Mr. Armbrust,
I just recently found your post and was curious as to whether or not you jumped on the Inspire wagon or did you back to the P 4? I had a P 3 Pro for a while, sold it and got an Inspire V2. Nothing wrong with the P 3, I just wanted something bigger. Since that day I have never looked back. If money wasn't a problem I would get another P 3 or maybe P 4 just to play with. The P 3 was a blast to fly! Is the Inspire more expensive to fly? In my experience-yes? Is the TB 47 a waste? I have a TB47 along with 3 TB48's. I use them all and actually have to check after flying to see which one is the 47. Anyone reading this want to dump there new TB47, send me a message, I will be happy to pay the postage to take it off your hands. If you spend some time shopping around I am sure i saw more than one ad stating you could forego the TB 47 and receive all TB 48's.
The charger? Well, I picked up 100W charger along with a HUB to replace the stock charger that came with my Inspire. I was using the Little One to charge the controller while the Big One was charging my flight batteries. After reading a recommendation from another Inspire pilot on this site, I finally saved up enough to get a SmartPower Charger that will charge 4 batteries, 2 transmitters, and two iPads-ALL at the same time. I could put my 2 other chargers and HUB on eBay and recoup some of the money I spent, but for now I will hang on to them in the event I do some traveling with my Inspire and don't want to bring the Big Boy with me. I didn't have to have the SmartPower or the 100W charger, but like the P 3, I just can't imagine going back.
You may already know this, the charger, like the batteries for the Phantom series, (including the HUB), will not work with the Inspire series or vice-versa.
I cannot tell you to go out and buy an Inspire just as I cannot tell you to go back to a P 4. IMHO, if you do pull the trigger on an Inspire you will be very pleased-even with all its little idiosyncrasies. But,its your money. The credentials you listed tell me you are educated enough to ask the right questions, which you did. It will be up to you to make the best educated guess from the facts you have gleaned from the replies you received. If you were happy with the P 4, and it did everything you required of it, then get another one. If you have the insatiable curiosity I was experiencing concerning getting in the Inspire game, I hope you take the plunge. The only regrets I have concerning the purchase of my Inspire was waiting so long to get it.