It's been a few years, what's new?

Hello,

Few years back I tried to get a 3DR quad working with the APM 1 - and failed. Long story short, I had many random (it felt) problems and ultimately lost motivation.

Now I thought I'd try again, this time with the plane, specifically the 3DR RTF one.

1. How's the APM evolved? When I have my plane in a good working order, can I expect it not to crash because of some bug in the code (not counting user errors or any special stunts - just normal autopilot flying in good conditions)? Could it be considered reliable enough to not to worry every time I send it to a mission? :)

2. I see there's now a PX4 as an option for hardware. How does the PX4 compare to the APM 2.6? Which one is better/which should I get?

And for anyone familiar with the 3DR RTF plane: is it the Bixler 1/2? Is it suitable for mounting a Gopro?

Hi,

1) The software has gotten a lot better. I dumped ArduCopter for the same reason as you but I have taken up ArduPlane. I'm pretty satisfied now. Especially because there are qgroundcontrol and MAVProxy as alternatives to MP. I have experienced some crashes that I could attribute to software errors and/or my surprise that the software has worked in an illogical way. All hav been reported and all solved! I will even try an ArduCopter soon..

2) PX4 and other ARM based ones are the the future. The AVR based APM2 is almost full now, both RAM and ROM. There can be little doubt that it is soon at the end of its life - at least as the premium state of the art and newest features thing. It can of course still be used later, with limited capabilities and/or for a different purpose.

I used to have EasyStar/Bixler style planes but ont any more. They are fine fine if you don't need much space or long flights. The biggest drawback is the small size of propeller you can use, they are very inefficient. I cut the whole tail off an Easy Star once and made another on thin balsawood sticks that allowed a larger 8" prop. My endurance went up from 15 minutes to 45. I had a GoPro in it bu cutting off the whole front of the nose and replacing it with a board that the camera was zip tied to.

I changed to larger planes like the Easy Glider or Radian. Cut off the nose and put 2 small motors on the wings. Was great.

Regards

Soren

Replies

Søren Kuula August 19, 2013 at 2:38am

Hi,

1) The software has gotten a lot better. I dumped ArduCopter for the same reason as you but I have taken up ArduPlane. I'm pretty satisfied now. Especially because there are qgroundcontrol and MAVProxy as alternatives to MP. I have experienced some crashes that I could attribute to software errors and/or my surprise that the software has worked in an illogical way. All hav been reported and all solved! I will even try an ArduCopter soon..

2) PX4 and other ARM based ones are the the future. The AVR based APM2 is almost full now, both RAM and ROM. There can be little doubt that it is soon at the end of its life - at least as the premium state of the art and newest features thing. It can of course still be used later, with limited capabilities and/or for a different purpose.

I used to have EasyStar/Bixler style planes but ont any more. They are fine fine if you don't need much space or long flights. The biggest drawback is the small size of propeller you can use, they are very inefficient. I cut the whole tail off an Easy Star once and made another on thin balsawood sticks that allowed a larger 8" prop. My endurance went up from 15 minutes to 45. I had a GoPro in it bu cutting off the whole front of the nose and replacing it with a board that the camera was zip tied to.

I changed to larger planes like the Easy Glider or Radian. Cut off the nose and put 2 small motors on the wings. Was great.

Regards

Soren

This reply was deleted.

Discussions

It's been a few years, what's new?

Replies

Activity