Collision avoidance on P4 Pro

[Red90]

I’m really interested in using the P4’s flight modes to get shots that I wouldn’t necessarily put our I1 in for.

How good is the collision avoidance system? I’ve watched the promos from DJI & a few YouTube clips, but in a real-world situation who can tell me how good it is..

We’ve got some work coming up involving extreme sports in relatively enclosed outdoor environments & it would be great to know that the P4 is up to it.


Cheers,
Martin.

 

[Dave Pitman]

It works very well in good light and solid obstacles. Not as good in poor light and porous obstacles.

Also, the size, stability, endurance and camera are all superior to the I1 except for no different lens options of course.

 

[R.Perry]

Mine works very well, always remember it only works going forward, there is no collision avoidance to the sides or rear.

 

[Timinator]

Mine works very well, always remember it only works going forward, there is no collision avoidance to the sides or rear.

Depending on the flight mode, there is rear obstacle avoidance, at least on mine anyway.

 

[Red90]

It works very well in good light and solid obstacles. Not as good in poor light and porous obstacles.

Also, the size, stability, endurance and camera are all superior to the I1 except for no different lens options of course.

Great to know that it’s so good. When you say it’s better, is that even with the X5 on our I1pro? I know the P4 has 100mbps as opposed to 65, but is the glass really as good?

 

[Dave Pitman]

Great to know that it’s so good. When you say it’s better, is that even with the X5 on our I1pro? I know the P4 has 100mbps as opposed to 65, but is the glass really as good?

For video, with a similar field of view, yes, because of the bit rate. Of course the creative ability of being able to pull the background in with longer lenses makes the X5 better in those situations. When you get familiar with the P4P's camera, shoot some side by side and see what you think.

 

[Airbender]

I keep it turned off. I find the frequent buzzing more of an annoyance than a help. Oh, and there is that flying into the sun thing where the bird just stops! WTF? Has that been fixed?

 

[Vertical400]

Thought I'd chip in because I just recently had experience with this. The only thing I've ever come close to hitting with the obstacle avoidance on was a thin powerline. It does annoy me a little that the side sensors are only active in tripod mode, but that's just something you have to be careful about. Aside from that, I've found the detection and avoidance to be very good. (Though again, you have to watch it if you're using Follow Me or something, because it will cut corners too tight and run into trees.)

Yesterday, in fact, was the first day it really saved my bacon. I've had it beep to warn me of something I may or may not have seen, but yesterday I had absolutely no idea. I was attempting to pull up and away from a property and would have flown directly into a large tree behind me, had it not stopped cold.

So, as a general rule of thumb, I don't try to crash it, but I've almost never seen a situation in which it would actually let me hit something.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I had an issue where it did not detect a solid concrete bridge edge in forward flight, at 14mph, completely within all the OA specs, which resulted in a ricochet crash off the beveled front bridge edge into the water below. DJI denied the claim, and I was told OA was a safety feature and not a guarantee. Camera is terrific, though!