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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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!
You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!
Replies are closed for this discussion.
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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.
I did the same thing. Bought the Tab 4 and was a little disappointed with the fit. Slightly narrow. I took some 1/4" high density foam weather stripping, cut them to about 1 1/2" and stuck them on the holding brackets. It holds the tab 4 pretty well now. I wanted a bigger tablet but was thinking about the balance and the weight of the entire setup. Even with this smaller Tab it's kind of awkward.
Ray
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.
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.
Yes. I say buy. It flies well out of the box. its stable, has smooth movements when you want and can it go balls deep if you need it to.
smart shots are amazing, but are only 50% of the equation (w/out gimbal), but they work well even with the fixed mount. range is good considering there is telemetry, control and 720 video on the same signal. your mileage will vary depending on your flight location. advertised is .8 mile, i've gone farther, some have gone considerably less. antennas are replaceable so if you're environment is spotty, you can easily upgrade w/out opening the controller.
battery life is good. i avg between 18-22 of mixed flight. the controller feels good, sticks respond well and the buttons have great feedback. the screen on the controller is very bright, vivid and readable. the app works but i feel like it's missing a lot of key information. i've already submitted a list to 3dr of feature requests. hopefully someone is listening.
all in all. i have had a great experience out of the box. and i can't wait for the gimbal to get here.
i also own a tbs discovery pro and a dji phantom 2 vision+.
Well, I like mine..but I'm still not confident on the GPS mode, I flew mine about 35 minutes today (2 batteries) close in (200 ft) and about 20 ft up to get the feel of flying it. It was all me. The winds were around 10 MPH so it drifted down wind but correcting was part of getting the feel for it. If you ever flew model heli's you know there is little room for error, the SOLO gives that extra room with just throttle control. Autonomous is fine if that's what you want to do, I bought mine as a business tool and manual flying will be the simplest to get the shots I need. All the bells and whistles are great, even better when the gimbal is available and used. I recommend the SOLO. I shopped for months looking at YouTube on ALL the others out there. At worse try is for 30 days, take it back it not satisfied.
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!
There seems to be a serious GPS issue that needs to be fixed before any of you guys buy one.
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.
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.
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