New Owner: A few questions

[terminatorJQ]

New owner here. I picked up my Solo from Best Buy (very good deal with a few free extras) and after a little bit of frustration connecting my phone to the app (apparently it doesn't work if cell data is on), I was able to get a good first flight in and I was very impressed. It seems very stable in the air and it has some surprisingly good performance when you turn up the speed settings. I have a few questions that I hope you experienced owners can answer:

1. I've read a lot of reviews about the Solo and it seems like the only real complaint people have is the wonky GPS which in some cases looses connection and causes the drone to fly off... Obviously, I do not like the idea of my hard eared money flying off so I've been looking into ways to prevent this. One thing I ran into was the "manual mode" which does not use the GPS. What are the limitations of manual mode? (I'm assuming the follow me option will be unavailable but is there anything else that the drone cannot do in this mode? Return home?)

2. Is the GPS still an issue with the Solo? Most of the reviews I read were from 2015. Has 3DR done anything between 2015-2016 to fix these issues?

3. My Solo came with a free Gimbal which I just got attached today. The gimbal hangs pretty low and nearly touches the ground. Is there anyway to raise the gimbal so it will be more protected by the drones legs?

4. Has anyone used the Akaso EK7000 as an alternative to the GoPro? Any limitations other than having to start the recording before takeoff? (I know the Solo is made for the GoPro but right now the Hero 4s are still $300+ which is more than I want to spend considering that I am not really a big photographer).

Sorry for the newb questions. Thanks for your help.

 

[hackbard23]

1. map your "A" button to: Fly:Manual and learn to fly with it

2. go buy yourself this one and you will never have any GPS issues:

mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade

3. there are leg extensions, go search ebay or amazon

4. solo is designed to work with gopro 3+, 4 silver and 4 black, you should have known this before buying

there is no drone company that will bild a drone especially for your camera type

if you buy solo for 300$ - 400$ and spend 300$ more for a gopro you will be cheaper than other competitors in this drone class (yes, drones are expensive)

 

[SARDG]

I never have to turn off cellular on my Galaxy S5 and it shouldn't be necessary on any device as cell service may be used for other flying features.

Solo will not fly away if it loses GPS, it will switch to Manua so you should learn to fly in Manual. Search this forum for "failsafe" and I suspect you'll find interesting info. 3DR is quite finished doing anything related to hardware, and likely finished with any SW or FW (for consumer products).

I'm afraid you are going to have to devote some time to the keyboard and the search function here as ALL these questions and so much more have been previously addressed.