Constantly scanning the world in front of and below the drone, these cameras provide real-time data to the flight controller. If an object is detected, the dji fly autonomously brakes and hovers to prevent a collision. This feature also comes in handy when the drone’s Return to Home function is initiated. As the drone returns home it alters its flight path as needed to maneuver above or around objects. DJI claims the Phantom 4 can fly for up to 28 minutes on a single battery. Based on my experience, expect to get minutes of flight time since the wise pilot lands a drone with power to spare.
It works pretty well, as long as your subject isn’t too small and doesn’t blend into the background. I was able to get it to follow me around with no problems when I wore a tan coat while standing on a green athletic field. But when our family dog moved from grass to a fallow field that was close to his coloring, the Phantom lost track of his movements. The phantom 4 Pro ships with a big, comfortable remote control. The left stick controls the altitude and spins the aircraft about its axis.
Here, we review the dji mini 2 fly more combo Pro including the new Phantom 4 Pro v2.0 intelligent flight modes, specifications and features. The Phantom boasts an iconic, instantly recognizable design that marked DJI’s foray into the consumer drone business back at the start of 2013. The DJI Phantom 4 series became especially popular with the commercial drone operator sector when the Pro line was introduced in November 2016. The camera has a 1″ 20MP CMOS sensor plus 4K/60p video, along with 5 directional obstacle sensing and 4 directional obstacle avoidance – amongst other upgrades.
The drone will maintain the recorded height during flight and ascend when the slope rises. However, the Pro will not descend in downward slopes. TapFly Backward – Tap to fly in the opposite direction of the tap, i.e. tap in the bottom right corner of the screen to fly backward towards the top left.
The battery features a set of lights that indicate the amount of charge left, giving a handy visual guide to flight times. Once the drone is assembled and your mobile device is connected the controller can be switched on, followed by the Phantom 4. It’s then just a case of waiting for 6 GPS satellites to be picked up before you take to the air.
Panning is, of course, controlled by rotating the craft in flight. Other settings, including frame rates and resolutions, can be changed through the apps interface, and it’s easy enough to quickly switch between stills and video. Using the Phantom for image capture is extremely straightforward, with direct controls available on the handset and in the app. It’s advisable to never let the battery drop below 25% charge, and from fully charged I found that I could get minutes of flight before falling to that level, compared with minutes with the Phantom 3. On both the handset and app there are RTH buttons that can be pushed to automatically bring the drone back to the take-off point. Another button on the controller, the pause button, is used to stop the drone and make it hover, which can be very handy, especially if you lose depth perception and/or orientation.
The Phantom 4 is certainly a great machine, made even better by a fair price. Improved flight modes, better object detection for better collision avoidance, a higher speed and greater flight time and distance are all important as well. The Phantom 4 is, effectively, an iterative update over the best Phantom 3 models, but again, it is our opinion that the real world improvements exceed what the spec sheet tries to tell us. The Phantom 4 Pro is compatible with two types of controllers, standard and optional. Both can switch between 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz frequency bands with a maximum controllable range of 4.3mi (Unobstructed, free of interference, FCC compliant.). The Phantom 4 Pro + has a 5.5-inch 1080p display, with 1000 cd/m2brightness and built-in DJI GO 4 app.
This provides the ability to create smooth slow-motion sequences. Offering a range of control schemes and complementary technologies, the DJI Phantom 4 RTK is developed to provide survey-grade results with greater efficiency than ever before. If desired, view additional base station information including the number of GPS and GLONASS satellites, location, and altitude.
On smaller sites (5-10 acres) the difference between the Phantom 4 Pro and the Phantom 4 RTK is negligible in terms of the number of control points needed. But, as the size of the site increases, the Phantom 4 RTK quickly differentiates itself from the Phantom 4 Pro. If you work on sites larger than 20-acres, then the Phantom 4 RTK is the clear winner. Alternatively, you could get away with shooting one GCP if you were flying the same mission with the Phantom 4 RTK.
Clip a tree at 100 feet in the air and it can either start an uncontrollable fall to the ground or, perhaps worse, get stuck like some cruel Christmas tree ornament you can see but never touch. Having the ability to avoid trees is especially important when using the return-to-home feature that summons the drone back to you. Joshua Goldman is a senior editor for CNET Reviews, covering laptops and the occasional action cam or drone and related accessories.