Ok, let me start by saying I'm new to these multi copters. Been flying airplanes since I was a kid.I recently built an F550 with using the 3DR APM. I've had some good flights with it. Had a lot of fun with it. I've got about 3-4 hours of flying on it. Broken 2 props and one arm. Still fun, crashes and all.The other day I was doing some test flying and was about 6 inches off the ground when it decided to runaway on its own. It shot across the yard, a prop hit the lawn and it tumbled into my neighbors car landed upside down with most motors screaming away. I had absolutely no control on it. I took the time to try and control the motors by the transmitter and it would not respond.It scares me to think what will happen if this were to occur around a crowd of people.I've been seeing more complaints on the site with other people having runaways with their multi copters using the APM as well.I don't see the same complaints with those using the Naza m controller. Am I just not seeing this or is it very infrequent?My question to the group is should I shelve the 3DR APM and go with the Naza M controller? I'm hoping the code and reliability will get better in the future.Right now, I don't feel safe flying it around people.Is it me or is it a valid concern?Thanks for your input.Don.
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I've got both (Naza and APM) and I've not had either fly away... but I've obviously read the threads on here about fly aways and I know another flyer who sold his Naza because it flew off...
First stop would be making sure that your fail safes are set correctly and you are waiting for a solid GPS lock before flying.
With my old APM 2.0 I often ended up with a 'home' location that was up to 50m away from where I took off... which if you go into failsafe could explain it flying off.
Yes, I had the same problem and put my apm away and installed a NAZA. The APM does take some tinkering to get it flying properly but the NAZA setup took 10 minutes and it flies perfectly for me. The APM and arducopter does have a very committed and passionate group of volunteers who do a tremendous job. For me I didn't have the time or money to invest in the apm. I had two runaway crashes with te apm out of about 10 flights. They were from loiter and my quad went into RTL from a failsafe for no apparent reason. From loiter it would tilt and then start twitching. Was told it was a hardware issue. I installed the naza on the same hardware and it flies great. Had about 100 flights with zero incidents. Im not bashing the apm or the diy drones community. Im just sharing my experience. One day ill have some more time to tinker with the apm.
Replies
I've got both (Naza and APM) and I've not had either fly away... but I've obviously read the threads on here about fly aways and I know another flyer who sold his Naza because it flew off...
First stop would be making sure that your fail safes are set correctly and you are waiting for a solid GPS lock before flying.
With my old APM 2.0 I often ended up with a 'home' location that was up to 50m away from where I took off... which if you go into failsafe could explain it flying off.