** Do not move the solo by hand after powering on **

The plot thickens. So 3DR customer support acknowleges moving the solo around after powering on is a problem. But far be it from 3DR to, you know, TELL ANYONE ABOUT IT. This also unfortunately shows that all the pre-arm checks in the world may not catch every single little glitch. Some problems may have no signs/symptoms until it is too late.

It also shows this problem apparently occurred in other firmware versions as well, not just a 2.4 thing. Not noticing a rash of incidents until now could just be coincidence.

Just to add I don't think 3DR is hiding anything here, it was 3DR themselves that went very public (Vu even did a sticky) when crashes occurred due to people moving the IRIS whilst pre-arming, so if this is happening similar on the Solo it's not being covered up as 3DR themselves end up replacing Solos so that would just be costing themselves money. You've to remember Randy who's one of the most experienced Arducopter guys put in a fix for people moving a copter when arming it, so 3DR would assume that issue was fully fixed, but the cases then weren't people literally wandering about, carrying the copter upside down or such like, so maybe the behaviour we're seeing with some Solo owners just isn't getting trapped by the software.

To me it's nuts to to be wandering around before arming without power cycling as you could be locking in an incorrect home point anyway.

When it comes to running calibrations, I'm sure even the DJI controllers such as the Naza would need a power cycle after a calibration, so again that's always at the back of my mind, but it has to be said none of the Arducopter documentation says you have to.

I think 2.4 must play a part, as I don't believe in coincidence.
 
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Just to add I don't think 3DR is hiding anything here, it was 3DR themselves that went very public (Vu even did a sticky) when crashes occurred due to people moving the IRIS whilst pre-arming, so if this is happening similar on the Solo it's not being covered up as 3DR themselves end up replacing Solos so that would just be costing themselves money. You've to remember Randy who's one of the most experienced Arducopter guys put in a fix for people moving a copter when arming it, so 3DR would assume that issue was fully fixed, but the cases then weren't people literally wandering about, carrying the copter upside down or such like, so maybe the behaviour we're seeing with some Solo owners just isn't getting trapped by the software.

To me it's nuts to to be wandering around before arming without power cycling as you could be locking in an incorrect home point anyway.

When it comes to running calibrations, I'm sure even the DJI controllers such as the Naza would need a power cycle after a calibration, so again that's always at the back of my mind, but it has to be said none of the Arducopter documentation says you have to.

I think 2.4 must play a part, as I don't believe in coincidence.
I guess you know 2.4.0-4 Is out today for testing.
 
To me it's nuts to to be wandering around before arming without power cycling as you could be locking in an incorrect home point anyway.

I THINK 2.4 must play a part, as I don't believe in coincidence.

RTL home point should be set at arm, not at first position fix acquisition, but I agree there should be no need to drastically move or reposition after powering up. Doing so is one of those situations that neither 3DR nor the arducopyer devs would likely envision happening, so I too don't see them covering up anything.

And I agree, this seems to be related to 2.4, as reports of fly-away were pretty rare and random before this.

Hopefully they can get it resolved for what seems likely to be the last major firmware update. It would be nice to have the new features with the peace of mind of the pre 2.4 firmware. I've been able to put several flights on mine this past week, and I'm still amazed at how stable and reliable it is.
 
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CRITICAL UPDATE

The brains at 3DR along with several volunteers found a bug in the firmware that was causing these incidents. That bug has been removed from a firmware update released yesterday evening. Firmware version 2.4.1-6 is now out and every solo should be updated prior to your next flight.

important firmware update

The issue was unrelated to moving the solo around prior to takeoff. You still need to leave it still while it is powering up and initializing, which is stated in the manual as well. But once it is powered up and initialized, you can safely move it around,.

Everything prior to this post has been superseded by this post.
 
Actually, Phillips Rowse exact quote was "I want to stress that neither crash was in any way caused by moving it while disarmed. However, that can have some negative side effects" .

That's always been my practice as well. Best practice is to not move it after turning it on. Is it possible to move it after initializing and be OK? Sure. But the risk to "Negative Side Effects" is still there. So why risk it and simply power down if you did not start up where you want to take off from. Just my opinion, and you are certainly welcome to move it all you want, just don't fly over me..:)
 
Fantastic post everyone...thank you! Been having trouble since 2.4 with drift and unstable landings. Also had a bizarre fly away event that I was able to recover from but then crashed about 5 feet from ground. Solo tech said interference but it felt like more than that. Analyses in this post might help explain it...looking forward to implementing update. Thanks again for awesome info!
 
Thank you for the posts guys.... really helpful!
I'm learning at an excellerated rate (without crashing or fly aways) and I really appreciate all the information and helpful tips!
 

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