New and worried Solo owner

[kakemann]

Hi,

I just bought a brand new Solo a few days ago. I have only performed the preflight update process. Even though I had some issues with that, it worked out well eventually.

Because of my experience with the 3dr pixhawk and the different reviews I read I went out and bought this drone.
I have experience with NAZA V1, V2 and pixhawk from before. Never had any serious problems with these controllers.

After I picked up the package, I read the posts here, which now worries me.

It seems like there are some major issues with this drone which makes me uncertain If I should return it.

The main problems I found reading through these threads were:

1. GPS interference because of poor shielding (read about a different shield shich I found on 3DR website)
2. Serious issues with the last firmware 2.4.0
3. Problems with connection between the controller and the drone itself which causes random connection failure, resulting in crash or RTH.

The latest posts on this forum has made me wonder if I should return the drone to the store before taking it out for the maiden flight.

Is it worth going the solo way? Or should I go back while I still can?

Are there any good advice to minimise the risk of crashes or flyaways on this drone?

Thanks for any advice and input.

 

[gbcarl]

I'm waiting for mine to be delivered, but have been thinking the exact same thing...

 

[jibcamera]

30 day money back guarantee still in effect.....try it out, dont like it? return it

 

[erikgraham]

Hi,

I just bought a brand new Solo a few days ago. I have only performed the preflight update process. Even though I had some issues with that, it worked out well eventually.

Because of my experience with the 3dr pixhawk and the different reviews I read I went out and bought this drone.
I have experience with NAZA V1, V2 and pixhawk from before. Never had any serious problems with these controllers.

After I picked up the package, I read the posts here, which now worries me.

It seems like there are some major issues with this drone which makes me uncertain If I should return it.

The main problems I found reading through these threads were:

1. GPS interference because of poor shielding (read about a different shield shich I found on 3DR website)
2. Serious issues with the last firmware 2.4.0
3. Problems with connection between the controller and the drone itself which causes random connection failure, resulting in crash or RTH.

The latest posts on this forum has made me wonder if I should return the drone to the store before taking it out for the maiden flight.

Is it worth going the solo way? Or should I go back while I still can?

Are there any good advice to minimise the risk of crashes or flyaways on this drone?

Thanks for any advice and input.

Well a forum like this is for folks having problems, but I think there are a lot users that don't have issues. I for one haven't experienced any of the 3 problems you outlined. In fact GPS has always been solid for me since day one. It's slowish to acquire for the first flight, but it's always been fine after that. (I've often wondered if the various GPS mods are overkill).

Of course there will be problems with all multi rotors, as you already know (based on your obvious experience going back to Naza1 and the original pixhawk).

 

[gbcarl]

It also looks like they are laying off employees, Solo production is going to end as they focus on commercial side of business... So we wont be seeing promised updates, roll outs, accessories etc., if I understand what i am reading correctly, they r going under, unless commercial mkt saves them...

 

[fpvsteve]

Hi,

I just bought a brand new Solo a few days ago. I have only performed the preflight update process. Even though I had some issues with that, it worked out well eventually.

Because of my experience with the 3dr pixhawk and the different reviews I read I went out and bought this drone.
I have experience with NAZA V1, V2 and pixhawk from before. Never had any serious problems with these controllers.

After I picked up the package, I read the posts here, which now worries me.

It seems like there are some major issues with this drone which makes me uncertain If I should return it.

The main problems I found reading through these threads were:

1. GPS interference because of poor shielding (read about a different shield shich I found on 3DR website)
2. Serious issues with the last firmware 2.4.0
3. Problems with connection between the controller and the drone itself which causes random connection failure, resulting in crash or RTH.

The latest posts on this forum has made me wonder if I should return the drone to the store before taking it out for the maiden flight.

Is it worth going the solo way? Or should I go back while I still can?

Are there any good advice to minimise the risk of crashes or flyaways on this drone?

Thanks for any advice and input.

No reason to be concerned. Seriously.

1. GPS should be fine in the latest versions.
In case you experience long fix times (>5 minutes at a new location never flown before or >1 min after a battery swap at the same location) get the upgrade shielding from the 3DR web store. Worth getting it because it's a pretty good improvement anyway.
2. Simply not true. I am flying 2.4 since April as beta tester. No major defects to my knowledge. No reason to worry.
3. I never had a connection loss over more than 100 flight hours over the past 12 months.

If you have the experience with Nazas and Pixhawk you will be fine and love it
My Pixhawk drone has set dust, my Naza quad got sold 6 months ago since I own a Solo

 

[Rex Barlow]

No reason to be concerned. Seriously.

1. GPS should be fine in the latest versions.
In case you experience long fix times (>5 minutes at a new location never flown before or >1 min after a battery swap at the same location) get the upgrade shielding from the 3DR web store. Worth getting it because it's a pretty good improvement anyway.
2. Simply not true. I am flying 2.4 since April as beta tester. No major defects to my knowledge. No reason to worry.
3. I never had a connection loss over more than 100 flight hours over the past 12 months.

If you have the experience with Nazas and Pixhawk you will be fine and love it
My Pixhawk drone has set dust, my Naza quad got sold 6 months ago since I own a Solo

Ditto

 

[erikgraham]

It also looks like they are laying off employees, Solo production is going to end as they focus on commercial side of business... So we wont be seeing promised updates, roll outs, accessories etc., if I understand what i am reading correctly, they r going under, unless commercial mkt saves them...

Yup. Forget about updates. Maybe there will be some small improvements or fixes, but at this point the Solo is what it is and will probably stay that way... but that's not too bad. It still has the best smart shots (in function and ease of use).

As far as layoffs, that's the result of their pivot to enterprise. They did just raise over 20 mil, so they will be around for awhile, but I'm not optimistic they will survive long term.

Regardless of all that, my Solos all work well and I haven't had the 3 issues the OP mentioned. If you bought it recently, and you factored into your purchase decision the continuation of updates and improvements, then you might want to return it.

But if your fine with the feature set and performance of the Solo as it is, then just fly it. Most of us don't experience all the problems you read about here. As I said before, forums like this self select for people who have issues, so if you come here things will always seem pretty bad.

 

[kakemann]

Thanks for your feedback. As far as functionality, I bought it with the current features in mind.

As an alternative, I would consider exchanging it for a Phantom 3.

I know about flyaways and other problems on the Phantom. I feel pretty confident that I will change one of the buttons to fly manual as I read un the faq in case of gps loss.

Do you have experience with phantom as well regarding reliability?
I hope they will continue to sell parts as well.

 

[Marich]

Thanks for your feedback. As far as functionality, I bought it with the current features in mind.

As an alternative, I would consider exchanging it for a Phantom 3.

I know about flyaways and other problems on the Phantom. I feel pretty confident that I will change one of the buttons to fly manual as I read un the faq in case of gps loss.

Do you have experience with phantom as well regarding reliability?
I hope they will continue to sell parts as well.

The fact is... DJI Phantoms, regardless of their iteration, are just cookie-cutter drones. You buy it, that's it. That's all its ever going to be - and is exactly like untold thousands of others. They're plenty capable, but...
A Solo has personality. It's impossible to explain, but a Solo feels right. My Phantoms have always been bland and boring.
Go Solo. Ignore most forum negativity - it will always exist - and just enjoy.

 

[pyrate]

and don't forget pixhawk 2 is going to have a life beyond 3dr, and when they rebase solo to arducopter, solo will also

 

[erikgraham]

Thanks for your feedback. As far as functionality, I bought it with the current features in mind.

As an alternative, I would consider exchanging it for a Phantom 3.

I know about flyaways and other problems on the Phantom. I feel pretty confident that I will change one of the buttons to fly manual as I read un the faq in case of gps loss.

Do you have experience with phantom as well regarding reliability?
I hope they will continue to sell parts as well.

Do not trade for a P3. Maybe for a P4 with the latest firmware update and if you use one of the third party apps to get something like cable cam.

For the record I tried a P4 and have decided to stick with the Solo until maybe the P5. I'm also keeping my eye on the Yuneec Typhoon H which has "curve cable" but there are issues with the camera and firmware. Meantime I'm building a customized Matrice 600, but that's for work not fun.

 

[Maddog]

Isn't Solo part of Enterprise? If so, won't they need to support Solo in some manner at least as far as parts go?

 

[Don H.]

I've had my share of problems with mine. As of today I've owned it 30 days. In thirty days I've filed at least three different cases with 3 DR. They had to do with the controller shutting down for no apparent reason. The last one was a flyaway after hitting RTH and a subsequent crash which destroyed it.
I had the choice to get the refund or get a replacement Solo. I chose the replacement. I really like this platform. I'm hoping the replacement will be better. I'm told it has been tested and should fly without problems. Although, I was also told to start out easy. Not real reassuring.
I dropped my crashed unit off at the returns warehouse on Friday morning and received a FedEx tracking number for the new one by the afternoon.
Their service has been excellent as far as I'm concerned.
As far as if the company will be around in a year or two, I don't really care. I bought it for use now, while there is support. I'll be bored with it within a year anyway and will have moved on to something else.
As it is now, I love the features it is currently capable of. I use an Android tab to interface with it.
There is a LOT of banter on this site about what a bad company it is because they are firing people, moving on to Enterprise projects, didn't finish the code for Android before IOS or whatever .
Since I've never had AR or the geofence in my prior multi copter life, I'm not going to miss it if it never appears. You can't miss what you never had. Enjoy it for what it is, not what it isn't or could be.
I find it hard to believe folks buy this unit based upon hearsay of upcoming code. I could be very wrong about that.

If the one you bought is sans bugs then I would nearly guarantee you are going to really enjoy it. Especially if you have never owned or flown a multi before. (Generalizing here).

I hope you enjoy yours and have a lot of fun with it. No matter how crappy it might or might not be, it is still a fascinating machine to be playing with.

Good luck.

Don.

 

[Maddog]

Hi,

I just bought a brand new Solo a few days ago. I have only performed the preflight update process. Even though I had some issues with that, it worked out well eventually.

Because of my experience with the 3dr pixhawk and the different reviews I read I went out and bought this drone.
I have experience with NAZA V1, V2 and pixhawk from before. Never had any serious problems with these controllers.

After I picked up the package, I read the posts here, which now worries me.

It seems like there are some major issues with this drone which makes me uncertain If I should return it.

The main problems I found reading through these threads were:

1. GPS interference because of poor shielding (read about a different shield shich I found on 3DR website)
2. Serious issues with the last firmware 2.4.0
3. Problems with connection between the controller and the drone itself which causes random connection failure, resulting in crash or RTH.

The latest posts on this forum has made me wonder if I should return the drone to the store before taking it out for the maiden flight.

Is it worth going the solo way? Or should I go back while I still can?

Are there any good advice to minimise the risk of crashes or flyaways on this drone?

Thanks for any advice and input.

Keep it and fly it! You may not encounter any problems at all.

 

[Tim]

and don't forget pixhawk 2 is going to have a life beyond 3dr, and when they rebase solo to arducopter, solo will also

Hi Pyrate,
Can you explain what you mean by 'rebase solo to arducopter'? I've seen this mentioned before, I think in a thread regarding boat mode, but I don't know what it means and I'm curious about the 'life beyond 3dr' part.

Also, any insight on boat mode? I thought that was going to be part of this 2.4 update but sadly it wasn't and now I'm afraid that it might never surface.

 

[erikgraham]

Hi Pyrate,
Can you explain what you mean by 'rebase solo to arducopter'? I've seen this mentioned before, I think in a thread regarding boat mode, but I don't know what it means and I'm curious about the 'life beyond 3dr' part.

Also, any insight on boat mode? I thought that was going to be part of this 2.4 update but sadly it wasn't and now I'm afraid that it might never surface.

The code that runs the Solo is a branch (variation) of an open source software project called arducopter. Historically the Solo branch of arducopter has been rebased (combined and integrated) into the main branch of arducopter on a regular basis. This keeps the two branches in sync with eacother which is convient for a number of reasons (everyone gets to benefit from advances in code made for the Solo and vice versa). Also devs don't have to duplicate their work in both branches (for example make the same bug fix in two places), and many other reasons. Anyway, that's the general idea.

Once (if) the Solo branch is rebased, then Solo owners will get boat mode but it's not here yet. I worry with all the cuts at 3DR that the Solo branch will just linger. Arducopter devs might cherry pick some code from the Solo branch, but the Solo branch itself won't get updated. That's my fear. I have no actual knowledge or information that Solo code won't be rebased and/or kept up to date in some other way.

 

[fpvsteve]

Just to clarify a few things-
Solo 2.4 is (re-)based on Arducopter 3.3, the current official release.

Boat mode is currently part of Arducopter 3.4 RC1, the first beta version of the upcoming 3.4 release.

Given the current pace of the Arducopter development, I would not expect AC 3.4 ready and released before the next 6 months. Subsequently boat mode won't make it into Solo before I assume.

 

[pyrate]

So ekf2 is not in 3.3.3?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fpvsteve]

So ekf2 is not in 3.3.3?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope. See release notes here:
ardupilot/ReleaseNotes.txt at master · ArduPilot/ardupilot · GitHub