I used to be a loyal 3DR customer and owned both the Iris+ and Solo. Both were very capable and had some outstanding features, but DJI pushed them out of the market pretty quickly. They did so by flooding the market with a broader range of models, and then reduced the price of their mid tier models which killed 3DR sales. The day I read that 3DR had sold their mapping software (Site Scan) to DJI, the writing was on the wall.
I unloaded all my 3DR stuff that weekend and now own a Mavic Pro and a Spark.
Having been following the industry for about 5 years now, I'm not sure there are any viable competitors to DJI. There are some smaller players like Yuneec, but the technology and price points can't compare to DJI. It's the same thing GoPro found out the hard way. Stumble once, and DJI just sweeps up the crumbs and forces you out of the market.
I thought the Solo was killed by a random flyaway malfunction...at least, that's what I read when I was trying to figure out why it was available for like 400 bucks. Is that not the case?
I ended up buying a Mavic Pro. Never even so much as saw a Solo in person. In your experience, how do they compare?
The Solo was rushed into production in order to try and compete with DJI's new Phantom 3 line.
The Phantom 3 was way ahead of the Solo in nearly every spec. Better camera (4K vs. 1080p), longer battery, longer range and better GPS. Many users I know attribute the controller issues with the fact 3DR used some proprietary GPS instead of the more common one the DJI models used.
The nail in the coffin though was the gimbal. The P3 came with a three axis gimbal, even on their entry model. The Solo, because it was rushed, at first didn't even ship with a gimbal and they said they would sell it separately as an add-on. Then it shipped with one that didn't move at all (http://macnn.mnmcdn.com/article_images/128157-md-26378-Solo_...), and when they finally got the three axis one on there, it was already too late. I also found out later a lot of the demo's they did the Solo's they were using had souped up GPS and other software they didn't have on the retail models people were getting.
My Solo had a lot of the common issues. It would take off fine, but only go about 75ft and then hover, then the gps would cut in and out and I'd panic and have to land it. Sent it back a few times and nothing was ever resolved. After my third replacement, I threw in the towel. My Iris+ was far more dependable and I only ever had really minor issues with it. A simple re-calibration always fixed any issues. I had a three axis gimbal on it with a gopro Hero 5 and it was always dependable. I ended up selling it because I could go from hauling around a huge Pelican 1650 case to my backpack with the Mavic.
After having both, I finally came to the conclusion DJI has a far superior product. They're innovating faster, and packing way more tech into their drones than any other company. Add in the fact they're making these things smaller and smaller. It makes it WAY easier to transport. Like I said, I can toss my chrome bag over my shoulder, walk into the city, unpack and get my Spark up in a matter of minutes, get some footage and get out before the cops show up. No way I could do that with either the Solo or the Iris. The startup time for both was several minutes (anywhere from 2-5 mins) to get a GPS lock. With the Spark and Mavic its almost instantaneous.
Hope this helps. My advice is to stick with DJI, even their entry models are better than most mid range drone models from other companies.
Comments
Disappointing, but not surprising.
I've looked at quite a few drone startup projects (as investments). I'm not sure everyone fully understands how formidable DJI is right now.
They are the Apple/Amazon AWS of the drone market.
I had the same reaction.
I used to be a loyal 3DR customer and owned both the Iris+ and Solo. Both were very capable and had some outstanding features, but DJI pushed them out of the market pretty quickly. They did so by flooding the market with a broader range of models, and then reduced the price of their mid tier models which killed 3DR sales. The day I read that 3DR had sold their mapping software (Site Scan) to DJI, the writing was on the wall.
I unloaded all my 3DR stuff that weekend and now own a Mavic Pro and a Spark.
Having been following the industry for about 5 years now, I'm not sure there are any viable competitors to DJI. There are some smaller players like Yuneec, but the technology and price points can't compare to DJI. It's the same thing GoPro found out the hard way. Stumble once, and DJI just sweeps up the crumbs and forces you out of the market.
I thought the Solo was killed by a random flyaway malfunction...at least, that's what I read when I was trying to figure out why it was available for like 400 bucks. Is that not the case?
I ended up buying a Mavic Pro. Never even so much as saw a Solo in person. In your experience, how do they compare?
The Solo was rushed into production in order to try and compete with DJI's new Phantom 3 line.
The Phantom 3 was way ahead of the Solo in nearly every spec. Better camera (4K vs. 1080p), longer battery, longer range and better GPS. Many users I know attribute the controller issues with the fact 3DR used some proprietary GPS instead of the more common one the DJI models used.
The nail in the coffin though was the gimbal. The P3 came with a three axis gimbal, even on their entry model. The Solo, because it was rushed, at first didn't even ship with a gimbal and they said they would sell it separately as an add-on. Then it shipped with one that didn't move at all (http://macnn.mnmcdn.com/article_images/128157-md-26378-Solo_...), and when they finally got the three axis one on there, it was already too late. I also found out later a lot of the demo's they did the Solo's they were using had souped up GPS and other software they didn't have on the retail models people were getting.
My Solo had a lot of the common issues. It would take off fine, but only go about 75ft and then hover, then the gps would cut in and out and I'd panic and have to land it. Sent it back a few times and nothing was ever resolved. After my third replacement, I threw in the towel. My Iris+ was far more dependable and I only ever had really minor issues with it. A simple re-calibration always fixed any issues. I had a three axis gimbal on it with a gopro Hero 5 and it was always dependable. I ended up selling it because I could go from hauling around a huge Pelican 1650 case to my backpack with the Mavic.
After having both, I finally came to the conclusion DJI has a far superior product. They're innovating faster, and packing way more tech into their drones than any other company. Add in the fact they're making these things smaller and smaller. It makes it WAY easier to transport. Like I said, I can toss my chrome bag over my shoulder, walk into the city, unpack and get my Spark up in a matter of minutes, get some footage and get out before the cops show up. No way I could do that with either the Solo or the Iris. The startup time for both was several minutes (anywhere from 2-5 mins) to get a GPS lock. With the Spark and Mavic its almost instantaneous.
Hope this helps. My advice is to stick with DJI, even their entry models are better than most mid range drone models from other companies.