- Joined
- Jan 4, 2017
- Messages
- 316
- Reaction score
- 54
- Age
- 62
- Location
- Waverly, NE
- Website
- www.macswebs.com
I put my Solo away many years ago and have tried to sell my whole package of Solos and all accessories for quite some time. Never any bites. Over they years I've touched base on the Solo community and as time went by I read about batteries failing and the Solo app being obsolete and the stock firmware not being able to locate satellites due to a change in satellite technology. Not really being interested in doing all the software upgrades I just let the systems sit in boxes.
Today I dug out my main solo and charged everything up. I even have an old cell phone which still will work with the original Solo app (I did use Solex a few times in years past) since I wanted to fire it up and see if I could at least fly it manually. All the batteries still had 50 percent charges. The old cell phone fired up after a charge and the Solo app worked just fine. With a good battery the GoPro Hero4 Black worked fine. With everything powered up the Solo and the controller found each other pretty easily, the phone found the Solo feed pretty easily and I had video from the camera within a few seconds. The gimbal worked fine. As I was reacquainting myself with the controls the Solo began finding satellites. By the time I chose to start the motors I had seven satellites and had 8 or 9 by the time I landed 5 minutes later. The Solo battery was almost at full capacity when I landed. The cell phone battery was weak, a 5 minute flight used about 25% of the cell phone battery but it worked just fine.
Oh, and this was in my own backyard with a the house, a shed and a few trees in close proximity which in the past always caused some issues in finding satellites. It always worked fine out in the wide open spaces in the past. This time though even with those ground clutter distractions it found satellites quickly without much trouble.
I'd still like to sell everything as a package since I have enough other hobbies eating up my spare time but I was very happy to see that it all still works great. What a wonderful machine 3DR made, so easy to fly for the novice.
Today I dug out my main solo and charged everything up. I even have an old cell phone which still will work with the original Solo app (I did use Solex a few times in years past) since I wanted to fire it up and see if I could at least fly it manually. All the batteries still had 50 percent charges. The old cell phone fired up after a charge and the Solo app worked just fine. With a good battery the GoPro Hero4 Black worked fine. With everything powered up the Solo and the controller found each other pretty easily, the phone found the Solo feed pretty easily and I had video from the camera within a few seconds. The gimbal worked fine. As I was reacquainting myself with the controls the Solo began finding satellites. By the time I chose to start the motors I had seven satellites and had 8 or 9 by the time I landed 5 minutes later. The Solo battery was almost at full capacity when I landed. The cell phone battery was weak, a 5 minute flight used about 25% of the cell phone battery but it worked just fine.
Oh, and this was in my own backyard with a the house, a shed and a few trees in close proximity which in the past always caused some issues in finding satellites. It always worked fine out in the wide open spaces in the past. This time though even with those ground clutter distractions it found satellites quickly without much trouble.
I'd still like to sell everything as a package since I have enough other hobbies eating up my spare time but I was very happy to see that it all still works great. What a wonderful machine 3DR made, so easy to fly for the novice.
