My opinions just that an opinion and it's obvious some solos have been junk and others like Jubalr, mine, Rich and a ton of others have been near perfect. You certainly have more experience, I'm only 33 but I've also had a ton of products with an rx and tx and if you got a winner, solo is ahead of nearly all of them. Today I have 20 or so RCs with plenty of radio options from nearly every company thats worth mentioning but this is only my second multi.
No argument but after all these fixes and updates they pushed with free software my solo is nearly perfect. I honestly couldn't be much happier and as is solo is already ahead of phantom IMO and in 6 months I see solo being not only compared to inspire but likley preferred to it by alot who own both. Sure inspire is cool looking and different but so is solo, only thing I see different is carbon fiber build wise and solo had proven to be much tougher than either dji bird in impact resistance.
Not trying to start issues I own a phantom as well and am not a brand loyal guy, I use what works best, but I honestly believe if you had a solo now with gimbal and it functioned like mine has you'd have a much harder time complaining about it. Inspires bigger yes but why would I want a bigger bird, my bet is smaller will likley be the norm soon just like every other piece of tech ever made outside of a display. If solo could carry a larger camera maybe it would have reason to be bigger but for what it and inspire both are they have all they need. Solo isn't huge but does great in wind as I'm sure inspire does with its size. I'm not saying solo is better yet, but I do bet it will be preferred to have a solo you can carry easily and get on a plane with rather than an inspire that's heavier and much less portable in a lot of situations. I debated between inspire and solo on this purchase and actually I was debating returning my solo over the lies and all the mess 3dr made of this launch recently, but after getting my gimbal in the air I fell in love all over again. Yes I needed a fpvlr antenna yet I'm still well under inspires price and that's all you need to have range and connectivity just like djis birds, I've not lost signal one time since.
All three are great birds and both companies have their issues without a doubt, I'd bet once both you and McCabe get the chance to fly a solo again you hold on to it this time if you go in not holding a grudge from this experience. I can't fault either of you and if I'd of had the issues McCabe had with two solos I'd of probably returned too, I didn't see your problems but I'm sure your return was after a mess as well. Not trying to sway anybody just saying if you expected solo to be complete and perfect day one like 3dr said, than you weren't thinking. Yes there were more issues than I assumed but launching any new product to the world especially one that does all this does you had to expect that in version 1 if you've seen other similar launches. I mean there's been how many phantom iterations and versions of each now and they still have a bunch to work out, as is now my solo is nearly flawless. Also every update has fixed issues quickly and not messed up other things in the process, unlike some other quads. I don't see a solo 2 coming soon since those that are working are flawless so I'd bet you folks who returned will most likley have to buy a solo 1 next year after you see and hear of its success. Missed opportunity for 3dr so far sure, they could have stole a much larger chunk from dji. That said after flying my complete solo I've nearly forgotten how $hitty this launch has been and am just happy with my final product now that it's all over.
Fly safe, fly whatever and enjoy it like I am, these things are only going to get better and a lot faster now with competition, so now we all win as consumers. Both companies have things to work on and both seem to be heading in the right direction now, even if at different speeds. Pick your poison and enjoy.
AD