Hi
I am new to the club and want some advice, is it worth buying a used DJI Inspire V1? the one I am looking at has 5 batteries and 2 sets of props… advice please
Welcome to GADC @Cynic1960
We’re gonna need waayyyyyyyy more information to be able to answer that question for you.
It’s a bit like me asking you if I should by an estate car or a people carrier. You have zero context of my car requirements 
Is the drone £50 quid or £5000 quid?
Hobby use or professional?
What cameras does it come with?
Is it an Inspire 1 v1 or an Inspire 1 v2?
And, and, and… And no doubt 101 other questions 
If you can give us some decent context we can provide you with some decent advice 
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Welcome mate.
Everything as above!
Plus…
Have you got the space? They are a BIG drone that take up a lot of space, even packed away in the case in transport mode.
Batteries, 5 is a good start, but you won’t get much more than 15 - 18 minutes out of a battery. Second hand (they haven’t made a new one for 4 years at least) they are fetching around £130 to £150 each (some on ebay now if you want a look).
Camera,
The standard X3 is OK but nothing special.
The Z3 zoom is pretty good, but rare and as such, not cheap (£500 plus).
The Zenmuse X5 is good, very good, but very fragile. The gimbal will break after the slightest uncontrolled landing, and are very expensive to fix (I was quoted £250+ to fix a gimbal motor).
They are also very expensive to replace figure on between £500 to £1200 to get one. The prime lens with the X5 is good, it’s a Panasonic/Leica so it’s good!
They fly really well and in top gear will out race most if not all of the other DJI drones, also very stable in the air (they are professional camera drones after all). With the new rules, you won’t be able to fly it in many places, unless you’re using it for a commercial job, in which case you’re going to need insurance at the least, and also the GVC (the old PFCO).
If you know anybody with one, ask if you can have a go with it, and make a decision then. All in all, if you want one, buy it, they are a very nice thing to fly, but break it, it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to fix.
Enjoy
John
Hi mate, I was an inspire 1V2 owner until recently and it is a fantastic drone I seriously enjoyed owning and flying It.
Mine had the X3 camera which was brilliant.
My main reason for wanting a replacement was the ease of folding it up and putting it away in a daysack as opposed to putting it into a pellicase which would take up my whole boot! And with 3 kids I couldn’t take it on days out or trips away.
If you have space and don’t mind carrying it around then it’s great. For the price of an inspire with 5 batteries you could get a very capable folding drone like one of the mavic series unless you are getting it seriously cheap!
Also bare in mind that DJI no longer produce spares or firmware updates so if you require repairs then spare parts will soon be difficult to get hold of.
Not iv it’s your first drone IMO!
Great drone - I had the V2, but you should be aware that DJI no longer offers official support for the Inspire 1. Spare parts are relatively easy to get though although you may have to dip into EBAY for them.
thanks for all your replies, the item I am looking at is £550 and a DJI Inspire 1 V2 with X3 Camera
For your first drone I would say you’d be better off spending your £550 on a Mini 2 combo. Far less restrictions on where you can fly, just as much fun and a more than decent camera on it too.
Just my opinion mind 
No more fun than flying a big bird like the inspire, the M2 is very sterile in comparison
The difference between flying a little 250g drone and the Inspire that weighs 3.8kg isn’t that much, it’s the difference between driving a small hot hatch and a Bentley Continental GT, they both do the same thing but the Bentley does it with oh so much more class!
John
I would be using it for pleasure, is there restriction in where you can fly drones of different sizes? I was only intending to fly in approved locations. What is the GVC?
Steve
Is your friend
Hi Steve
There is a limit now, but after December 2022, you won’t be able to fly it within 150 metres of people so basically you’ll be finding sites in the countryside to fly in.
The GVC is the CAA certificate that allows you to fly closer to people for a commercial use, but you must have insurance and produce a risk assessment for the job. The qualification isn’t hard to get, you need to pass the exam (easy), carry out and pass a practical flight test to show you can safely complete the flight manouvres required, and complete and send off an operations manual (UAVHUB do this for you as part of the course) along with £253 to the CAA. If everything’s OK with the manual, you’ll get the Operational Authorisation a couple of days later.
The separation limit for people in A3 is 50 metres. The separation of 150 metres is for residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas. CAP 2012 attached for info.
Right, I have read the rules and from what I can see, if you are in a desert on your own 100 miles from a single sole you are ok to fly. Can I fly the DJI Mavic Pro without following the above criteria?
Please ask that question here:
It’s what it was built for.
The results are instant, you can use it as many times as you like with as many different drones as you like
I am now thinking of getting a DJI Mavic Pro which I believe is 734g in weight, I live in Cheshire and would like to know where/who is the best provider for the A2 Certificate of Competency and any other relevant authorisations.
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I can wholeheartedly recommend UAVHUB. I did the A2CofC with them in March this year and as a result of my experience with them I’m currently going through their GVC course (my theory exam is set for this Monday morning).
Their courses are all on-line, can be done at your own pace, and each lesson repeated as often as you like. Once you qualify you still have access to the corse material which they update for you as the regs change.
Thank you for the advice, will have a look