Don't Give Up on Solo

[Kevin Wainscott]

Hello my name is Kevin. I've seen a couple threads about people returning solo because its not up to speed and not ready. Solo is ready! Its not a regular drone its an investment. Like the series of Phantoms, P3 is out and its good and ready to go but in 4 to 6 months you will be behind and will need to buy the next one in the P3 series. Don't get me wrong i am still a Phantom and s1000+ flier but the Solo is an INVESTMENT for the near future. You cannot judge the video quality in such manner of jello or vibrations. Theres many outcomes of why that is unbalanced props, props not properly placed, the way your flying, incomplete sensor calibration, and etc. The gimbal will come out soon and you will have the quality it promised you. The frame for the gopro underneath is for you to have orientation so you can practice till the gimbal comes out beginners, please fly multiple times before placing equipment on any drone. Solo is a drone that will evolve with you not against you. Solo is an investment to fliers for the near future.

 

[Kevin Wainscott]

Ive also seen battery malfunctions showing -1% and 1% while full this could be a form of improper storage or temperature changes with out having the battery at least to 50% keeping your battery fully charged at all times is great but can always cause improper use and wear and tear on the battery its self. If having this problem place the battery in solo turn on your system and turn on your system and let it be powered on untill it dies this will usually take about two hours for the battery to fully drain to 0% and power off. Once the battery is completely dead let it cool down in room temperature for an hour then place it back on the charger till it hits 50% unplug battery and place back into solo and try to see if this helps!

 

[Sarah B]

I would assume you were a spokesperson for 3DR, if not for your erroneous second post in this thread. The manual clearly states that if the battery is ever discharged to 0%, it's junk and should be pitched. You should delete what you wrote to prevent someone from following your advice.

With nothing but kindness.

 

[rrmccabe]

Hi Kevin,

Couple thoughts...

Technology investments are something you need to take advantage of immediately or it's obsolete. I love technology and hate to say I often haul the latest/greatest product from 2 years prior to the garbage can and take to the curb on a regular basis.

There is no investment as you say because in a year there will be something better for half the cost.

Finally the -1% had nothing to do with the battery being charged. It was because of a failed update.

3DR needs to move fast on adding features to the Solo. This is not a product with a 5 or 10 year lifespan. Sure it will continue to work for years but no one is going to want to spend money for options/add-ons for an old technology product.

Its unfortunate but there are no investments in technology for hobbyist.

I am curious. Who exactly are you ? As Sarah said you speak as you are of authority like a 3DR employee. No one knows if its ready or not better than the people that are flying this thing now.

Welcome to the site !

 

[Adimuzio513]

I would assume you were a spokesperson for 3DR, if not for your erroneous second post in this thread. The manual clearly states that if the battery is ever discharged to 0%, it's junk and should be pitched. You should delete what you wrote to prevent someone from following your advice.

With nothing but kindness.

Nothing against op but that's good stuff, gota love the "your wrong delete it with nothing but kindness" just made me laugh a bit, good catch.

I too agree that some of these cases should give it time before returning but also have seen some where I too would probably have thrown in the towel if my experience had been the same.

 

[Rodney Johnson]

I would assume you were a spokesperson for 3DR, if not for your erroneous second post in this thread. The manual clearly states that if the battery is ever discharged to 0%, it's junk and should be pitched. You should delete what you wrote to prevent someone from following your advice.

With nothing but kindness.

My thoughts exactly

 

[dmassphoto]

So, how can one "invest" if one's copter has "unbalanced props, props not properly placed", etc?

 

[Kevin Wainscott]

I would assume you were a spokesperson for 3DR, if not for your erroneous second post in this thread. The manual clearly states that if the battery is ever discharged to 0%, it's junk and should be pitched. You should delete what you wrote to prevent someone from following your advice.

With nothing but kindness.

Sorry for the inconvience but im not here to argue with others. Intelligent battery are able to discharge to 0% ive done it plently of times with batteries that malfunction in the past and that solved the problem i am just giving advice that ive used to solve problems from the past and ive actually tried this with the solo battery aswell.

 

[Kevin Wainscott]

So, how can one "invest" if one's copter has "unbalanced props, props not properly placed", etc?

Those are all user errors.

 

[Kevin Wainscott]

Nothing against op but that's good stuff, gota love the "your wrong delete it with nothing but kindness" just made me laugh a bit, good catch.

I too agree that some of these cases should give it time before returning but also have seen some where I too would probably have thrown in the towel if my experience had been the same.

I agree aswell people will have there opinions and statements and im not here to argue just stating issues i have solved and seen. With out a doubt if you think its not worth it its your opinion.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Not sure why you think I feel it's not worth it I love my solo and even if it's had little issues it's not going back unless it has much worse. Most in this forum aren't here to argue like some places. I'm glad you feel strongly about solo I do as well but you did kinda come off as all knowing is why some may be questioning some of what's said. I agree with most of what you posted chill out a bit. I simply thought what she said was funny, hence the no offense to the op, my response had little to do with what you said honestly.

I totally agree with expecting some issues with something never done before and as I've said this is just my second quad and I'm fairly new. I just don't understand how a lot of these "experienced pilots" I've seen didn't expect the same with something that hadn't been done before. I don't care how great a rep and customer service 3dr is known for their humans making tech that's totally new. I'd nearly go as far as saying there was almost no chance that there would be no issues to work through and I'm sure even 3dr themselves realized this. It's all about how they handle the issues when they arrive and beside the rare unfortunate story like Mccabes they've done as well as anyone could expect when considering their size compared to the project size and the time frame they had before others tried to beat them to the punch.

I agree aswell people will have there opinions and statements and im not here to argue just stating issues i have solved and seen. With out a doubt if you think its not worth it its your opinion.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Sorry for the inconvience but im not here to argue with others. Intelligent battery are able to discharge to 0% ive done it plently of times with batteries that malfunction in the past and that solved the problem i am just giving advice that ive used to solve problems from the past and ive actually tried this with the solo battery aswell.

If this truly works and can help that'd be great it seems that at least the stories in this thread on multiple batteries were result of the update though. It may well still work I'm not sure what 3dr had said about troubleshooting this but I know at least one did talk to them about this and was offered a new solo as they thought it was that end having the issues he had at least.

 

[rrmccabe]

@Adimuzio513 is correct. I can speak from personal experience. I had a Solo with two fully charged batteries that suddenly started showing -1% battery after the firmware update on both batteries. I can assure you that both of them were not "improper storage or temperature change". They were cool batteries charged the day prior and both showed full charge when installing them on the aircraft.

It was obviously a serious enough of a problem that 3DR kindly shipped me a replacement Solo. Another member on this site as well.

For the most part I think the major problems are few and far between. However 3DR has done something to improve the GPS to manual switchover which seems to be causing some folks some issues. Not to mention, there are a few complaints that peoples maximum range is down.

Nothing is really "the sky is falling" kind of stuff but definitely things you want to pay attention to as 3DR resolves them.

 

[Dirby]

mine is still flying fine even with new update.

 

[Raybro]

It's the Koolaid.....

 

[Kevin Wainscott]

@rrmccabe @Adimuzio513 I never said that is your issue with the battery. I am only giving advice and tips that i have ran into and solved before. I am not here to say im right or wrong some may believe im wrong that is completely fine i am just giving statements on what ive done in the past.

 

[rrmccabe]

Ok @Kevin Wainscott thanks for the info.

 

[Adimuzio513]

@rrmccabe @Adimuzio513 I never said that is your issue with the battery. I am only giving advice and tips that i have ran into and solved before. I am not here to say im right or wrong some may believe im wrong that is completely fine i am just giving statements on what ive done in the past.

Good deal your trying to help and that's why we're all here for the most part thanks. I'm actually impressed with this particular forum everybody seems mature and cool. As much as I liked a few of the guys that actually owned one in the last solo forum those trying to argue and troll ruined it entirely, it took hours just to sift through the bs to find the decent info. Not the case here seems to be a great place with great folks mostly here. Not just the well my blah blah blahs better than solo because I can fly my friend his flip flops three towns over crap like it was over there. lol good luck and Welcome to the forum

 

[Raybro]

@rrmccabe @Adimuzio513 I never said that is your issue with the battery. I am only giving advice and tips that i have ran into and solved before. I am not here to say im right or wrong some may believe im wrong that is completely fine i am just giving statements on what ive done in the past.

Kevin, I'm glad you are here. Some of us here are old farts so don't let that bother you. Also, there are lots of people here that have been doing this for quite a while, a lot longer than myself. I'm here to learn and hopefully help some folks. I, like most of us here have other quads along with the Solo. One thing I like about this hobby is it bridges the generation gap. Happy Flying and glad you're here!

 

[Kevin Wainscott]

@Raybro @Adimuzio513 Of Course and thank you for responding! I enjoy the feedback from others and ive seen that this forum is very mature and that really matters to me aswell!