Get a Rev B GPS on BB Solos without the guesswork

[Douglas A]

Congrats and welcome! I hope you enjoy your new Solo.

 

[tracor]

Best Buy in Dublin, CA had a couple left that had the circle markings on the label as of last night.

And hello everyone. First post and new Solo owner courtesy of Best Buy's sale.

Nice work!! Let us know how it works for you.

 

[tracor]

My two cents...
Yesterday afternoon I took the Solo rev B for a quick spin (I needed to test before the BB, January 15 deadline). I was at a soccer field surrounded by 60ft trees on all sides. I had a good clearing of the sky in the middle. Solo acquired satellites in less than a minute, maybe 30 seconds. Approximately, 10-13 Satellites give and take. I have the original copper shield and not the shield 3DR sells for $30. I used two batteries at full charge, they lasted for approximately 16 min. each before the UAS returned home. The UAS was really easy to fly and reminded me of my Iris+.
So the verdict is I am keeping this Solo. Hopefully will get warmer weather here in NOVA in the near future

-I know this has been discussed before, but will the 3DR shield provide a better improvement? I.e. more satellites always? (I can see it for safety reasons, someone would want to do it).
-I think more than the satellites I would be more interested in never loosing manual control, so an extremely reliable link is a necessity. That said I'm thinking in investing in the Alphas.

 

[mjoshi123]

Thanks Douglas for creating this thread. And thanks also to tjones for the help. After reading this thread I decided to open my quad and low and behold it was the Rev A. I went to BB today and returned that platform. I told the guy I need one with S111A5A11171 or greater. No issues at all. I got a Rev B and I am happy. Like tjones mentioned, it also has the two circles.
Even if I paid $299, you want the best buck for your money, especially when the Solo is eventually going to be discontinued.

Totally new to Drone world and this is first time I'm even posting anything here. My Serial number says S111A5B00397 - does that mean I've newer version or older version of drone ? I've not yet opened this as I got it from Bestbuy today only and considering if I should keep it or not as I will still need to buy Gopro 4 Black for this thing. Any help appreciated.

 

[richnat]

Totally new to Drone world and this is first time I'm even posting anything here. My Serial number says S111A5B00397 - does that mean I've newer version or older version of drone ? I've not yet opened this as I got it from Bestbuy today only and considering if I should keep it or not as I will still need to buy Gopro 4 Black for this thing. Any help appreciated.

Look at the serial number label on the bottom of the box. Does the label have two circular symbols in the middle? If so, it is a Rev B GPS machine. No circles and it is a Rev A machine.

 

[richnat]

My two cents...
Yesterday afternoon I took the Solo rev B for a quick spin (I needed to test before the BB, January 15 deadline). I was at a soccer field surrounded by 60ft trees on all sides. I had a good clearing of the sky in the middle. Solo acquired satellites in less than a minute, maybe 30 seconds. Approximately, 10-13 Satellites give and take. I have the original copper shield and not the shield 3DR sells for $30. I used two batteries at full charge, they lasted for approximately 16 min. each before the UAS returned home. The UAS was really easy to fly and reminded me of my Iris+.
So the verdict is I am keeping this Solo. Hopefully will get warmer weather here in NOVA in the near future

-I know this has been discussed before, but will the 3DR shield provide a better improvement? I.e. more satellites always? (I can see it for safety reasons, someone would want to do it).
-I think more than the satellites I would be more interested in never loosing manual control, so an extremely reliable link is a necessity. That said I'm thinking in investing in the Alphas.

If you don't want to go to the expense of upgrading the GPS board, at least do the cardboard mod. It costs nothing to do and is easy enough to do.

 

[Skijosh]

I just got mine with the backpack and gimbal installed but the drone has the older serial number. Does that mean no new gps?

 

[richnat]

I just got mine with the backpack and gimbal installed but the drone has the older serial number. Does that mean no new gps?

Just pop the front cap and take a look. A green board = Rev A, a black board = Rev B.

Personally, I've not seen any performance difference between the two and I have one of each.

 

[Skijosh]

Just pop the front cap and take a look. A green board = Rev A, a black board = Rev B.

Personally, I've not seen any performance difference between the two and I have one of each.

good to know. I flew it last night and had 9 satellites immediately and 14 by the time it was in the air. I'll take it apart and look tonight.

 

[richnat]

-I think more than the satellites I would be more interested in never loosing manual control, so an extremely reliable link is a necessity. That said I'm thinking in investing in the Alphas.

I'm sure you meant ALFA. Anyway, one thing to keep in mind about antennas like that, while they increase the range they do that at the cost of being more directional. With those antennas you need to keep them pointed directly at the Solo at all times.

 

[jmooch82]

Hey all, new to the 3dr solo as well thanks to the sale at best buy. Before finding this forum i purchased the model #sa11a $299 solo with the free gimbal,battery, and prop. I today was able to go in and look at all the boxes for the new markings, which they had none in stock but i was able to order the model #bb11a with the preinstalled gimbal that was out of stock at home online but not using the instore computers which come from the warehouse. so in the end i traded free battery and spare props $40 for a backpack $35 which can't be bought by itself unless randomly found or pay $80 on amazon. i was then able to add a battery to the order anyways, so i get everything i wanted anyways, well as long as in the end i get the new board. best buy was very helpful and had a great experience. now to wait for arrival next week. in the end i feel like i scored a great drone for a great price especially when this setup would have been over $1k 10 months ago. as long as consumer support is around for a while also. look forward to following the forum for helpful insights to make my experience with the solo a great one.
thanks

 

[Audiacious]

I got the Best Buy special last week for $299.00 for the Solo base with battery and controller, extra battery, Gimbal and set of extra props. My serial number is in the higher range - S111A5A11577. Took off the GPS cover and it is indeed the black PCB board with the new shield on top (copper color) so it is the Rev2 GPS in this unit. There's another thread on here saying if you have two "circles" on the box it's the Rev2 GPS installed. My box had that as well.

mine has the Rev b board but no circles

 

[jmooch82]

well hopefully the new one model bb11a from bb has the new board, i looked through 15 boxes for 1 with the circles, so i wonder then is it just starts at a certain number. my model sa11a has the number S113A5002316 and a green board

 

[Audiacious]

well hopefully the new one model bb11a from bb has the new board, i looked through 15 boxes for 1 with the circles, so i wonder then is it just starts at a certain number. my model sa11a has the number S113A5002316 and a green board

also a much lower sn than mine. I pulled mine apart yesterday just tired make sure lol

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[jmooch82]

maybe then the A5a or b as appose to A500 like mine. also mine starts S113 to your S111. who knows maybe my new one will have the B board if not then i will look at upgrading if i don't like the gps acquisition time

 

[Victor_pv]

Mine starts with S113A also, just like the picture above, pretty close SN S113A5002298. Does this have the rev B board? I would prefer to know before taking it out of the box, so I can go an exchange it for another.

 

[richnat]

Mine starts with S113A also, just like the picture above, pretty close SN S113A5002298. Does this have the rev B board? I would prefer to know before taking it out of the box, so I can go an exchange it for another.

Honestly, a Rev A board will still work well. Just fly it and check if you are curious. I have one of each and notice no difference between the two in the time to get a GPS lock or in keeping a lock.

 

[jmooch82]

Mine starts with S113A also, just like the picture above, pretty close SN S113A5002298. Does this have the rev B board? I would prefer to know before taking it out of the box, so I can go an exchange it for another.

wow that is really close SN to mine. i would say that's the A board. Best Buy was very nice and i was able to look through all the boxes they had to look for the circle marking, which may be one way to tell although some people have gotten them without those box markings. i oredered the kit with the backpack and preinstalled gimbal since the backpack is going away quickly and will return the other after it arrives.

 

[tracor]

I'm sure you meant ALFA. Anyway, one thing to keep in mind about antennas like that, while they increase the range they do that at the cost of being more directional. With those antennas you need to keep them pointed directly at the Solo at all times.

Yes Alfa. Haha! Thanks for the tip. I did learned to fly with my Iris+, but just curious, why wouldn't someone be facing and pointing the controller at the UAV at all times? If we are to have visual reference at all times of the UAV, one would think pointing the controller and having visual sight of it goes hand in hand.

 

[richnat]

Mine starts with S113A also, just like the picture above, pretty close SN S113A5002298. Does this have the rev B board? I would prefer to know before taking it out of the box, so I can go an exchange it for another.

Yes Alfa. Haha! Thanks for the tip. I did learned to fly with my Iris+, but just curious, why wouldn't someone be facing and pointing the controller at the UAV at all times? If we are to have visual reference at all times of the UAV, one would think pointing the controller and having visual sight of it goes hand in hand.

View attachment 5061

It is easy enough to stand still and fly the Solo to your right or left and just turn your head towards it while still pointing the controller straight ahead. Also not real hard to fly overhead and get it behind you for a few seconds. With a live video feed it can be easy to see where it is without necessarily looking directly at it at all times.