Alright, this time I'll try to whine and complain a little less, but I think this is it. After replacing gimbal after gimbal, broken arm after broken arm (are they always the blue ones that break?), watching my Iris drop dead from the sky time after time, I'm just ready to get out of this abusive expensive relationship.
I will give it just 1 more chance though.... and it hinges on how 3DR support will reply to my email I sent today. Will they blame the pilot, again? Or will they say "hey, you know what, you just might have a bad piece of hardware"
I took my Iris out to the park, wanting to practice some Follow Me paths while riding my bike. Well, I didn't even get to hop on my bike before the Iris crashed twice, both times killing power in the air.
The first crash was luckily only 3 feet off the ground, so it landed on all 4 legs. I flew it again, hovering around 4 - 5 feet for a minute or so just to see if it would kill again, nope, I landed it.
Maybe I'm arrogant, but this time I tried launching with the Tower app. Launched fine, and as it climbs to about 20 feet I realize if it falls from that height, it might do some damage, so I pressed "Land" on my phone, and the Land button must be 3DR for "kill power and dive" because that's what happened.
I wasn't so lucky this time, it took a nose dive breaking an arm and the gimbal. Fortunately THIS time my GoPro was not harmed.
If anybody wants to waste some time trying to investigate a problem I expect 3DR Support will blame on pilot error, here are my logs from today. But please, if you do find out what happened (other than it looks like you lost power here...), I would appreciate some feedback. It would be interesting to see if 3DR support has a different answer too.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/63m1xapf0gawg4n/AADrnUObnQXgrZT2y63jTtYYa?dl=0
Here is also the entire video, uncut from today, for your laughter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG9649RKpAg
Like I said, 3DR has 1 last chance to impress me. I've just received a bonus check from work for a couple thousand dollars, and I'm buying a new drone. 3DR Solo? DJI Phantom 4? Let's see how this support call turns out. Last time they offered me a 15% discount on an overpriced Tarot gimbal. No help with my crushed GoPro. Not even a constellation prize set of propellers.
Replies
Hmm, which of us sounds biased here?
Sorry for your trouble with the IRIS. My recommendation to you is to not buy the solo or the Phantom. With this type of machine it is best to learn how they are actually working both mechanically and software wise. To learn it may be best to build it up yourself with a pixhawk or other controller and all the other components you may need. It will cost the same but you will have a very good knowledge inside and out of how the thing works. Making these an 'appliance' and selling them as such is a bad idea IMHO. They are not yet robust enough for large scale use and when buying one you have to accept the fact that you are an early adopter of the technology in the introduction phase.
I totally agree with John here. I took that route and i have been flying an exceptionally reliable drone which i fly with tower for filming. I also use a gopro and a chinese gimbal. My platform is a tarot 650 with 14 inch props and a pixhawk. I spent 600 dollars for everything. Built it last year. It has never crashed. I fly it every week. The trick there is i solder my own connectors and i know they are rock sold. Bad solder joints can cause all kinds of issue.(high Contact resistance, intermittent connection , long term reliability issues) I dont trust none but my own work.
My batteries are 6S 5000mAh and a 6S 10Ah
That could be the XT-60 power connector, I had a similar issue couple of years ago on an IRIS where power would cut off while you try to close the battery compartment, or if you wiggled the connector - luckily I noticed that when I was still on the ground ( and yes I am one of those early IRIS buyers who spent $1K+ for iris and + upgrades and couldn't make the thing reliable enough to fly and finally got rid of it on eBay with a huge loss).
Just replace the male connector, or make sure male pins are not compressed or squeezed. It will be much cheaper solution than a DJI - and like others said don't think grass is greener on the other side either.
i.e. DJI support response to my question about the 30+FT difference in barometer vs sonar altitude readings on my brand new P3 Pro: Calibrate telemetry.. So now I will try to reach someone in the DJI US support group if they exist ;-)
Knowing about DJI low quality control I would suggest you to choose 3DR Solo.
I was visiting a friend yesterday who builds UAVs and makes repairs. A lot of faulty Ph3s in there...
Solo is way more robust built and modular. So repairs won't cost much if anything bad happens.
As for your issue with Iris+ I would suggest you to send your logs to 3DR support again. Maybe you will contact with other agent or manager. Sometimes contacting other specialist magic happens... ;)
Thank you Sigitas, but I will respectfully decline. It's too much effort just to jump through the hoops and at the end of the road they just try to sell me a Solo.
They are currently making me contact the Amazon seller to find out their order from 3DR, in hopes I'll just give up. Seriously, what is that order number going to tell them that my serial number won't?
Here's what will happen, I go back and forth with the seller, finally get their order from 3DR, I send the info to 3DR, they say "ummm, that doesn't really tell us anything, we won't be able to help you". Then I say, why did you make me track down this info? Then they say please buy the Solo, our call center is experiencing an unusually high volume of calls at the moment, your call is very important to us.
If you are not satisfied with our product, please give us more money and buy our latest product, because our customer service quality suddenly changes with a different product.
I believe the dji customers would have different opinion regarding quality. DJI out sells 3DR by a huge margin. Number of uneducated owner is much higher. Therefore number of owner complaint is higher but the percentage of unsatisfled owners is lower. Solo is a good machine but P3/P4 is a better consumer choice. It is an iphone vs samsung thing, no need to waste time for debating.
totally agree
@Justin,
could you attach telemetry logs ?
I study today 5th in row drone crash due to power down in midair.
Current goes down to ZERO in midair and is resumed after 20 sec.
Error generated: Battery issues
Magnetometer detects EMF interferences in the midair
BTW
Is Tower coming with radio signal meter ?
manta103g@gmail.com
Hi Darius, I apologize for being unfamiliar with telemetry logs, are they not included in my Dropbox link here?
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/63m1xapf0gawg4n/AADrnUObnQXgrZT2y63jTtYY...
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