I'm in the beginning phase of this hobby. I've been enjoying a U818A to learn to fly. In my research about quads, I figured I'd get opinions from those who have come before me. What are the different autopilots and their hardware/firmware options? What are their specialties? ie racing, fpv, acrobatics, missions, gps waypoints, etc. What's the best / worst? It seems APM and Pixhawk are in a similar vein to AutoQuad and AeroQuad with regard to feature richness. The AutoQuad M4 is interesting because of scalability, but if trying to use it just for tricks (acro) it seems it's overkill vs. a $25 MultiWii FC. The BrainFPV looks interesting for its size and the built-in OSD. The PixHawk just looks like it has everything you could need but it's meant for larger quads. I'm trying to compile a nice list of what is out there (and what the FC is meant to do), so I can conduct even further research. It seems there are so many options to choose from, which is great, but also daunting.
This is what I have so far.
Platform -- Ground Control Software -- FC hardware
AutoQuad -- uses modified qgroundcontrol, any others? -- AutoQuad M4, AutoQuad6
AeroQuad -- not sure of what ground control software -- AeroQuad 32
APM (Ardupilot) -- qgroundcontrol or Mission Planner -- APM 2.6, PX4, PixHawk(or RCTimer FixHawk, RTFHawk 2.4.5), Hobby King APM based controller(s), and also ErleCopter (Linux based APM)
Brain FPV (Based on Tau Labs) -- not sure of ground control software -- BrainFPV
DJI -- DJI ground control? -- DJI Naza (Team Black Sheep)
MultiWii (or MegaPirate) -- not sure of what ground control software -- Naze32 (baseflight), Flip 32, Afroflight 32, Crius, MultiWii Pro, the list goes on...
OpenPilot -- OpenPilot ground control -- CC3D
I'm sure I'm missing a bunch... thoughts and pros and cons?
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APM and Pixhwak also have the new "APM Planner 2" GCS , and Andropilot & Droidplanner for Android.
you can add virtual robotix to your list. I like their ubrains running arducopter a lot. Uses arducopter which is pretty damn decent, its tiny, and has plenty of power for the future arducopter updates.
Slight downside is is the APM updates required are done by virtual robotix rather than 3DR, but I don't think this is actually an issue. (the code is available for you own tweaking if you are that way inclined...I haven't been so far though but that's not a VR specific thing I just haven't felt like looking at APM code)
VR are quick at getting the new firmware versions over, the autopilot can be updated via mission planner and the customer service is amazing (they fast and comprehensive support for my questions and issues in the past).
I am only really familiar with APM, but it is a very powerful option, would much rather have APM than a DJI solution.
Yeah I've pretty much decided DJI is out of the question for me. APM and AutoQuad look to be the most feature rich in terms of having functionality plus the ability to tweak things in software. I'm not a software guy, but this could be a good reason to learn more about it. In my research, it looks like Naze32 is where it's at for bang for buck and acro flying -- maybe even FPV?
Here is the updated list...
AutoQuad -- uses modified qgroundcontrol, any others? -- AutoQuad M4, AutoQuad6
AeroQuad -- not sure of what ground control software -- AeroQuad 32
APM (Ardupilot) -- qgroundcontrol or Mission Planner -- APM 2.6, PX4, PixHawk(or RCTimer FixHawk, RTFHawk 2.4.5), Hobby King APM based controller(s), and also ErleCopter (Linux based APM)
Brain FPV (Based on Tau Labs) -- not sure of ground control software -- BrainFPV
DJI -- DJI ground control? -- DJI Naza (Team Black Sheep)
MultiWii (or MegaPirate) -- not sure of what ground control software -- Naze32 (baseflight), Flip 32, Afroflight 32, Crius, MultiWii Pro, the list goes on...
OpenPilot -- OpenPilot ground control -- CC3D
Virtual Robotix (APM variant) -- Mission Planner -- VR Brain 5.1