To Solo or not to Solo? That's the question

[petaqui]

Hi guys!

I'm new at the forum, I've reading your threads and discussions for days, trying to solve my doubts, but still in problems... that's why I decided to create this topic.
I'm a Pharmacist working in Spain, pretty young also (25 years old) but with lot of experience in photography, both semi-professsional DSLR things (owning a Canon 6D taking shots and recording video for lot of things); and mobile, where I did some things with Nokia Europe and Nokia Spain sometime ago, photography related.

Everything I do, I try to make it different from everything done out there, I don't want to do the same things, and that's why I worked hard on mobile cameras when nearly no-one cared about them.
Some time ago I got in love with drones, but couldn't afford as I was still studying, working to pay the pharmacy degree. Now I'm working, so I have more incomes, not really high but I do. That's why I'm considering so hard to buy one drone, and I felt in love with 3DR one year ago with it, but now the future, and even present, doesn't seem so bright for it... I can afford buying one drone, not two, what I want to mean is that I can invest now in one, but "if it doesn't work in a year" I won't be able to spend such a big amount again in other one (DJI for example), so I want to be very sure of what to choose.

I read that 3DR stopped working on prosumers area, now everything is focused on enterprise markets...So, my options are the following:

• 3DR Solo: 1600$ aprox to get it in Spain with a GP (I know that there's an offer on amazon for 599$ without GP, but they don't send that offer to Spain, so...)
• DJI Phantom 4: 1300$ aprox, some websites have lower prices, and the official one have a higher price.

I live in the mountains (well, Jaca is a city in the middle of the Pyrenees, in Spain), I want to use it to film, and shot pics from the top all the AWESOME landscapes that I have around me, and also sport competitions (ultratrail, ski...). Another point is for travelling, I spent lot of my salary travelling, what I love, and want to carry with me this thing to film wherever I go; and, last point, some use for "films" or kind of various things... I'm a serious perfectionist about image quality, I want the best quality (in that group of prices maximum haha) and stabilisation...
The automatic modes that offers Solo are better IMO, also GoPro seems to have better quality images.
But P4 have far better flight times, range of signal (5x more, and for the mountain looks very interesting) and seems to have more stock to repair it if somethings goes wrong...or buying another battery...etc... But, I still love the idea of having the perfect image quality, the best able to have at least...

I know that it's hard to answer, even more being this a Solo forum but, In your opinion? Which option is the best for a young dude that started to work few months ago and can't afford buying both drones? Keeping in mind the idea of usage that I want I love, much more, and by far, the design of Solo, but about usage and keeping in mind future? Solo or P4?

THANK YOU so much for reading everything, seriously, you rock! And would be great if you write why should I choose one or another.

PD: I'm working on a table comparing both options hahaha side to side...
PD2: Alpaca and me thanks you again!

 

[SARDG]

I'm skeered to vote, because as so often happens around here, everyone's first post (not yours... amazingly) is Solo bashing because of this or that. I have 3 Solos and NO problems - or at least no problems that couldn't be traced to my ineptitude at one time or another. I too, studied Solo for more than a year. Never had, nor do I know much about DJI.

When or before you purchase, read the manual – then don’t do any upgrades on anything (Solo or GP) until you know the ramifications.

Good luck. Personally, I don’t think you need luck, but…

 

[pyrate]

Make you a deal, make the same post and poll on the DJI forum and link it here and I will play

 

[twitchyzero]

if you value great cinematography you cannot beat the smart shots like cable cam.
that's the only reason I'm still hanging onto this platform.

3DR gone through major restructuring and will no longer be in the consumer market so that right there is a massive red flag. GoPro's annoyances and limitations, catastrophic updates and poor flight times are some very valid reasons to look elsewhere.

If you do go with 3DR ready your pockets to get a new lens/gopro file profile. I have not seen comparsions btw P4 and Solo but you gotta mod the heck out of Solo to get stable shots, most of the mods are inconsistent too (some say change cable or add dampening yet it's a hit and miss for others).

Range isnt that important if you're using it as a photography tool. In the mountains I presume minimal wifi congestion = 800m is more than enough. Any more and you can barely see it.

 

[User Name]

Personal opinion, even with 3DR's restructuring and focus away from the consumer market, I'd still buy a Solo today, especially with the low price. I'd look into ways to buy it from Amazon and have the shipment forwarded to your location. For $600, the Solo is an absolute steal for the capabilities it offers.

Parts are going to be an issue regardless of brand or model. DJI wants to sell you the Phantom 5 next year, the Phantom 6 the year after that, and the Phantom 7 the next. It's not like they're going to be making parts for all of them for years to come.

There's no guarantee it'll happen with the Solo, but 3DR did help make 3D printable parts for the Iris available when they discontinued it. I would be surprised if they left Solo owners entirely up the creek.

And in the end, you have to look at ANY flying tool as a potential total loss. It's not like a car that you could still be using 10 years from now. Sooner or later, some part is going to fail and it's going to be destroyed.

Flight times are fine, and savable smart shots make up for a few minutes less than other platforms - you can spend a few batteries setting up the perfect shot, swap in a new battery, reload the shot and execute it again.

Range is, likewise, fine. These things are specs at a half mile away, and you can increase that with aftermarket antennas. The range of the Phantoms sound nice, but really, there's little use and a lot of risk flying that far away.

Just my 2c.

 

[franknitty69]

i've been an owner since june 2015. i loved it then and i love it now. solo has gotten so much better during that time. a ton of updates, but two major updates basically made solo v2 and v2.5. if that had been a phantom, you would have been purchasing the p5.

the smartshots just can't be beat. the multipoint cable cam is like butter. and new features like pano and zipline are icing on the cake. i also love that i can take the gopro out and use it for ground footage. i can also make use of the accessory bay for other things such as an additional camera, sensors, etc.

3dr has been going through some changes and its hard to ignore, but i will say that through all of this their customer service has been top notch. i would have no problem recommending solo.

 

[Texzin]

Can't say it any better than how franknitty69 said it !!

 

[petaqui]

Thank you so much guys for ALL your answers, seriously, I read everything!

Well, obviously being a 3DR Solo forum "helps" getting answers about getting a Solo haha
I do also love the idea of getting the GP out of the Phantom and use it on other things...
I know that due to their kind of "opensource" it's easier for devs to print parts or things like that, but they won't be able to print rotors, batteries or controllers

I'd look into ways to buy it from Amazon and have the shipment forwarded to your location. For $600, the Solo is an absolute steal for the capabilities it offers.

Where did you see that they ship to Spain at that price? Because I can't find that :S

Although is true that most times I won't need more range than 800m, some times maybe I'll want to fly further, for example tthrough a glacier up to where it stars, for example. I love the idea of having the solo with a higher speed than the P4 also, but I'm scared of buying and not having the support and things to solve the problems :S

GUys, do you have stability problem on your gimball? I read few things and seen some videos on the forum with camera shakes that didn't match on that "cinematic" ideal

Is ther any here on the forum building staff for the Solo? As new parts for other cameras or things like that? I saw few posts about manual creations and are cool!

Again, thank you so much for everything!

PD: @pyrate Done To Phantom or not to Phantom? That's the question

 

[SARDG]

Thank you so much guys for ALL your answers, seriously, I read everything!

PD: @pyrate Done To Phantom or not to Phantom? That's the question

What a surprise... every vote over there is for Phantom...

 

[pyrate]

That should be some fun reading.
Thanks
As far as the choice, customer support was my main reason for choosing 3Dr over DJI. That and the fact that the flight controller is ardupilot based.
If I were buying today, my only concern with solo would be parts availability.
I have two solos, three gimbals, six pods and 5 batteries. I still think solo is the most capable RTF at the current price point. Just stock up on some spare parts you will be fine

 

[User Name]

Where did you see that they ship to Spain at that price? Because I can't find that :S

I didn't, what I was referring to was a way to have Amazon ship to a US address and have the shipment forwarded to you in Spain. I don't know of anything specific since I've never needed that, but I seem to recall reading about such services for cases exactly like this.

 

[SARDG]

...If I were buying today, my only concern with solo would be parts availability.
I have two solos, three gimbals, six pods and 5 batteries. I still think solo is the most capable RTF at the current price point. Just stock up on some spare parts you will be fine

...or spare Solos.

 

[pyrate]

...or spare Solos.

I do wish they would stop running those dang sales
I have another project that is sucking all my cash away

 

[Texzin]

I do wish they would stop running those dang sales
I have another project that is sucking all my cash away

I know right !!! I got my PH2 on order, I hate the wait, but I'm still 3d printing the frame that it is going on ,so I'm ok for now.

 

[pyrate]

yeah me too, so excited.
this weekend my new motors, props go on waiting on that lovely piece of hardware

 

[1tom2go]

I think that they are both great rigs to fly. The people I know with Phantoms are having a good time also. I chose the Solo because it took a GoPro which I already had and the Amazon sale just made it happen. I love mine and it's very easy to fly and perform the shots you want. 3DR actually has a good record of customer service in my opinion, but sometimes we only see the bad news here. Just pick one and have fun! Good luck!

 

[Freebird32]

I have a few Solos (couldn't pass up the deals and looked at it to gain some spare parts. As pyrate said above " I wish they would quit running those dang sales" ha. No trouble with flying any of them (except one twitchy gimbal which I am waiting on an RMA replacement from 3DR, sigh, waiting time UNKNOWN per 3DR). I love the Solo and its smart shots, but I also own a P3Pro. I like the P3 when I need a quick shot and don't want to fuss with the pre-takeoff stuff I usually go through with Solo. Sometimes it isn't so quick. I would say this, if you don't mind a bit more fuss to get into the air, and like the Solo features buy one on sale. If you don't like to tinker with hardware/software and troubleshooting RC stuff, and are really more interested in getting the video/camera shots, get a P3 or P4. I love the 4K video I get from the P3. I think the stock range on the P3 is better than the Solo, although both can be enhanced. I love the Solo for its well engineered solid design. It might have a future depending on how 'open' the architecture really is or what 3rd parties might get access to. If you decide to buy Solo, I would recommend buying through Amazon or a camera dealer like B and H, simply because if you do have issues you can exchange/refund more easily and quicker than you can directly with 3DR.

 

[Oddshot]

In my experience, I don't think there is a truly bad decision here. Both systems are clearly comparable and have their strengths/weaknesses that need to be weighed against your particular situation/goals. But just from a still image quality standpoint, and since you are a photographer... you may want to consider that the GP4 Black only shoots in JPEG (and Protunes doesn't really make up for this), whereas the P4 can produce decent enough RAW files, and with less distortion. As a photographer myself, this distinction is significant. I know there are things that can be done in post, but correcting the distortion and heavily editing a GP4 image with JPEG compression, for me, introduces too much degradation to the image quality.

In my comparison of the two systems (P4 and SOLO) for my real estate video/photo work, I prefered the still image quality of the P4 and the video quality of the GP4 (albeit after modding with almost $500 of Ribcage/lenses/filters). In the end though, I decided to stay with the Inspire1 PRO for my real estate/commercial work. After weighing all the pluses/minuses neither the GP4 or P4 could yield the still image quality I was hoping for in a more compact system.

Much of the deliberation of course depends on how you are going to use the images you capture. If you are only going to share them on the web amongst friends and family, then either system is great, and probably the SOLO better, because, like you said you would have a GP to play with off the drone. Otherwise, to get aerial still photography results that you can print large and/or sell commercially for enough to make it worth your while, you would likely have to look into getting a more professional grade or custom system. And, in my opinion the Inspire1 just barely meets the entry-level end of that criteria.

Until a P4/SOLO sized and priced, flying Hasselblad/RED Weapon come out, $2000 (after all said and done with extras) will likely only buy image capturing capability satisfactory enough for sharing on social media, streaming on mobile and for some limited/lower budget commercial work.... which is hunky-dory for many.

Like another said above, wait for another sale and grab a SOLO (or 2 if the price allows) and a refurbished GP4 Black (I got one for $375 from GoPro) and given that it sounds like you are just starting out with SUAS, that will likely suffice until you have discovered where you want to go with it all.

Perhaps you can find a fellow enthusiast who wants to see/fly in Spain and can bring you a SOLO kit + GP4, minus the higher taxes

Buenos Vientos!

 

[Joris]

As much as I love the Solo for what it's capable of, one very important reason I bought it is my believe in 3DR as a company that loves their customers and user community.
I'm considering buying a second Solo for spares, if I can find a way to get a 'sales' one to Belgium.
For the moment I'm looking more and more at the pixhawk2 development and I hope they can win my trust.

If I would buy my first drone today, I would really consider the Yuneec Typhoon H.

 

[Ian [P13]]

Isn't drone use illegal for the most part in Spain?