What do you think of your Solo?

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Hello all!, I am thinking about purchasing a 3DR Solo w/gimbal. What is your opinion about this UAV? I have a Phantom2 Vision Plus and a Phantom 3 advanced. I see people have many issue's with their Solo. Would you purchase another? is it worth it? Would just like to know your opinions and thoughts on purchasing the Solo. Thanks for your time.
 
I'm keeping my Solo and will be grabbing a gimbal when available. I would also like to see an add on sensor module for indoor flying. Is it worth somewhere just shy of 2 grand (with go pro)? that is a matter of what your expectations are going in.

if you want a mature and relatively bug free experience with no room for improvement then this not the bird for you
on the other hand if you a willing to get through the teething pains of a new platform that has a decent amount of upgradability and future proofing. this is worth a paycheck (or two).

the tech industry over the last decade has slowly but surely adopted the release and patch mentality. all you have to do is look at high end consumer AC wifi routers (although no where near as expensive as a Solo with all the goodies) to know that what you pay gets you in the door, but you need to help iron out the bugs and wait for the firmware to mature to truly have "paid" for the device.

lastly 3d Robotics we cause a crash and we'll make it right policy is another plus in the get it category
 
I'm keeping my Solo and will be grabbing a gimbal when available. I would also like to see an add on sensor module for indoor flying. Is it worth somewhere just shy of 2 grand (with go pro)? that is a matter of what your expectations are going in.

if you want a mature and relatively bug free experience with no room for improvement then this not the bird for you
on the other hand if you a willing to get through the teething pains of a new platform that has a decent amount of upgradability and future proofing. this is worth a paycheck (or two).

the tech industry over the last decade has slowly but surely adopted the release and patch mentality. all you have to do is look at high end consumer AC wifi routers (although no where near as expensive as a Solo with all the goodies) to know that what you pay gets you in the door, but you need to help iron out the bugs and wait for the firmware to mature to truly have "paid" for the device.

lastly 3d Robotics we cause a crash and we'll make it right policy is another plus in the get it category

Yea! I'm a senior citizen and hope Solo is a glimpse into the future of drones. Having had a 40+ yrs career in computer systems, i know what it's like being on "the bleeding edge" of both hardware and
software. 3DR's, "Our fault, we replace" policy, plus price-point, is why I got in with a pre-order w/ 3DR on 5/19/15. Was a few weeks into flying my Q500+ and met those nagging 'fly-away' thoughts. Hope to elevate that with the Solo, whenever it comes.
 
Solo is my first quadcopter but I have been doing R/c planes for years. It is like the iPhone of remote controlled aircraft. From the packaging to the simplicity of setup - it just works. And it works very well for me. I have flown approx 2 hours so far and have no complaints. Heck, my wife (who has never been trusted with r/c planes) flew the darn thing without any issues.
 
Well, I think I will wait a couple of months or until the gimbal has been released and see how that works. It does look worthy to purchase. I thought the gimbal was already released, on the price it says " 1,399.00 w/gimbal". I will probably purchase this UAV in the future. I will keep researching the Solo and fly my Phantom3.
 
  • Well the buying and waiting experience was horrible.
  • The unboxing, update, start-up and first flight was excellent. No issues.
  • All flights since have been no problems.
Without a gimbal its hard to evaluate as all my flying relies on FPV. You cant even fly the thing at speed without the camera pointing at the ground as the gimbal is needed to tilt the camera up when the craft is pitched forward.

You can call and talk to 3DR which is about impossible to do at DJI.

Even though it is flying well so far I am on the fence for would I buy again.
 
Solo is my first quadcopter but I have been doing R/c planes for years. It is like the iPhone of remote controlled aircraft. From the packaging to the simplicity of setup - it just works. And it works very well for me. I have flown approx 2 hours so far and have no complaints. Heck, my wife (who has never been trusted with r/c planes) flew the darn thing without any issues.
This is my first quad as well and I really like it. It is simple straight out of the box and I like the fact that I probably wont outgrow it due to the fact that it is upgradeable as the new products come out. I am patiently waiting for the gimbal and looking forward to many hours of enjoyable flying.
 
Even though it is flying well so far I am on the fence for would I buy again.
Interesting comment @rrmccabe - can you elaborate a bit? Your presence here is a big one so this - more than any other review of issues or returns is a pretty heavy statement... frankly I think it's worthy of a whole post / thread of your own... I'd love to know why!
 
I'm pleased with mine, especially getting it for $899 w/a free battery. The gimbal will make a world of difference for video when that becomes available, and we'll be able to use those controls on the front of the controller.

I like the idea of the motor pods to allow for easy replacement and upgrades.The accessory bay opens up the door for features not seen before.

They appear to be very active developing the software so I expect Solo to evolve rapidly in time. The ability to analyze logs has been huge for a number of people. I need to start getting into this myself.

My only gripe has been the stock antennas, but I've upgraded those.

I have yet to find anything to be unhappy about. I like it well enough that I sold my P2V+.
 
Interesting comment @rrmccabe - can you elaborate a bit?

Well Fishpick I wont bore anyone with all the details but in summary its pretty simple.

I am not a cinematographer so my flying needs are not the same as many. I am more of a cruising pilot that enjoys scenery from the air. That said I do like good video and pictures but I am not overly critical in that area.

I fly distance 90% of the time. Partly because I can take off from my home and go for a cruise while drinking a cup of coffee on the deck. Not unusual for me to fly a mile and half from home with my Vision + and enjoy the local lake, rivers and country side.

The Phantom works perfect and the P3 would work better (distance and camera quality) but I am seriously turned off by Wang at DJI. President, CEO or whatever he is. He is arrogant and rude to his people.

Enter 3DR with the Solo. Quite a bit more money, under performs in distance compared to the Phantom 3 (which is important to me) but I hear 3DR has great support and its a good company.

So I jump on the band wagon early and pre-order batteries, Solo, and gimbal, Buy a Hero 4 black, custom lens for it, dedicated tablet. Neck deep in stuff that will be used on the Solo only.

In the end I receive it over a week later than John Doe gets his by walking into the local Best Buy.

80% of ALL correspondence with 3DR during the time regarding order as well as other misc. issues has been incorrect. Their people are either uninformed or getting bad info from above.

They forgot to ship my extra free battery and still cant tell me when I will get it. I still am flying without a gimbal like everyone else and when I call to talk to support (super nice people) they are not capable of answering a question. They have to put me on hold and get an answer. Which leads to another question and being put on hold again.

The Solo has flown well for me except its painful to watch FPV. I have to let off the stick to level the aircraft to see where I am going as its hard to fly with the camera tilted towards ground at speed. This is of course a lack of gimbal issue and the aircraft has flown perfect at this point.

So my on the fence comment is more about lack of gimbal and customer support not giving me good info. I would like to think 3DR does in fact have good customer support but I am personally still waiting for that experience.

I think they just bit off more than they could chew and rushed this thing to market because of P3 release. I am sure they have commitments to their investors too.

Sorry that was supposed to be the short version ;)
 
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Well Fishpick I wont bore anyone with all the details but in summary its pretty simple.

I am not a cinematographer so my flying needs are not the same as many. I am more of a cruising pilot that enjoys scenery from the air. That said I do like good video and pictures but I am not overly critical in that area.

I fly distance 90% of the time. Partly because I can take off from my home and go for a cruise while drinking a cup of coffee on the deck. Not unusual for me to fly a mile and half from home with my Vision + and enjoy the local lake, rivers and country side.

The Phantom works perfect and the P3 would work better (distance and camera quality) but I am seriously turned off by Wang at DJI. President, CEO or whatever he is. He is arrogant and rude to his people.

Enter 3DR with the Solo. Quite a bit more money, under performs in distance compared to the Phantom 3 (which is important to me) but I hear 3DR has great support and its a good company.

So I jump on the band wagon early and pre-order batteries, Solo, and gimbal, Buy a Hero 4 black, custom lens for it, dedicated tablet. Neck deep in stuff that will be used on the Solo only.

In the end I receive it over a week later than John Doe gets his by walking into the local Best Buy.

80% of ALL correspondence with 3DR during the time regarding order as well as other misc. issues has been incorrect. Their people are either uninformed or getting bad info from above.

They forgot to ship my extra free battery and still cant tell me when I will get it. I still am flying without a gimbal like everyone else and when I call to talk to support (super nice people) they are not capable of answering a question. They have to put me on hold and get an answer. Which leads to another question and being put on hold again.

The aircraft has flown well for me except its painful to watch FPV. I have to let off the stick to level the aircraft to see where I am going as its hard to fly with the camera tilted towards ground at speed. This is of course a lack of gimbal issue and the aircraft has flown perfect at this point.

So my on the fence comment is more about lack of gimbal and customer support not giving me good info. I would like to think 3DR does in fact have good customer support but I am personally still waiting for that experience.

I think they just bit off more than they could chew and rushed this thing to market because of P3 release. I am sure they have commitments to their investors too.

Sorry that was supposed to be the short version ;)
good reply
 
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good reply
That it was.
I'm with you @rrmccabe with regards to DJI / "The Wang" being reason enough to not buy one of theirs.

I'm still on the fence in general tho... as you said - it's a big pile of beans to slap down to make a Solo, go!
 
Love mine, and would buy it again.

black is MUCH easier to see in the sky than white and it just flies well. It's also very resilient if you happen to crash. (never had a phantom, but my boss has had all 3 models over the years, and I have seen the limitations of that design).
 
been flying freeflight models for over 50 years.
learned one thing timeing them.
no matter what color they are up close the color turns to black at a certin distance away from you.
everything looks black.
 
Well not sure.

I lose the Phantom in the clouds and overcast sky. The Solo I could see all the way out on my 3250 and 3900' distance runs.

Black is much easier to see for me. I like it !
 
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Solo is my first quadcopter but I have been doing R/c planes for years. It is like the iPhone of remote controlled aircraft. From the packaging to the simplicity of setup - it just works. And it works very well for me. I have flown approx 2 hours so far and have no complaints. Heck, my wife (who has never been trusted with r/c planes) flew the darn thing without any issues.
Being as the Phantom 3 is the "walled garden" (closed hardware/software) it is more like iPhone so I'd say your metaphor is incorrect. Solo is open source software and also relies on some third party hardware so it's really more like Android.

Not that it's a bad thing, every person wants something different.
 
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