Greetings
At the moment I'm flying a f550 with NAZAv2 & GPS. Thinking of switching to APM instead as there have been quite a few odd crashes on all DJI fc platforms recently. I assume I just need the 2.6 with GPS and possibly the power module? That will give me more functionality that my present setup.?
Any advice/comments welcome
Cheers
Replies
Hey Terry,
How did it go with the FC40? My friend had his fly way 2 weeks ago but we were able to find it.
My flew away on March 27th and I never found it. I spent 2 days trying and I even mounted a Mobius Camera on it as well and wanted to compare between the Mobius and the FC40. No such luck. I am still waiting to hear back from DJI. I tried to call yesterday but was at work and was #42 in the que. I called back 4 times throughout the day and had the same results with long hold times.
I filled out a form and sent proof of purchase as requested. Waiting for manager to call me back
There is clearly an issue with their products. This was not USER error.
So after several call backs and 6 hours on hold. I was transfered to manager and then hung up on. Never made it to manager. You would have thought the manager would have called me back but that did not happen and I had to call back and wait on hold for another 56 minutes only to be told they could not find the manager. ha!!!
I was assured he would call me back this time and that I would be next.
He did not call me, he sent me an email stating they would give me 30% off the purchase of a new drone as long as I send back my old tranmitter.
I requested someone call me and they told me due to the high que calls they would not call me back.
DONT expect to speak to a manager at DJI. they do not stand behind their products or customers.
Worst experience I have ever dealt with any company.
They are selling defective products and ripping people off.
I built my second APM and had to stop doing the final calibrations due to the winter months. - Too much snow and COLD. The other day I began to finalize calibrating the APM 2.6 and it wouldn't power when plugging the lipo to the power module. I tried a few things, but I thought I would go to 3DR support while I continued to figure out the problem.
To Make a long story short, 3DR contacted me via through e-mail. Even though the original computerized response said they would get back with me within two business day, I was happy to find a "real person" contact me within a couple of hours.
During the wait time I found the problem. Note: It was the Deans connector on the lipo.
I communicated back to 3DR regarding finding the problem and they responded back with the following.
Glad you solved the issue :)
If you have any other questions / concerns just let me know!
Have a Nice Day!
All I can say is 3DR has improved regarding their service. It is what keeps me buying their products.
Fly safe and have fun.
Terry
I have both systems now and although I haven't flown my quad with the apm (arduflyer) board I know that neither system is perfect, I agree the Naza is more plug and play friendly than the apm but having said that I have had my fair share of crashes due to setup errors with the naza, also steer clear of the latest firmware from DJI, I upgraded my Naza as soon as the new 3.10 firmware came out and had issues, but I also had just put it on a new frame as well - it took me a while (and a frame) to figure out that it was the firmware at fault.
BUT I also know that the APM has had teething issues - the difference (IMO) is the great community where we can compare notes that the developers can see and try and improve the code as it happens, when I contacted DJI about the issues I was having, it took almost two weeks for a response and that was "downgrade to the older firmware and see if the problems go away"
Just my 2c
Hmmm, Naza is a fantastic system IF you don't understand multirotors. It will get you flying quicker than what the APM will. However The APM has so much more to offer if you take the time to learn and understand. The setup guides are pretty good now and thanks to Randy and the dev team there is quite a bit of help available via the tutorials.
Basically if it's not flying right then you have taken a shortcut or missed something. I am now using APM's in all my multirotors and personally wouldn't go back to naza, Don't get me wrong, the naza system is pretty darn good. I just thing the APM is now better if you are willing to tune it properly, and if done right offers advantages over and above the naza.
just my 2 cents worth!
As the other said APM seems to be way more in depth then what meets the eye. I assumed it was a simple out of the box plug and play with minor tuing needed and that wasn't the case at all. I have spent 2 month messing with mine, tons of crashes, destroyed frames and frame arms, gps puck, basicall everything. If I personally could rewind time I would go Naza V2 all day and worry about a flyaway than the complete headach and hassle the apm has been.
The APM sounds fantastic on paper, but thats basically where it stays from my personal experince. Oh if you need help don't depend on the 3DR tech team either.
Don't do it. APM requires so much more setup, and even though it's good, or great even with the new releases you are more likely to have problems (including fly aways) with arducopter. The Naza's 32-bit chips are very good at filtering vibrations and GPS glitches. I fly both, and of course they both have their benefits, but it took me almost a year of tuning, waiting, balancing, vibration dampening setup to get arducopter as good as the naza.
Glen, if you know, what firmware are you using? If you don't, can you share a dataflash log? It's at the top of the log. Do you use auto?
Thanks,
Mihai