Solo #2 - First Flight

Posted by Art Stroud Jr. on July 17, 2015 at 11:37am

After spending many hours troubleshooting and waiting days for responses from support I finally took back my first Solo the was eventually deemed defective by 3DR for a number of issues. It took another 2.5hrs at the retailer to perform the exchange and a 5 day wait with a 3 hour commute to pick up Solo #2 at the nearest retailer with inventory.

I will say that I was quite excited when unboxing #2 as the whole process was extremely smooth compare the previous one.  in less then 10 minutes #2 was updated to 1.05 and fully calibrated.  It had 12-13 satelites registered and locked in seconds from startup.  #1 took a minimum of 4-5 minutes if I was lucky to lock 6 for auto fly. Not to mention the controller showed full bars for solo connectivity and telemtry readings in the app were dead on.  

With such good flight conditions before packing up the kids in the car to head over the field I decided to take #2 up and down just to confirm flight first.  here is #2's first flight video 10 mins from coming out of the box.

Solo - $999

Gimbal(still haven't recieved)  - $399

GoPro 4blk - $499

Xtra batterys - $597

spare parts - $80

40+hrs invested in troubleshooting/support and exchange of 1st Solo - $3000

Capturing this majestic first flight on video - Priceless!

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCPCuhkRmYE

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Replies

    • John > DG July 20, 2015 at 7:43pm

      I get your point. Its sort of embarrassing  though when you have 3dr reps demonstrating and they have to stomp the copter to get it to stay down. Or it almost injures a bystander and saying the wind caught it. Not good pr

    • DG > John July 20, 2015 at 8:43pm

      Please read before making such statements. The woman was not a 3DR rep as I recall, but even if she was, she didn't know what she was doing. The indoor occurrence is petty nitpicking. I don't think you are an experienced RC flyer, no offense.

      Most of these crashes are taken out of context. Many of them are user error, and many others we’ve resolved already—to great satisfaction of the owners, too. For instance, the NAB “crash” was indoors, when Solo was flying with optical flow and no GPS—when Solo ran low on battery, it switched automatically into RTL mode, which is GPS based. But because GPS wasn’t on, it wandered and the pilot stopped it. The outdoor 3DR event was user error—she was flying “nose-in” and got disoriented. We’ve published flight logs to back all of this up. But please: Remember to always fly Solo in an open area clear of structures that might interfere with GPS reception. And if you’re a new user, please read the manual and proceed carefully to get a feel for flying. Thanks for sharing! But let’s shed some light on what’s really going on here.

      There are people at RCG posting flat out lies about 3DR, and there are DJI employees fomenting them. That reflects badly on DJI and I for one will never buy any of their products, even though 3-4 weeks ago I recommended a friend not to buy the Solo because I felt it was too new/buggy and to get a P3. Instead I bought a Solo to see for myself if it was as bad as some of these people were saying. I then found out about the serious flaw in the P3 frame and suggested my friend not buy the P3. After a few exchanges with the DJI employees, I would have suggested the same just for their antics.  My friend has been flying nitro planes and helis longer than me (no helis) and is very particular about RC stuff.

      It is very bad business ethics to encourage your employees to engage in slimy tactics as they are doing on an almost daily basis. Oh yes, their employers know.

      A very informative post about a guy that figured out how to capture the flight log data on his P3:

      http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/anatomy-of-a-dji-flyaway.42997/

      If a P3 flies away or dives into a lake (Phantoms seem to like lake bottoms), you are on your own. If a Solo flies away, the logs are in the controller and they go to 3DR.

       

    • Gregg > DG July 20, 2015 at 10:26pm

      Are you 100% sure that DJI employees are doing that? Im sure as much as I slammed the solo and talked about the amazing inspire and P3, peeps here thought I was a DJI employee...no Im just and outspoken Ass that switched back to DJI products. Now that I have been able to fly both 3dr and DJI products, I must say that there is not a perfect ship. There are some of the inspire/ p3 pilots post of fly aways, and the 3dr pilots post fly aways as well. Its just the nature of this hobby and hopefully in the future there will be a perfect drone that doesnt fly away. Hell I had a fly away with my inspire last week but was able to gain control in ATTI mode! 2900.00 butt puckering moment!!! Lets all have fun with the hobby and realize that neither company is better than the other and grasp the idea that it is just a  matter of time that we will have a fly away or some kind of  catistrophic failure bringing down our investment into a pile of plastic and carbon fiber.

    • Craig Issod > John July 20, 2015 at 7:59pm

      Similar crash to OP - 3dr says faulty equipment

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_oYeE9CL_A

  • John July 20, 2015 at 7:19am
    I've seen a lot of solo crash videos out there. Are these mostly user errors or hardware/software issues? One video is a compilation called... 'The wind caught it'

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q5u32XoGsTE
    • Craig Issod > John July 20, 2015 at 8:26am

      There is no distinct line between user errors and machine errors. Smart machines are supposed to protect us from ourselves and not allow us to make certain mistakes. Solo is not yet doing this to the extent possible or needed.

      Failed props would be something new. Props tend to be the least of the problems on the current generations.

      Definitely a lot of hardware and software shortcomings - you can call them errors if you like. A totally experienced pilot may be able to avoid some of those crashes but since newer machines are marketed to beginners that doesn't do much good.

      A lot is an accurate description. Too many is another. Hopefully each itineration of the FW along with hardware improvements will stem the tide.

    • Jubal Ragsdale > Craig Issod July 20, 2015 at 3:42pm

      "A lot is an accurate description. Too many is another. Hopefully each itineration of the FW along with hardware improvements will stem the tide."

      Well at least we agree. 'A Lot' is not a number it is interpretive, and more than 1 is "too many" and fits any product ever made. Not sure what 'itineration' is so will leave that one alone. But thanks for playing.

      Fly Safe..

      Jubal

    • Jubal Ragsdale > John July 20, 2015 at 7:29am

      You have to keep the #s in prospective. 'A lot' is very few if going by the forums and youtube compared to the 1000s in the field. Those that have an issue with any product, from Mercedes to Sony, will always be the most vocal and should be. But those that are enjoying the product are not on forums looking for answers.

    • Art Stroud Jr. > Jubal Ragsdale July 20, 2015 at 7:28pm

      0 for 2, even if my 3rd one functions as advertised still 66% fail rate according to my test, I'm pretty sure that would qualify for whatever is after 'A lot'.

       I would like to see how many have been release to consumers to this point.  as I know a few folks that have had pre-order from the beginning and still haven't seen theirs.  I was one of them until a retailer 2 hours away received one in their inventory. 

    • John > Jubal Ragsdale July 20, 2015 at 11:57am

      True... and then there's always the risk as early adopters that the kinks will be worked out in the next iteration until the chasm is finally crossed. I prefer to be in the early or late majority since I don't have a lot of money to spend on being a test case.

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