After Christmas Sale Best Buy

makerman · Dec 27, 2016

MCPOJack said:
Tried buying gimbal, battery and props online with BB but could not figure out how to get the 25% discount. It stated if you buy 3 or more select items you get 25% off. It did not reflect in my final checkout. Ideas??

25% off regular price, not sale.

pyrate · Dec 27, 2016

so we are buying gimbals at 10% of retail and batteries at about 1/4 of retail and we still want 25% off
Does anyone have any questions as to why 3DR ran away from the consumer market?

MCPOJack · Dec 27, 2016

makerman said:
25% off regular price, not sale.

Ah Ha!! kinda misleading ad...had me fooled

Cman · Dec 27, 2016

@pyrate
I was thinking the same.

Ethan Endres · Dec 28, 2016

Frank Foster said:
So far I have received a gimble via FedEx, next day got a battery via UPS, not sure where the rest is supposed to coming from. Ordered a second "kit" and got a notice that it is shipping from Anchorage Alaska !!!!! Fingers crossed!

wow wished it would ship from anchorage for me then it would only take like a day, lol

twitchyzero · Dec 29, 2016

pyrate said:
Does anyone have any questions as to why 3DR ran away from the consumer market?

so you're mad others want to make a great deal even sweeter?
sorry if you're a shareholder of 3DR.

John Mulvey · Dec 29, 2016

I already smashed one gimbal so this is a great backup.

Bdevis · Dec 31, 2016

I'm so glad, I'm in europe and the battery's price are around $140

Frank Foster · Dec 31, 2016

It's kinda hard to understand. I ordered 2 Solo's from Best Buy for the $299 deal. One came, Solo and controller only, then a gimble and a second battery came in separate boxes. Today, the second order came, and it's the whole deal, "IN" a backpack! Gimble already installed, etc. etc. Now they are back up to $799. Just makes you wonder what the heck is going on.

yt lee · Dec 31, 2016

Frank Foster said:
It's kinda hard to understand. I ordered 2 Solo's from Best Buy for the $299 deal. One came, Solo and controller only, then a gimble and a second battery came in separate boxes. Today, the second order came, and it's the whole deal, "IN" a backpack! Gimble already installed, etc. etc. Now they are back up to $799. Just makes you wonder what the heck is going on.

Supply and demand ... Marketing 101.

elib · Dec 31, 2016

Inventory may be at regional stores rather than in a big warehouse somewhere. They probably have software that makes a "smart" decision on what to ship from where. Also the one in the backpack could have been open box or something.

Lon Denard · Dec 31, 2016

I wish I had purchased another unit in retrospect but I doubt that I'm going to stay with 3DR for the long haul. I did buy a bunch of blades for $3.99 though. Even though it's "only" $300, that's $300 I can put towards a drone who's technology isn't dead, who's customer service isn't all but absent, who's parts are readily available, who's camera isn't obsolete/non supported and that doesn't have the God awful reputation that this drone has. Sorry, I just had a unexplained failure/crash. The screen said to send my info to 3DR and I've received zero response from them.

John Mulvey · Dec 31, 2016

Lon Denard said:
I wish I had purchased another unit in retrospect but I doubt that I'm going to stay with 3DR for the long haul. I did buy a bunch of blades for $3.99 though. Even though it's "only" $300, that's $300 I can put towards a drone who's technology isn't dead, who's customer service isn't all but absent, who's parts are readily available, who's camera isn't obsolete/non supported and that doesn't have the God awful reputation that this drone has. Sorry, I just had a unexplained failure/crash. The screen said to send my info to 3DR and I've received zero response from them.

I presume I am mostly on my own and relying on the kindness and insightful help of others on forums such as this. I smashed my solo into the top of a fairly tall tree awhile back. The explanation was that I did some poor piloting and was just getting used to using Tower. I was able to track the Solo's location by foot following the GPS trail left on Tower into some fairly thick woods. Amazing. It spilled to the ground and I am amazed that only fatality was the gimbal.

Every 12 months or so there is a huge leap in what is available and if I can get by with this purchase for that long with my gopro intact I will be thrilled. I have this delusion that when things finally on my Solo are worn out and not economical to repair, the new pixhawk 2 will survive and I can incorporate it into a new quad, plane or flying wing. I regret not buying a 3dr Aero when they closed them out. I did grab 4 of the motors though and I'm considering trying to install them on the Solo.

I think at this point when purchasing a Solo it has to be with the mindset of a hobbyist willing to learn to fix things rather than as a general consumer relying on the help of the manufacturer.

For what I paid, it is insane what I can do with my solo and the mountain of what I still have to learn if I choose to.

David Boulanger · Dec 31, 2016

Lon Denard said:
I wish I had purchased another unit in retrospect but I doubt that I'm going to stay with 3DR for the long haul. I did buy a bunch of blades for $3.99 though. Even though it's "only" $300, that's $300 I can put towards a drone who's technology isn't dead, who's customer service isn't all but absent, who's parts are readily available, who's camera isn't obsolete/non supported and that doesn't have the God awful reputation that this drone has. Sorry, I just had a unexplained failure/crash. The screen said to send my info to 3DR and I've received zero response from them.

There is no long haul with 3DR. There done building Quads. The technology certainly isn't dead. Parts are a bit of a problem. The following is how I see it. I have a DJI F450. Its equipped with a Pixhawk, Telemetry, FPV, camera gimbal, and I run Ardupilot on it with Mission Planner as a GCS. It cost me about $700 to build the F450. Given the fact that the Solo bundles come with extra batteries, its like two Solos = my F450 dollar wise. Is the F450 easier to get parts for? Yes. But the Solo is a great Quad that's ready to fly without having to understand how to tune the open source firmware.

Regards,
David R. Boulanger

Cooper772 · Dec 31, 2016

$178.00

Cooper772 · Dec 31, 2016

Picked up all this for $178.00

SARDG · Dec 31, 2016

John Mulvey said:
...I think at this point when purchasing a Solo it has to be with the mindset of a hobbyist willing to learn to fix things rather than as a general consumer relying on the help of the manufacturer...

I've never considered it anything else. My house, vehicle, and vessel are filled with early-adopter electronic and electro-mechanical gadgets - all marketed to save me time/money/headaches in life, but in reality... generally just adding to those.

My dad bought his new '63 Valiant with only an auto transmission and a heater - not even an AM radio - because he didn't like the idea of keeping all those fancy power accessories maintained and running. I, on the other hand, bought loaded Fords (Fix Or Repair Daily)... and did.

I suppose if I had to generate revenue with my Solo(s), I would feel times of disappointment with the Solo system, but then... I think that Solo is highly modable and repairable and that's a good thing for revenue-generation. Would you want to fly the '63' Valiant of drone systems to generate revenue? As a hobbyist, I don't even want to do that!

When it was officially confirmed that 3DR (particularly consumer Solo) was going down the tube, and the prices dropped, I went out and bought a couple more.

Lon Denard · Dec 31, 2016

David Boulanger said:
There is no long haul with 3DR. There done building Quads. The technology certainly isn't dead. Parts are a bit of a problem. The following is how I see it. I have a DJI F450. Its equipped with a Pixhawk, Telemetry, FPV, camera gimbal, and I run Ardupilot on it with Mission Planner as a GCS. It cost me about $700 to build the F450. Given the fact that the Solo bundles come with extra batteries, its like two Solos = my F450 dollar wise. Is the F450 easier to get parts for? Yes. But the Solo is a great Quad that's ready to fly without having to understand how to tune the open source firmware.

Regards,
David R. Boulanger

Oh I'm all about RTF drones period and I agree that the deal is good. I'm just salty right now because the wound is fresh. The good news is that Best Buy gave me a new drone so that's good. Btw I don't believe I'm special, Best Buy has always been good about honoring warranties.