Yes or no to Solo

Posted by Gregg on June 24, 2015 at 1:10pm

So do I buy a new solo? Would love to hear from all you new owners of Solos your un bias opinions on this quad.

Thank you!

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Replies

  • DG July 2, 2015 at 6:28am

    The radio does take some getting used to, but a friend of mine who's been flying nitro planes/heli's for decades and piloting nitro boats wants to move away from the traditional 100 degrees of freedom radios to a much more simplified radio with very few controls. For him the Solo radio is more desirable, which is somewhat where I'm at as far as using a copter for doing simple good quality videos/pics. I have FPV on another copter, and a Vertigo 27x zoom coming for the other. 

    Well after reading hundreds of posts between here and RCG (lots of trolls trashing 3DR), I decided to test the Solo for myself and bought one from BestBuy. It came with an extra battery for free after jumping through some hoops, plus $60 in gift card money, and I also applied for the BB credit card which if paid for within 30 days gets me another 10% credit.

    1 Solo $1000

    1 GoPro $500

    1 extra battery (free)

    1 Galaxy Tab $150 (needed new one anyway)

    That gives me an extra ~$165+ to use for whatever.

    I brought it home, charged up the batteries, when through and reviewed the instructions, downloaded and installed Solo app, got familiar with the start/connect wifi procedure, did the updates, calibrated the Solo. Then took it outside, got 13 satellites rather quickly contrary to what some are reporting, and 1.3 hdop. It was too dark to fly, so will late this afternoon.

    Now for the bad news: The Galaxy Tab 4 7" does not fit the monitor bracket supplied with the Solo :(  It's too wide one way and too narrow the other.  Looks like I'll need to find a different one unless someone knows a workaround. I really don't want to cobble the one I got to fit.

    I was going to get an Acer or Asus tablet, but read the Acer would not even load the Solo app, and the Asus (hard to believe) was not in the compatibility list. Does someone have a tablet other than the Samsung that is larger and fits the Solo radio bracket?

    We are going on vacation next week, so although I won't have a gimbal for the GoPro, it still should be interesting to see how this little copter does. If I don't like it, it will be returned to BB.

    • DG July 2, 2015 at 4:08pm

      Yes, I know it can be made to work; I just don't like to cobble things. If I forget to pack the "fix", then it is time to scramble for another cobble job.

      I still can't believe the Asus tablet is not supported.

  • Paul Atkin June 30, 2015 at 9:18pm

    I have mixed emotions about this product. I like the drone itself. I do not like all the rest about it. do not like iphone/ipad as a visual device, do not like controller, do not like interface.

    Taranis is a way better transmitter for drone control. yet they decided to use amplified wi-fi as a media. As I set up ad-hoc wi-fi networks often enough when we work on location I know it is very sensitive to interferences. I then saw reports from people saying their drone lost control and remote did not do anything - it is a red flag. GPS is other issue, why they did not put a dual GPS receiver in it? where is duplicated compass? I just feel any of drones I made myself are in fact more reliable than this $1000 unit that still needs a $300 gimball.

    only real benefit that I want to see confirmed is a gimbal protocol that allows to control GoPro camera via USB. that would be nice to have.

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    • Gregg June 30, 2015 at 11:52am

      Cool  another tbs disco pro pilot Have two of them. One has the aerial mob long range kit on it. Been a very stable reliable platform for me over the last 2 years. Reconfiguring one with a 3 axis gimble instead of 2 and 2- 6s lipos for extended flights. Still a bit shaky buying a solo. Have an 3dr x8 and an inspire  which I have been flying more than all my ships these days. Love it!

  • Johnex June 28, 2015 at 6:03am

    There seems to be a serious GPS issue that needs to be fixed before any of you guys buy one.

    YouTube
    • Developer
      Craig Elder > Johnex July 2, 2015 at 9:53am

      That crash was pilot error.  The vehicle was facing the operator and the operator was confused by the control reversal and unfortunately commanded the vehicle towards the van instead of away from it. 

    • Rainer K. > Johnex June 30, 2015 at 3:56am

      not the GPS it was, they have chosen the wrong airfield.
      also they have too little exercise as a device to fly safely.
      Where people and children and heavy traffic is, it does not fly.
      The solo is great.

    • Marc Dornan > Johnex June 28, 2015 at 8:29pm

      Yes. There does. I have seen reports from experienced people have had this happen. I would never put my Hero 4 on this right now (even if it had the gimbal). I think it needs some firmware tweeks, and I presume they will be done.

  • Kelly Schrock June 26, 2015 at 10:04pm

    I've been flying the Solo for 2 weeks as of tomorrow. 

    First, what I don't like (it's a shorter list than what follows):

    • I don't like the weight. It seems really heavy for a quadrotor.
    • To me, the idea of having a battery bespoke to a specific UAV makes more sense for a manufacturer than it does for a consumer. The manufacturer gets to design something that looks great, plugs in easily, and provides a certain revenue stream in the future when batteries go dead and need replacing. The consumer can't shop around for cheaper batteries, since there's basically only one source for them. And $150 for a 5200 mAh battery? I can buy 4 5100 mAh batteries for my Iris for that! In terms of flight time per dollar, no question, it loses to the Iris. Probably the thing I like the least about it. $150 batteries for a quad battery is like buying solid gold wiper blades for a car.

    What I like:

    • The weight apparently buys a lot of durability. Mine flew into a tree when it suddenly got a bad GPS fix, and got stuck about 20 feet up. To get it down, I had to knock it out of the tree with a really long pole. It landed with a crash on the ground, and there was not a single scratch on it. A Phantom would most likely have required a "chiropractic procedure" to snap its case back in place.
    • Fit and finish: This is easily the slickest build of a quadrotor I've seen.
    • Design: I replaced a motor in mine that had a slight "knock". I had never done it before, and it took me maybe 3 minutes. Extremely well thought-out design.
    • The Solo and its controller is basically a pair of Linux computers talking over a wireless connection, which is cool for many reasons.
    • Extensibility is built in. More features will come in the future for the Solo, so it's not destined to be just what it is now. 
    • The hope is that the flight controller and other software for it will be open sourced at some point. Until then, there's still a lot to be learned by ssh'ing into the devices and snooping around. 
    • It's very easy to fly. Mine has developed an odd (bad) habit of being very stable, and then suddenly going a bit crazy and flying off in random directions. It doesn't seem to matter how many satellites it has in its fix, it has done it in the middle of a wide-open field after flying stably for 20 minutes. It can be wrestled into submission by switching quickly into Fly:Manual mode, which I have mapped to button "B" for emergencies. (This trait may yet make it into my "do not like" list, I'm still watching to see how reliable this new quirk is. For now, I will say that when it's stable, it's *very* stable.)
    • I bought it in part for the FPV capabilities, and those work well. There's plenty of range, and the frame rate is good.
    • The various shot capabilities (Selfie, Cable Cam, Orbit, etc) work as advertised. I think that once the gimbal is available, it will make it easy to get great results.
    • Generally speaking, it's easy to get up and running once in the field. Plug in a battery, turn it on, turn the controller on, give them a minute, put your Android/iOS device on the appropriate wifi connection, start the app, clip the device into the holder thing, and most of the time, it works fine. Sometimes I have to toggle the camera off and on and screw with launching the app a couple of times to get video to work, but complaining about that is like complaining about having a sore butt because my wallet is too thick.
    • 3DR support: Actual people who know actual things. A willingness to actually help you get going. Best customer service ever. 

    I'm sure someone will compare the Solo to the Inspire 1. I'm not sure that's a sensible comparison. The Inspire has 2 controllers so two people can use it at the same time, and a sensor pack on the bottom with optical flow and sonar so it can stay in place without a GPS fix. The Solo will no doubt get a similar sensor pack at some point soon, and the accompanying app is meant to let you do cool shots by yourself. (It's called "Solo", not "Duet".) The Inspire costs 3 times what the Solo costs. Comparing the 2 is like comparing a Honda Accord with a Mercedes S-Class. The Honda does 90% of what the S-Class does for 30% the cost. Some people will insist on an Inspire, simply based on the idea that since it's more expensive, it has to be better. 

    • Gregg > Kelly Schrock June 27, 2015 at 10:03pm

      I think I will buy a Solo and see how I like it, and do my own comparison between it and p3 and inspire. Thanks go out  to all the guys that gave me professional  and honest information on their Solos. I guess if I dont like it I can return it. Anybody knows when the second wave will be coming out? 

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