Hello again everyone, it's been a while since my last post, been somewhat busy with our latest offering, the VADER. I'll keep this post short and to the point, for those who've not yet seen the Vader (announced at sUSB Expo earlier this year) and the first batch shipped out already.

The basics

• >50min endurance
• >8kg payloads
• Open payload bay (top and bottom),
• Rapid deploy airframe design (most compact drone in it's class/size)
• X4 and X8 options
• Retract landing gear (also removable)
• And as always, flying mainly the 3DR Pixhawk fc.

The VADER comes in a few different options as well, our 'M' version, fully integrated MicaSense RedEdge camera and gimbal and our 'F' version for aerial media and filming. We've also got an all new updated SteadiDrone Mavrik.

The VADER offers best in class performance/size and price ratio. We're constantly looking for new resellers so get in touch if you are keen.

For more info, you can view the VADER Brochure

or visit the SteadiDrone website. www.steadidrone.com

There's a new website, which may be the first really dedicated classifieds website for drones, multi-rotors, rc gear, accessories and more, DroneVEND. It's just been launched and already has some great stuff on, it needs YOUR help to get it growing and hopefully soon will be THE best place to find great quality used drone gear, making it quick and easy to find what you need for your next DIY project :)

Check out the site, it's free to post ads and also features promoted front page adverts - www.dronevend.com

Would really appreciate the support!

Hey all! Just a quick blog about the new SteadiDrone MAVRIK, featuring 3DR's Pixhawk, very unique airframe designs, full X8 support and all new rail supported front mounter gimbal for a wide range of larger camera. 

It's been a while since our very first drones using the APM1s and we're super excited about the MAVRIK and what guys are going to be getting UP to with them, some key points about the MAVRIK:

• Highest quality carbon fiber and aluminium constructed 'Rapid Deploy' folding airframe
• Fully adjustable rail supported brushless gimbal system powered by 32bit AlexMos
• Gimbal supports huge range of cameras and is fully adjustable for short or longer lenses
• 180 Degrees gimbal tilt angle, from facing over 90' straight down to 90' straight up, ideal for inspection work
• Adjustable rail supported battery bay for mounting difference size batteries, on top or bottom
• High strength impact resistant top dome cover with integrated LED, Safety Switch and USB interface
• Removable airframe hatch for easy access to all electronics with no tools required!
• Quick release landing gear legs with clip on holder that setup in seconds, again no tools needed
• Vibration damping rail system that can be setup for different camera/payload weights
• Vibration damping motor mount system for high frequency motor vibration reduction
• Airframe side panel enclosures ensure electronics are protected and hidden
• X8 Setup supported with motor mounts and cut outs for ESCs

For more info please checkout the website here - http://www.steadidrone.com/drones/steadidrone-mavrik

We'd love to hear feedback and any questions :)

We've spent a long time developing the MAVRIK to be the most affordable high quality medium lift drone available today, or tomorrow. With an all new fully adjustable rail supported front mounted brushless gimbal that will fly hundreds of different cameras with the ability to point straight up, to our well known 'Rapid Deploy' folding air frame design, a new airframe hatch that allows access the electronics quick and easy without the need for any tools. A high strength impact resistant top dome that not only looks great, it includes flight controller LED and USB access without needing to remove the dome! These features and many more make the MAVRIK a revolution in drone design and offer an aerial platform you can take out everyday and use with confidence, whether it be a commercial job or shooting ultra smooth video, aerial mapping or search and rescue, the MAVRIK will do it all and more.

http://www.steadidrone.com/drones/steadidrone-mavrik

Hey again all, been a while since I last posted here, been busy with development of our all new medium lift copter, MAVRIK, just wanted to post some details for those who are interested, and as always, any feedback welcome.

We've spent a huge amount of time and testing in developing the MAVRIK and very excited to get it out there, it does not replace the popular SteadiDrone QU4D but is it's new bigger, more grown up brother.

It's mainly aimed at professional aerial companies/pilots who need a reliable, all round medium lift workhorse they can fold up, through in the car, on the plane etc and use everyday for jobs and shoots, it's very compact, light and has some pretty cool features (check out the website) It will carry a wide range of small to medium sized cameras, like the NEX7 which we've been flying mostly, as well as smaller dSLRs and more. It features an all new very unique rail supported front mounted gimbal design which is fully adjustable and runs along the underside of the drone where the battery bay add's stability to the gimbal (full adjustable vibration damping system as well), which has the ability to point straight up past 90 degrees without anything part of the drone or props getting in the shot, it obviously also points straight down, making it ideal for inspecting under things like tall bridges etc. 

You can check other specs, images and info here - http://www.steadidrone.com/drones/steadidrone-mavrik

Pre-ordered for the MAVRIK open on Monday and shipping will start mid/end September, full RTF with absolutely everything required and will come standard with the 3DR Pixhawk (Top dome cover has integrated USB and LED)

SteadiDrone QU4D - Data Telemetry from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

We take a look at installation and some basic use of the 3DR Data Radios, many of the guys here know how this all works, but many others have no idea, so here's a very simple look at installation and getting started with data telemetry.

www.steadidrone.com

or https://www.facebook.com/SteadiDrone

Unboxing - 2014 SteadiDrone QU4D from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

A very quick look at the new 2014 SteadiDrone QU4D, for more info check out the website at http://www.steadidrone.com/index.php/2014-steadidrone-qu4d.html

We also have an airframe GIVEAWAY right now at https://www.facebook.com/SteadiDrone

2014 SteadiDrone QU4D from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

Follow Me GPS Mode - SteadiDrone AGC from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

A very quick look at the follow me mode in the SteadiDrone AGC (Android Ground Control) App and the SteadiDrone QU4D. Using the GPS system the drone is set to 'follow me' mode and the follows the gps position of the android device using the SteadiDrone AGC App, very cool stuff! More info and talk about this on our facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/groups/283605021770387/

SteadiDrone QU4D - Full flight with different modes and features + DroidPlanner! from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

Hey again guys, just a quick post here of some recent videos we've posted, firstly let me once again thank all the developers who make this code as good as it is, we've been 'with' ArduCopter on our systems since the start and we're very glad we have stuck with it, thanks again guys!

First clip is a quick flight with our SteadiDrone QU4D we look at different modes, Stabilize, Acro, Loiter, Auto, Guided and also play around a little with the very cool Droid Planner (We have a SteadiDrone version coming soon with some cool additional features)

The next vid is a LOITER one where we just mess around a little in loiter, amazing code!

SteadiDrone Qu4D - Loiter / GPS Hold from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

Really needing a break I spent a little 'me time' in the workshop messing around with old scrappy parts and stuck this thing together :) It's using on of our older QU4D airframes with off cut tubes, old motors mounts and a set op serious MT3515 T-Motors used on our older octos + a MT2814 with a 9" prop for 'WARP DRIVE' forward propultion ;)

It flies fairly well and will go shoot a test flight and see what warp drive speeds we can hit, thanks caption Sulu!

lets see if I can prop hower it! lol

Following on my earlier blog post of "What a phantom should look like inside" here http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/what-a-phantom-should-look-like-inside

is a 'What a phantom SHOULD fly like' quick video.

'ArduCopter Phantom' What a phantom should fly like from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

First Flight - SteadiDrone QU4D Brushless Gimbal from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

As you all know brushless gimbals are the future, and we've just tested our first small BG for our SteadiDrone QU4D, here are some quick clips, much more to come soon. You can check out our facebook pages for more news, photos, videos etc

https://www.facebook.com/SteadiDrone

https://www.facebook.com/groups/283605021770387/

Regarding ArduCopter and brushless gimbals, would it be possible to impliment a AlexMos type code so that the code/APM can control brushless gimbal motors ??? mmmmmm would be a dream if we could

SteadiDrone QU4D Brushless gimbal prototype testing from SteadiDrone on Vimeo.

WHAT A PHANTOM SHOULD LOOK LIKE INSIDE...

We recently got a phantom in to play with and see how it was put together, it's a great little drone for basic flying and features. Being an ArduCopter guy and having used APMs on our SD systems since the biggining I though it would be a fun project to stick an ArduCopter board in the Phantom. It was pretty easy to do! Will post how to in the comments, needless to say it's a different drone all together, much more agile and solid + it now has full GPS system with unlimited waypoints, auto, RTL, GPS hold, and a host of other cool features, all free :)

HOW TO: Simply opened her up, unplugged the naza and wires, installed APM, soldered tiny 3A uBEC onto the phantom's pcb for power for the APM, used the phantom's PPM receiver directly into the APM (with a small mod in the phantom's radio to get a switch on channel 5, not 6 as it is) ripped out the phantom's gps, installed our uBlox, connected motors as is and did the AC setup, took maybe 45min in total. She flies much better now

Hey again all DIY'rs, hope you are all well and having as much fun flying as we are!

Just a very quick one here, we've just uploaded a short clip of the new SteadiDrone QU4D. After taking it out for a few hours where we really through it around hard, we must say it's a pretty sweet solid quad. We've spent many hours trying to make this the easiest and most practical quadcopter to use and travel with, as high performance and feature rich as we could possible make it for what we think is a pretty good price point for a fully RTF kit with it's unique features.

As with all our systems, it's flying the trusted ArduCopter code and altough we did have a few crashes (as you'l see in the video) they were due to us having a little too much fun, no technial issues at all. Anywoo, for more info, specs etc have a look at the website www.steadidrone.com

Here's the clip, please let us know your thoughts and comments, we hope you like it as much as we do. Thanks again to all the devs for the great code!

over and out.

Hey again guys, a quick update post here from SteadiDrone, some of you may remember the post about our new QU4D from late last year, well we're proud to anounce it's out and available! We're very excited about this little quadcopter, we've developed it around the new GoPro 3 camera, for the best possible HD video footage on the smallest, highest quality and most compact quadcopter out there, we think any way :)

Key features include

Fully RTF kit with EVERYTHING requiredNew super quick foldable arm system for 10 second setup, will fit into a small backpack!
Apm 2.5 + 3DR GPS + 3DR Telemtry kit
20 min flight time - this is tested and true
Built in roll axis gimbal and mount for GoPro cameras
Super lightweight and ultra durable Carbon Fibre airframe
Amazing flight dymanics, high speed super stable!

Thanks again to all the Dev's for great code and products, please give us your feedback and comments, and before you ask, NO the props are not seen in the camera's view at any angle ;)

Herewith a few pics and video coming soon!

More info at www.steadidrone.com / available from Steadidrone USA very soon, currently directly from website. Price will be around 2350USD, please keep in mind it's FULLY RTF with a lot of extras and full gps system etc etc

Hey again all, just a quick one. Just come back from a very quick aerial shoot for a local real estate firm, we covered 10 different properties from the air with our SteadiDrone H6X, such a pleasure working with it, fast and effective.

On the SteadiDrone H6X we're running the T-Motor 4008 and a single 5000mah 4S, which gives us very good flight times, but still light and nimble, the 380kv motors spin so slow withthe 14" props, it's ultra quiet and efficient, we were shooting in a residential aera (with a lot of older people) so the losw noise and small size really is very un-obtrusive and hardly noticable. Shooting the Canon S100 + CHDK it's simply a matter of, out the boot, plug in, wait for GPS lock, up, loiter, snap snap snap, land, next property!

Having loiter in manual alt mode is great as once you're up you can stick on the goggles, frame the shot and lift or drop the drone depending on what you need to capture, could not be easier. Now again, yes the SteadiDrone is a really nice piece of kit (comes full RTF with EVERYTHING!) (yes I own SteadiDrone) but as I've said many times before, APM is our backbone, and from the very begining when we started out, I still, to this day do not undrstand why people are using anything else, it's affordable, simple, easy to use and get into the setting code (try YS-X6!!! omw..) It's VERY reliable and handles slow spinning motors with big props (try this on DJI..) The code has come of age and I still think it's by far the best FC out there, thanks again to all the devs who make this wonderful piece of hardware/software work.

Here's a quick shot of the SteadiDrone H6X (more info at http://www.steadidrone.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=2&virtuemart_category_id=1)

and also two shots from the shoot this morning.

We've just returned from a very exciting 4 day tradeshow at the Photo&Film Expo up in Johannesburg, South Africa, the largest Photographic and film show in Africa. SteadiDrone booked a stand and we had our whole range of aerial photo and filming drones there and over the 4 days chatted and shared with thousands of people.

SteadiDrone has been using ArduCopter since the very beginning on all our rigs and ultra big heavy lift octos (Red Epic drones) and have loved the system, it's features, reliability and this forum of developers and people.

Here are a few images from the show, and many more on our SteadiDrone Facebook page (go like it! https://www.facebook.com/SteadiDrone)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.365910503492109.87007.234711133278714&type=3http://

Thanks again to all the devs here that make this amazing flight controller possible. For any tips, advice and tech support on bigger octos using APM, please get in touch.

Regards

Duran + SteadiDrone team

Hey again everyone! Hope you are all, like us, having fun flying more than tuning, fixing :) Just thought we'de share some new images of our latest units, all using APM2/2.5. With our large heavy lift drones we've contemplated moving to ZeroUAV for the accuracy and 'easy to fly' ness of it, but I still LOVE the feel and ease of use with APM as well as the mission planner. We get asked many times why we don't use 'higher quality' flight controls on our rigs, but our experience in reliability and ease of use for our clients is super!

We've now probably done just shy of 10 000 flights with our own drones and test flights for clients without any issues, yes we've crashed a few time but due mainly to us being silly trying to flip hex or octos, fying from moving vehicles and other interesting things ;) 2.7.3 is pretty amazing and the code is getting better and better everyday. So Thanks again to all the devs and testers here for the hard work and great code.

Here's a ffew quick images of our SteadiDrone, QU4D, H6X and EI8HT Ultra, all running APMs.

I had some 'free' time yesterday afternoon after work and thought I'd try stick together a tiny octo with old parts lying around in the SteadiDrone workshop. I had the following:

Old DW 8 airframe
VERY old 30A cobtrollers, with covering removed and all wires missing
Apm2.5 (SteadiDrone stock I stole :) )
OLD mediatek gps unit
scrap cut off silicon wire pieces
8 x Tiger motors (new also stock, going to get in trouble)
some perspex sheeting
odds and ends
old 13" props

As most of our builds and RTF orders are pretty big octos, I wanted to make a small fun octo, so I took the DW airframe chopped the arms (much) shorter, resoldered the 30A controllers and tested them all (they all worked!) while I was solding and testing I stuck the APM2.5 on and loaded new fw 2.7.3. put the airframe together with motors, modified the very long 13" props to about 8 or 9" to fit the small frame, stuck all the ESC on the frame, did a quick PD loom, as we usually do (no PDB), after the apm was done loading stuch that ons some sponge, glues it all together, did a quick autocad design for top abd bottom ESC dome, stuck it in the cnc and cut the two domes, stuck that on the frame, ran the initial setup, all PID's default except the Rate P which I made 0.125 instead of 0.175 (8 motors not 4, so more power)

Then flew her!, ultra smooth and very fun! Here's some pics of the afternoon project, in total it took maybe 2 or 3 hours (no idea was having too much fun) But this shows what can be done with old parts, but MORE inportantly how quick and easy it is getting Arducopter/APM up and running, LOVE IT!