Don't buy a solo...

[RichWest]

Curious, did you provide 3DR with your resume as well...."First and foremost, Im a software engineer in SF, I know what Im doing with technology, and I can promise all of you I never touched Mission Planner, Tower, or any of those apps."

Just kicking you around, no offense meant... In spite of your abilities, 3DR came threw once again...go 3DR!

 

[jasonhr13]

Curious, did you provide 3DR with your resume as well...."First and foremost, Im a software engineer in SF, I know what Im doing with technology, and I can promise all of you I never touched Mission Planner, Tower, or any of those apps."

Just kicking you around, no offense meant... In spite of your abilities, 3DR came threw once again...go 3DR!

No, but maybe I should have! lol. I know how it sounds but anything to make people realize im not some dumb 12 year old buying thousand dollar drones and changing things that shouldnt be changed.

 

[RichWest]

You'd been more suspect if you were a software engineer in Austin....Joking!!!!!

 

[Michael Stevenson]

To hit on a few things I read on this thread since I posted it...

First and foremost, Im a software engineer in SF, I know what Im doing with technology, and I can promise all of you I never touched Mission Planner, Tower, or any of those apps. I opened the Solo from the box, flew it 3 times using the Solo android app and the only thing I changed was the max altitude from 150ft to 250ft. Thats is it. After I sent the logs to 3DR I reviewed them myself and saw that the ARMING_CHECK was set to 0 on that final crash flight. The pixhawk doesnt seem to log param changes though, which is weird to me because it does log any and all SSH connections made to it. So You could see that all SSH connections were made by the controller, no connections were made by any other IP's or apps. So there is no way to see how or when the param was saved other then the fact that on the day of the flight, the logs show ARMING_CHECK set to 0 when the Solo turned on.

I agree, I don't think params like that can just change, as they are written to a file explicitly as a 1 or a 0. But I can assure you that I did no changing of params and the only time I downloaded the APM software for mac was the night of the crash because I wanted to see the logs myself after I had sent them off to 3DR.

Anyway, 3DR did see weird stuff in the logs, like a lot of users here saw on the flights leading up to that day so they are issuing an RMA and repairing the drone and gopro under warranty so I amd very glad about that and I look forward to flying the Solo again now that my anger has worn off a bit.

I will be very cautious after this though and will probbaly review the logs periodically to ensure ARMING_CHECK is always set to 1.

Do you even know how or where to change that parameter?

 

[Burkeam]

To hit on a few things I read on this thread since I posted it...

First and foremost, Im a software engineer in SF, I know what Im doing with technology, and I can promise all of you I never touched Mission Planner, Tower, or any of those apps. I opened the Solo from the box, flew it 3 times using the Solo android app and the only thing I changed was the max altitude from 150ft to 250ft. Thats is it. After I sent the logs to 3DR I reviewed them myself and saw that the ARMING_CHECK was set to 0 on that final crash flight. The pixhawk doesnt seem to log param changes though, which is weird to me because it does log any and all SSH connections made to it. So You could see that all SSH connections were made by the controller, no connections were made by any other IP's or apps. So there is no way to see how or when the param was saved other then the fact that on the day of the flight, the logs show ARMING_CHECK set to 0 when the Solo turned on.

I agree, I don't think params like that can just change, as they are written to a file explicitly as a 1 or a 0. But I can assure you that I did no changing of params and the only time I downloaded the APM software for mac was the night of the crash because I wanted to see the logs myself after I had sent them off to 3DR.

Anyway, 3DR did see weird stuff in the logs, like a lot of users here saw on the flights leading up to that day so they are issuing an RMA and repairing the drone and gopro under warranty so I amd very glad about that and I look forward to flying the Solo again now that my anger has worn off a bit.

I will be very cautious after this though and will probbaly review the logs periodically to ensure ARMING_CHECK is always set to 1.

Thanks for sharing the end result of getting an RMA. To all that think DJI and 3DR are comparable compaies please read Jason's frustration and in the end what 3DR did. Most companies will find the reason not to cover it. 3DR and Jason might disagree on what happened but 3DR is still there supporting him. In my book that support level alone is worth an easy 20% premium.

I spent more money fixing my Phantom then I have upgrading my Solo. Not the truth anymore, I just order two additional camera for my solo so I can fly w three at once.

Wish you the best Jason- happy flying

 

[jasonhr13]

Do you even know how or where to change that parameter?

Without using Mission Panner or Tower, I don't, because I would have to connect directly to the PixHawk inside the solo, SSH'n into the drone only gets you into the linux CPU, not the actual flight computer. You'd then have to do some python work to change anything on the PixHawk itself.

 

[fpvsteve]

To hit on a few things I read on this thread since I posted it...

First and foremost, Im a software engineer in SF, I know what Im doing with technology, and I can promise all of you I never touched Mission Planner, Tower, or any of those apps. I opened the Solo from the box, flew it 3 times using the Solo android app and the only thing I changed was the max altitude from 150ft to 250ft. Thats is it. After I sent the logs to 3DR I reviewed them myself and saw that the ARMING_CHECK was set to 0 on that final crash flight. The pixhawk doesnt seem to log param changes though, which is weird to me because it does log any and all SSH connections made to it. So You could see that all SSH connections were made by the controller, no connections were made by any other IP's or apps. So there is no way to see how or when the param was saved other then the fact that on the day of the flight, the logs show ARMING_CHECK set to 0 when the Solo turned on.

I agree, I don't think params like that can just change, as they are written to a file explicitly as a 1 or a 0. But I can assure you that I did no changing of params and the only time I downloaded the APM software for mac was the night of the crash because I wanted to see the logs myself after I had sent them off to 3DR.

Anyway, 3DR did see weird stuff in the logs, like a lot of users here saw on the flights leading up to that day so they are issuing an RMA and repairing the drone and gopro under warranty so I amd very glad about that and I look forward to flying the Solo again now that my anger has worn off a bit.

I will be very cautious after this though and will probbaly review the logs periodically to ensure ARMING_CHECK is always set to 1.

My goodness, this is really a fair deal by 3DR.

As a long time Arducopter user and 1 month with a Solo it's the very first time I hear that a parameter has changed on its own.
Arducopter comprises of >>200 parameters, and it would be like a lottery jackpot that especially this one changed by accident.
You usually disable the Arming Check only when you test a new copter build and want to override the safety checks on GPS fix, magnetic interference, EKF and so on before takeoff
I hear what you are saying, but bear with me, it's hard to believe.