- Joined
- Aug 7, 2015
- Messages
- 235
- Reaction score
- 94
- Age
- 67
- Location
- Sanford, FL
- Website
- www.flyingfatcats.com
Gang,
Just had to chime once and final on the whining issue. This is only a comment, this is a free nation and everyone has a right to voice, and this is just my opinion and the last on this board.
As a first time owner and newbie of a UAV, GoPro, et. all and never have shot video from the air before about a month ago, yep I am a newbie at this... however:
First, I'm R/C since a kid, ground and air. I'm also a photographer, hired by a leading studio when I was 15 years old, and a development and project engineer for 25+ years - mostly military products, flight simulators etc. all.
The main point I am making will be: some people do not realize a product release/development cycle. What happens when marketing and investors say's "ship it anyway" and engineering says "it's not ready yet"... I have been the almost all my life and it eventually aged me quick man. We bust our rear ends to get the what we call pre-release product 'ready to ship' or deliver to the US military and overseas customers, then spend countless wasted development hours having to cover engineering's rear ends in multiple meetings with marketing and management and then just telling them all to leave us alone and let us get our job done and get this product finalized with the SOW (Statement Of Work), parts ordered, developed, tested, qualified, QC'ed and delivered to the customer. In other words just "WTF are you doing to us"? This is on 30 million dollar military flight simulators mind you, not a small quadcopter.
Just one personal development cycle event I was in charge of: Have you ever sat alone with a government rep' trying to explain why one flight panel in the multi-million dollar simulator is not there, it was 'only a hole' the upper left AUX console panel located on the main instrument panel missing a HMD control switch with two sets of I/O harness hanging out (I still did not know if it was a pot' or rotary control, so I ran A/D and D/I I/O to the switch on initial design). This was on a F/A-18 flight simulator during final test, with dozens of government personnel and support currently 'flying' what we do have in the production bay. I explained "as soon as I hear back from the pilot in overseas I spoke with yesterday on the phone.." and he replied "really? how did you mange that", I said "sir, it's my job" and I told him I would give him a written update, later.. I had work to do. I had spoke to the F/A-18 pilot while he was sitting in on the tarmac in Iraq, in the only model F/A-18 that matched the contract SOW, and he eventually called me back with the data I needed. You see, we did not have that block/model here available to climb in and check out every switch on every panel like I usually do (yep, loved that part of the job), they were all deployed. It was over ONE control, that turned out to be a 8 position rotary switch that cost us $12,000 each as we used actual flight hardware (talking about long lead times). With over a 8,000+ run wire list and all the other panels, displays, instruments, controls, ejection seat, HUD, integration et. all, we were still waiting on one dad burn switch. Long story short - got the switch installed at 3:00am and integrated with I/O and software, tested and verified 2 days before final shipment of 8 sim's to 2 military bases in the US. Everyone was happy and I had more grey hair started...
OK, now... on to Solo. Being new to this type of photography I researched and talked UAV pilots and searched the internet for over a month before going with Solo. Why did I go with 3DR? Because I have met some awesome people in both 3DR itself and in on-line groups. Am I mad at 3DR because they are going through development issues, heck no. Why, because I'm here to help and have been in friendly contact since day one with 3DR and they listen and treat me well and the support has been above average IMHO.
As far as Solo: I have had 7 low level flyaway's and crashes, 11 damaged props, waited a month on my gimbal, loss Sololink at 30' for some reason, GPS issues, and so forth. You know what, I don't care... why because working with 3DR they WILL get this product finalized and you can bet in the end they will prevail. I have nothing against DJI, owners/pilots/photographers. You see, competition is good for all UAV companies in this rapidly growing market and it's going to be a gun fight to see who 'comes out on top'. Does not matter, it's product competition that makes better products for all of us, no matter if it's a Chevy or a Ford. Right now I have a gimbal, video is great (thanks to input from fellow 3DR owners and support groups) and flying like a dream due to a few mod's (thanks again..). No more crashes and I'm learning and getting better at it, each flight - one at a time.
In summary: pick and stay with what you have, be it 3DR, DJI or even Nikon, Canon, Chevy or Ford, et. all. Make your choice and be supportive to whoever you are with and help THEM and fellow owners/users out, you will be personally satisfied and the company(s) will be better off in the long run. BTW: I should have gone with Canon as my first DSLR, most my best close fiends own Canon's and I'm stuck with my 'small' selection of Nikon lenses? No, I now have friends with Nikon's and we swap gear. Dang it, but I love my Nikon.
Sorry about the long post, but in life complaining will get you no where, fast. 3DR is just trying to install that last 'control switch', or are they?
Pick your maker, your own path and live in peace. And fly safe.
Cheers
Just had to chime once and final on the whining issue. This is only a comment, this is a free nation and everyone has a right to voice, and this is just my opinion and the last on this board.
As a first time owner and newbie of a UAV, GoPro, et. all and never have shot video from the air before about a month ago, yep I am a newbie at this... however:
First, I'm R/C since a kid, ground and air. I'm also a photographer, hired by a leading studio when I was 15 years old, and a development and project engineer for 25+ years - mostly military products, flight simulators etc. all.
The main point I am making will be: some people do not realize a product release/development cycle. What happens when marketing and investors say's "ship it anyway" and engineering says "it's not ready yet"... I have been the almost all my life and it eventually aged me quick man. We bust our rear ends to get the what we call pre-release product 'ready to ship' or deliver to the US military and overseas customers, then spend countless wasted development hours having to cover engineering's rear ends in multiple meetings with marketing and management and then just telling them all to leave us alone and let us get our job done and get this product finalized with the SOW (Statement Of Work), parts ordered, developed, tested, qualified, QC'ed and delivered to the customer. In other words just "WTF are you doing to us"? This is on 30 million dollar military flight simulators mind you, not a small quadcopter.
Just one personal development cycle event I was in charge of: Have you ever sat alone with a government rep' trying to explain why one flight panel in the multi-million dollar simulator is not there, it was 'only a hole' the upper left AUX console panel located on the main instrument panel missing a HMD control switch with two sets of I/O harness hanging out (I still did not know if it was a pot' or rotary control, so I ran A/D and D/I I/O to the switch on initial design). This was on a F/A-18 flight simulator during final test, with dozens of government personnel and support currently 'flying' what we do have in the production bay. I explained "as soon as I hear back from the pilot in overseas I spoke with yesterday on the phone.." and he replied "really? how did you mange that", I said "sir, it's my job" and I told him I would give him a written update, later.. I had work to do. I had spoke to the F/A-18 pilot while he was sitting in on the tarmac in Iraq, in the only model F/A-18 that matched the contract SOW, and he eventually called me back with the data I needed. You see, we did not have that block/model here available to climb in and check out every switch on every panel like I usually do (yep, loved that part of the job), they were all deployed. It was over ONE control, that turned out to be a 8 position rotary switch that cost us $12,000 each as we used actual flight hardware (talking about long lead times). With over a 8,000+ run wire list and all the other panels, displays, instruments, controls, ejection seat, HUD, integration et. all, we were still waiting on one dad burn switch. Long story short - got the switch installed at 3:00am and integrated with I/O and software, tested and verified 2 days before final shipment of 8 sim's to 2 military bases in the US. Everyone was happy and I had more grey hair started...
OK, now... on to Solo. Being new to this type of photography I researched and talked UAV pilots and searched the internet for over a month before going with Solo. Why did I go with 3DR? Because I have met some awesome people in both 3DR itself and in on-line groups. Am I mad at 3DR because they are going through development issues, heck no. Why, because I'm here to help and have been in friendly contact since day one with 3DR and they listen and treat me well and the support has been above average IMHO.
As far as Solo: I have had 7 low level flyaway's and crashes, 11 damaged props, waited a month on my gimbal, loss Sololink at 30' for some reason, GPS issues, and so forth. You know what, I don't care... why because working with 3DR they WILL get this product finalized and you can bet in the end they will prevail. I have nothing against DJI, owners/pilots/photographers. You see, competition is good for all UAV companies in this rapidly growing market and it's going to be a gun fight to see who 'comes out on top'. Does not matter, it's product competition that makes better products for all of us, no matter if it's a Chevy or a Ford. Right now I have a gimbal, video is great (thanks to input from fellow 3DR owners and support groups) and flying like a dream due to a few mod's (thanks again..). No more crashes and I'm learning and getting better at it, each flight - one at a time.
In summary: pick and stay with what you have, be it 3DR, DJI or even Nikon, Canon, Chevy or Ford, et. all. Make your choice and be supportive to whoever you are with and help THEM and fellow owners/users out, you will be personally satisfied and the company(s) will be better off in the long run. BTW: I should have gone with Canon as my first DSLR, most my best close fiends own Canon's and I'm stuck with my 'small' selection of Nikon lenses? No, I now have friends with Nikon's and we swap gear. Dang it, but I love my Nikon.
Sorry about the long post, but in life complaining will get you no where, fast. 3DR is just trying to install that last 'control switch', or are they?
Pick your maker, your own path and live in peace. And fly safe.
Cheers
