I will never need Neo 8 GPS chip :) Solo's original one is awesome

[SPP]

Eagle,
If you are flying in Hong Kong , I pity you a great deal.
Not only its tall buildings are plenty, the hills are plenty too.
Surely M8 is good for you in HK if you can get Glosnass much overhead and not too far down the horizon. I got to HK at least 4 times a year and I use GPS a lot for direction and I know ur pain....

 

[ajdelange]

Please consider, here in europe we have not so much gps sats (max. 8 sats or less). with the M8 we have a dual or triple band receiver, depends on antenna and receive gps, glonass and in future maybe galileo simultaneously.
on Neo 7 either .. or.. so it is a great benefit for us.

In Europe you have just as many GPS satellites as we do here in the USA unless there is some agreement between the US and EU that the US will turn some off when over Europe and I can't imagine why anyone would want that.

 

[pyrate]

the first letter in GPS stands for Global

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.[1] The system provides critical capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, and makes it freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.

 

[Vegasrobbi]

I'm very much if it's not broke don't Fix-It type guy. I think 3dr knew what they were doing when they set up Solo's GPS.

Early on my Solo's GPS was a PITA to get a lock and arm; however, it has always been reliable. I purchased a M8 GP unit but never installed it, after a couple firmware updates I didn't need to. I installed the GPS isolator mod at the beginning but can't say it did any good for me.

Recently the GPS mod was removed and my Solo gets 9-12 satellites quickly and arms, quicker than I can connect the app and connect most of the time.

The other issue I had was Wi-Fi disconnects. I don't recall how many times I was out 4,000 feet low on the horizon and had the controller disconnect; GPS brought Solo back every time, usually within 3 feet of take off.

I don't know what firmware did to correct long GPS lock times and add Wi-Fi range but it has for me. Other GPS units may have better performance but Solo's stock unit has proven good enough for me. When I was flying in Arco I would lose GPS when inverted but regain it within seconds of leveling off.

Usually my Solo holds a tighter GPS position than my P3 with many more Satellites. I have gone from aggravation early on burning up flight time waiting 5 minutes or longer to get lock; to, depending on Solo's GPS to get me out of trouble. Just last week I was flying FPV close to the ground and got out a bit too far, I lost sight and orientation of Solo. I just hit RTH and Solo came back as always. I also give credit to my FPVLR antenna, range is no longer an issue.

 

[User Name]

I'm very much if it's not broke don't Fix-It type guy. I think 3dr knew what they were doing when they set up Solo's GPS.

I'm mostly the same way - if it's not broken, don't fix it. And I'm not questioning 3DR's expertise in designing the Solo and choosing the Neo 7, but I wonder if it's more that the 7 was the state of the art when the Solo was being designed. Keep in mind, the development started a year or more before Solo was available, and it's going on a year since. I believe one of the main advances of the 8 series was the ability to see multiple GPS constellations, which the 7 couldn't.

The Solo's Neo 7 has worked flawlessly for me too, but I'm going to try a M8N for the sole reason that there's several locations I want to/like to fly where significant portions of the sky are obstructed. With the Neo 7, I often only get 7 or 8 satellites, which the loss of 1 or 2 can mean it drops to manual. If the M8N picks up significantly more satellites, which it does, that will make the loss of a few less likely to loose a fix entirely. So it's basically a redundancy/resiliency issue for me more than a performance/accuracy issue.

 

[SPP]

So it's basically a redundancy/resiliency issue for me more than a performance/accuracy issue.

Yep agree, if your location demands M8, that is the best choice.
I am tempted to drive around with my Solo on my car roof top into open and various high rise buildings areas, along with 3 GPS loggers and a Garmin 78 and if I can extract GPS data of Phantom 3 Advance as good as Solo can with Mission Planner, I would add this DJI on the roof top and see accuracy vs redundancy.

The only problem is the cops may pull me over or when I stop at traffic light, snatch thief may run away with my stuff....LOL.

 

[pyrate]

I think lots of people are missing the point though
Pixhawks arming is much different than a phantom from what I understand.
Has nothing to do with number of satellites or even HDOP, although the later is more relevant.

My understanding is it is the arming requirements that cause solo to be slower to arm.
And that is a good thing.
You dont see the fly aways associated with solo that you do phantom for exactly that reason. Solo is taking longer to insure a very good GPS fix before ever leaving the ground.

I could be wrong

 

[Mr_Chris]

I got an M8n drop in replacement from a fellow user here. I am not a pro but I am an anal ytic person and subject to all the cognitive biases disclaimers, it has improved Solo's GPS dramatically, in my subjective observations. I'm running my Solo in the Melbourne Australia area so I'm not sure if my geography does or does not benefit from the GLONASS or SBAS (I believe not SBAS from memory as I looked that one up for another reason once).

But if you're in this area, some awesome hills NE of town a few hours, the first time I went out with Solo was to the Big River state forest, and I was disappointed at it's failure to lock in large clearings, even when I chose points with the most northern clear sky. (e.g., football field sized clearing) I was able to get a lock at home previously to get it into the general vicinity, but 3 hrs up the road it was a 10-15 minute affair. Then a battery swap after a short flight and .... again failure to lock but randomly would lock sooner possibly with the rotation of the bird. Walking to it and leaning over to turn on the GoPro would cause a loss of lock which could take another 5-10 minutes' wait (they didn't turn on then).

With the Crius m8n, again I have no ability to critique the chip vs others, I had only one slow lock the first time, and while the HDOP is seldom below 1.1, it gets to 1.4 or so in seconds, with at least 10 satellites, as opposed to 4 or 5 satellites in 20-30 seconds and it waffling from 8 to 9 and HDOP about twice as large. Before I would be standing there waiting for the happy tones, but now I find the satellite coung high and the HDOP low, but still a delay -- so I think there is a hard coded delay in Solo, probably a safety filter of sorts.

In all cases at all times and under all conditions, the new receiver gets several more satellites and HDOP readings (in the app/controller) that are 20-50% smaller, even half.

Subjectively I think it's maintaining itself better, in most circumstances, but there are still times when I need to manually bring it down, or I forget and it gives a scare with a little lateral movement I didn't ask for, so it's not magical or infallible. And in wind, AND brought low under the tree cover a bit, it still wanders 1.5 metres or so, visibly. So I'm not sure the precision is used, or that Solo 'samples' GPS enough to get full effect, but for me, in this area, I've had a general relief from any GPS and GPS locking delay issue. So I'm happy. Still have the stocker in a bag at the ready.

whew finger tired. I hope someone finds this useful.