Tracker ordered for Solo

Ryan Sandnes · Oct 24, 2015

Chuck said:
What happened was pilot stupidity. I wanted to drain my batteries down to storage level of about 50%, so I went out in my front yard to basically launch and hover. It was overcast and a bit windy, but nothing I haven't flown in before. I got 8 sats on the ground, but it would not get to the press fly to start motors option. I shut everything down and reset, with the same problem happening again. Since I have taken off in manual before and flown, I switched to manual mode and right away got the press fly to start option. I took it up about 8ft and the wind blew it back over my head towards the house. I compensated, and added altitude to about 30ft. I brought it back towards me, then lost signal between the controller and Solo. The signal never came back, and then I lost sight of Solo behind the house and trees. Talk about panic. I drove back behind my house to the big church parking lot and searched with no luck. I just knew it was in some tree somewhere, or worse, crashed somewhere. I searched for about an hour before I realized that in a city setting, I was out of luck. I came home sick and just on a lark I placed a lost ad on Craigslist offering a reward. The next morning a lady called from the church and said a guy who belongs to the church found it in their quad area. I went over, and found their quad area was all grass, and Solo had landed upright, with not a scratch on it. The guy who found it went as far to take the sd card from the camera to see if it might hold a clue as to who owned it. He passed the reward on to the church, and I returned home one very happy camper. I sent the logs to 3DR, and like I knew they would, it was bad judgement on my part flying where I did, and with everything all around, the signal did not have much of a chance when the wind took it over the house. I have flown since, and had no problems at all. Now, I took a picture of all my contact info with "Reward Offered" in red and that will remain on my sd card. So that is my story on why I am adding the Marco Polo to my bird. Learn from my mistakes, fellow Solo pilots. I hope none of you have to feel like I did that day....

I know *exactly* the feeling you are talking about. I bought my solo two days ago, have flown it a few times with no problem. Last night I took it up as normal, lost signal but it did not return home. It started flying erratically around like it was trying to figure out where home was, but there was no way to chase it due to being in a small town and houses/buildings everywhere. We chased it best we could with the truck but lost site. On our way home I figured what the hell and stopped by the soccer field about 100 yards from my house to ask. Someone yelled, "Its over there!"... and there it was, 75% battery just sitting there blinking its lights happily about 5 feet away from a tree. Doing a search for some sort of tracking device lead me to this forum. If anybody reads this, seriously... Get a tracker on your device as soon as possible. I was *not* in manual mode, return home simply failed. I'm looking into how to send logs now for 3DR to look at, but I'm happy to say the solo landed itself safely. What I think happened is it tried to find home, realized home wasn't home and went back to the location it lost signal and landed? Either way, I have learned a hell of a lesson real fast. Hi5 for our good fortune Chuck=)

Chuck · Oct 24, 2015

High 5 back to you, Ryan, and welcome to the forum. You are right about sometimes learning lessons the hard way. I never want that sick feeling again. I am more relaxed about flying with the Marco Polo on board, and I hope I never really need it. Happy and safe flying to you.

DattaGroover · Oct 26, 2015

Chuck said:
After a very unsettling flight, and losing my Solo overnight, I looked into ordering a tracker for some peace of mind. I decided on the Marco Polo from Eureka Products. I liked the videos I seen of people who use it, and the extended battery life as well. Tim at Eureka Products was very helpful, and answered all my questions. He is very customer service oriented, and returned my calls promptly. I didn't want to depend on GPS or cell service, so I went with the IR system. I at least want a shot at finding my Solo if another incident occurs again, so I invested in a little extra insurance. Besides, if rrmccabe uses it, it is good enough for a novice like me..... Thanks for your earlier input on this subject, Rich.

I use both the Marco polo and a GPS tracker from drone-mods.I feel more secure with both. The Marco polo is great, but is limited by distance and obstructions. The gps tracker is only good where there is active cell coverage.

twitchyzero · Jan 9, 2016

RVgeeks said:
I also have the 3DR backpack, and the Marco Polo fits perfectly into the bag, basically permanently attached to the belly with industrial-strength velcro and a zip-tie. Once installed, I've never removed it again.

Are you able to fit the locator in the 3DR backpack without modification? I read the dimensions and I'm unsure if it'll fit in the accessory pouch....if it does it'll be a ridiculously snug fit that will likely rip after extended use?

RVgeeks · Jan 9, 2016

twitchyzero said:
Are you able to fit the locator in the 3DR backpack without modification? I read the dimensions and I'm unsure if it'll fit in the accessory pouch....if it does it'll be a ridiculously snug fit that will likely rip after extended use?

The handheld Marco Polo locator unit fits perfectly in one of the side sections, adjacent to one of the battery slots, in a space that might normally be used for stowing a charging cable. That was empty space for me (I keep my charger on the opposite side, in the matching slot), and the locator fits so perfectly that it could have been designed by 3DR!

twitchyzero · Jan 9, 2016

thanks for confirming.. It doesn't look very clean appearance-wise on a quadcopter like the flytrex but there's no monthly costs and works in remote areas. How many days does the battery on the hybrid version last once activated? Do you have to enable the tag before each flight? What kinda battery does the locator take?

RVgeeks · Jan 9, 2016

The hybrid battery seems to last forever! When you turn it on, the light flashes one, two or three times to indicate low, medium, or full battery charge, respectively. I almost never bother to charge it, as it flashes 3 times every time (I did once let it get low enough to flash only twice, but it took a lot of flights for that to happen). The batteries on both the locator and the tag are built-in. Haven't had to chase a flyaway yet (hopefully never will of course), but the first thing I always do when setting up to fly is push the button and wait for those three peace-of-mind flashes.

Chuck · Jan 9, 2016

The battery does last a long time. It is supposed to last 10 days on a full charge. I charge mine after about every 3 or 4 flights, just to be sure. A friend and myself field tested mine when I first got it. He hid my Solo in a dry riverbed next to a park about a quarter mile away from me. I followed the signal to within 5 ft. of my Solo before finding it. I was real happy with the test.

DattaGroover · Jan 11, 2016

I concur with all the above. It fits easily in my 3DR backpack. I also have a Drone-mods GSM tracker, but that doesn't work in all countries (some are CDMA only), so I leave it home. Plus, with the Solo, I think there is much lower risk of fly-away with the DJI products. Not that you asked

DattaGroover · Jan 11, 2016

Also, I found Tim, who makes these, very easy to communicate with. He also has a flat $20 repair fee if the tracking device (not the handheld) dies out of warranty (like being submerged, for example).

Maddog · Jan 11, 2016

Chuck said:
What happened was pilot stupidity. I wanted to drain my batteries down to storage level of about 50%, so I went out in my front yard to basically launch and hover. It was overcast and a bit windy, but nothing I haven't flown in before. I got 8 sats on the ground, but it would not get to the press fly to start motors option. I shut everything down and reset, with the same problem happening again. Since I have taken off in manual before and flown, I switched to manual mode and right away got the press fly to start option. I took it up about 8ft and the wind blew it back over my head towards the house. I compensated, and added altitude to about 30ft. I brought it back towards me, then lost signal between the controller and Solo. The signal never came back, and then I lost sight of Solo behind the house and trees. Talk about panic. I drove back behind my house to the big church parking lot and searched with no luck. I just knew it was in some tree somewhere, or worse, crashed somewhere. I searched for about an hour before I realized that in a city setting, I was out of luck. I came home sick and just on a lark I placed a lost ad on Craigslist offering a reward. The next morning a lady called from the church and said a guy who belongs to the church found it in their quad area. I went over, and found their quad area was all grass, and Solo had landed upright, with not a scratch on it. The guy who found it went as far to take the sd card from the camera to see if it might hold a clue as to who owned it. He passed the reward on to the church, and I returned home one very happy camper. I sent the logs to 3DR, and like I knew they would, it was bad judgement on my part flying where I did, and with everything all around, the signal did not have much of a chance when the wind took it over the house. I have flown since, and had no problems at all. Now, I took a picture of all my contact info with "Reward Offered" in red and that will remain on my sd card. So that is my story on why I am adding the Marco Polo to my bird. Learn from my mistakes, fellow Solo pilots. I hope none of you have to feel like I did that day....

Chuck- don't know how I missed this earlier, but thanks for the tip about the photo on the SD card. That's a great idea!

DattaGroover · Jan 11, 2016

Chuck said:
What happened was pilot stupidity. I wanted to drain my batteries down to storage level of about 50%, so I went out in my front yard to basically launch and hover. It was overcast and a bit windy, but nothing I haven't flown in before. I got 8 sats on the ground, but it would not get to the press fly to start motors option. I shut everything down and reset, with the same problem happening again. Since I have taken off in manual before and flown, I switched to manual mode and right away got the press fly to start option. I took it up about 8ft and the wind blew it back over my head towards the house. I compensated, and added altitude to about 30ft. I brought it back towards me, then lost signal between the controller and Solo. The signal never came back, and then I lost sight of Solo behind the house and trees. Talk about panic. I drove back behind my house to the big church parking lot and searched with no luck. I just knew it was in some tree somewhere, or worse, crashed somewhere. I searched for about an hour before I realized that in a city setting, I was out of luck. I came home sick and just on a lark I placed a lost ad on Craigslist offering a reward. The next morning a lady called from the church and said a guy who belongs to the church found it in their quad area. I went over, and found their quad area was all grass, and Solo had landed upright, with not a scratch on it. The guy who found it went as far to take the sd card from the camera to see if it might hold a clue as to who owned it. He passed the reward on to the church, and I returned home one very happy camper. I sent the logs to 3DR, and like I knew they would, it was bad judgement on my part flying where I did, and with everything all around, the signal did not have much of a chance when the wind took it over the house. I have flown since, and had no problems at all. Now, I took a picture of all my contact info with "Reward Offered" in red and that will remain on my sd card. So that is my story on why I am adding the Marco Polo to my bird. Learn from my mistakes, fellow Solo pilots. I hope none of you have to feel like I did that day....

I lost a Phantom 2 in New Zealand in December '14. It got disoriented, and flew away over the ocean. Never saw it again. DJI paid for half of a new drone (but not the GoPro). Months later it washes up on the beach miles away. The guy took the sd card and looked at the footage. He contacted the guest house we had stayed at after recognizing the area from the video. I emailed the guest house a month or so later; they connected me with my sd card - and the footage was good (Sandisk Extreme Pro, thank you). The drone was trashed, of course.

Moral of the story - people may just look at that sd card, and try to get the drone back to the original owner. I'm going to try your idea of putting my contact info in there.

Maddog · Jan 12, 2016

DattaGroover said:
I lost a Phantom 2 in New Zealand in December '14. It got disoriented, and flew away over the ocean. Never saw it again. DJI paid for half of a new drone (but not the GoPro). Months later it washes up on the beach miles away. The guy took the sd card and looked at the footage. He contacted the guest house we had stayed at after recognizing the area from the video. I emailed the guest house a month or so later; they connected me with my sd card - and the footage was good (Sandisk Extreme Pro, thank you). The drone was trashed, of course.

Moral of the story - people may just look at that sd card, and try to get the drone back to the original owner. I'm going to try your idea of putting my contact info in there.

Much cooler than a note in a bottle!