To cam, or not to cam?

J

Johnny

Member
Hey guys, I'm going to start looking into purchasing a new quadcopter. The first question I have when going through the oodles of sites and info is about the camera. My main use will be to fly around our property and video the area. I currently have a GoPro hero 3+ black edition. So my question is this: are the cameras available on the current quads better or equal to this camera? Also, in my mind I should be able to get "more" in a quad for the Same money without having to buy the camera portion. However this could be a fiction made up in my own head. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
J

Johnny

Member
Ok, that's what I was thinking about the Camera situation. Also, the environment I will be flying over most of the time is swamp land. It is somewhat accessible, but if the unit goes down, I will be very lucky to find it in the cattails and deep grasses. What are some of the key features i should be looking for?

Thanks
 
ringolong

ringolong

Well-Known Member
The gopro is an excellent camera, but there are better cameras if quality is what you are going for.

The phantom 3 standard is on sale at a few places right now for under 400.00.
 
Mike

Mike

=)
Admin
I think the biggest question is - what are you looking to spend?

The second question is - are you expecting to fly FPV (First Person View) where you are navigating from what the camera is seeing? Or would you rather set a course via GPS and have your quad fly the "mission" around the property and then come back and land so you can grab the sim card and watch the video?

As for tracking the quad, there are a lot of receivers w/ telemetry that could give you some tracking ability. You'd need some kind of GPS module, but if you're flying GPS waypoints, you'd already have that. And there's also always something like this:

https://www.thetrackr.com/bravo/?ut...z6mmdHgLOsr_FVjVOtDXnVswgx_mD9UlPEaAnqi8P8HAQ
 
J

Johnny

Member
I was thinking in the 7-8 hundred dollar range. I think the FPV would be very cool, but not sure if that's possible for that amount of money. What I am worried about is the reliability of the unit. If it went down in the swamp, I am sure I couldn't find it. So how often do they really just drop out of the sky?
 
Mike

Mike

=)
Admin
$7-800 is a very good budget these days. Reliability will be much better with more commercial products than a DIY or something built by a smaller operation (usually) since they have a lot of R&D + more uniform manufacturing processes. Assuming that you don't already have any other RC gear, I'd say to stick with something more commercial. The Phantom is always a good choice. The Phantom 3 Professional is around $799 right now on DJI's website and has a 4K camera, along with all the bells and whistles. It also does FPV to your smart phone, which is helpful. And it has all of the return to home, position lock, etc. features that make flying very easy. I have a co-worker who bought one last year and he was flying like a pro right out of the box with no experience.

It's also on Amazon w/ prime shipping for $799:

https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Phantom-...314394&sr=8-2&keywords=phantom+3+professional
 
J

Johnny

Member
Ok, I was looking at both the phantom 3 and 4. This takes me back to my original question: for 7-8 hundred, is there a better quad than the phantom? I have the go pro, which i take videos on and the quality is good for me. unless the camera on them can has more versatility, such as zoom or something, but when I'm comparing them, they dont seem to.
 
Mike

Mike

=)
Admin
A few years ago, buying something else and using your GoPro would have saved you money, but everything is so integrated with the Phantom 3 Pro out of the box that you'll still get the best package in your price range by going with the Phantom. $799 is a steal for all of the features. There isn't much in that price range that doesn't already come with a camera. If you go lower in price, you can get an older phantom, but by the time you buy all of the modifications to mount your go pro and use it for FPV, you'll be back up in the same price range - but the features will be kind of hacked into it (plus the technology will be older). With the Phantom 3 Pro, everything is fully engineered into the solution and ready to go out of the box.

On the surface, it seems logical that you'd be able to get more for your money by buying something without a camera and adding your go pro, but because of the volume that DJI does, along with how heavily the Phantom 3 Pro is discounted right now, the value for your money is probably best there - even considering that you already have a go pro.
 
J

Johnny

Member
Ok that makes sense! Thank you. I was in best buy looking at them today. I'm actually considering the phantom 4. It has the avoidance technology. Any experience with these? Also looking at the new mavic.
 
Mike

Mike

=)
Admin
No experience with the 4 or Mavic, but DJI typically raises the bar significantly with every release and when they implement new features, they typically do a great job (as opposed to just adding it to be able to list it as a feature). But it depends on what kind of buyer you are. If you're one of those guys who needs to have the newest iPhone or MacBook every year just to have the latest and greatest - and you're willing to pay a premium for it, then it's worth it. For me, the discount on the previous models of DJI quads is so significant, that if I were to buy one, I'd probably always go with the second newest thing and enjoy the 30-40% savings off of what it originally sold for and maybe even a bigger savings than what the current stuff is going for.
 
holtneil

holtneil

Well-Known Member
Moderator
Hi guys there is another advantage of the old phantoms they have not got the no fly zone in the firmware , once your phantom 3 and over you can't always fly where you want ,so for me I can't hover in my garden as its in a no fly zone
Chatting gopro Echine did a unit to plug into the gopro which then gave you FPV out put for goggles , just be careful of latency
If you really want to use your gopro how about build your own multirotor
 
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