircraft orientation at the time that course lock is activated

RiverRunner · Jun 28, 2016

jmkreege said:
These are directly out of the camera, shot soft and a bit underexposed intentionally. Obviously some of this is trash but there are several useful clips in here. Both shot using Litchi waypoints on a P4. Waypoints allow me to set the camera path. While moving I only have to worry about controlling speed along the cable, yaw, and gimbal tilt. Do remember the TH is limited to 11MPH in CCC, so it would have to be flown manually for these shots due to the speed.

My point is just don't disqualify the P4 based on the lack of a 360 degree gimbal pan. It isn't necessary when the aircraft can yaw that same 360 degrees.

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With the aircraft rotating, obstacle avoidance won't work. One feature that interests me about the H, is the ability to fly ahead of a moving subject with the camera pointed back at the subject but still have obstacle avoidance working to avoid hitting things you cannot see in the camera view.

RiverRunner · Jun 28, 2016

jmkreege said:
It flies relative to the aircraft orientation at the time that course lock is activated

Perhaps they have changed that since the earlier models, where with home lock, pushing the stick forward made the aircraft fly away from you regardless of its orientation. Course lock made it fly in the direction of the original compass heading regardless of its current orientation. Course lock would work without GPS.

jmkreege · Jun 28, 2016

RiverRunner said:
With the aircraft rotating, obstacle avoidance won't work. One feature that interests me about the H, is the ability to fly ahead of a moving subject with the camera pointed back at the subject but still have obstacle avoidance working to avoid hitting things you cannot see in the camera view.

I can see merit in this point if you're willing to put your faith in the OA systems. Personally I trust none of them at this point. Run them at a chain link fence, power line, or tree branch with no leaves and you will most likely by crying "fly away" on the forum shortly after

Course lock works fine for me in the way I described. Never tried home lock on DJI. I have yet to be in a situation where I feel it would offer any benefit, same as smart mode on the H.

When the RealSense module is released, I'll be very keen to test it out. Maybe it can achieve the vision resolution needed to reliably navigate. I did see in a recent demo video that the H equipped with RealSense will yaw automatically to keep the vision system facing forward. Currently my H isn't smart enough to do that when in follow me mode.