Read it and Weep......

[Michael Lione]

https://goo.gl/PmQ2Ta

Not a pretty reality. What the story doesn't mention are the amazing groups like this one that will take the Solo well into the future with a parent company or without one.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

This fills in a lot of the blanks between the sad facts we already knew. And certainly explains the fire sales going on lately.

I paid about $900 in March for a Solo, gimbal, and backpack. I'm not mad and I don't think I overpaid. I am sad that I didn't dilly dally and be suborn for a month or two and underpay.

 

[dronesquid]

people on this forum will still defend the solo to the death.

 

[Michael Lione]

Just watched a vid from NAB last April. Hard to believe 3DR went from what they were then to where they are now is so short a time. Even more amazing by rights of the Forbes piece they knew then it was lights out. https://goo.gl/f1AMCs

 

[pyrate]

people on this forum will still defend the solo to the death.

Damn right, mine is still flying strong and my spare is ready to step in when it dies.
3DR I quit defending them along time ago.
But my solo is doing great. Real sorry you cant see what WAS delivered and make it a very useful tool.
If getting the most out of my investment in spite of 3DRs missmanagement makes me delusional so be it.
At least I am not whining about a personal choice

 

[Mike Davis]

Well I think paying 400$ for drone that cost 750$ to build is good for me to get my feet wet with drones. It is a bummer for 3DR for sure.

 

[pyrate]

No kidding, I would call that a great way to enter the drone space

 

[Mountain Flyer]

If the numbers in that article are even close that means there are over 30,000 Solos out there yet that didn't sell. Hey Best Buy, how low can you go?

 

[pyrate]

solos for everyone at Christmas

 

[Rich]

Hey, they tried! I give them credit, and I hoped they would have made it and remained in the consumer business. I liked what I saw and even tried to support them pre-solo with their pixhawk and other hardware purchased from them.

The only thing that bothers me (being one that was one of the first with a Solo) was that right along, and still now, we complain about the poor GPS performance, and those 'in the know' and 3DR people still try to defend it and say it's fine and works. Even though they designed a Rev B to fix some of its issues, and then a shield to try to make it better, but dropped the rev B that fixes some battery and other issues.

Instead we NOW learn they knew of the issues right from the beginning, from the Forbes article are some quotes from a "person that worked for the 3D Robotics' marketing team", commenting on their practices when demoing the Solo to the press: (emphasis is mine)

"We new the drone would work", he said, noting that there was an improved GPS component that wasn't shipped in the regular Solos.

Yes, they knew all along that the production GPS was sub-par, yet everyone keeps trying to tell us, that "you pilots are flying in bad locations" the Solo GPS works perfectly!

LOL

Well, we know now the truth and the symptoms have proven this right from the beginning.

But I still like where they were heading and wish they were successful. Now I just hope I can keep the Solo flying over time as it cost me a lot of $$$, so I hope an aftermarket springs up to help support us with parts at least, and if we're lucky, we'll have some open software, firmware, etc.

 

[Clint Miller]

Sorry to hear of the demise of 3DR. Having been a part of poorly-thought-out silicone valley ventures, I'm not surprised.

I've purchased the $499 bundle and couldn't be happier. At that price, seriously considering buying a spare. So far it's performed as advertised and is doing everything I need. I do have a few questions though (hopefully this is the right place to ask)

*) Once the motors need to be replaced, are there 3rd party motors available?
*) Are there other drones that have shots like "cable" and able to use tower or something like tower?

Thanks

 

[pyrate]

what is strange about the GPS is some have it really bad others not
My original solo had the GPS replaced with a rev B after the battery fell off.
My second Solo has a Rev A

Maybe I just take too long setting up, I do a pretty exhaustive preflight
but lock really was never an issue for mine.

Having said that, yes the GPS has been aknowledged by ex 3DR employees as a problem for a long time.
NDA's kept most of them silent, but the exodus has taken its toll

 

[pyrate]

Sorry to hear of the demise of 3DR. Having been a part of poorly-thought-out silicone valley ventures, I'm not surprised.

I've purchased the $499 bundle and couldn't be happier. At that price, seriously considering buying a spare. So far it's performed as advertised and is doing everything I need. I do have a few questions though (hopefully this is the right place to ask)

*) Once the motors need to be replaced, are there 3rd party motors available?
*) Are there other drones that have shots like "cable" and able to use tower or something like tower?

Thanks

One of the best products ever, to fail
and its just sad

There are T-motors that will fit right in the pods. I used the TBS versions. they are 900kv and 160 for a set of 4 with prop adapters

Other drones have smart shots, but they are not as smooth. Solos on board computer eases in and out of waypoints in a way that smooths them like no one else has been able to do

 

[RichWest]

No weeping here, still the best drone available.

Seems the article just repeats what has been expressed here or elsewhere. Having unidentified sources does not make the writer credible, but he is just selling a story. The truth lies behind closed doors, maybe one day we'll hear the true story. Haters will always hate.

Life ain't fair, dealing into a Chicom manufacturing market is fatal, that's the only mistake made by 3DR, picking a fight. Doubt anyone can make a run at the consumer uav market in this world outside of a China based manufacture. Good luck to you Oz and Euro developers.....

 

[User Name]

Delusional people on this forum will still defend the solo to the death.

Why would we not defend a product that does things few other drones can, and those that can, can't match Solo's performance? Just because the people running the company overestimated demand and placed all their eggs in one basket? Sorry, mistakes made by management don't inherently detract from the product.

I'll fault 3DR for the few minor design flaws Solo has (poor GPS performance, stiff cables to the gimbal), but both those problems are solvable with minor effort and cost, and the result is a platform with great performance, capabilities and hackability.

The only delusional people are the ones who refuse to believe one person can be happy with a product that another is not.

 

[Rusty Jones]

people are the ones who refuse to believe one person can be happy with a product that another is not.

Well said!!

 

[Marich]

people on this forum will still defend the solo to the death.

If there were enough delusional morons who bothered to actually think for themselves and knew a diamond from a lump of coal, DJI would have been given a massive bloody nose as Solo sales shot through the roof at launch.
Alas, most current - and seemingly potential - drone pilots worship at the altar of Lord Phantom just like the good little sheep they are. What a pity - basically, this whole affair merely illustrates the boundless nature of human stupidity.
Solo could - and would - have been every inch the product it was intended to be... had there only been enough of us "delusional" enough to leave the beaten path and strike out elsewhere.

 

[Mountain Flyer]

I won't argue that they made a good drone. I like my Solos and will keep using them but I never believed all the claims. It is part of our responsibility as pilots to know as much as possible about the thing before we try to fly it. I read message boards before buying one and knew they were prone to flipping over at landing and the GPS had issues. I bought one anyway. Coming from the DIY side of things I know that drones are finicky and there would be occasional problems. I don't care who made it there will be problems. As long as manufacturers keep telling the public that anyone can fly them we will continue to see people crabbing about them no matter what make it is. While it is somewhat true that anyone can fly them, most are not equipped to deal with the minor issues when they show up and have no idea how to fix them. Solo is a wonderful piece of equipment but it's a little touchier than some others about having everything just right. I think 3DR overstated how easy they were to use and that combined with all the other screw ups killed them. They made a good product and then handled it's release and marketing badly and it killed them. That doesn't mean Solo is bad, it just means the people making it knew more about drones than running a successful business and the people buying them need to educate themselves better about what they are buying.

 

[Clint Miller]

One of the unfortunate realities of venture money is that they frequently push products out the door before they are fully baked because they are desperate to book revenue (not "realize" just "book"). The solo didn't fall prey to bad design (if it had, we wouldn't be using it successfully now), it fell prey to moving into market before it was ready and bulletproof. Internally known GPS issues and no gimbal at launch (rendering it virtually useless) took what could've been a successful, albeit challenging, market voyage straight into the rocks. If y'all are needing to lay blame, look to the shortsighted and anxious venture partners.

My $0.02

 

[PdxSteve]

If they delayed the launch of solo until the gimbal was complete, I think we'd be looking at a different 3DR right now. I think that single point was the biggest failure and set the tone. Bad press for months until the gimbal came out, and when they did it the software was buggy and DJI hit them with a double whammy by dropping prices. Due to those 2 main things, they were never able to get any sort of real traction in the market. After refusing to sell 3dr to DJI just before the solo launch (that's interesting), they should have known that DJI would come at them hard, and the only real way to do that is via pricing. To DJI, it was about the same options. They could buy 3dr and spend money that way, or drop prices and basically spend money that way by not getting as much and driving another nail in 3dr's coffin. 3DR should have anticipated that and dropped prices a bit more than they were initially planning. To the Chinese, business is an art like war, and they treat it like war. They don't just go away after you don't sell to them. That's just the "let's see if they will surrender before we attack".