PART 1 DRONES: DJI's INSPIRE PROMISES - PART 2:INSPIRE vs 3D Robotics SOLO follows

OK so some of you are seasoned drone or rather UAS pilots and by now you've pretty much experienced what's commonly called "VAPOR WARE" or "FEATURE FAILURE." The INSPIRE seemed to be the HOLY GRAIL from DJI as it feature list seemed endless. Many of us gambled on the new technology that DJI boasted about this bird! Well I would most definitely like to hear back from "Phantom to INSPIRE" owners and get your valuable input. AS for now I'll attempt to express my sentiment over the INSPIRE 1, mainly what was promised in the way of features and what the reality is today...

DJI INSPIRE 1

I will also draw some comparisons to 3DR's new SOLO coming in May. If it lives up to the feature set that they are describing than I would say the INSPIRE 1 is up for some steep competition.

Before taking a read on the dark side of the INSPIRE I do have to commend DJI on the concept and hopefully fully functional feature set that will one day become available with the INSPIRE 1. And yes of course for creating this incredible market space and products that have truly set the bar for enabling quality film making for those of us working in the entertainment field as well as the incredible data being collected for the industrial and agricultural market sectors.

Lets start out with the somewhat "lacking in function" features:

DYNAMIC HOME POINT
FOLLOWING: Wow this was a big one for those of us filming from moving platforms such as a car, boat, skateboard etc. Quite clearly attempting to set your RC Controller as the HOME POINT FAILS miserably. DJI's excuse, "Well the GPS antenna on your 650.00 controller is not strong enough to provide the signal to the INSPIRE...hmmm, really?

STABILITY
 OK here is a clear warning. NEVER TAKE YOUR EYE OFF OF THE INSPIRE for the first 2-3 minutes of flight or you can kiss it goodbye. For some reason it consistently will head to the right... REALLY! We have upgraded the firmware and this still has not been fixed. If you watch it and manually keep it in position than after about 2 minutes it will be stable. Yes it does this whether or not it has been GPS calibrated or you are flying indoors using it's built-in SONAR system.

FLIGHT TIME
I guess it's a bit like the Miles per Gallon sticker on those new cars you may be looking at. Strictly IDEAL conditions for a flight time of 17 min. In other words hover at 5 ft off the ground. Expect 13-14 min of flight time. Anyone out there with the larger battery please chime in on flight times.

GROUND STATION
Oh yeah that's one big reason I went to the Inspire, the ability to plot out your course and easily repeat a flight pattern especially when you are trying to get that big wide opening aerial scene for the film your working on. Sorry but not available yet. Time frame? Well no response on that from DJI

24/7 SUPPORT
Here today gone tomorrow. Wow that was such a great offering by DJI, um where did it go...Well they are in the process of shifting to U.S. based support so suddenly the very cool chat capability from your iPad or any IOS/Android device is no longer available. Time to use the phone and call and yes hopefully the QUALITY of their support, ie training personnel, will improve.

Regarding the new PHANTOM 3 PRO version: Well I have to say I need to get my hands on one. Seems like they are competing with their own product line as this little beefed up Phantom is pretty much the INSPIRE in a smaller footprint. Yep it will fit in your carry-on luggage.










NEXT UP PART 2 HIGHLIGHTS of the INSPIRE and THEN a REVIEW/COMPARISON of 3DR's SOLO !