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Greetings friends! It’s been a few months since we introduced “Backcountry Drones” and the concept of the coaxial “Scout” backpack drone to you here on DIYdrones, and although it may have seemed we’d gone quiet…we’ve been busy. Very busy.

We’ve gotten some amazing input from many of you, feedback that we’ve taken to heart as we’ve worked to design a production-worthy vehicle. Next month we’re going to reveal the fruits of our efforts in a Kickstarter campaign. But before we do, we wanted to get some more input. 

We’ve watched with interest as other sUAV designs have met (or even smashed) their funding goals, only to have a slew of unpleasant issues emerge afterwards. We’d like to avoid as many of those as possible. Between the three of us, we’ve got more than 40 years of RC experience, and while we’re really confident in our design and we think you’re going to love it, we want to run some thing by you before we go “really” public.  Features of the new model include:

• Stacked two-blade rotor system
• 10cm diameter, 35cm length, about 2.5 lbs
• Pixhawk control
• Mobius HD standard, with interchangeable GoPro module
• Optional FPV

A video highlighting two years of early proof-of-concepts is attached.  The production prototype is flying, and we'll be posting photos and video in the coming weeks leading up to the launch of the Kickstarter campaign.

We’ve read all of the comments for the X-plusOne, AirDog and the Zano. Those are some interesting designs with some really great features, and they've had some terrific backers and candid comments. We’re going to do our very best to under-promise and over-deliver when it comes to performance and delivery date. Our control board is well-proven (you’ll agree), and we’re only using aerial footage shot from our vehicle. Without post-processing to remove jello.

But what else? We’d love to get a discussion going here to try to cover as many things as we can before we finalize the details of our campaign. We've posted a video here with footage from our early development.  The new model is bigger, more versatile, and more durable...you're going to love it.  Thanks for your continued interest and input, and please be sure to visit our new website at www.ascentaerosystems.com!