After battling it out (not really) with my wife and myself (do I really need a $800 drone?) on getting me a drone for my birthday, I finally decided to get one. I chose the DJI advanced as I feel the features where what I was looking for. I could have went with the standard but I wanted the range, not necessarily because I would fly out that far, but rather so I "could" if I ever wanted to. As soon as I got the package in, I was excited to unbox it and get it up and flying. Unfortunately I had to charge everything up, then update everything. Which by the way, the update is no where near as difficult as others have claimed. You literally download the file from DJI website, extract the bin file to the micro sd card, insert that card in the drone, then power it on. It will go through a series of beeps and light flashes until it's done. then you take the card, check the txt files and make sure it succeeded. Then you put that same card into a USB that can accept a micro sd card and put into the USB port on the front of the controller, power it on, and it will also go through a series of beeps until it's done. then you check the file to make sure it succeeded. I may have missed something, but I have only had to do it once and this is off memory. Check out the many tutorials out there on youtube. So, after I get the Drone charged and updated, I am ready to fly! I take it outside, get the controller hooked up to my Samsung tab S2. The battery at this point read 100%, on the battery and on the app itself. I get the drone up in the air and I'm flying. This thing fly's amazingly well. I take it up about 300 feet and fly it around a bit up there. Now, right behind my house is a large park that is completely open field. After flying it around for awhile to where I am comfortable, I decided to take it over to that field, between my house and this field is a creek. If anything happens, I have to drive down to the bridge to get across. Here is where it gets bad for me. I am flying over towards that open field and my battery reads 30%, still plenty of juice to finish what I was doing and get back to my house for a safe landing. I literally got to a point where I was bringing the drone home, and I get a message alert that said battery low, auto landing..... WAIT WHAT? I have 27% battery at this point and I'm over in that field. I can't cancel the auto land feature to bring it home, the return to home button didn't work either. Then I the entire video feed cuts out, I am no longer connected to the drone. At this point I am kind of freaking out, I just lost connection to a $700 piece of equipment. So I get into my vehicle, drive down to the bridge and I run to about where I landed. I see it, but the closer I get, I realize it didn't land. It's tipped over and I can tell the blades are all busted, wtf happened? Once I get to it, the entire gimbal with camera was snapped off. I was furious! I take the drone back home all busted up. I take a look at my flight record, it shows the exact path I was taking and how much battery I had left. When I lost all connection, that last recorded bit of information was saying 72ft high and I had 27% battery life left. However when I tried to power the drone back on after I got home, there was 0% battery life. So really my only conclusion is that my drone completely lost power and fell from 72 feet as that was the last recorded elevation. Thanks to Skynex's amazing customer service, I was able to return the drone. I explained what happened and said that I felt it was a defect in the drone. They didn't refuse the return even though the product was now broken. I won't be purchasing this drone again. I am giving the Autel X-Star premium a go as I was pretty disappointed in DJI customer service. They are still refusing to refund me my DJI care that I purchased. Even though I had a bad experience with this drone right off the bat, I think it is still an amazing piece of equipment and that is the reason I am only taking 1 star off. Sometimes you just have a faulty product. Even though I won't purchase their drones at this time because of their customer support, if you can get past that, then I would still recommend this drone. I would just recommend you fly it close to home for the first few flights to ensure that everything operates smoothly.

Yeah the price tag is a little steep, but I've done my research and really this is [probably, in my novice opinion] the premier drone company! Plus, the price is about $200 less than anywhere else I've been able to find it. I've only done my maiden flight, but flew for close to 25 minutes after updating the firmware. The remote controller firmware update was available via the DJI Go APP, and took less than a minute; the aircraft firmware update is slightly tricky and took closer to 25 minutes. Once Beginner Mode was disabled, there were no real restrictions. Aircraft responded quickly and after watching the DJI tutorials (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. They were incredibly helpful! Find them here: [...]) I was able to take off, manipulate, and land with no problems. Also, it's pretty fast! I, also, recommend purchasing an additional battery or two for a full afternoon's worth of flying!

First off, I would like to clarify by saying that this was the first drone I have purchased. I was by no means experienced. Pros: -Ease of flight -Intuitive app, and features -Battery Life -Sleek build -Speed -Range (vs. Standard version) Cons: -Fear of crashing your expensive toy -Streaming quality to phone can vary -The app restricts your range on GPS mode -Awful calibration system -I hear there is no customer support A lot of other reviews will scare new buyers into thinking that you have to be an experienced flyer to have fun with this drone, and it is by no means the truth. Anyone can have fun with it although there is the looming thought of crashing your new toy. This is an incredible experience, especially when you slowly see yourself fade away as you pull up on the controller as your drone soars away. You'll be afraid to fly it at all at first but eventually you learn to give it more freedom. The features built into the app and the drone itself really give you peace of mind when you're flying this thing. The drone has a return to home feature that automatically engages when you get low on battery. It calculates the amount of battery needed to get back to the launching point, and once you reach a point where only that much is left it overrides what you are doing and returns home and lands itself. Let's say your controller dies in the middle of flight. No problem! This drone will return home and land itself. The controller feels really nice in the hand, and has a pretty long battery life. The controls don't take long to get used to. A lot of people ask if the upgrade to the Advanced vs the Standard is worth it, and I believe so. The Lightbridge controller that comes with this version and the professional allows for much better transmission of video back to your tablet/phone, and allows it to go much farther, range wise. What I just found out recently is if you turn off the GPS mode, you can reach the full advertised range. My only major gripe with this drone is the calibration system. It asks you to pick up the drone and doing a rotation. The calibration almost never worked for me, and landing on a metal object or landing out of direct view will often make it want to recalibrate. When this happens, good luck. I landed my new drone on top of a flat part of my house, and it wouldn't take off. I had to find a ladder and climb on top of my house, recalibrate it (which didn't work), so I gave up and just took it down with me, going down the ladder with one hand. So if you plan on landing on such surface, especially if it's not your property, either consider not doing so, or if you really want to, don't let the drone turn off the engine. This can be accomplished by flicking the ignition switch. The last thing there is to say about flying one of these things is that you can't fly it near certain locations like National Forests, and airports, although there are some entire cities that have bans on them. Make sure you check at [...]. I no longer have this drone however ;(. I was flying it above a cliff-like area, and a bird decided to fly straight into my drone, and took it down with it. I wasn't able to recover my drone, so if you buy one of these guys, watch out for birds!

I've had a blast flying my Phantom 3 Advanced. As long as you read the instructions, update the firmware to the latest version, and use some common sense, it's a really fun and enjoyable quadcopter to fly. The recorded video quality is excellent using the "auto" settings, and there are lots of settings you can tweak if you're into that, and know more than I do about photography. I did buy a lense shade attachment because I live in a very bright sunny area. The live (transmitted) video is very good, as long as you're within line of sight of the quadcopter (which you're supposed to do anyway!), and it's not miles away from you. It helps to be in a less populated area, or at least not around a bunch of houses, where there is not so much 2.4GHz interference from WiFi routers. The Phantom 3 is really a quality built quadcopter, and has some great safety features, like the ability to automatically return to the home position and land if it loses signal with the transmitter. It can take off automatically and land automatcally. They've made it very simple to fly (in P-mode), and if you let go of the controls, it will simply hover in-place, even compensating for the wind. Pretty amazing. A couple notes of caution - make sure you calibrate the compass (do the "compass dance") EVERY time you fly it! - this will minimize the chances of a fly-away. Calibrating the compass is quick and easy, so there's NO excuse to skip it! Also, after you upgrade firmware, it's usually a good idea to do an IMU calibration. Just searh YouTube for videos on "DJI Phantom 3 IMU calibration". Finally, read the directions, take the time to upgrade the firmware, and use some common sense. This is actually my 2nd Phantom 3 Advanced - after my first one ended up at the bottom of a canal - due to my own stupid mistake, which basically was caused by losing sight of the model briefly. That will never happen again!

Sweet baby J**** this thing is 100x more fun than I expected! wow!!! Cant do rolls like my cheaper quads BUT the range is AMAZING! I got this for the unique camera angles and just for basic aerial photography but find myself with the coolest piece of tech I have ever owned! So far I have had this thing out to about 1.5 miles in a very heavily wooded and hilly area (400-500ft tall hills) before I begin to loose signal. Im only sad that I waited so long to purchase this! It handles wind well and the GPS mode will keep it locked in place when flying. Also the gimbal & camera is amazing! Go for it!

Before my comments, one thing that I did not do in advnace of ordering this was take a look at rules, regulations, restrictions, etc. that are associated with drones these days due to irresponsible folks doing some pretty dumb things and of course invading the privacy of some. So you are aware, a lot of state and national parks have baned drones, some communities and cities have also done the same and the FCC is about to weigh in... I probably should have anticipated this being and RC helicopter owner and dealing with the restrictions that are in place for them as well but just assumed that with the drones being able to pretty much fly themselves the rules and regulations wouldn't be as strict. In any case, on to the the review.... I spent quite a bit of time deciding which drone to buy but after sifting through all the reviews, features, functionality and of course price, narrowed it down to the Phantom series. Although the Phantom 4 would have been my first choice, the price was out of the realm of reason so had to make a call between the Phantom Standard and Advanced since I didn't need or want the 4k camera the pro comes with and of course the cost was much higher. In the end I went with the Phantom 3 Advanced since the range was far better than the Standard, the GPS is better and overall functionality was a bit better. This has to be the best purchase I have made in a long time. I have found a place close by that I can fly with plenty of open space and no people after of course doing a few fly overs of my house and the neighborhood. This drone is stable, easy to fly (can fly itself) and takes the most amazing video you can imagine. For a hobbyist, I am in heaven being able to see things with the drone that I could have only seen otherwise from a plane or a real helicopter. Be prepared to spend a few hundred more for batteries since one will simply not do. They do last 20+ minutes and have built in balancing as well as auto discharging in the event you don't use them for an extended period of time so well worth the money. The only change I would recommend from stock is the props. Buy a set of the DJI carbon fiber reinforced props. They are much stiffer than the stock plastic props and in my opinion offer a much better flight experience. There are reviews out there that note fly aways but I just can't see this happening if you follow the Pre flight instructions. In short, I think the P3 Advanced is a good buy at 720 dollars. If you are reading this and got this far, I know how the search for the right drone at the right price is and having good feedback to make that call is a big part of it. This being the case, I will come back edit my review if anything changes from my current experience.

Purchased this after reviewing many drones and researching for almost 1 year. I absolutely love this thing! My very first drone. If you like photography, or just the fun of flying a drone, this is for you. It's very easy to fly. I use my ipad mini as the console. The batteries each last approx 25 minutes. Flight speed up to 35 mph. On a very clear day, with no obstructions, I have been able to fly this out approx 3,000 feet without concern; then it gets a little "fuzzy" and I start to get the "weak signal" message. I have flown at night. I did crash it once into a tree (my fault, I wasn't paying attention). I had it repaired at Drone Nerds in FL. Excellent service! My most recent scare.....It was out approx 2,500 feet and my iPad overheated and went blank. I thought it was toast.....never to be seen again. It came back to me, as advertised! Awesome!! Two lessons learned....be sure the home-point is updated at every takeoff (otherwise it would have been lost) & be careful in hot weather (my ipad completely shutdown unexpectedly). The hardest part....upon initial purchase, getting the software updated on the Drone and the Remote control. Take a deep breath...."patience" is the key word. Once you figure it out the first time, it's easy from there.

LOVE LOVE LOVE it! only complaint is that you can see the landing gear in the picture when you strafe left and right full speed, also the last time I updated the drone the camera gimbal went limp for reasons unknown until I power cycled the drone 3 times... Everything about the DJI phantom 3 Advanced is up to par or better than every other drone out there at its level. The Inspire 1 is the next level of drone and is superior to the phantom series only is speed, and gimbal range of motion. It is also $2000 more! Phantom 3 Advanced or Pro (1080 vs 4k video) is more than enough for those on a budget or who are not into full on commercial video production.

This thing is amazing!!! It takes great video and has incredible range. I know the Phantom 4 is available right now but I would honestly take a look at this for half thee price. I have added a few mods to the antenna and can easily reach over 3 miles with crystal clear video feed. It is very simple to fly and the return to home feature is a life save. If you are looking for a great drone for a great price, I would definitely suggest this one. There are some videos I shot with this on my youtube page. Feel free to check them out for an example of the quality of videos this thing shoots. [...]. I hope my review was helpful and if it was was please mark it as so.

It's worth it to buy one of these, rather than a cheaper drone, because without the Phantom's redundant stabilization and positioning systems, cheaper drones seem to get lost or broken very quickly, a total waste of money and a menace to others. I have been a pilot for nearly 30 years now, and always viewed first RC aircraft, and then RPA / drones, as the Enemy; but I decided to check out the enemy, and I love the Phantom. I wish the smaller aircraft I've flown had the kinds of avionics built into the Phantom! The camera is indeed very well stabilized and the Lightbridge digital link provides clear, powerful control and beautiful HD video to my iPhone or iPad (the iPad is better, the larger screen is helpful when that video is the only feedback you have). It is very eerie and a bit disconcerting at first, for a regular pilot to control an aircraft remotely, but there is real wonder in getting a God's eye view of yourself and the world from the Phantom. But register it with the FAA and treat it like the real aircraft it is.

Sure if you are reading this you've read all the awesome reviews and seen some amazing videos. It's all true. The P3 advanced is the best RC anything I've ever owned. I went with the Advanced over the Professional. The video is so crisp on the advanced I couldn't justify the additional cost for the Professional 4K. Used the extra cash I saved for batteries, case, range extenders etc... Let's talk range. I live on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Large planned communities, suburbs, power lines blah blah. First day I went out 300 feet up 600 feet out. I was sweating. To much anxiety went home. Next day said F it. I have to fly over power lines eventually. So went up 330 feet to be safe and kept going and going at 7500 feet away I couldn't handle the anxiety I had to turn around. Signal still strong. Winds about 7-9 mph. Returned back and still had 65%+ battery. Amazing... Video: Yes it kicks a$$. Enough said. ***READ!!!*** If you buy the dji P3. During the set up process you have to choose a name. It doesn't warn you it's permanent. Confusious say choose wisely. I picked Peter Pan thinking I'll change that crap later :(. No one warned me...

There are a plethora of reviews out there that delve into the minutia of this drone so I'm going to forego that, I'm not a serious drone enthusiast by any means so I'm not as knowledgeable in that regard but I'll throw my opinions into the ring anyway. The drone itself is a marvel of engineering, if you're delving into reviews for drones you're probably already aware of the technology behind these things. The Phantom 3 Advanced was a little smaller than I had expect but feel well made despite the plastic casings and such. After reading the instruction manuals and charging things up I was able to get the drone in the air for it's maiden voyage without much difficulty. In fact, the hardest part of flying it for me is resisting the urge to skip my pre-flight checklist just so I can get to the fun part. Though, I can't stress this enough, DO NOT skip your pre and post-flight checklists! Keeping the drone free of dirt, bugs, and ensuring everything is in working condition is essential to avoiding turning your drone into a very expensive falling projectile. DJI went through a lot of trouble to ensure that this drone was easy to fly, do a little bit of the work and you'll ensure it works as it's supposed to. On to how it flies! I live in a fairly mountainous, heavily wooded area so my range varies by a great deal depending upon where I'm flying. I bought a cheap pair of antenna boosters for a couple of bucks and when flying within line-of-sight I've pushed just over 3 miles. Far enough that I almost ran out of enough battery to get me home safely! Battery life varies depending on how I'm flying and what type of maneuvering I'm doing but generally it's around 18-20 before the warning kicks in at 30%. The drone itself is easy to fly after some practice, does a great job of hovering on its own, and the camera gimbal is pretty much flawless. There are so many good things about this drone that it tends to make the few flaws really stand out. First, the firmware upgrade policy is a nightmare. It's not that it's difficult to keep the controller and drone up to date, it's just that it's so clunky and cumbersome next to the rest of the streamlined presentation everything else offers. Another gripe is that after the latest firmware update, and extensive recalibrations to ensure I hadn't screwed something up, my drone doesn't always want to fly straight, it'll fly forward and to the left. I've read some others that have had this same issue and though it's easy to compensate for it's a real pain sometimes. Other than that I've spent a lot of time getting to know the Phantom 3 Advanced and I can't recommend it enough to anyone interested in aerial photography. It has a steep jumping in price, but it's well worth it and great learning drone!