Personally, I would love to see a Solo scaled to about 20% larger, with 25+minutes air time and a gimbal for larger cameras. Same features and software.
3DR is still here and will continue to be here. We're working on some exciting HW and SW releases for 2016 for Solo. We'll be at NAB with guns blazing
this is interesting - exciting new HW but I can't see this happening without scaling the Solo up, new product would be required, or otherwise how do we increase the payload (upgrade motors + increase battery capacity) ?
on 3DR FAQs page it reads 450g max payload, with Gimbal+GoPro we only have 120g available for additional extras, additional mount/servo for the extra HW maybe 20-30g and we have 90g(3.1oz) to play with, that's not much (that's same weight as GoPro).
on another thread I was reading all the endless possibilities, such as rescue missions - dropping off medical supplies, 2-way radio and so on, how ? we only have 90g to carry (you still need gimbal and gopro when doing rescue mission).
I think Jubalr is right, need a larger copter to carry camera other than GoPro.
Even the smallest camera with micro 4/3 sensor (E1 from
E1 Camera | The World’s smallest 4K ultra-high definition camera with an interchangeable lens system ) is already 200g with no lens, with lens probably 300g (same as small compact camera with built-in lens like Sony RX100) and with only 150g left there is no possibility of adding a gimbal (current GoPro gimbal is what, 240g ?).
To be able to carry a decent camera (1" or better sensor) with gimbal the payload would need to be increased to at least 600g or perhaps 700g.
So I'm really confused with all this talk about all the new possibilities and 3DR or other manufacturers maybe developing new camera/gimbal and other accessories, it's impossible with current payload limit.
Unless there is something that 3DR are not telling us, is the payload limit really only 450g ?
I've already seen 4 different versions of the payload limit :
420g -
Solo Specs: Just the facts | 3DR | Drone & UAV Technology
450g -
FAQ | 3DR | Drone & UAV Technology
500g -
https://3dr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/v8_02_05_16.pdf
700g -
https://dev.3dr.com/hardware-gimbalbay.html
what is it really ? anybody knows ?