New Solo from B&H

[USMC86]

As far as the legs- I’m thinking we all have enough to look after each other-

 

[redjr16]

On the old 3DR software it was called manual, in solex it's called "alt hold". That's what you need to map your A or B button to. The reason for this is simply to gain control of your drone should you experience a GPS and or compass error (or the mythical "flyaway"). You need to be able to take manual control of your drone at all times. Doesn't mean fly it in manual the whole time because what's the point in a GPS assisted smart drone if you have to fly it like that?

It just means "always be prepared".

On the old 3DR software it was called manual, in solex it's called "alt hold". That's what you need to map your A or B button to. The reason for this is simply to gain control of your drone should you experience a GPS and or compass error (or the mythical "flyaway"). You need to be able to take manual control of your drone at all times. Doesn't mean fly it in manual the whole time because what's the point in a GPS assisted smart drone if you have to fly it like that?

It just means "always be prepared".

Guys, I think that's what the pause button is for. It's a built in failsafe and simply stops any horizontal movement and hovers the craft. Some may view it as a panic button. Flyaways and dropping out of the sky are rare occurrences and don't happen that often with a properly working bird.

 

[allen_993]

What is the difference in pressing the PAUSE button and simply letting go of the joysticks? When you release the sticks, Solo will hover in place...the same thing it does when you press PAUSE. Of course you have to have GPS lock for any of this. Do I understand this correctly??

 

[DJMc]

What is the difference in pressing the PAUSE button and simply letting go of the joysticks? When you release the sticks, Solo will hover in place...the same thing it does when you press PAUSE. Of course you have to have GPS lock for any of this. Do I understand this correctly??

It is different depending on what mode you have selected.

The pause button also selects FLY mode. In a smart shot or FLY:Manual letting go of the sticks wouldn't select FLY.

So for example in FLY:Manual when letting go of the sticks you would still drift with the wind - as opposed to holding a GPS fixed position by pressing PAUSE and having Solo switch to FLY.

(In both modes you may indeed still have the GPS position being received of course - it's just not used for position holding in FLY:Manual)

 

[allen_993]

I should have said I was talking about when in FLY mode...in that mode, PAUSE and releasing the sticks is the same thing.

However, I can confirm that if Solo is traveling forward when you release the sticks in MANUAL mode, it's momentum causes continued forward movement.... So in that case, the PAUSE would work immediately stop forward movement. I don't want to talk about that anymore

 

[redjr16]

The Pause button ONLY works in GPS lock mode. Think of it as an emergency air brake.

 

[DJMc]

The Pause button ONLY works in GPS lock mode. Think of it as an emergency air brake.

Just to avoid confusion - PAUSE will select FLY (if that's what you mean by GPS lock mode) from FLY:Manual, which is the mode which isn't using the GPS fix to hold position.

PAUSE works when selected in FLY or FLY:Manual if a GPS fix is being received.

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Just to add to EVERYONE'S confusion... and clear things up... the reason you map the A or B button to manual mode is in the event of GPS loss which could result in a flyaway condition (rare and usually operator error, not a true flyaway). Hitting "pause" when you lose GPS lock is going to result in some very bad things as "pause" requires you to have GPS lock for it to be effective. So in the case of a flyaway, hitting "Pause" may not help at all. Whereas hitting "manual" will give you control over your bird and it will only respond to your inputs. (so when you press manual and it slams into the side of your house, it's not a flyaway or unresponsive controls, it's just your fault). In manual mode, the bird will maintain altitude as it is "alt hold" mode and it will only change altitude from direct operator input at the controls.

 

[allen_993]

...So in the case of a flyaway, hitting "Pause" may not help at all. Whereas hitting "manual" will give you control over your bird and it will only respond to your inputs.

And an important reminder...if Solo is "flying away", and you hit MANUAL...the momentum of Solo flying will cause it to continue that movement. In other words, just because you hit MANUAL, Solo does NOT stop it's motion. You would need to immediately use your sticks to stop that movement.

I don't feel bad about beating this horse to death, because I personally know 4 people (all new to Solo) who have crashed their Solo because it was moving in a bad direction in FLY, then they hit MANUAL, and it kept moving in the bad direction until it crashed...because they did not use sticks in MANUAL to stop it.