New Pilot to 3DR - Tips :)

Steve Hydu · Aug 1, 2015

Have been flying toy quads like UDI and whatnot and have logged a few hundred hours so it was time to up my game and finally ordered a Solo over the weekend...

Ordered the pack without the gimbal but am thinking of getting one or just strapping a Mobius cam on there for now... other guys I know use that and it works nice on their quads. Any suggestions on that route?

Also any flying tips and spots for good deals on batteries would be appreciated. As a side note I am upset that 3DR locked you into buying their specific battery

very pricey

rrmccabe · Aug 1, 2015

I personally would get the gimbal. It's the gopro integration and smart shots that make it what it is.

Adimuzio513 · Aug 1, 2015

Steve Hydu said:
Have been flying toy quads like UDI and whatnot and have logged a few hundred hours so it was time to up my game and finally ordered a Solo over the weekend...

Ordered the pack without the gimbal but am thinking of getting one or just strapping a Mobius cam on there for now... other guys I know use that and it works nice on their quads. Any suggestions on that route?

Also any flying tips and spots for good deals on batteries would be appreciated. As a side note I am upset that 3DR locked you into buying their specific battery very pricey

Yea last year when I bought my phantom I assumed I'll be good I don't need a gimbal this is a hobby at this point anyway. Well then I saw the difference in what my video looked like and rethought things in a week or so and bought a zenmuse.

Honestly solo has been the longest I've been with no gimbal and flying in manual mode you can get decent video but with gps seems the crafts tilted more times than not, and much less smooth so I've not had much luck unless you edit a bunch. The problem there is all the smart shots use fly or gps mode and none of them are great looking with the mount we have now. So it's probably a good idea to buy it and make sure your happy and get used to it first like you ordered but I'd have a plan to spend the extra on the gimbal before long cause if your anything like me you won't be content with lesser quality video than what's going to be getting posted in the next couple weeks.

Solo is a great quad just to fly though with all the speed settings and tons of modes it's like having three or more quads in one as is right now and I'm sure wel get more down the road. I really just enjoy filming with my p2 not a ton of fun otherwise but seems solo is focused as much on flying the quad for fun as it is for photography. Others may disagree but I think with acro mode alone it's trying to be more than just an AP platform, if I was only interested in great video there's others that are cheaper but solo has options which we've been forced to explore without a gimbal and that's a huge plus for me.

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

Appreciate the tips. I just hate how 3Dr took an approach like Apple to make you purchase their Gimbal and GoPro which are good but overpriced in my opinions. There is many other options on the market but they try to lock you up. I also do not like how you need to drop $150 on a spare battery rather than just getting a 5200 mah battery which I can do a decent for about $60. Do any of you have tips on deals for the batteries?

rrmccabe · Aug 2, 2015

Afraid the battery is going to become a common thing with RTF drones.

As far as RTF goes at least the future holds some promise for other gimbals and cameras on the Solo. Fly a new Phantom and you are forever stuck.

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

rrmccabe said:
Afraid the battery is going to become a common thing with RTF drones.

As far as RTF goes at least the future holds some promise for other gimbals and cameras on the Solo. Fly a new Phantom and you are forever stuck.

That is exactly why I could just not buy into the Eco system for DJI... and their awful customer service and fly aways :x

rrmccabe · Aug 2, 2015

Yea they have a reputation for crap support. I havent had issues with them and put several hundred (probably 600 or 700) miles in my last vision plus with no failures. Hoping my P3 is just as good.

3DR support will far exceed DJI support. Course they need to get caught up and get some parts in stock.

Adimuzio513 · Aug 2, 2015

What are the odds if we find a battery that would fit the cage and could get our old ones out safely the battery could simply be replaced and wired into the smart board I think I've seen it on phantom 2 batts wonder about these. Obviously would need the same specs which Are easy but does anyone have a confirmation on c rating for solo batts yet I heard around 20 I think as a guess but no real info? Honestly i feel safer just forking over the money especially with their warranty so I'm pretty sure it doesn't fall out of the sky but an idea for others maybe.

I've run a bunch of cycles already flying pretty much daily and haven't got a gimbal yet so I've been wondering how many cycles were looking at. Definitley glad I got the extra battery free now or I'd be at least half way through ones life cycles I'd guess probably more if it's the 80 to 100 i saw from my p2s one pack it's toast at under 100.

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

So this is a very rudementary question but please excuse my ignorance on this. I have not had a high end quad before. So for the Solo it uses Hdmi out for the live video on the GoPro correct? And the mount on my solo which I have not received yet is already made to snugly fit a GoPro hero 3 or 4?

So I cannot use this mount for other cameras like Mobius? And can I receive live video through the app with another camera besides the GoPro? Or will I then have to use the app of the different camera to get the live video?

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

^^^^ - By "mount" i mean the frame that comes with the Solo.. sorry for confusion

Adimuzio513 · Aug 2, 2015

The mount does only fit gopro but it has the attachment like gopros waterproof case with the rings and bolt where you could mount any camera with a similar style mount or even make something up to work with some others easily. As long as you have a micro port on the camera I'd assume the feed would still be sent to your device let me try to dig out a camera with one and I'll check.

Far as using the other cameras app you'd probably have to use wifi and it would interfere with solo if it's 2.4ghz like gopro and most others some do use others but mostly I believe there pretty standard unless made for quads at 5.8 or others.

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

Appreciate the confirm on that. I am consider the Xiaomi YI due to the specs and $75 price point on it. Just want to make sure it will fit somewhat easily and stream to whatever app the Solo uses like a GoPro would

rrmccabe · Aug 2, 2015

Not sure I understand but if you are talking about another cheap camera I think you might want to reconsider.

The fixed mount Solo video is horrible as I don't think they ever intended people to fly the Solo with a fixed mount. Its beauty is in the gopro/gimbal integration where you can video with smart shots controlling the camera and gimbal. In my opinion everything cool about the Solo revolves around this.

If you are looking for a cheaper solution I think you bought the wrong drone.

Adimuzio513 · Aug 2, 2015

Steve Hydu said:
Appreciate the confirm on that. I am consider the Xiaomi YI due to the specs and $75 price point on it. Just want to make sure it will fit somewhat easily and stream to whatever app the Solo uses like a GoPro would

If it's the same size only issue might be button placement I'm not sure if the clones like that are different sized or not. I thought I did but don't have another camera with that connector to test but McCabe may be right I hated spending that much for what gopro actually is too especially on 4 when I already own a 3 but in solos case it is needed to use a lot of the features that make solo stand out from some of the cheaper competitors at least so far. It's up to you and what your budget allows but down the road you'll probably want a gopro you can get em on Craigslist or rcg used most times as long as it's a 3+ or newer it'll work with solo controls. Good luck hope you are happy as I am with your solo.

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

I will know on Tuesday when it comes. I am searching CL for a good deal on 4 Black edition now. And RR I realize it is cool from a cinematoraphy standpoint, but that does not appeal to me. The Solo was purchased by me for the open source platform and the ability to customize and edit down the road. The only reason I want a camera is for the live feed when I am up there to send to my Nexus tablet. But 3DR went the apple route and set you up to drop big money on a high end camera which a lot of people do not need. They have it at almost an encumbrance to use anything else and I cannot justify dropping 400+ ducks on a high end camera (GoPro 4) that I do not need. I love to fly and the photography is an added bonus.

rrmccabe · Aug 2, 2015

OK Steve good enough. You probably want to rebuild a mount as you will find its pretty stiff.

My big issue is its hard to pick tilt point for the camera. When set forward so you can see horizontal fine until under acceleration and hard to fly. Course my 5.4 lens does not help.

So make sure you go a normal wide angle

Adimuzio513 · Aug 2, 2015

Steve Hydu said:
I will know on Tuesday when it comes. I am searching CL for a good deal on 4 Black edition now. And RR I realize it is cool from a cinematoraphy standpoint, but that does not appeal to me. The Solo was purchased by me for the open source platform and the ability to customize and edit down the road. The only reason I want a camera is for the live feed when I am up there to send to my Nexus tablet. But 3DR went the apple route and set you up to drop big money on a high end camera which a lot of people do not need. They have it at almost an encumbrance to use anything else and I cannot justify dropping 400+ ducks on a high end camera (GoPro 4) that I do not need. I love to fly and the photography is an added bonus.

Understood yea your the first I've seen just wanting a simple fpv cam but that is a lot with that being its main function, when you can get a whole goggle or monitor setup and the cheap camera, transmitter for half the price or a good hd setup for the same price.

Steve Hydu · Aug 2, 2015

Very true. I'm going to explore some mount options. Do you guys know any place that has batteries in stock?

Adimuzio513 · Aug 2, 2015

Best buy has been but I haven't looked online I did see them the few times I went there but it seems only the stores that got solo are getting any accessories for it. So if you know which stores had them it may be quickest. I'd assume Frys does too but don't have any near me it seems online are mostly back order for most solo accessories from what I've looked for at least.