Solo or So Long

ChrisM101 · Jul 24, 2015

GoodnNuff said:
I read over 30,000 had been sold world wide? Not sure where I read that though.

Likely just orders, not deliveries.

Nevada Rocks · Jul 24, 2015

This really just sounds like a QA issue. I would agree with all these folks that say "send it back to 3DR". I have flown my bird about 40 times here in Nevada which is very mountainous (not many trees, but a lot of rocks) and have had absolutely zero GPS issues, or for that matter, any issues. In fact I have intentionally flown the bird up steep canyons until I lose controller signal and the bird RTH's perfectly and lands within a couple feet of home. I also have a Walkera Scout X4 which I just flew again yesterday to compare the experience with the Solo and I was appalled at how crude the X4 was in both handling and accuracy. I used to love flying the X4, but it is a handful to fly and glitchy compared to the Solo. I too am sorry to hear of these QA issues, but I would think that 3DR would take care of you.

GoodnNuff · Jul 24, 2015

My responses were typed in a hurry - I'm busy at work but have a moment now...lol.
I keep saying "send it back" which when I go back and read my responses, they sound snarky, they weren't- just quick.

But why I say to send it back is because the first Solo I had would only fly 30 to 90 seconds before RTH would initiate. I felt just like you. Frustrated, angry, and very disapointed in a company I had a lot of faith in and hopes for which were quickly dashed. I returned that Solo to Best Buy and within 2 days had another shipped to my house. With Solo #2 I have not had a single issue. The thing flies like I expected it to fly! So please, send yours back and get a new one or get your money back. I agree with Nevada Rocks - these are QA issues that 3DR hopefully has addressed and they will eventually be resolved.

ChrisM101 · Jul 24, 2015

Although it seems to be a QA issue with mine and a few others, It is also a code issue.

You can stop alot in the code.

The fact that it can be upside down and still runs 100% is a problem with coding.

The GPS variance can be stopped by limiting the correction to a halt ( the correction) not flight.

RotoFan · Jul 24, 2015

I also have had zero issues with the Solo losing GPS lock. It does take ~3 minutes to get 9 SATs before it is ready to fly. After flying around I am up to 12 or 13 SATs consistently. I even have a big metal shop that I take off near and have no problems. Given there has been more than one person on this forum who have replaced their Solos and have had better results, does seem to point to a quality assurance issue. I do not dispute there could be FW issues here as well but I started out with 1.0.5 so maybe that fixed some of the issues. Hopefully 3DR is doing failure analysis on these returned Solos to get a handle on the issues (QA, FW). It can't be cheap to get these returns and send out replacements, so it is in their best interest to do so.

DodgeP · Jul 24, 2015

I joined this site in the very beginning and many of us agreed that there were definitely QA issues. Me included, however; with the very very very liberal return liberal return policy and an above average customer service, there's no need to be worried. An exercise in patience is placed on your daily agenda if you're having problems. The question then becomes; can you stand the rain???

RikMiddle · Jul 25, 2015

ChrisM101 said:
Im at the Breaking point with this thing. I love flying it, but it just isn't safe. That's it end of story.

The last AP drone I had was a 350QX2 and no it did not have smart shots or FPV range of over a few hundred feet, but it was not a $2000 investment with a mind of its own.

My solo has a GPS issue it wants to take off when it loses GPS, it does not switch to FLY and if it is, it is not alerting me at all.

4 major events that I will relate to gps.

1st Event: 1.01 software took off in an open area of a yard, hit RTH saw it was going the wrong way, back to fly moved it to the correct area manually, tried RTH again, wanted to go the wrong area again. So I decide to land
by just holding fly, well no one tells you that at 5-6% battery it does an auto RTH? So it takes off for a quick 40 ft run to where it has been trying to go all along into a tree top. I fought it and got it back but the props ticked the limbs of the tree before I got control back.

Ticket submitted and all they could say was you took off by a tree, uh no, no I didn't your GPS set the home point in the wrong area. upgrade to 1.05. Yeah free props.

2nd Event: 1.05 software took off to fly in a canyon, yeah you might expect gps issues there, flight was good a little drift but I kept it safely out of the trees and rocks, bring it back up to the bluff to set it down... Not a RTH.
hover over the bluff but safely on solid ground hold FLY to land It starts flying hard right, so I have to grab the leg which makes it go full power, I have to reach under and power it down without getting sliced. Conclusion, coming up out of the canyon it started reacquiring satellites and decided to take off on a correction of its own authority.

3rd Event: 1.05 software took off same place as event one, flying out in the open over a cemetery, hovering, going up and down and back up a few times give it altitude and forward pitch and the thing does a complete 360 clockwise roll in the left to right axis... wtf was that? so I move it a little lower it down just watching, nothing, bring it closer and leave it hovering nothing, leave it up a while for a total flight time of about 8 minutes. nothing else strange. RTH and land, goes to the correct spot. Gets down, bounces, pitches back and crams the back props into the Dirt. Had to use DOWN and AB to kill it . It then says crash detected.
Mission planner shows Horizontal Axis error or something in the flight at the mysterious roll.

4th Event: 1.05 software. Took off and flew one battery just fine, flew up and down an area for 20 mins filming, battery change, flying the same area again. Flew under the same area of low gps that I passed through on the first flight, albeit slower. I guess GPS decided to correct itself because it shot forward and left without my control striking a wall, I countered with down and back and pause. but no effect it ended up going forward and over hitting the wall again and ending up full speed upside down into a puddle. Of course I run to get it and my tablet drops from the holder... busting the screen. And I have to grab it still going 100% balls to the wall and drag it out into the open reach up again and power it down.

I have $2000 tied up between case, gimbal, and batteries and I can tell you this, GPS should not be correcting regular flight by a degree more than a few inches. GPS loss should switch to fly manual and not accept GPS corrections that move the vehicle. Being completely beyond 70 or even 90 degrees for more than a second should kill the props. Up-F&^king-side down should kill the motors at zero altitude.
GPS should not allow correction within the last meter of descent.

And FFS did they have to put the GPS right above the GoPro. It 100% affects the GPS acquisition test it yourself. It also affects the Wifi connection. While we're at it 49 ft RTH altitude? lots of trees are 75 to 100ft Who made that default?

Am I just trashing and bashing my solo. No, all I had was rash on the props and a quick change and its good as new. But am I gonna trust this thing to do a Selfie or a Cable cam in proximity to my family... Hell No. I don't want a 40 ft gps correction into my 5 year old daughter. But this is what they sold to us. And its not even properly implemented without the Gimbal.

Really 3DR Really?

Yep, I think I might be in the same boat.
Haven't flown as much, but the only time it bugs out is in Fly.
I have wanted to fly in my back yard so I cruise around in manual like i'm on ice, eventually hitting something. No matter how many sats or what the ihop is when I'm in GPS Fly at some point it starts acting like an angry bee (mostly to the left?) and I hit manual (set on A) by then it's too late I'm skating into something.

Sure can take a beating. Gotta be honest, I don't trust my flying in manual and I definitely don't trust it in Fly w/GPS.

I have flown 3 of the 10 or so total flights without any GPS issue. all @ a Farm where I did a show last weekend. Used some footage for one of the video's- (the ones without the crashing)

why do I still want this ? I'm gonna go back to the farm....

wait'n fer 2.0....

ChrisM101 · Jul 26, 2015

Real dilemma is in 7 days I'm due to be on a long planned vacation. Should I just order a P3? Or hope for solo to have a gimbal delivered just in time. Where's all those backpacks that were supposed to hit the streets this week? That gives me even less hope.

GoodnNuff · Jul 26, 2015

I'm leaving the 16th of August for a road trip from Seattle to the Redwoods along US101, hoping I have a gimbal as well. But I do have a Phantom 2 or an Iris+ with gimbals if I the Solo gimbal isn't here.

I'd be tempted to order the P3 from Amazon ... it could always be returned after a trial use where you found it didn't meet your needs...know what I mean?

rrmccabe · Jul 26, 2015

Well I ordered a P3P when the gimbal was delayed as I had a charity event to shoot.

I like it too much to return

GoodnNuff · Jul 26, 2015

rrmccabe said:
Well I ordered a P3P when the gimbal was delayed as I had a charity event to shoot.

I like it too much to return

Damn you Rich.
Each time you talk about that stupid P3, I get a little closer to try and justify adding one to my Drone collection. It does sound like a nice quad. That little camera just scares me if it is like the Vision line with the flimsy (in a crash flimsy) cable connection. Our road trip ends with a 5 day stay at a vacation rental on a bluff over the Pacific in Gold Beach, Oregon. I'd feel a lot more secure flying a Phantom (gulp, did I say that?) over the Pacific than I would the Solo at this point. But I'm not sure if the P3 would really be that much more than my P2 with the tarot gimble and the FPV set up I have on it?

Dirby · Jul 26, 2015

ChrisM101 said:
Real dilemma is in 7 days I'm due to be on a long planned vacation. Should I just order a P3? Or hope for solo to have a gimbal delivered just in time. Where's all those backpacks that were supposed to hit the streets this week? That gives me even less hope.

i would be real surprised if you get your gimble with in 7 days.
might give the p3 some heavy thought.

rrmccabe · Jul 26, 2015

GoodnNuff said:
Damn you Rich.
Each time you talk about that stupid P3, I get a little closer to try and justify adding one to my Drone collection. It does sound like a nice quad. That little camera just scares me if it is like the Vision line with the flimsy (in a crash flimsy) cable connection. Our road trip ends with a 5 day stay at a vacation rental on a bluff over the Pacific in Gold Beach, Oregon. I'd feel a lot more secure flying a Phantom (gulp, did I say that?) over the Pacific than I would the Solo at this point. But I'm not sure if the P3 would really be that much more than my P2 with the tarot gimble and the FPV set up I have on it?

Well its the same crappy gimbal/ribbon design. But the P3 is light years ahead of my P2V+. The way it handles, speed and of course lightbridge. Don't let the similar white case fool you. That is where the similarity ends.

ChrisM101 · Jul 27, 2015

well they want it back, theyre switching me to RMA after viewing video and data logs

Walter · Jul 27, 2015

ChrisM101 said:
The problem is, I unlike a lot of users don't fly my MRs in a flat open back yard/ soccer field/ cornfield all of the time, but if it has had issues in those areas, and it is having issues on mountains, canyons, and lake areas, then well your right, This one is probably just a bad one. But that said they've only got 2500 of these in the wild. If 25 of them totally fail that's still just 1% rate of failure. Most people would accept that, but its the 25 people with a significant investment that really get rubbed the wrong way.

I seriously do not want a P3. I want what was sold to me. I don't want more videos to sell more units that they don't even have. I want a product delivered as described that functions correctly and safely. Ask yourself Do you want to set a selfie and set down the controller and let it run its course knowing that it could correct 40-50 ft through you or into that tree/car/kid over there?

Can you honestly say 3DR has delivered the Solo as it was sold? Does it function as well as any other equivalent brand be it phantom, chroma, yuneec, devention, walkera, etc?

This isn't 3DRs first drone, how did it become so hard to build a gimbal or locate the GPS safely away from interference? And a lot of the safety issues are programming, it just needs coded and added and quickly.

Like others, I share your frustrations with have baked products. It seems rather common in the RC world. It's also no surprise the documentation is like wise seriously lacking in user information. One thing I've discovered about Solo is the motors have a crazy amount of torque! If it tips the blades will always be toast. Safely disabling it quickly is impossible and very dangerous. The sucker will slice and dice you in a heart beat if you aren't extremely careful.

Paul K. DeMeza · Jul 28, 2015

A+B + Pause...Read the manual.

ChrisM101 · Jul 28, 2015

rrmccabe said:
Well its the same crappy gimbal/ribbon design. But the P3 is light years ahead of my P2V+. The way it handles, speed and of course lightbridge. Don't let the similar white case fool you. That is where the similarity ends.

So does anyone know the Amazon return policy? I can have a P3 via prime in 2 days, but if anything goes wrong with it , im not going to spend weeks dealing with DJI.

rrmccabe · Jul 28, 2015

Probably as hard as 3DR return. Been on the phone over and hour now (back on hold) waiting to get a RMA to return mine.

erikgraham · Jul 28, 2015

Han Solo said:
I can only hope 3DR is reading this forum!

They probably are, but they actively post and help out at DIYdrones.com. Including the CEO. This site is basically a clone of phantompilots.com. That's probably why there are so many Phantom people here.