"Craigs, comments don't match our and many others documented experience. But agree that just slapping together components will yield different results.
The devil is in the details. Google to get other experences."

"Echoing the other two replies. It could be so many things. Suggest you make a check list and work your way down. If you are in New England area I could meet you. Been setting these up for years. Have houses and docks on the two largest rivers.

My…"

"It's amazing how bright 21 year olds are , specially since that's only six years since you were 15. Just imagine how great you're going to be when your 27. Do that 5 more times and you'll be 57. Then you will look back and see how smart you really…"

"There could be several reasons, but thinking about the physics. If your altitude sensor is based on barometric pressure and:
1) the sensor is blocked from air flow when moving, then the sensor will detect a pressure decrease and think that it is…"

"Seems to me the simplest solution is a retro-reflector on the back of each animal. 3M retro-reflectors are a few cents. Close the iris until little light come in and then use a wide area LED flash and the shutter timing to capture and count the…"

"Lorenz Meier"Every PX4 firmware's startup is in “boat mode”. We never do boot time gyro calibration because of concerns of unreliability of the method."
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/px4users/h92Q0NWM_yk"

"That's great Randy. Would like to suggest also a parameter to set the amount of gyro moment allowed, combined with averaging. For example, It's our observation that apm is much more sensitive than px4 firmware for example.
Thank you."

"We have spent a lot of time evaluating this problem as engineers. We have a test rig that allows us to measure how stable for how long before arming. It seems to us the worst controller is Pixhawk-APM, the Pixhawk-PX4 is much less sensitive. Many…"

"There is lots of prior art:
GOOGLE: AEXO Drone
http://q8allinone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Autonomous-Drone-W...
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/2/9232137/snap-drone-vantage-robotics…"

"This is not the place to have this discussion ... but your reference article and your assumptions assume there is a constant source of fresh air. Suppose I put the propeller several feet into a duct, would you agree then that just above the…"

"Your effort is very noble, here is my view:
Market
1) Drones are coming out of 100's of sources including phone, toy and camera manufactures. You cannot compete. A technical consumer product is a difficult way to make a living.
Patents - Have…"

"Don't believe it makes sense to try to think about the solution from ones experience or perspective. This is so rapidly developing that the only universal solution is something like parameters and scripts.
The PX4 firmware version of the Pixhawk has…"

"Randy ... You are right this is very important. It is actually more important than a just boat. In grass, wet ground or very rocky area it is not possible or maybe desirable to put on a "flat" stable surface.
It would be nice to be able to arm while…"

"1) Tower's glitches have been fixed with recent release. (Its supported by 3DR who need it for their products.)
2) Great time to buy.  Fold-able laptop $400
3) Walmart has the best quality and features for the money. The Windows 8 machines…"

"Years ago with RC copters it was whiffle balls on the end of long two fiberglass poles tied in the middle to make an "X".
The effects of attached objects make it hard to tune and create distorted thrust lines, that why hanging from the ceiling has…"