The Ebay Drone Update!
So the Drone arrived today (well yesterday, but I wasn't there when it arrived), anyway, arrived in one of the 3DR boxes that was beaten to hell. Inside (surprisingly) was the cardboard carry case too. Unlike a new one, it didn't have the wrap around it that functions as a handle. The cardboard case was in much better condition than the box. Inside of course was a 3DR solo (no gimbal, no controller, no battery). That was expected and for $70 who can complain. The product was exactly like advertised, the body was in fantastic shape, no scratches, no markings to indicate any abuse, hadn't been crashed or cracked as far as I could tell. As stated though, the unit did suffer from a "calibration" error. After some initial difficulty, I did finally manage to pair it with the controller (found the instructions on this forum actually, one tiny little post that was far better than all the official guides out there) Anyway, started the drone and sure enough "Calibration error". Did the factory reset (didn't clear it), 2nd factory reset didn't work either. However, after following the instructions on another thread here, I placed the drone on the desk, steadied it with one hand, and with the other hand, I smacked it on the ass (not actually hard, either, just a quick tap actually). Guess what? It worked! Solo then calibrated just fine.
Put the Solo into manual mode and started it up, all motors spun just fine.
In fact, the only obvious downside to buying this drone? REV A GPS BOARD! Gah....
So my thoughts? At the end of the day, paying $75 for a whole slew of replacement parts is well worth the money. If my main solo ever goes down, I have a backup. However, if I were to build this to a fully working drone? It's bad value, as stated the costs would be over the $600 range. However, if you already have a number of spare parts that you can interchange, maybe it's worth it then.
I have one more replacement drone, same seller, same error to arrive next week. So we'll see what happens then. At least doing all of the above has me ready for trouble shooting (and pairing!).
I do have one question (two questions now darn it!) for anyone who cares to answer (although should be in the solex section). I have solex working with my original drone, however had difficulty getting it to recognize this drone. Was connected via wifi, but was getting the message "looking for vehicle..." Any thoughts? Also, is there a bug in solex waiting to be fixed? Everytime I click out of the main screen whether it be for wifi settings, when I get back to the mainscreen the "fly me there" window is up and cannot be closed, I have to exit out of the app and re-enter it to start using it. Tapping the X doesn't close it, neither does close of fly me there. Anyone else have that issue?