- Joined
- Nov 18, 2016
- Messages
- 892
- Reaction score
- 202
- Age
- 58
Fellas, I'm about to give up.
Here's my entire story.
I originally purchased a Solo back when it went on sale for $400 with the gimbal, spare blades and battery. I figured it was the best deal since I owned a Hero 3. After the first flight, I wasn't happy with the footage so I dropped $500 on a Hero 4 Black. Second flight with the new camera, it flew away. Luckily, I was low on battery and it didn't go too far before landing and I recovered it a few hours later. I went ahead and returned it and the Hero 4 Black to Best Buy and preordered a Mavic Pro.
As you all know, the Mavic was greatly delayed and the Solo went on sale for $300 with a gimbal and a bag. The Hero 4 also went down to $350 so I jumped back in. Then I had a flip over a few flights later... Luckily for me, Best Buy replaced my unit under warranty.
Winter came on in Michigan and like an idiot I tried to fly Solo indoors...crash. Wrecked the blades and damaged the gimbal. Oh well, they were on sale so I bought another entire kit with a spare battery and blades. Then since the batteries and blades were also on sale, I bought some of those too.
Lastly, since the gimbal was $40 I bought another one of those too. So now I have two complete systems. Yay.
Well today, Michigan decided to bless us with a nice day in February. 55 degrees and sunny. I flew my bird Monday so I thought it was ready to go. I made sure everything was charged last night. I took care of some work stuff this morning and by 2 pm I was ready to go. So I grabbed my Solo back pack, threw it in the car and away I went.
My plan was to drive about an hour to the coast of Lake Michigan and catch some shots of the dunes and maybe some boats. So I got there and after about a half hour hike, I'd reached the perfect spot. I broke out my gear, powered everything up and my controller said "waiting for solo". I turned everything off and on several times but the same phrase greeted me each time. What to do?
I pulled out my trusty pocket computer, aka smart phone, googled how to pair the controller. Oh well that looks easy...um I don't have a paper clip. Crap! I hiked back to the car, found a small Allen wrench and tried to pair it several times, no luck. Disappointed, I packed it in and drove home.
Once home, I tried several more times to get it to work without success and finally paired my newer bird with my old controller, no problem. Obviously, the new controller went to crap for no apparent reason. Just poof! Junk.
Now I know a lot of you are DIY guys and what not. I work 60-70 hours a week. My free time is at a premium and I don't want to spend it goofing around trying to make this thing work. Heck, I still have an AR Drone 1.0 laying around that I powered on today and it still worked.
Here's where the support group really comes in. I know a lot of you hate DJI but honestly, am I going to have these kinds of problems with the P4 or Mavic? How about Yuneec? I honestly just want to grab a bag, run out and fly my drone without worrying about it flying away, dropping on someone's head, suddenly not working, etc. I really don't want to have to carry two or even three compete units with me every time I want to get a shot. Even at the lower prices, I still have around $1200 invested.
Seriously, considering that I'm more of a casual user, without a lot of time for tinkering. Should I cut my loses, sell what I have and go to another, more reliable platform?
Thank you for your time.
Here's my entire story.
I originally purchased a Solo back when it went on sale for $400 with the gimbal, spare blades and battery. I figured it was the best deal since I owned a Hero 3. After the first flight, I wasn't happy with the footage so I dropped $500 on a Hero 4 Black. Second flight with the new camera, it flew away. Luckily, I was low on battery and it didn't go too far before landing and I recovered it a few hours later. I went ahead and returned it and the Hero 4 Black to Best Buy and preordered a Mavic Pro.
As you all know, the Mavic was greatly delayed and the Solo went on sale for $300 with a gimbal and a bag. The Hero 4 also went down to $350 so I jumped back in. Then I had a flip over a few flights later... Luckily for me, Best Buy replaced my unit under warranty.
Winter came on in Michigan and like an idiot I tried to fly Solo indoors...crash. Wrecked the blades and damaged the gimbal. Oh well, they were on sale so I bought another entire kit with a spare battery and blades. Then since the batteries and blades were also on sale, I bought some of those too.
Lastly, since the gimbal was $40 I bought another one of those too. So now I have two complete systems. Yay.
Well today, Michigan decided to bless us with a nice day in February. 55 degrees and sunny. I flew my bird Monday so I thought it was ready to go. I made sure everything was charged last night. I took care of some work stuff this morning and by 2 pm I was ready to go. So I grabbed my Solo back pack, threw it in the car and away I went.
My plan was to drive about an hour to the coast of Lake Michigan and catch some shots of the dunes and maybe some boats. So I got there and after about a half hour hike, I'd reached the perfect spot. I broke out my gear, powered everything up and my controller said "waiting for solo". I turned everything off and on several times but the same phrase greeted me each time. What to do?
I pulled out my trusty pocket computer, aka smart phone, googled how to pair the controller. Oh well that looks easy...um I don't have a paper clip. Crap! I hiked back to the car, found a small Allen wrench and tried to pair it several times, no luck. Disappointed, I packed it in and drove home.
Once home, I tried several more times to get it to work without success and finally paired my newer bird with my old controller, no problem. Obviously, the new controller went to crap for no apparent reason. Just poof! Junk.
Now I know a lot of you are DIY guys and what not. I work 60-70 hours a week. My free time is at a premium and I don't want to spend it goofing around trying to make this thing work. Heck, I still have an AR Drone 1.0 laying around that I powered on today and it still worked.
Here's where the support group really comes in. I know a lot of you hate DJI but honestly, am I going to have these kinds of problems with the P4 or Mavic? How about Yuneec? I honestly just want to grab a bag, run out and fly my drone without worrying about it flying away, dropping on someone's head, suddenly not working, etc. I really don't want to have to carry two or even three compete units with me every time I want to get a shot. Even at the lower prices, I still have around $1200 invested.
Seriously, considering that I'm more of a casual user, without a lot of time for tinkering. Should I cut my loses, sell what I have and go to another, more reliable platform?
Thank you for your time.