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
@Justin,
telemetry log files come with .tlog extension in case of Mission Planner, Tower.
Get it from Tower.
That's really all it would take to seriously change my mind. But there has been no acknowledgement that it could be the hardware.
Why would I expect 3dr support to treat its customers any differently when they buy the new product?
I'm not looking for a drone that has zero problems but let's be real, I didn't fly this past the low battery warning, I didn't fly it out of range, I didn't fly it backwards into a building, I didn't fly it over a cliff and lose signal, and I didn't fly it in federal air space. Those are navigational errors. Most drones aren't immune to these.
Just man up and admit it's a hardware issue and to invite me to look at the Solo which solved this issue.
Your expectations of support are too high -- neither DJI nor 3DR would really do much for you under these circumstances. Falling out of the sky is not a typical or documented problem with an Iris. So whatever it is is likely a component issue.
I really think you will better off with a DJI Phantom 3 or 4. Whatever anyone says they are probably going to have fewer pitfalls for an average user and the best support is the support you never need - and just hope you will not need DJI warranty support.
I haven't customized anything on my Iris except for adding the gimbal and LiveView kit, exactly as instructed from tutorials straight from 3DR. I haven't touched the ESC board. This Iris has faulty hardware, I've accepted that and I'm moving on. It would be refreshing though if 3DR could just HINT at an admission that it has faulty hardware. Nothing, it's always been Pilot error as far as they're concerned.
This is not a relationship I want to continue by purchasing a Solo. I'm sure DJI will have it's problems but I'm finding less of them in my research.
Thanks for the feedback everybody, I don't really expect any answers. I know I've got faulty hardware, I'd love to see an admission of this by 3DR but I don't expect it.
Happy flying.
I know all too well that it's an expensive hobby. I know how to fly the damned thing, I can navigate very well. There's just nothing a pilot can do when the power cuts out. I even had it over grass just in case, because this was a test.
If I would have launched it higher first and it cut power, breaking on the first fall, I wonder what my critics would say then.
I know this isn't under warranty anymore, but some just can't admit that it's faulty hardware. They'll go to lengths for reason unknown blaming the pilot. I'm not even looking for monetary reimbursement. I offered this up as a chance for 3DR redemption and it failed just as hard as my drone did from the air.
Even something like "yeah sorry, it's a bad board. But looking at your logs, there were no other problems, so buy a new ESC and everything else reads out just fine". That's an acceptable answer.
But by the feedback I'm getting, even if I replace the board, my carelessness would still bring down the Iris out of the sky like a rock. There are few solutions offered here.
I do appreciate the feedback though, it's showing me the direction I should go for my new drone.
I understandyou want to blame the hardware, that is human nature.
good luck with your new choice. If you don't know how to analyse flight log, DJI has healthydrone website https://healthydrones.com/ that can. Also, there is an insurance program that let you avoid dealing with the support (but you still have to deal with the insurance).
I have seen this exact behavior before. Not on a Iris but on a friends custom build with a 4in1 esc. Replacing it will fix the problem. Hope this helps.
It seems the best answer was to run out and buy a new ESC board when the launch failed, since there are no better explanations.
And then when it fails again, I'd get told I installed it incorrectly. I know how it goes, I work in customer support.
The Iris was an experiment costing me about $2k in the last year, lesson learned.
Feel free to continue criticizing me saying "You shouldn't have done this or that", you're just echoing feedback I've heard all year.
I'm not looking for a highly customizable drone. I bought the Iris just a couple of weeks before they announced the Solo, and the Iris seemed like a good dependable method for flying my GoPro.
DJI Phantom 4 seems like the best choice for me. I don't want to add on anything, I just want aerial footage, that's all. No mapping, just outdoor footage. No custom stuff. Even with the Solo, the gopro is considered an add-on , just another opportunity for error.
Thanks all, feel free to defend the bad hardware, I'm no longer interested. I don't think this conversation can benefit me any further. No hard feelings? :)
My clients is industrial base. Legally, my obligation of the UAV ends after the acceptant test. That said, we are contantly helping my clients in operations, diagnostic and trouble shooting. Even with the best maintence and preventative procedures, crashes still happen. It is the risk of every machinery and human operations. That is where the risk management comes in.
If a client demands a 100% risk free UAV and not buy into the rsk management, we will tell the client look for other vendor.
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