newbie thinking of DJI - or is there a better co.?

[Cloud 9 Mike]

I'm a total newbie, doing the pre-purchase research bit.
I'm sure I'll look back sometime soon and laugh at how little I knew.

I want to invest in good kit - that will eventually make it's way into paid work we do in our day job.

I was initially seduced by the idea of the phantom, but soon realised that I really want a pre-built, proven system that will give me plenty of 'headroom' so I don't regret buying something 'hobby' to begin with.
I then settled on the idea of an S800, with all the kit on (gimbal etc.). The problem is that I read so many grumble stories about DJI that I wonder if I'm better looking at a different manufacturer's kit?
It seems that there's a lot of DJI kit going AWOL - and DJI really don't give a damn.

Any feedback gratefully received - please feel free to rip it out of me...

Mike

 

[OneStopRC]

I am surprised no one has jumped on this one yet. If you read around, you will see a lot of heartache from DJI products as of now. I am not trying to put you off, but take the S800 for instance, it in itself is a very expensive "Professional" piece of kit. That being said you would expect it to act like a "Professional" unit, from reading around you will see the problems people have with these units and how DJI reacts to the problems.
When DJI correct the problem, you WILL have to purchase the newer revised item, yes I did say that... out of your pocket. Many people on here have come to a breaking point with DJI and their lack of caring to their own customers, why would anyone treat their customers in such a fashion?. I can't really complain, I have not had many issues with my small cheap setup (F550), but many other have. All I can say is read around, there is some DJI rant threads and some NOT very happy customers on here, and I do not blame one of them for being upset especially when they have forked out over $4,000. for a basic setup, up to some $12,000.

 

[olof]

Mike, I can recommend DJI products.

The thing is there are thousands of units sold and only a few on these boards that are very upset.

I talked to my dealer whom I would reccomend you call Patrick at AerialMediaPros.com. He says his customer who bought the S800/Zen are typically very happy, and like me are out making money with their kits.

I would not recommend learning on a 10K kit though, I would start with a F450 or 550. And the new small Zen Gimbal.

The thing is RC is a very complicated sport and if you have been around RC planes and copters you will know that everybody crashes sooner or later, mostly from pilot error. But there are problems with brownouts and lock outs, lipos going bad and servos skipping teeth etc.

Also weather is very tricky and you need to understand how wind around trees and buildings or on the lee side of a mountain or cliff can have very violent turbulence on a benign day.

I actually flew my F450 in a twister the other day probably gusting up to 40 mph, it picked up hay a couple hundred feet in the air, I just flew as far away as I could up about a 100 feet and put the 450 in GPS mode and it just stayed there until the twister had flown by our RC field. Lots of planes on the ground flipped over and everyone was grabbing stuff, it broke tree branches, and everyone at the fly inn was amazed that the little MR was not destroyed.

I have a S800/Zen Kit as well as a F550 and the F450.

I have had very good luck with replacement parts, I think it is just a question of having a good dealer. I have had an Iosd replaced under warranty (it took 2 weeks) and a Naza also under warranty replaced in 2 days ( I payed for a new one and was credited back in about a week when DJI accepted that the Naza was bad). I call this excellent service.

I really think the big problem is RC is in general a hobby and even the pro kits are basically made from hobby parts, and we are on the bleeding edge here with MRs and brushless gimbals. Like I said RC flying is in general a very "crashy" hobby. You have to understand your and your equipments limits and always stay comfortable inside the envelope. And be very vigilant with maintenance and preflight checks, just like real full scale flight. I see a lot of RC guys take big chances with questionable or possible damaged aircraft, not to mention experimenting with home made mods.

I fly RC planes and helis for fun as a hobby and I fly my MRs for business, I have a video production company. All my MRs gear is DJI except for my YUn-1 gimbal that I am replacing with the new GoPro Zen, real soon I have already prepaid for it.

 

[Dewster]

DJI wins for ease of use. It is a simple system to connect. My WKM has been rock steady. Learn some of the nuisances of the system and you'll have fun.

The S800 has a history of vibration trouble especially when combined with the GPS compass issue and the flip of death. I'm certain the new WKM and S800 will address issues of the past, but DJI's track record is tarnished on the S800 system.

Before I bought DJI WKM I considered Hoverfly. I was just put off by the circuit board design. It reminded me of the difficulty that I had with Microkopter. There's also ZeroUav. It's similar to DJI. Some say its better on stability and features.

I plan on purchasing the NAZA lite in the future. For what I use my WKM for I could do the same with the NAZA lite.

 

[fpvroo]

I had a flamewheel 550 with NAZA.
The flamewheel frame got crappy stock motors and ESC's, with other motors great low cost frame...
Discovery with Naza love that puppy
QAV500 sold it didn't yaw as I like it...
I tried NAZA, CC3D, KK2, CC and I must say
I'm still in favour of the Naza/wkm. It's great for beginner Atti mode.
I fly manual 98% of the time and because I'm happy with Naza I went and bought a WKM.
Same thing really easy to setup and very stable.
I use that on a Droidworx Frame and I'm very happy with it!
They got RTF kits as well, but they won't be cheap.
S800 is classified as a professional rig, but in my opinion it's between hobby and pro...
The zenmuse on the other side is great, I use it myself, even though it got it's flaws as well..
But if that plays up the copter won't come down... that's the big one. I don't know how many s800 come down, but it's an awful lot. Best wait for the S800 EVO V 4.0... :nevreness:
Dji has got great stabilising algorithms (software), but they don't create the best hardware sometimes...