Dan, having read through the thread, your commentary is based on RevB and a banggood module. Any counter statement has been from known tested and improved modules referenced, mRo or Here modules. Cost aside, you know there are risks associated with after market parts of questionable origin. You understand these risks, but others listening are less aware. The why for others to counter your assertions.
This conversation, as a whole, is similar to discussing the economic advantages of buying a used car and using cheap after market or used parts to keep it running. In the end we know the used car has a limited expected life and any parts replaced are just a band-aid to buy more driving time on the cheap. I get the logic and economics for this approach, but fully understand it is not without risks or issues....
YMMV is a valid within this discussion....Peace.
The thing that puzzles me is the description of the Beitian BN800 in such a derogatory manner. It has been called inferior, a fraud, a fake, a hack, and a scam. But where is the evidence to backup these claims? The idea of the thread was to find out if those criticisms based upon fact, or ... something else.
It they are in fact as bad as some of the criticism claims, I'd like to hear more convincing evidence. That was the idea... what are actual user experiences with them? So far I've heard much more positive comments from real users than anything negative. My experiences continue to be positive also. I've now replaced the REV B in my second Solo with a BN800 and the performance is again dramatically improved.
Is it as good as an mRo GPS? Probably not. But from where I sit it is much better than the stock GPS and likely much closer to the mRo than the original GPS in performance. As for the price difference it's a LOT more than $10. The BN800 is under $18, while the mRo is $80. Less than 1/4 the price. More than a $60 difference.
Just because something is cheap doesn't necessarily mean it is junk. I suspect the main reason why the specialty M8N GPS's for the Solo are so expensive is because of the low production volume. The BN800 is a more generic design that is produced in greater quantities. I'm sure that accounts for much of the price difference.
I saw much the same kind of attitude when i first got into electric RC many years ago. Early on a company called Castle Creations (a US company) got the jump into the ESC (speed controller) market. They soon had competition from Chinese manufacturers, but all of them were labeled junk and crap at first. But then, over time, people realized that the Chinese stuff (HobbyWing, etc) was actually pretty good and that they were actually just paying for a US brand name... That put the pressure on Castle Creations and they were forced to drastically lower their prices or go out of business.
The same kind of story happened with LiPo flight batteries. At first it was PolyQuest and Thunderpower which were VERY
expensive. Then HobbyKing came on the market with Chinese made Liops at a small fraction of the price. For several years the same thing went on with Thunderpower, etc owners constantly attacking people using batteries from HobbyKing. Telling them their airplanes were going to burst into flames in flight and set everything on fire. It didn't happen. Today, almost all you see are Turnigy and Zippy FlightMax and similar Chinese made batteries in most Electric RC aircraft. People learn where the value is over time.
