I live in Guatemala where camera gear is not cheap ... saw a DJI Phantom 1 for sale with DJI hardcase, extra battery, prop guards and gopro 3 black for around US$600. The guy is negotiable to a point. I don't plan any trips to the US soon or else I'd get one there.

So question is how outdated the drone is at this point.

I would use it in my docs / news features on occasion - these are for broadcast in HD (and uploaded to the web of course). I could imagine using 3 clips at say 10 seconds each max.

I've never flown a drone before, FYI.

Thanks for any / all advice!

PS - Phantom 3 without case are $1250 locally

For comparison, the 3dr Solo and the new DJI 4 professional basically fly themselves. It makes the learning curve almost zero.

I know the Solo, at least, you tell it you want a dolly shot, crane, fly by wire, what ever. Makes the whole thing very easy.

I owned a Phantom 1 a couple of years ago - it is still a very easy to fly drone. I'd check if it has the 3-axis gimbal though, the 2-axis version was not very good.

Thanks guys. Doesn't come with a gimbal as far as I know. That looks like a necessity and will bump up the price by a few hundred dollars minimum.

Hi Dave,
I would maybe try to get your hands on one of the newer generation phantoms. Much easier to fly & way more stable. Most importantly for me was the increased battery life with the latest Phantom compared to the Phantom 1. When i put a 2 axis gimbal on my Phantom 1, & a Gopro hero 3, i was getting flight times of between 2 & 3 minutes. Sometimes if i hadn't charged the batteries the night before i flew, i would just get off the ground & the low battery light would start flashing! Now with the latest Phantom, flight times are over 20 minutes & the quality of the shots i am getting out of the camera are waaaay better than the hero 3. The other huge advantage is being able to frame your shot. Without adding FPV to the Phantom 1, that couldn't be done. Adding more weight though to the Phantom one, & it may not have even got off the ground. Leading up to buying the latest Phantom, i stripped the gimbal off the Phantom one to practice flying & low & behold, my flight times went back up to between 10 & 15 minutes, so clearly it was just all the added weight.
Hope this helps.

Thanks that definitely helps. I've decided to find a 2 or 3.

I'd still recommend as nothing wrong starting out with the Phantom 1 if you get a great price on it (though that price seems somewhat high.... but I don't know what your local conditions are), as you really do want to buy the cheapest drone you can start out with (I recommend the Cheerson CX20).

Because you can GUARANTEE when starting out you will crash/break/lose your drone...

I had version 1 a few years ago and now have a p3a
Although I am a very light user the difference in the experience flying ver 1 vs version 3 can be compared to a 1959 Full size Ford with standard transmission on the column (3 on the tree), No Power Steering or power brakes vs 2015 ford mustang with all the goodies.

I'd still recommend as nothing wrong starting out with the Phantom 1 if you get a great price on it (though that price seems somewhat high.... but I don't know what your local conditions are), as you really do want to buy the cheapest drone you can start out with (I recommend the Cheerson CX20).

Because you can GUARANTEE when starting out you will crash/break/lose your drone...

Not always the case if you're careful. I've owned 3 Phantom's and a couple of larger hexacopters and I've never caused them any damage. They really are very easy to fly now - I'd just recommend spending a bit of time on a simulator first.

In saying that I did buy a little toy RC quadcopter to practise on before my first Phantom.

That seems quite high to me. I have a Phantom 2 I'm getting ready to sell- with gimbal, hard case, extra batteries etc. for not much more than that.


I live in Guatemala where camera gear is not cheap ... saw a DJI Phantom 1 for sale with DJI hardcase, extra battery, prop guards and gopro 3 black for around US$600. The guy is negotiable to a point. I don't plan any trips to the US soon or else I'd get one there.

So question is how outdated the drone is at this point.

I would use it in my docs / news features on occasion - these are for broadcast in HD (and uploaded to the web of course). I could imagine using 3 clips at say 10 seconds each max.

I've never flown a drone before, FYI.

Thanks for any / all advice!

PS - Phantom 3 without case are $1250 locally