The Solo Ebay Bargains....

hardhat068 · Jul 5, 2017

OK, so I have recovered my Solo, and it works well as it always had. The bird is an absolute monster!
In my haste while sitting at home pondering the loss of my bird, I went ahead and purchased a 'For Parts or Not Working' Solo from Ebay for $69.99 before I recovered the original. It is on the way. I am going to try to get it to fly. It has no controller, no battery, and no props. Just the body.

If I can pair the old controller with the new bird, will the old controller still be paired with the original bird? Or, will I have to re-pair it with the original bird after I am done with the new bird?

Can a controller be paired to multiple birds? I assume that you can only fly one at a time, although two at a time would be really cool.

andrew.baker.142 · Jul 5, 2017

I have read that you can pair multiple birds with one controller. After first paring, the controller will connect with whichever Solo is powered.
I've not done it (yet). Would be interested in hearing how it works for you.

jimloss · Jul 5, 2017

hardhat068 said:
OK, so I have recovered my Solo, and it works well as it always had. The bird is an absolute monster!
In my haste while sitting at home pondering the loss of my bird, I went ahead and purchased a 'For Parts or Not Working' Solo from Ebay for $69.99 before I recovered the original. It is on the way. I am going to try to get it to fly. It has no controller, no battery, and no props. Just the body.

If I can pair the old controller with the new bird, will the old controller still be paired with the original bird? Or, will I have to re-pair it with the original bird after I am done with the new bird?

Can a controller be paired to multiple birds? I assume that you can only fly one at a time, although two at a time would be really cool.

You can use one controller and switch between multiple Solo drones. The first time pairing each you will have to use the Pairing button on the Solo. When you switch between them in the future, the most that you will have to do is hold the A+B on your controller - don't need to use the pairing button on Solo.

Another cool thing if you are a Solex user: Solex now tracks history for each of your vehicles!

skyhax · Jul 5, 2017

With out a factory reset He won't be up and running. Would love to know how a controller can connect back to an old Solo after a factory reset.

just_bruce · Jul 5, 2017

skyhax said:
With out a factory reset He won't be up and running. Would love to know how a controller can connect back to an old Solo after a factory reset.

You press the pairing button if it doesn't automatically go looking for a controller to pair with.....

just_bruce · Jul 6, 2017

Oh balls. I just bought another set of three. Price was too damned good (less than $60/ea)

Sigh. I might have a problem. Anyone wanna buy one of the now functional birds as a spare?

RDA · Jul 6, 2017

just_bruce said:
Oh balls. I just bought another set of three. Price was too damned good (less than $60/ea)

Sigh. I might have a problem. Anyone wanna buy one of the now functional birds as a spare?

Hello Bruce where are you getting these? Thx! [emoji2]

just_bruce · Jul 6, 2017

RDA said:
Hello Bruce where are you getting these? Thx! [emoji2]

eBay.

RDA · Jul 6, 2017

just_bruce said:
eBay.

Which vendor?

just_bruce · Jul 6, 2017

Aimin1to99 and titan.deals

RDA · Jul 6, 2017

I search eBay and 0 results! How do I find them?

hardhat068 · Jul 6, 2017

hardhat068 said:
OK, so I have recovered my Solo, and it works well as it always had. The bird is an absolute monster!
In my haste while sitting at home pondering the loss of my bird, I went ahead and purchased a 'For Parts or Not Working' Solo from Ebay for $69.99 before I recovered the original. It is on the way. I am going to try to get it to fly. It has no controller, no battery, and no props. Just the body.

If I can pair the old controller with the new bird, will the old controller still be paired with the original bird? Or, will I have to re-pair it with the original bird after I am done with the new bird?

Can a controller be paired to multiple birds? I assume that you can only fly one at a time, although two at a time would be really cool.

Got the 'For Parts' Solo today. Opened it up, and it has Rev B GPS! No battery or props, just the bird. Put the battery on it, and it paired with the controller in about 2 minutes. Just about a perfect flier. Went to my usual testing spot, and it got 4,300 feet distance with the Alfas, same as the other Solo.. So much for being just a 'Parts' unit. Not bad for $69.99. Heck, the individual parts would fetch more than that.

JRW · Jul 6, 2017

I searched for "3dr solo for parts"
Here is the results.
3dr solo for parts | eBay

KDan · Jul 10, 2017

While parts machines are still available, the 3DR gimbals have skyrocketed in price everywhere. Just a few months ago I bought one at B&H for $38. A few weeks ago they were $60, now they are asking $154.
On eBay, the cheapest to be found are around $120, while many are asking $150 or more. Supply must be drying up.

Freebird32 · Jul 10, 2017

Does seem the supply is dwindling. At that price you are better off getting the whole package. B&H still selling new for 299 which includes gimbal. I have a bunch of working birds with gimbals and a couple spare gimbals, if need be I can tear down my 'parts birds' ha. They work so well.
If you have been following what DJI has been doing to their firmware lately, those with Solos are a lucky bunch. DJI trying to lock everything down to prevent the stupid folks from invading NFZs and similar restricted airspace. A few have lost birds due to poor implementation of that idea. I don't fly where I'm not supposed to but I would expect an RTH instead of auto land if I accidentally enter/touch on some restricted airspace. One guy's Mavic landed in a lake for that reason. Touched on the edge of an NFZ and just plain landed where it was. The guys with part 107 certs for legal commercial photography are hamstrung.

just_bruce · Jul 10, 2017

Yes, I do know a guy with a brand spanking new Inspire 1 v2 that has a waiver from the FAA for the local Class B who is rather....shall we say annoyed with DJI right now....

IrishmanPDX · Jul 12, 2017

Looks like some of the Ebay bargains may be drying up at this stage too. Notice that some of the regular suppliers of "best buy returns" are now selling mostly crashed drones/lots. There's one or two up there that look like ok drones until you really look at the pictures (a giveaway is no zoom allowed and only one photo!) and you can see the body is cracked. As for the gimbal prices, wow, glad I got three while the price was cheap. Although now I wish I'd bought a whole bunch more, that's going to be the hardest part of the bird to replace. Though have to wonder, have the prices only shot up because of the summer months and holidays not actually because of stock issues. Will we see a price reduction come the end of summer (and an influx of a lot more crashed drones for sale).

just_bruce · Jul 19, 2017

just_bruce said:
Oh balls. I just bought another set of three. Price was too damned good (less than $60/ea)

Sigh. I might have a problem. Anyone wanna buy one of the now functional birds as a spare?

Well, looks like the karma rotor swung round on me. Seller sent three, but removed all the legs to ship them (unnecessary, they would've fit in the box nested) and:

1. destroyed the antenna connectors on one of them. This one also has no LEDs kit, and the board gets quite warm. Seems like I'll be getting out the magnifier and maybe reflowing

2. Sent another with the GPS removed. This one constantly beeps the inconsistent compass tone even after successful compass calibration. Anyone think the missing GPS could cause this? Or is there something off inside the PixHawk ?

3. Sent one functional bird that had one bad pod, but otherwise is fully functional as far as I can tell.

So, guess I won't be buying from him again.

IrishmanPDX · Jul 19, 2017

I must have bought from the same seller, bought a lot of 3, they arrived all in one box (two parts of a 3dr cardboard carry case taped together). All the legs were removed, 1 solo had it's compass and antenna legs destroyed. The other two, one boots up and then has some sort of failure, the other looks like it lights up, and then does nothing else. Did include a "free gift" of a controller though (that works just fine). After I get my other two birds back in the air, I'll tackle these ones, still though, nothing compared to the ones I had bought before from a different seller. Although he was truthful in the description, the bodies are in great shape.