Phantom 3 or Solo

[Ian Anderson]

I love my Solo. Hope this helps

 

[Jubalr]

Which helicopter has the best transmogrifier? THAT'S the true measure of greatness.

I think I had that a few years ago, but the DR. gave me a shot and it went away.. I wish I had known it was a good thing!

 

[UFO Docking]

For all it's worth. The solo has the wig that runs the unisizer witch controls the thingamabob whitch overpowers the shoeie that makes it do what 3dr advertised and that makes me HAPPY. But on the other hand dji has moferd the unit that pops the havert into ottwat mode whitch is real fantastic but can be orer run buy the burb whitch is not adjustable that kind of hurts my feelings. That is why I own the SOLO.

 

[Ian Anderson]

For all it's worth. The solo has the wig that runs the unisizer witch controls the thingamabob whitch overpowers the shoeie that makes it do what 3dr advertised and that makes me HAPPY. But on the other hand dji has moferd the unit that pops the havert into ottwat mode whitch is real fantastic but can be orer run buy the burb whitch is not adjustable that kind of hurts my feelings. That is why I own the SOLO.

yeah what he said

 

[Justin]

I would go with a phantom. I have both and for out of the box usage its the best choice. Solo is great but you have to do antenna mod to make it useful in areas of wifi so add another 150 to the price of the solo and time.

 

[1264_Solo]

i can only speak for myself but I love my solo.
I've flown my friends phantom and it's great but... i just wanted something different.
Everyone and their dog knows what a phantom looks like. I just wanted to be different all the supporting 3DR while they start to take the main stage.

I knew their was going to be some issues but like Ive stated before.. this is very similar to a kickstarter campaign except this comes with better support.

I haven't had a single problem with my unit apart from the occasional feed disconnect or gps loss,
but I know those will all be addressed if not already. I haven't flown in a few weeks but I hope to get out there esp when my gimbal arrives.

3DR isn't perfect but they've done right by me.... dont get me started on DJI support.

 

[Burkeam]

You and or us on the forum writing a good review and comparison or at least pluses and minuses would be a much better bet then combining threads. As you know those comparison threads are the worst examples of members here and are all very biased on both sides.

If folks who have shown they can be less biased can put together a sticky it would be much more benificial to those trying to decide which thousand plus dollar investment to make.

These things said I also own p2 and this was part of why I wanted solo, yes p3 is better but very similar in looks and functions. The range, gps glitch"flyaway", and most all issues I had with solo are now fixed and I love it. You may need to get an antenna upgrade or just try the free easy mod to address the range but after that you'll have the same range as p3 or close and will have the ability to fly well beyond the recommendations with either. A lot depends on if you want to buy another quad next year for new features or add those features with upgrades really. Yes you'll spend a bit more on solo now but will save it if you plan to keep up with the newest features in the coming years, basically right now today the only advantage that's readily available is the smart shots being superior, but the two as of today seem to be pretty equal in all honesty until the open source of solo is taken advantage of. Future wise solo wins hands down but today it's a much closer call.

P3 flys indoors and solo has better shot options for now so it's really what's important to you at this moment. Having the hero 4 now and being somewhat biased but owning both brands I'd say solo and it has nothing to do with service, I'll likley never use either companies service, but that's just how I am. Unless a horrible failure happens right away I'll just fix it myself since most parts are fairly cheap and easy to swap out. Just an opinion though good luck with whichever you decide, either way it's money well spent. Will say if your on a tight budget now solo can easily get expensive as options just keep coming but that can be seen as a plus or minus pending on your current bank info.

I was thinking this DIY guy would do just fine without customer support. After all I'm pretty good with electronic and work with precision of microns. Well I had a hard landing which dinged my gimbal. DJI said send it in for repair 3 week turn around something like a $120 bench fee to eval towards the repair. I needed a ribbon cable and the upper pb board in the gimbal. They nor the dealer are able to sell it to me. If I din't like the service time buy a new gimba/cameral for $650. DJI is not for the DIY repair guy.

 

[Charles Lamoureux]

I am sure that this topic has been posted before, but I am about to buy my second quad, and I wanted to ask the Solo experts a few questions.

I am currently looking at the Phantom 3 Pro and the 3DR Solo. I have been leaning to the Phantom 3 for a few reasons:
1) I have a Phantom 2 and really like it
2) I like the extended range of bird and the lightbridge technology
3) The Phantom 3 seems to be very good value for the money
4) The remote is well designed and can handle my iPad Air
5) I like the wired attachment for the iPad vs using WiFi
6) My adult son has one, and loves it

On the negative side for the DJI Phantom
1) Poor customer service
2) Not made in the USA
3) Closed architecture
4) Design issues that seems to result in stress cracks. This may or may not have been corrected, depending on who you talk to.

I really like the Solo
1) Made in USA
2) Supposed to have better customer support. But with the gimbel launch.. That may be debatable.
3) Open design. Much easier to mod as time goes by
4) Very good construction
5) Great flight modes
6) I have a GoPro 4 Black

What what is really holding me back from the solo is some of the stuff I have been reading in the forums. I do understand that the negative stuff gets the most press, so I wanted to ask the users a few questions to help me decide what bird to get.

The gimbel is a non-issue for me. It looks like they are ramping up with production and they should be readily available in the next 30 days or so.

Fly always. There seems to be more issues with Fly always with the solo that with the Phantom. Is this overblown? Has this been addressed with firmware updates?

Is the Solo that much better than the Phantom 3 to justify the extra $400 or so

Is the limited range that much of an issue?

Some reviews have suggested that the remote feels cheap in comparison to the P3.

Any modifications to fit an iPad Air to the Solo remote?

I've had mine now for couple of months and never had a problem, most solid platform i've ever had. I had a F550 before this and of course can't compare..I was thinking of dropping the SOLO to get the P3 because i'm still waiting for the gimbal and some horror stories behind the set up and image but like it was with first people to receive the SOLO's they complained and I never had a problem worth mentioning..It's solid like if it did every crash or bump into a tree lol..it would survive a lot better than a Phantom but I'm not planning on any crashes..I recommed the SOLO before the P3 because of the future of this quad, P3 you cannot change cameras, I have 2 gopros, one full spectrum takes amazing video , of course for my purposes which we won't discuss here..the awful launch was a concern but I think they will learn from it..gimbals are coming and I think the future is amazing for the SOLO...go for it if you haven't already, I paid 20 bucks for an antenna mod and getting 2-3xs range now..so its nota huge problem..P3 is better straight out of the box then that's it..history of DJI can't be trusted just yet..maybe because of SOLO entering the marketplace they will straighten out their customer service and bad coding...who knows....SOLO is the future

 

[Adimuzio513]

I've had mine now for couple of months and never had a problem, most solid platform i've ever had. I had a F550 before this and of course can't compare..I was thinking of dropping the SOLO to get the P3 because i'm still waiting for the gimbal and some horror stories behind the set up and image but like it was with first people to receive the SOLO's they complained and I never had a problem worth mentioning..It's solid like if it did every crash or bump into a tree lol..it would survive a lot better than a Phantom but I'm not planning on any crashes..I recommed the SOLO before the P3 because of the future of this quad, P3 you cannot change cameras, I have 2 gopros, one full spectrum takes amazing video , of course for my purposes which we won't discuss here..the awful launch was a concern but I think they will learn from it..gimbals are coming and I think the future is amazing for the SOLO...go for it if you haven't already, I paid 20 bucks for an antenna mod and getting 2-3xs range now..so its nota huge problem..P3 is better straight out of the box then that's it..history of DJI can't be trusted just yet..maybe because of SOLO entering the marketplace they will straighten out their customer service and bad coding...who knows....SOLO is the future

Good honest unbiased view thanks for the well put post.

 

[Charles Lamoureux]

Good honest unbiased view thanks for the well put post.

Thanks and another thing worth mentioning...the SOLO is beautiful in the sky...and to be honest when I went to see a P3P , the controller felt great in my hands and I was really thinking of switching up because of course I had not gimbal and needed a system now, can't afford both but the more I thought about it, I could not let my SOLO go..its that gut feeling and feel about it ..like with anything if it works why change?...I've never had a problem with GPS, never a real issue with range, went out 1.3 Kms on stock but in complete no interference area like out in the country. with new antenna mod I am getting 2 plus Km's. In congested WIFI area not more than couple 2000 feet but in the city who needs more...in the country no problem it will go over a mile with 20 bucks antenna..So that's my 2 cents and hoping the gimbal gives me the same results , I can't see why not since there are many have no issues...cheers

 

[sgs182]

Just to play devils advocate, I'm selling my solo and going to try the P3P.

I bought the Solo mostly for the smart shots and expandability, but seeing that I continue to wait for the elusive gimbal the P3P now offers similar flight features and comes RTF with it all.

Here's the link if anyone is interested or knows someone looking to get a Solo: Solo + Extras for sale | 3D Robotics Drone Forum

 

[Cosber]

I never flew a drone until I got the Solo, so I can't give a comparison, except that I have read the Phantom's body is fragile. I got my Solo stuck in a tree and had to shake the branch to get it to drop. It fell about 20 feet and the only thing that happened was the cover over the GPS popped off. Didn't break any tabs and popped right back on.

 

[Dark Alien]

So Solo is not a " dud"