My Solo failure today - am excited -why

[Burkeam]

Burke, just curious, has 3dr upgraded the motors on the solo? They seem to fail at an alarming rate. Some of the people out there must be getting close to being out of warranty and I am sure 3dr won't keep replacing equipment due to obviously weak motors that they continue to put in the solo. Just thinking that it will hurt to watch your investment smack the ground from 200 ft a week after the warranty expires.

I do not know but I am getting my money's worth, over five hours flight time last week. I also try yo buy the drop and spill warranty for three to four years. Getting Harder to buy but if they want to sell it for drone I will buy it. 3dr fixes it in the 1st year and the warranty in the following. It adds a hell of a lot of confidence for flying in ACRO. I saw the BH no longer offers the extended warranty for the drone. I'm Sure it's not BH but Square Trade.

I'm not sure what an alarming rate is but I'm sure DJI failure are about the same. The difference is if you crash you DJI you never know why. At least the 3dr system provides the facts for warranty or pilot error learning - which is huge.

 

[SPP]

Wow, awesome Customer Service.

Agree, 3DR must upgrade its motor or loss much $$ protecting its reputation for warranty.

 

[twitchyzero]

Firstly, thanks for sharing your experience. Glad everything appears to be taken care of.

no one should really be smiling when their Solo goes down even if it means good customer support from the mfg. What if you have a high capacity card? What about an expensive lidar setup? filters/other mods etc. 3DR won't officially replace that.

But more critically, think about the potential property/people it may land on...that's a scary thought. You can be a sensible/responsible operator yet the liability is still high because of what? Poor quality control? It's bad enough quads don't have redundancy...so I sure hope these parts were tested extensively. Somehow I feel they could've fell short on that, if you consider how poorly the Solo launched as a product. 3DR should offer more reliable motors to all owners at the rate of these type of posts.

I give 3DR credit when due...I don't know the RMA numbers but judging by the not so stellar sales and the growing number of failures...I think they should investigate this further.

Don't get me wrong the 3DR platform is an amazing value, but in my limited experience in multirotors it does not instill much confidence and I can't be the only one who feels this way. It's far from rock solid. Thankfully the flyaway rate seems pretty low...so at least your chances of recovery is half decent.

 

[Burkeam]

Firstly, thanks for sharing your experience. Glad everything appears to be taken care of.

no one should really be smiling when their Solo goes down even if it means good customer support from the mfg. What if you have a high capacity card? What about an expensive lidar setup? filters/other mods etc. 3DR won't officially replace that.

But more critically, think about the potential property/people it may land on...that's a scary thought. You can be a sensible/responsible operator yet the liability is still high because of what? Poor quality control? It's bad enough quads don't have redundancy...so I sure hope these parts were tested extensively. Somehow I feel they could've fell short on that, if you consider how poorly the Solo launched as a product. 3DR should offer more reliable motors to all owners at the rate of these type of posts.

I give 3DR credit when due...I don't know the RMA numbers but judging by the not so stellar sales and the growing number of failures...I think they should investigate this further.

Don't get me wrong the 3DR platform is an amazing value, but in my limited experience in multirotors it does not instill much confidence and I can't be the only one who feels this way. It's far from rock solid. Thankfully the flyaway rate seems pretty low...so at least your chances of recovery is half decent.

Please don't fret that I smile when my Solo goes down clear open farm field as you are missing my point. If it was my Phantom I would have lost all. In this regard I believe Solo owners should smile as they know a great company like 3DR has their back.

I'm really smiling today as I got my mew Solo and Gimbal yesterday. Try that with your DJI.

 

[Dave Folts]

Firstly, thanks for sharing your experience. Glad everything appears to be taken care of.

no one should really be smiling when their Solo goes down even if it means good customer support from the mfg. What if you have a high capacity card? What about an expensive lidar setup? filters/other mods etc. 3DR won't officially replace that.

But more critically, think about the potential property/people it may land on...that's a scary thought. You can be a sensible/responsible operator yet the liability is still high because of what? Poor quality control? It's bad enough quads don't have redundancy...so I sure hope these parts were tested extensively. Somehow I feel they could've fell short on that, if you consider how poorly the Solo launched as a product. 3DR should offer more reliable motors to all owners at the rate of these type of posts.

I give 3DR credit when due...I don't know the RMA numbers but judging by the not so stellar sales and the growing number of failures...I think they should investigate this further.

Don't get me wrong the 3DR platform is an amazing value, but in my limited experience in multirotors it does not instill much confidence and I can't be the only one who feels this way. It's far from rock solid. Thankfully the flyaway rate seems pretty low...so at least your chances of recovery is half decent.

I like your thinking on this Twitchy..if the Solo net would bridge to the internet connection via my phone, they could get the log as soon as each Solo touches down...just like DroneShare used to do for the Iris etc.
One of the waivers we request from FAA is use of a non-type certified aircraft flying over property and people. If the commercial provider of the product kept RMA data and sent out notifications on potential failures, then FAA would be assured 3DR was meeting the spirit and intent of the FARs...subsequently making our commercial UAV endeavors easier to get licensed.

 

[Bigskyflyer]

Please don't fret that I smile when my Solo goes down clear open farm field as you are missing my point. If it was my Phantom I would have lost all. In this regard I believe Solo owners should smile as they know a great company like 3DR has their back.

I'm really smiling today as I got my mew Solo and Gimbal yesterday. Try that with your DJI.

Well Burkeam, if you were flying a DJI product you probably wouldn't be replacing your bird because of a motor failure. You can't sustain a company on good service alone, sooner or later you must provide a reliable product that continues to perform well past warranty. Warranty runs out on everything sooner or later.

 

[twitchyzero]

exactly...warranty is pretty much up for those who pre-ordered before launch.

Product's quality > customer service.

 

[Burkeam]

At this point my cost of ownership of my Solo has been a significantly less than my Phantom that was flown a tenth of the total time. You are absolutely correct the motors are having some issues. Still in my opinion the Solo is a better bird and cheaper to fly. I will continue to smile. By the way I have a 3 year drops and liquid warranty over the 3dr 1 yr. I learned my lesson from DJI.

Finally great service builds loyalty and tolerance to mistakes. Crappy service lets the small things become a major headache and a loss of customers.

 

[Rusty Jones]

Hey, kind of on topic, but what is actually "failing" on these motor pods?

 

[Burkeam]

I'm not sure on the last go around as it still worked when I got it back home. I can tell you that if they are turned on while restricted - in tall grass they will burn up quickly. This is the one area I let DJI. I had my phantom rotor locked for 3-4 minutes. When I found it you could smell the results of electrical heat. I held it in my had and turned the motors back on to cool down and they still work today. I'm not sure it's too big of a shortcoming for the Solo but it is an area for improvement.

My solution- wish is to be able to track the total time on each motor pod thus allowing a proactive PM