ok, I think I am settled on the Dji phantom 4 pro as the inspire 2 is too much money for a first drone. The pro only does 38 knots but hopefully that is enough for cross off up to 30 knots. Will be interesting if it picks up to 40 knots without much warning as it can do at some Sa spots. Hopefully that scenario doesn't occur in a hurry!

Any final advice from those in the know would be good before I invest...

Give me a call I'll give you a few tips...0405 446 272

Paul

Inspire 2 as a first drone? I assume you are being sarcastic. If you have never flown anything remote control before I'd suggest start with something smaller. Get a drone you are happy to crash or loose. Take that drone to a wide open space with no people around and practice. Once you are comfortable with that you are ready to fly around people.Now in regards to your question. The P4 can easily fly in 30 knots+ . The tricky part in wind is the take off and landing. For take off I'd recommend find a spot behind a structure that protects you from the wind. For landing catch the drone out of the air. Practice this part in no wind until you can do it without chopping your fingers off. Remember a drone is a bit like a flying inverted lawn mower.

Generally speaking when the wind speed exceeds the drones top speed it will start drifting down wind. It's a good idea to have a backup plan in case you can't fly back to your launch spot. Also remember that at anything over 25knts the drone will be flying at near full throttle when you are flying into the wind. This will burn battery at fast rate. Factor that in when you have to fly home.Lastly, the P4 (not pro) has some issues with the Gimbal locking up due to a motor overload in higher winds. This never happened with the P3. I am guessing this is due to the P4 flying at a bigger pitch. I have read in a few forums that a number of people are also experiencing this issue with the P4 pro even in little to no wind.

Message me if you want. I am a team pilot for a Drone company as well as a commercial Drone pilot. I do lots of flying in wind and will be honest anything over about 20 knots will be pushing your gimbal to the limits, not to mention your flying skills. stehsegler advice above is good!

I suggest the following:

1) Learn how to fly really well Line of sight (buy a cheap toy mode 2 quadcopter to get basic orientation). Once you have got figure 8 flying and nose in flying sorted, then go and buy a Phantom or Inspire. Although it is really easy to fly quads in GPS mode or even atti mode the better you can fly the easier it will be to get smooth footage.
2) Learn how the craft works, and always do good pre and post flight checks.
3) Learn what you are legally allowed to do. Where you can fly, how high, close to people etc.

Side note: These things do go wrong so never put yourself or your Drone in a position where you need to justify your actions.

If you ever want to sell any of your work or use it for commercial gain the Phantom fits into the sub 2kg rules, whilst the Inspire doesn't. Check out the CASA website for more details.

I have used Mavic's, Phantoms and Inspires and they all have their place. If you want to discuss the process and cons of each I can probably help. Good luck with this and fly safe

All good info. A lot of this I knew from my 'drone network' - some qualified pilots and some not. After looking up 'phantom 4 pro+ problems' I think I will wait a bit for the first of model bugs to get ironed out. The gimbal one seems to require drone return to fix. Also a local dealer stocks em in a month, another good reason to wait. Advice greatly appreciated.

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gmitton said..
All good info. A lot of this I knew from my 'drone network' - some qualified pilots and some not. After looking up 'phantom 4 pro+ problems' I think I will wait a bit for the first of model bugs to get ironed out. The gimbal one seems to require drone return to fix. Also a local dealer stocks em in a month, another good reason to wait. Advice greatly appreciated.

Phantom 4 pro does really nice images! Use the time to get good at flying a toy mode 2

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stehsegler said..
Inspire 2 as a first drone? I assume you are being sarcastic. If you have never flown anything remote control before I'd suggest start with something smaller. Get a drone you are happy to crash or loose. Take that drone to a wide open space with no people around and practice. Once you are comfortable with that you are ready to fly around people.Now in regards to your question. The P4 can easily fly in 30 knots+ . The tricky part in wind is the take off and landing. For take off I'd recommend find a spot behind a structure that protects you from the wind. For landing catch the drone out of the air. Practice this part in no wind until you can do it without chopping your fingers off. Remember a drone is a bit like a flying inverted lawn mower.

Generally speaking when the wind speed exceeds the drones top speed it will start drifting down wind. It's a good idea to have a backup plan in case you can't fly back to your launch spot. Also remember that at anything over 25knts the drone will be flying at near full throttle when you are flying into the wind. This will burn battery at fast rate. Factor that in when you have to fly home.Lastly, the P4 (not pro) has some issues with the Gimbal locking up due to a motor overload in higher winds. This never happened with the P3. I am guessing this is due to the P4 flying at a bigger pitch. I have read in a few forums that a number of people are also experiencing this issue with the P4 pro even in little to no wind.

Was that your drone out on Monday at Mettams. It was pretty windy, I was surprised to see a drone out in such strong winds.

Casey has a new upload with a P4P+ review ....

If only he compared performance in wind!

Best to Worst for wind: Inspire, Phantom, Mavic

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R1DER said..

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Was that your drone out on Monday at Mettams. It was pretty windy, I was surprised to see a drone out in such strong winds.

yup... unfortunately only had about 20 minutes before I had to head home so didn't get much footage. The wind had dropped quite a bit by the time I got it in the air. I'd say sustained wind speed wasn't much more then 25 knots.