New Solo possibly for sale

I have a small "gentleman's farm" in Illinois and when I'm not working, I like to film nature, harvest (right now), and travel video as we go around the country - mostly just personal stuff for the family and personal expression... I have a background in photography, and when I started into the video side of things I've had to relearn so much that it keeps me young and my mind fresh. Add to that the perspective gained from the air, and it is an all in all very enjoyable hobby. I started with home-built equipment just to be flying - mostly 250-350 size quads, with some larger birds for longer time and bigger payloads - but the downlink capabilities available (and that I was willing to finance at the time) were highly limited, so it was mostly guesswork with analog video feeds for composition and hope it came out with the preset settings. Solo changed that with a high quality platform with good flight time and the ability to change camera settings in the air, as well as have a 720P downlink for framing and flight. I've changed carers since I started (first in Healthcare for 25 years, now Public Service) as an Enterprise Architect (I facilitate understanding of what we have with what we want in information technology) and I have less time to putter around with custom builds. I'm still planning on getting back into mid-size RC helicopters, but I mostly fly Solo and focus on the art of video & post processing lately... My original spares were purchased for parts as flight controllers and downlinks to put into custom builds (an octocopter first then a smaller hexacopter) but that never really happened and so I'm selling them off to find a good home as normal Solos. How are you using your Solo(s)?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Carl B
That's awesome! My wife and I have a little 12 acre ranchette in central Texas. I'm semi-retired for medical reasons. Used to br electronics engineer by day evil genius by night. [emoji848] I've been flying fixed wing r/c for about 20 years. Just getting into quads. I would like to do something in agriculture with the Solo. Maybe even thermal or near infrared. But it's going to have to be a paying gig before I bight into one of those cameras.
 
That's awesome! My wife and I have a little 12 acre ranchette in central Texas. I'm semi-retired for medical reasons. Used to br electronics engineer by day evil genius by night. [emoji848] I've been flying fixed wing r/c for about 20 years. Just getting into quads. I would like to do something in agriculture with the Solo. Maybe even thermal or near infrared. But it's going to have to be a paying gig before I bight into one of those cameras.

Yeah, that's the problem with hobbies, it is always a challenge to fund the really fun stuff! One thing to consider would be to look at what I was planning to do, if you pickup a Tarot Carbon Fiber Octocopter frame (or Quadcopter) and splice into the control lines on the motor pods to higher powered 4S or 6S ESCs and motors, you can have all of the smarts of the Solo (with Solex and/or Tower) but a much more flexible payload capacity, etc. for a FLIR or other camera (with leg retracts on the Tarot Frame of course). At that point, you are better off the most semi-commercial birds out there (and without DJI's meddling) and have complete flexibility as better power trains become available... That's one of the reasons I'm not in a hurry to sell off my spares, I may talk myself back into still dedicating the time to do this myself - I have all of the parts, just not time :( Any way, on the Solo Mods Facebook page as well as several threads here, this is discussed in further detail, with several out in the wild now. Something to think about as we roll into winter when those of us in the north have to huddle up indoors ;)
 
Yeah, that's the problem with hobbies, it is always a challenge to fund the really fun stuff! One thing to consider would be to look at what I was planning to do, if you pickup a Tarot Carbon Fiber Octocopter frame (or Quadcopter) and splice into the control lines on the motor pods to higher powered 4S or 6S ESCs and motors, you can have all of the smarts of the Solo (with Solex and/or Tower) but a much more flexible payload capacity, etc. for a FLIR or other camera (with leg retracts on the Tarot Frame of course). At that point, you are better off the most semi-commercial birds out there (and without DJI's meddling) and have complete flexibility as better power trains become available... That's one of the reasons I'm not in a hurry to sell off my spares, I may talk myself back into still dedicating the time to do this myself - I have all of the parts, just not time :( Any way, on the Solo Mods Facebook page as well as several threads here, this is discussed in further detail, with several out in the wild now. Something to think about as we roll into winter when those of us in the north have to huddle up indoors ;)
Thanks for the info. I do have an itch do build a scratch quad. I would really like to redneck engineer a quad or octo big enough to carry a human payload. I would probably would to have a second mortgage to finance the batteries though. The wife might not like that.[emoji20]
 
Thanks for the info. I do have an itch do build a scratch quad. I would really like to redneck engineer a quad or octo big enough to carry a human payload. I would probably would to have a second mortgage to finance the batteries though. The wife might not like that.[emoji20]
Of course there are always weather balloons and a lawn chair options which are much cheaper!
 
Hi Mike, Just saying that the term refers to "New Old Stock" which is sold all of the time. I have purchased a "New Old Stock" NEC CPM Tablet computer from the late 1980s as well as a sealed pair of 1965 gold eyeglass frames salvaged from a closed Italian factory store room. In both cases, they were brand new, never used, and I was thrilled to find them.

In my case, I purchased 3 sets back in 2016 from B&H to augment my initial Solo and backup Solo from Best Buy. I set these three aside to use as either spare parts or for modding into a "Franken-Solo" on one of my folding Octocopter frames for a larger power train but with the Solo's smarts and video down link. As I've never flown (or even unboxed except to remove the flight and controller batteries for safety in storage), I consider them "New Old Stock" - Never Flown or Used (never even powered up once)... That's how I can say NEW SOLO never flown.

I also don't think that I'm that unusual in this as many of us bought multiples as the sad saga of 3DR being driven out of the consumer business by DJI (and GoPro's drone decision failures).

The good news for all of us is that the Solos are so well made and reliable that there are so many spares which never had to be used (unlike DJI's which are made to break and fund their insurance program scam). I'm planning on using my Solos indefinitely as a free American who doesn't have to phone home to China for permission to fly within the law, and who doesn't like to fund the intellectual property theft which has allowed China to advance so quickly in this technological space. <China Rant Off>
Well said my friend
 
Just saying how can anybody in 2018 say they have a band NEW SOLO never flown.
I can. The Solo/Gimbal/Backpack has never seen the light of day since it left the factory, and sits in the wife’s closet
 
How can you say that, when anyone can get a refurb direct from 3DR for $150 or $200 with a gimbal... $100 for a GPH4B

It's open season on these things. They are literally a dime a dozen at the moment.

Just putting a little premium on one that's NIB. It's not unreasonable to start there. Many have changed hands at those prices.

Oh, and look up the word "literally." I don't think it means what you think it means.
 
I just bought two brand new solos from 3dr,com and one refurbished plus 3 refurbished gimbals.
These were not for me but as presents for two different first time flyers. Got the link off Facebook 3DR group.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
13,093
Messages
147,741
Members
16,047
Latest member
pvt solo