DJI's New Inspire 1 - Reviewed by Octofilms
H style frame
Be able to fold each side of the H frame around the body for an easier transportation mode
Larger than the DJI Phantom 2 and looks almost larger than the Flamewheel 550
Possible 4K camera
3 axis gimbal
Possible built in FPV monitor in the remote control of the quadcopter utilizing DJI’s high definition Lightbridge system
Comments
Ok does anyone else think that this thing looks like "General Grievous"?
Clearly, this is seen (and priced) by DJI as a direct functional replacement and upgrade from their previous pro product that sells for about the same.
From that standpoint they are giving you a lot more, including built in FPV and 4K capable camera and a nifty retract feature that gives you full 360 degree camera pan capability in flight.
It is smaller and lighter than their WooKong monster, but ostensibly does a lot more.
It is clearly envisioned by DJI to be an out of the box RTF pro setup.
How pro it is is still to be seen, but it is very clever and the ease of use press that they have gained with the Phantom is going to make this a huge seller both to people wanting to get into pro or semi pro drone camera use (FAA notwithstanding) and to existing Phantom owners who want to step up.
These will never sell like Phantoms, but they will still sell a ton of them.
I also think it's probably the best $1500.00 copter you can pay $3000.00 for, but then I've already paid my dues and my view is definitely not that of John Q. Public.
Best Regards,
Gary
There is a degree in safety with light, small, and plastic that breaks when it hits someone or something.
That is one very expensive machine for what you get. Does not use industry standard video equipment, and who knows about the actual optical quality of the camera. The sensor chip is only part of the equation. Seems like a decent amateur out of the box rig, but far far from a professional rig. The HD downlink is a good advertising point, but I don't think its really needed in real life, and just adds additional cost and weight for not much benefit. But Im sure they will sell a bunch of them, and the drone incidents/accidents will get worse with larger more powerful equipment. Hit a building or car with that, and it will make a dent for sure!
mP1. I recently had the chance to see Lightbridge in action and was impressed with the quality. In straight line, it easily got a kilometer of quality signal. I did see it flown, "behind," a building near the open flight area, and range dropped sharply. It was still able to get about 250 solid meters, but the video started pixelating and stuttering. I put behind in quotes, because it was only partially obstructed, really. The pilot knew better than to push it any further once the video started stuttering.
Ive always wondered how lightbridge truely performed. Most of the vids on YT dont really show it pushed to its limits, such as behind trees, its always a simple not that far in open air.
this is a sexy design, yes, but I wonder how much "play" a rough landing will introduce in all these mechanics..... and how many proprietary parts will need to be changed after a small crash?
It's a really nice design, with the latest frames it seems DJI have finally realized flexible plastic arms maybe wasn't that good an idea for a professional frame after all.. Does not look like it will fold for transport.
But all the fancy gadgetry comes with added weight. According to http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1/spec it's 2.9kg(!?). And the penalty is then a predictable short maximum flight time specified at 18 minutes. Which probably means real flight time is something even less.
Good on DJI for thinking out of the box. Especially on the SDK announcement.
The aerial platform for AP use seems like it's aimed at more a slightly advanced market of
recreational AP users. If DJI wants the platform to stick, they should consider pushing a
variety of camera/sensor options with a solid codec and competitive dynamic range to what's
already on the market.
so, all of that mechanical complication (and extra weight) just to have retractable motors instead of the retractable landing gears? I really like the camera/gimbal/hd downlink though this alone costs about 1.8k-2k.
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