When will the ArduPilot Mega IMU shield be available at Sparkfun? My university is accredited with their South African suppliers, so it'll be much easier to purchase since I don't have a credit card. But I've been waiting for a few months now... Any clue?
Neither will be used with Mega. Mega will have a new IMU shield board that will incorporate what is on the v2 (flat) board as well as an airspeed sensor, support for an external magnetometer, and USB support.
Also, near future versions of the ArduPilot firmware for the current board will support using the v2 (flat) board in place of the thermopiles. So you could plan to reuse the v2 board in that way.
ArduIMU v2 is smaller and has I2C capability, v1 does not and would be hard to add I2C. v1 yaw & roll gyros are replaceable ( in your case) being mounted on daughter boards. Both have same sensor capability, but you could replace yaw gyro on v1 with more vibration resistant model for helis or gasser.
I can't comment on compatibility with the ArduPilot Mega, but I will comment on my experience with the ArduIMU Sensor & daughter boards. I bought them a couple of months ago, and they do the job quite well. However, just recently I had one of my daughter boards die (the gyro giving 0V constantly), Sparkfun are being kind enough to test and replace it, so I'm going to send it away today and hopefully get it back in a week or two.
When I was looking for sensors initially, the only cheap ones I could find were the ArduIMU sensor + daughter boards. Now, I would definitely choose the ArduIMU+ V2 (flat). It looks better, you don't have to worry about soldering two boards perfectly orthogonal, and it does all the hard work (calculating orientation) for you.
Maybe Chris or someone else could comment on the board's compatibility with ArduMega (although I think rumour has it that ArduMega will include ArduIMU+ V2 on the shield?)..
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Also, near future versions of the ArduPilot firmware for the current board will support using the v2 (flat) board in place of the thermopiles. So you could plan to reuse the v2 board in that way.
When I was looking for sensors initially, the only cheap ones I could find were the ArduIMU sensor + daughter boards. Now, I would definitely choose the ArduIMU+ V2 (flat). It looks better, you don't have to worry about soldering two boards perfectly orthogonal, and it does all the hard work (calculating orientation) for you.
Maybe Chris or someone else could comment on the board's compatibility with ArduMega (although I think rumour has it that ArduMega will include ArduIMU+ V2 on the shield?)..