DJI Phantom 3 Standard FPV R/C Drone, $767.24* (www.dji.com...)
Manufactured by DJI (www.dji.com/)
Last updated 04-17-20
This isn't a flashlight, household lamp, Christmas light set, or other thing that glows, but it *DOES* have a number of LEDs on its fuselage (this word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it; the word is pronounced "" , so what the hey
I love things that fly; that's why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" on my website a number of years ago and created a new website just a couple of months ago specifically for flying machines of this nature!!! I was also attracted to something that this drone has that many others don't...
1: It has GPS -- simply meaning that it can stably hover despite any mild wind and knows where 'Home' is.
2: Its camera has a very high-quality and high-resolution imager.
3: The camera also comes with a 3-axis gimbal; so even if the drone is rocking & rolling because of wind, the images will be in sharp focus and the video will be mirror-smooth.
4: It has a gyro -- that means it's easy to fly even for a "craptastic" pilot like me.
5: It has all of those wonderful LEDs
This is a large, fairly heavy (1.216kg), easy-to-fly 4-channel, brushless motor remote-controlled outdoor drone that has advanced features like GPS tracking, follow-me mode, orbit mode, waypoints, etc. Its remote uses RF (radio frequency) radiation at 2.4GHz to communicate to and from the drone.
It sports BRUSHLESS motors that deliver incredible amounts of power and have a far longer useable lifetime than their brushed counterparts.
It also flaunts a 2.7k 12 megapixel (4,000x3,000 stills) camera on a 3-axis gimbal to furnish a live video feed to the app; both still photos and aerial video can be taken with it!
* Price shown includes the $199.98 hard-case form-fitting backpack that everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) that comes with the drone can be stored and transported in.
SIZE
This hobby-grade drone is a bit more complicated to get it to take off than your average toy-grade drone...here's how to get it off the ground:
As with any rechargeable product, charge the flight battery and the radio's battery first (see directly below), install the flight battery, and then you can pretend to fly a dragonfly (well, that's what the kitty cats would think it was if it were designed to be flown in a small living room).
1: On the remote control, slide the "OFF/ON" switch below the left-hand joystick toward the right. The remote will emit several BEEP tones when it is powered up.
2: Plug the drone's battery into the drone itself; just push it into the battery bay until it clicks into place.
Quicky press & release the button on the end of the battery; rapidly press and hold this button down for two seconds and then release it.
Place the drone on the ground. It should emit a surprisingly loud series of four tones; this lets you know that the resident diagnostic program has completed and the drone is in good working order.
After several seconds, the radio transmitter should emit another BEEP tone -- this lets you know that the drone and radio are bound with one another.
3: On your cellular telephone handset, go to WiFi settings and click, "Connect" on the entry that reads, "PHANTOM" followed by a series of numbers. (If you are not connected to a WiFi hotspot at this time, the drone WiFi signal may connect automatically.)
You may be prompted for the WiFi password; that was 12341234 on mine.
4: When that indicates "Connected", open the DJI GO app.
5: When the app brings up the, "Aircraft Status" display, press the button that reads, "Calibrate". You will then be prompted with a Yes or No -- you'll most definitely want to press the Yes button.
At this point, rotate the drone clockwise at least once. When the app indicates it's time for Step 2, hold the drone vertically with its camera directed downward, and spin it clockwise again at least once. Place the drone on the ground so that the tail-end (the end where the flight battery goes in) faces you.
6:On the app, press the Auto-Takeoff button, and use your finger to slide the indicator toward the right. The DJI Phantom 3 Standard FPV R/C Drone should now lift off the ground and come to a hover at approx. 1 meter (39 inches). Congratulations, you're now a pilot!!!
Alternately, you can perform a manual takeoff by moving both joysticks on the radio down and inward. When the props spin up to idle, give it a little "gas" by moving the left joystick up (toward the antenna on the radio); your Phantom 3 Std. should now be in the air.
For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.
On the remote control, slide the "OFF/ON" switch below the left-hand joystick toward the left and give the button on the battery one short and one long press to neutralise them when you are finished.
The battery in the DJI Phantom 3 Standard FPV R/C Drone itself is rechargeable; so is the battery in the radio!
To charge the battery in the DJI Phantom 3 Standard FPV R/C Drone, plug the charger in to any 2- or 3-slot 110-130VAC household receptacle, and plug the connector on the end of the thinner cable into the battery itself. LEDs on the battery will indicate the charge cycle being in progress and how full the battery is. When all of the LEDs on the battery turn off, you may safely unplug it from the charger.
Fully charging the DJI Phantom 3 Standard FPV R/C Drone' battery should give you approx 20 to 25 minutes of flying time.
To charge the battery in the radio, you can either plug the USB cable into any free USB port on your Pee-Cee or Mac, or plug it into the furnished USB AC charger (plug the charger in to any 2- or 3-slot 110-130VAC household receptacle). At the bottom of the radio, look for a small receptacle, and plug the other end of the charger cable into it. The connector is keyed to fit only one way, so it's essentially mistake-proof.
When the radio's battery is receiving a charge, a bright red LED on the radio will be on. When the charge cycle is complete, this LED will turn bright green. At this point, you may safely unplug the radio from the charger.
This R/C drone is meant to be used as a flying machine in a dry area outdoors, not as a flashlight meant to be carried around all the time, thrashed, trashed, and abused; so I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, try to drown it in the {vulgar slang term for a fudge bunny}bowl or the cistern, run over it, swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoņata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a scanner-type device on a platform with a large readout, with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the cannoņata is only used to shoot piņatas to piņata parties away from picturesque Piņata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analyses, or inflict upon it punishments that I might inflict upon a flashlight.
So this section of the drone's web page will be significantly more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.
The unit has a 4-channel remote control; this allows for forward / backward / up / down / left / right movement (movement on all three axes -- X, Y, and Z). It also has a fully proportional control system; simply meaning that the motor speeds can be varied depending on how far you move the joysticks -- it isn't simply "full power and no power at all" like some other R/C products.
The camera has a video resolution of 2704x1520 (2.7k video quality) and can take still photographs at 12MP (4000x3000)
There is a ribbed wheel on the upper left portion of the radio; this allows you to smoothly and easily adjust the camera's Y-axis (vertical) orientation from pointing straight ahead to pointing straight down and anywhere in between.
The drone's antennae are located inside the starboard (right) front and the starboard & port (left) rear landing sprigs; should any of them ever come out of their hollow space in the landing sprig, just tape it back in -- never EVER cut these wires!
The Phantom 3 Standard's range is advertised at 3,280.84 feet (1,000M) (horizontal) and 400 feet (119M) (vertical); however I have been getting ranges of 699 feet {213.05M] (horizontal} and 250 feet {76.2M} (vertical) so I had to purchase a range extender antenna kit.
The range extender is totally passive (that is, it doesn't amplify or otherwise boost radio reception) and is also totally reversible if desired.
With the range extender, I've been getting ranges of 399 feet (121.62M) {vertical} and 799 feet (243.54M) {horizontal}.
So there is ***SOME*** improvement anyway.
THIS IS A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION, SO NOT ALL OF THE DATA HAVE BEEN WRITTEN TO THIS PAGE! PATIENCE PLEASE!!!
Photograph of its remote control with my own cellular telephone handset affixed to it.
Photograph of the remote control in its feral state (with no cellphone or tablet affixed to it).
Screen dump showing the DJI GO app while the Phantom 3 Standard was in GPS mode flight and recording video.
ALL OF THE FLIGHT VIDEOS ARE ON THEIR OWN WEB PAGE
SO THAT THIS EVAL. WOULD NOT BECOME TOO CUMBERSOME!!!
TEST NOTES:
On the evening of 07-05-19, a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) from the Fresno PD named Jerry stopped at the end of the driveway, walked up to me, and said that he was a huge fan of my YouTube channel and he recognised me from one of the videos that has my ugly mug on it -- and yes, he even likes my choice of music! -- he looked for my JJR/C JJPRO X5 "EPIK" Brushless 5G WiFi FPV GPS R/C Drone (which had gone down in a stand of trees a short time earlier); and when he returned a couple of hours later empty-handed,he told me that he'd GIVE ME one of his DJI drones just so I could keep my YouTube channel in regular updates!!! How cool is that?!?
This DJI Phantom 3 Standard FPV R/C Drone is that drone!
THANK YOU EVER SO VERY MUCH OFFICER JERRY!!!
You sir, have singlehandedly restored my faith in humanity!!!
UPDATE: 10-06-19
The camera's gimbal appears as though it may be going down the tube; let's let the following two videos do the talking here:
Brief video on YourTube showing what the gimbal on my DJI P3S drone does at powerup. (720p 30fps)
Looks like the firmware in the drone may have become partially corrupt; is there a way to force-install a firmware update when I already have up-to-date firmware in the drone?
And this, from a flight that I made on 10-04-19:
***NSFW*** Brief video showing the gimbal malfunction (720p 30fps)
The music that you hear is zax from the Commodore Amiga computer demo, "Software Make The Dance Foam Oil" by Epidrena and Rave Overscan Network
I added, "***NSFW***" (Not Safe For Work) to the title because the song has the "F" word in it, and I'd hate to learn that you got shitcanned from your job because you were watching the video, the boss walked by, and heard the computer asking to have its speakers washed out with soap. :-O
The camera gimbal started acting all wierd for no apparent reason. This is a clip from tonight's flight showing that (so that you need not watch approx. 13― minutes of normal flight waiting for the malfunction to occur); I'm going to ask some experts if there's a way to force-install an already in-place firmware update in the event that my copy has become partially corrupted.
Since the drone has experierienced a partial failure that does not affect is primary purpose (FLYING!), I'm going to append the, "" icon to its listings on this website at once.
UPDATE: 10-14-19
The camera gimbal on this drone has totally failed -- it never stops thrashing around at power-up, so aerial videos can no longer be taken with it.
Because the gimbal can not stabilise, the rest of the drone's initialisation processes fail as well -- the compass cannot be calibrated and GPS lock cannot be established. So (after manual launch) if it goes beyond the range of its radio or otherwise loses contact with it, I believe that a "fly-away" is quite likely.
UPDATE: 10-18-19
On a flight that I made on the morning of 10-17-19, the drone experienced what is known in the hobby as a, "fly-away". I watched helplessly as it flew over a stand of trees approx. two city blocks away and vanished.
I actually felt my heart sink (yes, an actual physical sensation!) during and at least ten minutes after I lost sight of the drone.
Therefore, the totally dreadful, "" icon must be appended to the Phantom 3 Standard's listings on this website; indicating that I no longer have it at my disposal for additional analyses or fun.
UPDATE: 04-16-20
The officer who gave me the drone in the first place stopped me just outside my home (I had just returned from another flying mission) and told me that somebody has found my drone!!!
I was given the gentleman's name and telephone number, and I'll be calling him within the next several minutes (it's currently 12:22pm PDT 04-15-20 as I type this) and see about getting my drone back!!!
The drone is now in my custody.
The camera & gimbal ass'y are missing, but it appears otherwise intact!
MANUFACTURER: DJI
PRODUCT TYPE: R/C GPS quadcopter (drone) w/inbuilt camera
LAMP TYPE: LED
No. OF LAMPS: At least 14 (1 bicolor red/green and 4 green in radio, 1 red & 4 green in battery, 4 tricolor red/yellow/green in drone)
BEAM TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: Slide switch on/off on remote; pushbutton on/test/off on flight battery for the drone
CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
BEZEL: N/A
BATTERY: 3.7v 2600mAh LiPo (18650 cell) for transmitter; 15.2V 4,480mAh (4.48Ah) Li:PO battery for drone
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND URANATION-RESISTANT: Very light sprinkle-resistance only
SUBMERSIBLE: EIN GROßER RIESIGER GEIST, DER EINEN RIESIGEN PLUMPS NIMMT UND DANN DEN KOPF UNROT NEIN VERLÄSST!!!
ACCESSORIES: Charger + cable for radio, charger + cable for drone's battery, 2x flight batteries, radio, 2x front rotor blades, 2x rear rotor blades, small Phillips screwdriver, prop removal tool, 4 rubber grommets, smartphone bracket
SIZE: 289mm L x 289.50mm W x 186mm H
WEIGHT: 1.233kg (incl. battery) (377g {battery itself})
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: USA
WARRANTY: 6 to 12 months depending on what has become fuxxored
PRODUCT RATING:
(Yes, that's ten (10) radios that you see!
This is the best R/C drone that I've seen to date!!!)
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" 
, so what the hey
SIZE
" icon to its listings on this website at once.
" icon must be appended to the Phantom 3 Standard's listings on this website; indicating that I no longer have it at my disposal for additional analyses or fun. 
