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Hmmm Now hobbyking is selling:
ArduPilot Mega V2.5 Flight Controller USB/GYRO/ACC/MAG/BARO
72 USD for the hobbyking APM 2.5 board
Are hobbyking selling this under license or is it a CN clone?
Can hobbyking use the name Ardupilot 2.5?
Comments
That being said, do I think this is an market niche that is going to grow!! Absolutely!! DO I think the people involved in developing the technology, software, hardware etc. are doing a great job! You bet! But from the public standpoint, of customer service, inventory... running the business, I struggle. Would love to get in the business with main players like Jdrones (I live in Thailand) and really push this to the next level from a customer standpoint.
Guys, I have lived in Asia for 15+ years and run large mutlinational companies. Today in Thailand I can go to IT mall and buy a Iphone5 for 7000 baht. Or I can go to Apple store or registered dealer and pay 20,000 baht. Am I so naive to think they are the same??? No way!! If someone offers an APM2.5 for a fraction of what the established people are offering.... Well think about it>> I always say " Beware the naked salesman offering you his clothes!"
3DR should start selling lipo batteries, then I'd have absolutely no reason to shop at SnobbyKing.
Hobbyking has now renamed the product HKPilot and edited some of the text so it is not an exact copy of ours (although they still copied all the features text). However, still absolutely no credit given to the creators, and no links to documentation or design files, so now it's just a violation of the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA licence. (BY = credit. SA= share alike).
@TCIII unfortunately trademarks are jurisdiction dependent, so unless 3DR has a trademark for China, it would be difficult to enforce. eg. Apple had to licence the iPhone trademark that someone else owned in a jurisdiction outside the US.
Ok so APM is open source, me I work on open buy. !!
When I have disposable cash to buy my hobby equipment / toys/ RC stuff I want 2 things, value for money and good service. more than that I want to support the businesses that support ME and the future developement of new stuff.
Yes, I buy things from HK that I cant get locally or that I am prepared to risk the lottery of will it work or not (servos for example), buy 4 probably 3 will be great.
Will I buy an APM from HK? Never, Never, Never. I have around 1500$ invested in my UAV. I will not trust a HK APM with no quality control to bring it back home to me.
Also consider the developement of this product (and 3DR radios etc) Like most people I want a bigger, faster, better APM, will that be designed by HK? dont think so!!
3DR get my business through Canada Drones because that is the right thing to do. Life is not always worth saving a few dollars.
One last point. Many people here want to use ther UAV commercialy (eventually) , to do that you will need to prove your aircraft is technically correct and safe to fly. One of the questions will be what equipment is installed to control the UAV,, I think you may have a problem convincing an inspector that your 79$ rip off clone, made in china will be acceptable!!
GPS pins inverted? :D
The market will decide if the product is value for money. If its crap people wont buy it and word spreads very quickly in this sport.
3DR is a great company that has helped the sport but it isn't the only company that can. If another company came along and dedicated programmers to the code and sold a better quality exact copy at a more expensive price the Fanbois would still complain.
@12 HAK, I would agree with your argument at the ONLY condition that these alternate suppliers commit to a minimum level of quality. Otherwise these alternate suppliers are just damaging the image and the credibility of this very good opensource hardware/firmware. And by doing that the play the game of these commercial companies who are saying they sell at 10 or 100 times the price because they have quality and features that APM does not have (which is not true, we know that. But the vulgus pecum does not know it).
To much Fanboi comments here. Ardupilot is a brand - granted - 3DR have rights to that.
The hardware and the software are open source. That means they are open source. That is what makes the product so sucessful.
A cheap alternate manufacturer (that is what we are talking about here not a clone or copy) will get more people into the mix and make the product stronger - that is what open source is about!
3DR has the full option of developing a propriety board that cannot be copied legally but they have chosen the open source path. This is an advantage to them as well as the development. More community involvement means less development costs and in the end a better product.
Lets stop harping on how this 'clone' read "alternate supply" is hurting the hobby - its simply not.
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