Solo weight reduction

[Captain Zepher]

Soooo. I saw on amazon that solo replacement shells are under $100 and the shipping weight is 2 pounds and it got me thinking about how much weight is in the shell and legs. I looked up the specs and did a little math.

WARNINGS////////////////////////////////////////// INCREADIBLY QUICK MATHS\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\WARNINGS

20 mins of battery life with max payload.

Max Payload 420g = .9259 lbs

Solo W/ gimble & gopro = 3.9lbs ( i dont know if this is with battery included gona assume no for my math)

Battery = 1lb

20 mins X
----------- ----------- X = 1x20/5.8259 = 3min 26sec flight time for every pound removed
5.8259 lbs 1 lbs


so if i take off 3 lbs for a total weight of 2.8259 lbs i should have ~30 mins of flight time


BUT i only get 15 mins of flight time with gopro/gimble and no payload and landing with a safe battery reserve so realisicly i could get like 5 more mins. has anyone Experimented with reducing the weight for longer flight times? what other factors would it affect? aerodynamics? Balance? structural integrity?

OR

Would you buy a lighter shell/ legs If the wight reduction was significant? aka carbon fiber shell or other components?

Again i know im not accounting for every single variable but if theres something glaring i forgot let me know

 

[PdxSteve]

battery weight is included (solo+gimbal+gopro), so remove 1lb from your calculations. Part of what makes the Solo more stable than other drones IS it's weight. It doesn't get pushed around in the wind like quads that weigh less.

 

[Captain Zepher]

Okay that makes it a little better @ 4mins 8sec for every pound removed. so 3 pounds would be ~32.5 mins but i doubt that theres that much weight to be removed in the shell