JFRO…I see you're from upstate NY…I am fromWestchester County….I have the Phantom 2 and its literally was driving me crazy with the JHook and TBE, I downgraded my software to 1.08 and now it just drifts like crazy…like I said I am very new to all this so not sure if they use the same FC in the Phantom 2 as you have or if the software is the same…all I know is when you spend well over $1000 in equipment, you shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this and the amount of Flyaways they have been having…its really not acceptable in my opinion…again not sure of this is happening with the Naza V2, but I and I think many others have gotten to the point that they are afraid to fly there Phantom 2's…its literally scary…I had what I think was somewhat of a flyaway and it was literally 40m up over my head and just started flying off on its own…wound up crashing and bending an arm.had to replace the shell. Had no control what so ever! Anyway…I appreciate your response and input…Where upstate are you from? Do you have these problems with the Naza V2? Thanks again
Upstate to us Western New Yorkers is a different upstate than to you peeps down my the city. I'm up near lake Ontario in a suburb of Rochester, ie Western New York.
Neither Phantom has the Naza V2 as far as I know. I believe they have the previous versions. I have never had a glitch with my V2. It's been on a small 450, 550, and 650 quad with 900kv motors and 400kv motors. Flew like a dream on all. I just came back from a day of flying with it now on a 18+ pound x8 and flew in a steady 14mph wind that layed down as the day progressed. I was thrilled with the performance. I'm not 100% dialed in as I did get a little circle affect a few times on hoover in GPS hold.
I don't fly in congested areas, near power lines etc. I am concerned about some of the glitches I hear about DJI products, but I'm sure many are operator errors. One thing I do is always wait for is a GPS lock with 1 or no red blinks. Sometimes I will get a home lock at 2 red blinks and I wait another 30-60 seconds and it will get to 1 or 0 blinks and re-blink the green flashes indicating home port. If there is anything out of the ordinary, I power down and check everything on the quad and radio.
I try not to fly in GPS mode, but sometimes I do if I want to hold a shot, or have lost orientation and need to take a second to re-orient my multirotor. Last week I used IOC for for just the 2nd or 3rd time. Believe it or not, I haven't tried return to home other than to check out my radio and settings. I hope I never need it. I fly LOS so don't worry about losing signal.
I have built all my own frames so I make sure the solders are solid and used good quality wire and components. I break them in by flying for a few hours by slow flying in a small area and staying less than 15-20 feet up. I had one mishap early on my first build based on a faulty connection where on the first flight after about 5 minutes of hoovering about 8 feet up, it came straight down.
I flew my quad with SuperX yesterday on what was a previously a very smooth config with the Naza. I was just practicing some flying techniques in a small area and I came in concluding it just didn't handle as well as when my Naza was on it. It was nice, but I had the Naza dialed in a bit better. Nothing changed except for the flight controllers about 10 days ago.
In the back of my mind I do worry about some of the DJI problems we read about on the internet. I just don't know with absolute certainty how many of the issues are operator error or setup issues as opposed to a firmware/software glitch.
If I was 100% sure they were all operator errors, I'd put my SuperX up for sale and buy another Naza V2. I've had nothing put positive results from it. I paid an extra $200 for the 8 engine version and now using just 4 motors. I will probably fly the summer the way I have it now and see if xAircraft comes up with a firmware update with some new features. Otherwise, if I log a bunch more hours on my new favorite MR (x8)/ Naza v2 without issues, I may sell my xAircraft and buy another Naza V2.
Your statement about expecting more for $1,000 made me smile. I hear you & agree, BUT you will also heard the same "expect more" form guys that have spent many 1,000's of dollars more on the systems. This sport is a money pit. There is crap parts and electronics being sold constantly. The term you get what you pay for is only sometimes true as far as I can tell. There is very little responsibility on the manufacturers. They call it a hobby and you (the customer) are basically an experiment.
Good luck with your decision. It's not easy. Good news is both will fly great (except xAircarft's x8 config) if your MR if set up properly. Both are popular enough, that if you get one and don't like it, you should be able to sell it for a decent price. I bought my Naza about 2 months before the big price drop and I'm still happy with it. It's just a better deal now.
2 things about my post, 1. I like to slow fly as I'm just interested in video and stills. I'm not an FPV person or sport flyer. I fly by myself with a small monitor to frame my shots. 2. I've only been at this for about 18 months, but spent a ton of time on this obsessive hobby and have built 6 mr's in that time of which I now fly 3.