DJI Phantom 1 Quadcopter

The DJI Phantom 1 Quadcopter is one of the best mid size quadcopter on the market. The Phantom 1 has four equally spaced rotors. The Phantom 1 is a fun to fly remote-controlled aircraft with a camera mount to allow for filming and photographic purposes. The Phantom 1 is an easy to use, eye-in-the-sky platform manufactured by Dajiang Innnovations Technology, more commonly known as DJI Innovations.

DJI Innovations

DJI Innovations (DJI) is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, but has offices in Los Angeles, California, Schondra, Germany, and Osaka, Japan. DJI has over 500 employees and is considered one of the leading pioneer companies in the design and development of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). DJI is committed to accessibility of its products to both professional cinematographers for commercial purposes and amateur hobbyists for recreational delights. DJI promotes itself as DJI “THE FUTURE OF POSSIBLE.”

The Phantom’s Specifications

The Phantom 1 is DJI’s first generation model and is one of the most popular miniature quadcoptors on the market. It weighs about 6 pounds and is 17 inches by 17 inches and stands 8 inches, or 350 millimeters by 350 millimeters by 190 millimeters. The Phantom 1 ships with a duel-joystick remote controller with a range of 1000 meters, a rechargeable 2200 mAh lithium polymer battery and charger, and detached propellers and landing gear.

Ready for Flight and Easy to Use

The Phantom 1 has factory pre-mounted hardware and pre-tuned software requiring only basic assembly upon purchase. The Phantom 1 is ready for flight within minutes from removal of the model from its box. A user needs to properly charge and install the lithium battery and attach the propellers and landing gear. Once 4 AA batteries are added to the remote controller, the Phantom 1 is ready for take-off. The integrated pre-configured flight system, a Naz-M autopilot system with GPS capacity, allows a user to quickly and easily learn to fly to great heights and hover in the windy outdoors. The Phantom 1 comes with LED lights under each arm for easier visual identification while in flight.

Camera-Ready for GoPro Hero Camera

Although not included, a light camera is easily attached to the Phantom 1 because of the
camera mount seamlessly included into its design. Specifically, the Phantom 1 camera mount is configured for the GoPro Hero action camera, a popular and versatile mini-camera. On its website, www.dji.com, DJI showcases some fantastic examples of aerial photography and videography shot from the Phantom 1.

Pros

• The Phantom 1 is fairly durable to withstand rough initial flights.
• It has a wonderful Enhanced Fail-safe return feature that returns the aircraft back to its take-off point in the event of loss of contact.
• It has a maximum horizontal speed of 10 meters per second (that’s a peppy 22 miles per hour) and a vertical speed of 6 meters per second.
• Intelligent Orientation Control (IOC) allows for true direction remote maneuverability instead of front nose direction. Many multi-rotor UAS models require the user to be aware which way the aircraft’s nose is facing because that determines forward and back, as well as left and right, depending on aircraft orientation rather than location of the user. With IOC, the Phantom 1 turns true left, right, forward and back depending on the perspective of the user’s orientation of the remote controller to the Phantom I.
• DJI provides excellent customer service and the Phantom 1 comes with a One Year Limited Warranty when purchased through an authorized dealer.

Cons

• Relatively short battery charge duration of about ten minutes.
• If GPS is engaged and propellers not balanced, then video may be erratic and jiggle as the Phantom 1 may have a bumpier flight due to GPS constant calibration. Adjustment of the video camera to film at 60 fps and turning off the GPS Altitude mode should correct the issue.

Conclusion

The DJI Phantom 1 is the first generation quadcopter that set the industry standard for quality at a fair price. The Phantom 1 has a durable, light weight design and comes easy to operate with such features as the IOC and Enhance fail-safe return.

The introduction of newer models to the UAS market has resulted in the lowering of the price for the Phantom 1 from $*** to an even more affordable $***. At such a cost, the Phantom 1 with its video capacity and flight-ready configuration is an impressive product that is fun to fly with very little downside.