3DR Solo for $399. Is this even possible?

Michal S October 4, 2016 at 7:46am

I'm actually looking into freight forwarders to get it delivered to Oz. So far it comes to $160 US for forward shipping to Australia. Still better deal than buying it here. Only chance is when Harvey Norman or Kogan has a 20% off everything on eBay and the price will drop to 600-700 AUD for a bundle. We might have to wait.

JB October 4, 2016 at 6:39am

Anyone interested in doing some mail forwarding for poor Aussies who can't ship it here directly because of the batteries? Still costs AUD $1500 here in Australia. Apparently DHL/USPS will still do lipos via ground freight though. :-(

Rob_Lefebvre October 4, 2016 at 5:42am

I know I'd be pretty surprised if they came out with a new product.

Marc Dornan October 3, 2016 at 9:23pm

@Gary. Interesting perspective and I believe you. I do not talk to ordinary people about these things. I saw a lot of buzz but I was on hobbyist forums. What amazes me is that none of the silly flaws have been fixed since it was launched. It is a great deal for sure at $399 or even $599 with gimbal. I certainly hope 3DR come up with something new soon. It is hard to sustain the appearance of being relevant without a current product.

Gary McCray October 3, 2016 at 8:20pm

Hi Dusan,

I would guess you are also right, seems like a new enterprise multicopter might be expected from 3DR soon, especially in light of their statements regarding leaving the consumer market.

But based on where they are targeting, my guess is that it will likely be a $10,000.00 Plus item for commercial use only.

We will see.

I think the Mavic will be a screaming success, clearly it was brought out by DJI to replace the Phantom and it has so many superior features, it is almost certain too.

Further the fact that it is substantially smaller means that in the long run it will be cheaper to make and to transport, so win - win for DJI.

As for the Karma, if GoPro had come out with it last year they would likely have had a winner (Good Karma) but comming out with it this year it faces the Mavic which looks superior in every possible way, so loser (Bad Karma).

I have no doubt that the Karma has karma, I just don't think GoPro expected it to be the type of karma it turned out to be.

Could be know as GoPro's Karma Folly.

(Sorry GoPro).

And Marc, other than some free public exposure and plenty of local exposure on DIYDrones, I saw absolutely nothing.

Not saying there wasn't any, but a lot of people I know who are actively flying quadcopters have either never heard of Solo, or have never heard anything good about it.

Those that have heard of it say it has a bad support reputation and is harder to learn to use correctly than a DJI Phantom.

Personally, I think 3DR over did the hype on how easy it is to use and put out inadequate documentation on how to actually use it.

There are some on line videos that are actually pretty good, but there is not a good single document that can take you from opening the box to flying successfully your Solo.

I know obviously 3DR disagrees with this and think the dinky little set up sheet they give you with it is all you need.

IT ISN'T!

The Solo is truly a great copter, and until the Mavic was probably the top of the heap, but there were and are a few serious flaws.

Best Regards,
Gary

Marc Dornan October 3, 2016 at 7:33pm

@Gary -- Solo was prematurely promoted, but it was very extensively promoted.

Dusan October 3, 2016 at 7:26pm

For me, it looks like 3DR is about to roll out new drone so they are dumping old stock. With karma and mavic already on the shelves, this will be make it or break it deal for 3DR

Gary McCray October 3, 2016 at 2:20pm

Hi Dario,

There are postings in the 3DR Solo forum from people who have gotten the $399.00 Solo with gimbal and extra battery.

They seem to be fine.

Developer

Dario Lindo Andres October 3, 2016 at 2:11pm

Hello everyone!

WOW! What a deal!

Can someone ensure that this is real? Well I guess as always happens this offer will be only available in USA. I think BestBuy does not ship outside USA and Amazon shows that no exists shipping to Spain for this offer ... My joy in a well.

Thanks for posting!

Regards from Spain,
Dario

Gary McCray October 3, 2016 at 1:50pm

Hi Greg,

No I haven't really heard anything new, but looking at the way cameras and obstacle avoidance are already being incorporated as in the Mavic, I expect to see a lot further development in true ground and ostacle relative navigation as opposed to the absolute GPS navigation we primarily use right now.

Also camera development like the 360 degree video cameras and High Dynamic Range are going to really extend the potential experience as well as real time full VR type viewing with HD goggles and real time head position tracking.

That stuff will all become commonplace in 2017.

I am afraid the Solo was not properly promoted too, except for DIYD most people don't even know it exists.

Probably it's single greatest failing.

But already Solo support has been viewed as inadequate having closed phone support entirely for only online internet support which has also already been often reported as really severely lacking.

And their primary support and development group with Colin Guinn is gone now too.

So we will see, 3DR may still provide some new firmware capabilities for it but I think primary development for them has shifted entirely to enterprise ($$$$$) solutions rather than consumer ones.

Best,

Gary

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3DR Solo for $399. Is this even possible?

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