Exciting news for Solo owners...Sense and avoid

[EyeWingsuit]

ADS-B for Dronecode-based platforms (Solo, Pixhawk etc)

"uAvionix Corporation, the leader in unmanned ADS-B technology and Dronecode, the nonprofit organization developing a common, shared open source platform for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), today announced a plan to collaborate on advanced development in ADS-B ‘sense and avoid’ functionality in ArduPilot-based drones."

 

[pyrate]

this is what people are missing about Pixhawk and ardupilot
when I was doing research on what UAV I wanted it was amazing to me how much real science is being done with this codebase and hardware.


The open source platform has been adopted by many organizations on the forefront of drone technology, including 3DRobotics, Parrot, Qualcomm, Intel, DroneDeploy, Yuneec, Airphrame, and others. With over 750,000 users and nearly 500 active developers it represents the largest community of UAV professionals and enthusiasts in the world today.

 

[EyeWingsuit]

this is what people are missing about Pixhawk and ardupilot
when I was doing research on what UAV I wanted it was amazing to me how much real science is being done with this codebase and hardware.


The open source platform has been adopted by many organizations on the forefront of drone technology, including 3DRobotics, Parrot, Qualcomm, Intel, DroneDeploy, Yuneec, Airphrame, and others. With over 750,000 users and nearly 500 active developers it represents the largest community of UAV professionals and enthusiasts in the world today.

Although I already owned a couple of UAV prior to purchasing the Solo's we own, the open-source nature of the Solo was a big part of my decision to purchase a couple units. I wish 3DR had a better marketing department that was focused on benefits and facts vs monkeys and cool pictures, so that more people understood the value of Solo.

 

[pyrate]

I so agree
they are not handling the public well at all.
Product launches, don't even talk about it
But their product is great, and backed by first in class support. Shame they are not doing a better job.
The latest firmware is a great example, did a good job getting out, and ahead of schedule. But they should have had some serious training to go with it, a lot of crashes happened right after that release because people had never used waypoints and had no clue how to use them

 

[Adimuzio513]

Great news here and some of the most on point discussion I've seen about solo. It seems their aim is to make this a camera drone that anybody can easily use, but even those of us with some experience are joining places like this to learn about our birds.

Don't get me wrong joining here is the best thing I've done since buying my first quad, but everybody isn't going to be willing or even know they need to come places like this for info and instruction unfortunately. Solo is a great bird, but marketing isn't doing what it could to push 3dr and solo from their old Diy roots to a consumer friendly setup that should be moving to the front of the pack. Solo itself isn't that difficult to fly, but it is a good bit of info for an average Joe to master. More time needs to go into showing its advantages and what's different with solo, so average folks understand what they're paying for. If it was I think 3dr would be on their way to closing the gap a lot in the rtf consumer drone space. I did a lot of research before deciding on solo, your average Best Buy customer or cell phone photographer that wants a drone won't bother or won't even know they need to do this, they just want aerial video.

Just some thoughts cause I want to see solo do well long into the future and I think it deserves to. I'd much rather be supporting 3dr here in the states for years to come than any of the other guys especially you know who.

Hope everybody is enjoying 2.0 as much as I am, I've been out every chance I've had since the update with great results. Sorry to those not having the same results and sorry for the novel I'm done. Fly safe

 

[Dave Folts]

Great news here and some of the most on point discussion I've seen about solo. It seems their aim is to make this a camera drone that anybody can easily use, but even those of us with some experience are joining places like this to learn about our birds.

Don't get me wrong joining here is the best thing I've done since buying my first quad, but everybody isn't going to be willing or even know they need to come places like this for info and instruction unfortunately. Solo is a great bird, but marketing isn't doing what it could to push 3dr and solo from their old Diy roots to a consumer friendly setup that should be moving to the front of the pack. Solo itself isn't that difficult to fly, but it is a good bit of info for an average Joe to master. More time needs to go into showing its advantages and what's different with solo, so average folks understand what they're paying for. If it was I think 3dr would be on their way to closing the gap a lot in the rtf consumer drone space. I did a lot of research before deciding on solo, your average Best Buy customer or cell phone photographer that wants a drone won't bother or won't even know they need to do this, they just want aerial video.

Just some thoughts cause I want to see solo do well long into the future and I think it deserves to. I'd much rather be supporting 3dr here in the states for years to come than any of the other guys especially you know who.

Hope everybody is enjoying 2.0 as much as I am, I've been out every chance I've had since the update with great results. Sorry to those not having the same results and sorry for the novel I'm done. Fly safe

I think selling these in a Best Buy is a mistake. A flying machine is not a device like a iPod or tablet computer. Making Solo ever more easier to use increases its system complexity and ironically the learning curve.
Sell the darn things out of the rc hobby shop channels and leave the simple Chinese toys to Frys and best buy because the average non-technical person doesn't appreciate the difference between a solo and a Dromida drone costing $100.
Lastly....IMHO 3DR tried to skip a step in marketing by going from DIY to box store retail....they needed to get into specialty shops first where the tech guys in the shop could help the consumer.
These are "C-level" decisions that need fixing or their troubles will fester. Wonder who pushed to get into big box stores so quickly? Mr Guinn perhaps?

 

[Adimuzio513]

I think selling these in a Best Buy is a mistake. A flying machine is not a device like a iPod or tablet computer. Making Solo ever more easier to use increases its system complexity and ironically the learning curve.
Sell the darn things out of the rc hobby shop channels and leave the simple Chinese toys to Frys and best buy because the average non-technical person doesn't appreciate the difference between a solo and a Dromida drone costing $100.
Lastly....IMHO 3DR tried to skip a step in marketing by going from DIY to box store retail....they needed to get into specialty shops first where the tech guys in the shop could help the consumer.
These are "C-level" decisions that need fixing or their troubles will fester. Wonder who pushed to get into big box stores so quickly? Mr Guinn perhaps?

Yea I have to agree, but since they already went this route they really need marketing to step up now and make things work. They kinda put all their eggs in one basket with solo and I really want 3dr to do well. I'm just hoping from here the marketing team can rise to the occasion and help these box store customers understand what's in the box with solo and why solo is worth it's price tag for a lot of us.

If they don't it's unlikely wel see solo reach its true potential as far as apps and add ons are concerned through 3dr or 3rd party folks. The more they sell the more wel see done with solo in the future so hopefully they can figure out how to teach folks who aren't all that experienced so we all benefit down the line. Thanks for your response and fly safe, that's what I'm headed to do now.

 

[Dave Folts]

Yea I have to agree, but since they already went this route they really need marketing to step up now and make things work. They kinda put all their eggs in one basket with solo and I really want 3dr to do well. I'm just hoping from here the marketing team can rise to the occasion and help these box store customers understand what's in the box with solo and why solo is worth it's price tag for a lot of us.

If they don't it's unlikely wel see solo reach its true potential as far as apps and add ons are concerned through 3dr or 3rd party folks. The more they sell the more wel see done with solo in the future so hopefully they can figure out how to teach folks who aren't all that experienced so we all benefit down the line. Thanks for your response and fly safe, that's what I'm headed to do now.

Do both...get iris and solo into hobbicos or hobby people's supply chain and stores where you don't have a vertical learning curve for the sales associates. The bb and frys folk are not going to take the time to understand solo nor iris...easier to sell a flat screen...it is what it is.
I don't see that 3DR can muster the institutional/ enterprise energy to fix the error. And frankly, I see signs of "leadership in a bubble" that none of us comml operators can help with. ( well, they could read these forums to get a feel for their customers)

 

[pyrate]

When VR comes out, some of the drone jockeys will fall away
UAVs are just the latest flashy toy for many.

When they try and produce quality work and find out its harder than just putting a consumer grade drone in the air they will bore and look for the next fun tech toy to play with.

 

[Dave Folts]

When VR comes out, some of the drone jockeys will fall away
UAVs are just the latest flashy toy for many.

When they try and produce quality work and find out its harder than just putting a consumer grade drone in the air they will bore and look for the next fun tech toy to play with.

Sure...who's "they?"

 

[pyrate]

A large percentage of people who got these for Christmas
It is clear a lot of solo owners bought these without researching them. Yes solo has an achro mode but that is not what it was built for.
It was / is first and foremost been built as flying camera platform..

A very large number of people including myself saw the slick videos and went wow.
I want that.

Now even with some background in video, and esp gopro. Learning to get a quality video out solo / phantom / yuneec is a lot more complicated than just charging some batteries and flying about

Some, will stick with it and learn to shoot great video. (this is where I fall, my aerial work still stinks but I am getting there)
The most though will not, we are an instant gratification world.

 

[Dave Folts]

A large percentage of people who got these for Christmas
It is clear a lot of solo owners bought these without researching them. Yes solo has an achro mode but that is not what it was built for.
It was / is first and foremost been built as flying camera platform..

A very large number of people including myself saw the slick videos and went wow.
I want that.

Now even with some background in video, and esp gopro. Learning to get a quality video out solo / phantom / yuneec is a lot more complicated than just charging some batteries and flying about

Some, will stick with it and learn to shoot great video. (this is where I fall, my aerial work still stinks but I am getting there)
The most though will not, we are an instant gratification world.

I got my first "drone" for Christmas 2013. Have been dabbling in rc aircraft since 1969...and that ARDrone-2 was neat for a few days and then I wanted to play around with it...and realized a dog fart would blow it around. Yup...Parrot sold about 250k of those and most buyers thought it was something to play with your iPhone and crashed them to pieces.
Well...I upgraded mine with a MiruMod which enabled me to control it with my regular Spectrum rc xmitter....thats when I realized the ardrone was remarkable and worth tinkering with. I could finally control the damn thing accurately and with an rc interface and a rth function as well since I had added a gps.
But shortly afterward I bought an Iris+ off the shelf at Frys last January and I've never looked back. I almost bought a blade 350....but glad as hell I didn't.
Get these 3DR products in hobby shops and watch the customer base grow.

 

[EyeWingsuit]

Hobby shop struggle with the cost. There isn't a lot of margin in vehicles themselves. Parts, yes. vehicles, not so much.
3DR's marketing does indeed, need a serious lift. Their marketing team is relying more on Colin and some ROP (Run on Print) than anything else. Simply put, they're not aggressive enough, aren't spending enough cash to make em' stand out, and relying on WOM/Word of Mouth to get folks involved. I wish they'd step it up, especially with how DJI is screwing over their dealers (and customers, as dealers are refusing to service). 3DR has the best product and concept...operationally they're solid. Marketing blows.

 

[Quality Control]

Phantom 4 has obstacle avoidance. How well it works will be seen, but I am sure many new parties into the hobby will buy a phantom 4 based on this new hardware.

That being said, I really dislike how they are releasing a new one every year. 3DR solo is awesome and if they could release one major feature a year with some hardware add-ons, I would be elated.

 

[Mr_Chris]

More flying, less crying.

 

[tim3243]

It's kinda funny really.
When I bought my P2 all that time ago, I was drawn in by ColinQ and his amazingly good instructional videos. In effect he sold me my first Quad.
The fact he went off to 3DR shortly afterwards made my ears and eyes prick-up and brought Solo into my must have list. Trouble is, I STILL must have it; but every time I go for it, here in the UK, either no one has them or doesn't stock them anymore.
But it's got to happen soon, summer is a coming !
But, to get back to the point; 3DR have people who are so good at marketing, instructing etc; but it's not happening. And whoever shouts loudest attracts the crowds.
Come on Colin; you know who I mean

 

[Dave Folts]

It's kinda funny really.
When I bought my P2 all that time ago, I was drawn in by ColinQ and his amazingly good instructional videos. In effect he sold me my first Quad.
The fact he went off to 3DR shortly afterwards made my ears and eyes prick-up and brought Solo into my must have list. Trouble is, I STILL must have it; but every time I go for it, here in the UK, either no one has them or doesn't stock them anymore.
But it's got to happen soon, summer is a coming !
But, to get back to the point; 3DR have people who are so good at marketing, instructing etc; but it's not happening. And whoever shouts loudest attracts the crowds.
Come on Colin; you know who I mean

Doesn't 3DR have a YouTube channel? Use that like DJI uses there YouTube channel.
Stepping it up is not a strategy, and one evangelist does not constitute a campaign.
Attend the shows like this upcoming event in Austin, push the EDU angle too.