New to the Solo World

[Cragdire]

Howdy. I bought 3 of the Solo's thru Best Buy and the Gimbal. Would like to get my FAA lic. and maybe make some side money while having fun. Was looking at the Site Survey, but 3DR doesn't respond. I even contacted Autodesk without any success. Is there a 3rd party software that does the same thing, but cheaper?

Is there any hope that the company is come alive again and make/sell these again?

Flown 5x so far in February in Cle Ohio. Thank goodness for the good weather. Really no problems to report, but love the Solo and the price. if you can find it at Best Buy still, they will deal.

Thanks for your time.

Mike

 

[andrew.baker.142]

Welcome to the Forum!
What kind of work are you hoping to do (videography, photography or mapping)?
There are several companies offering mapping software. Most are expensive and/ or require a subscription.
Pix4D has a nice program. You can download it and try it for free.
I don't have experience with any of the other options.
There is a open source solution that looks pretty good too. Sorry I don't have the link on my phone.


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[Cragdire]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your reply. Original plan is to video home owners gutters and roof. I need to contact some insurance providers to see if a video could be used to verify conditions on a roof. Maybe people could have their rates lowered. Gutters info would show debris and if somebody needs to remove. I think that could be beneficial in the Spring and Fall.
I have seen videos for selling homes and I know some people in the reality business. Might look at that as an option.

None of these can be done until I have my FAA 107 plus insurance. I found one place to get PDF's and instructions for passing my 107. It ranges from 199 - 399. Do you know of any other options?

Reading some of the posts and people losing their drones is a real threat. Does 3DR really send another drone for replacement? I cannot find any evidence if they will and still no response on the Site program that they have. Maybe they don't want to option the software side and only help people who purchase the full package. I think that is BS.

Reading the posts about putting your FAA registration number on the drone is a great idea. Do you have any other ideas? What is the cheapest way to track my drone? Also does anybody have a proper procedure for limiting the drone flying off? If it loses the signal, the drone should land from the takeoff spot, but I read you should go to manual. If the signal is lost, how would it go to manual?

Thanks

Mike

 

[andrew.baker.142]

Craig,
I passed my Part 107 test back in Sep. Don't pay for a study program, the FAA website had all the study materials you might need to pass. If you enjoy having someone lecture you on the material, I'd imagine there are tons of YouTube videos available on the topic now.
Yes, 3DR is still replacing drones lost to a hardware malfunction. Still pretty rare to have a Solo lost unless flying over water or beyond your line of sight. The aircraft will return to where it took off in the event of a signal loss with the controller. If it loses GPS it will go into manual mode and just drift with the wind. If you are having a real bad day and lose both the controller and GPS signal, it will just descend and land wherever it is.
BTW, the 3DR SiteScan website is unrelated to the consumer version of Solo. I think there are still some useful web pages, but they are not linked from the home page. You will need to Google very specific terms to fine them.
If you really want an independent way to track a lost drone, try a Trackimo. Bought one for my wandering dog. Best price is Amazon for about $115, which includes a year of cell coverage. After that it is $5/ month.


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