Is there a quality control problem with Mikrokopter equipment?

[Bartman]

The question is what it is. Let's discuss it. MK dealers are encouraged to provide any insight they might have as the rest of us don't have access to the private dealings of the MK corporate side.

I've aired my issues at various times to include poor parts selection for the kits, connectors that vibrate loose, parts that break from vibration and we've seen pictures now of parts that fall off of boards from the slightest touch. I've got thousands of dollars of MK gear that is quickly losing value on the resale market due to the deteriorating reputation of MK which was, up until recently, seen as the gold standard of multi-rotor heli gear.

Thanks guys and let's keep it civil. I'd like to hear from MK world that the dynamic duo are aware of the problems and are dealing with it.


Bart

 

[Stacky]

I dont own any MK gear. I took a long hard look at buying the gear and had a long hard look at the forums dealing with MK and looked at posts from a number of years back. I decided against MK at this point mostly because I want to spend more time flying and less tuning. From all the research I have done on a number of different platforms one thing is very constant. All platforms have their own quirks or issues and on top of that people who get burned by any platforms quirks or problems often end up being quite anti those platforms. (naturally). I now have 4 different multirotor platforms and have used 2 others and all 6 I have been in contact with have some sort of issue or quirk. I see some on RCG who are extremely anti MK for example but over time I have come to the conclusion that many of those people are anti everything hahahaha.

For me one of the most important things has been support as when I first started in this I knew absolutely nothing about anything RC or multirotor. Im watching Seans battle at present but Im also seeing support coming in from various places. As frustrated as he is the good signs from my spectator perspective is that ultimately there are some good people trying to help him. I think we are sitting in at the relatively early history of multirotor activity and I have no doubt in 20 years time these things will be absolutely everywhere for good or bad so right now with many new and established platforms we are going to be seeing the teething problems.

From my own experience and reading through lots of forums the majority of faults appear to me to be user created and often its not entirely the hardwares fault.

When I look at all the amazing video's produced by people using MK its pretty clear to me its a top class multirotor system. If there is an issue with hardware manufacture and quality control with MK the amount of noise generated on the various forums would hopefully have Holger and the team looking to fix it. One thing to remember is that if a manufacturing fault does become apparent then its not often a quick fix, it may take some time for the corrections to become apparent to the mainstream multirotor community.

 

[Bartman]

Stacky,
I agree with you that user error can contribute to many negative opinions on any particular manufacturer but what we're seeing here are components not being properly fastened to PCB's and this goes back to the now infamous "zero ohm resistor" debacle that left many of us scratching our heads wondering how anyone in their right mind could knowingly sell such a flawed piece of equipment.
I'm not an expert on each and every instance so I can't go into each and every instance without risking misspeaking but, despite their status as suppliers of a quality FC system, selling quality components isn't as assured with MK as it once was it seems and that is the purpose of the discussion.
Maybe I'm wrong and in learning so maybe the rest of you will be put at ease.
Bart

 

[jes1111]

In a former life I was involved in electronics manufacturing in Hong Kong and China. I can say with confidence that in 14 years out there I never saw such poor soldering as recent pictures in this forum have shown. Do they have a quality problem? You betcha!

I don't know if H&I participate in any forums in German, but I've never seen them or any other company representative offering pre- or post-sales support. It seems they're happy to rely entirely on the goodwill of current owners to support their high-priced products - not a good business model in this day an age!

And their "commercial usage" clause - is that clarified yet? Their response used to be that the fee was decided on a "case-by-case basis". Yeah! Right! I'm sooooo going to do business with them that way!

Sad to say (because they definitely pioneered low-cost FCs), I think their 15 minutes of fame has passed. I see no reaction, no awareness that they're heading for extinction. Maybe they'll surprise us all and come out with an amazing new product. But if they did I don't see it doing them any good if their support and quality remain as they are.

 

[Stacky]

Bart, my problem is Im the eternal optimist so I tend to hope problems arent a function of incompetence or disinterest.
I wonder if MK have got away with manufacturing issues for so long because they have such good people as distributors, for example the guys at quadcopter.us and the likes of Simon in Aussie?

 

[Bartman]

MK has done so well for so long because despite the growing list of grievances people have with them, their equipment performs better than any other. That may not last forever though as we are seeing other manufacturers slowly reaching the performance level that constitutes A-grade equipment.
As an MK user and fervent supporter I feel it is necessary to air this out. As the owner of a forum that was established to, above all, enable the free discussion of the good and bad of any manufacturer I feel it is necessary to air this out.
We're at the proverbial fork in the road. For MK there is the option to rein in remaining manufacturing deficiencies and continue to be a top tier manufacturer or they can choose the other path which is to ignore the problems (I'm a bit surprised that they seem to be coming with greater and greater frequency lately and we're just a small community within the greater multi-rotor universe) and probably be eclipsed by other products (a fate I'd be sad to see happen).
There has been enough commentary on this in past months for anyone close to MK to have a sense of what the issues are. I'm just wondering if it's being seen by others or if I get to see more of what is happening because I monitor the forums more closely and chat informally with other multi-rotor people (and a great bunch of people you are!!) off-forums via email and phone calls on a regular basis.
Thanks for the feedback so far.

 

[Crash]

The other part of the problem is all the soldering that has to be done by what are quite often newbies. That gives the guys at MK a real good excuse to blame any board defects on anything from bad soldering to static discharge to solder blobs. And sometimes it is justified. Sometimes it is not.

I consider myself lucky that my Okto worked the first time. (I won the lottery)

I have noticed that the problems come in waves. The most recent being BL-Ctrls. So yes I think quality control and customer service just plain sucks. That 000 jumper fiasco last year really tweaked my drawers!

That said, find me another partially or fully open source/open hardware project that can compete at this point.

The WooKong board looks like it will kick some serious butt soon but what if it breaks? There's no schematic to fix it.

Kirk

 

[Bartman]

The WooKong board looks like it will kick some serious butt soon but what if it breaks? There's no schematic to fix it.

good point.

 

[Emowillcox]

I knew it.... I think Jes was involved in the making of the Wookong in the early stages

 

[jes1111]

I knew it.... I think Jes was involved in the making of the Wookong in the early stages

No - but I'm an ardent supporter of (and non-tech contributor to) the OpenPilot project.

 

[Droider]

MM .. just look what has been posted about the new firmware.. I guess they do watch the world of Mr's. As far as support and QC I have been one of the frustrated MK users that cannot no matter how many time and in how many different explanations of the problems I have had could I get my questions answered. I still have a new hexa dis board with a fault that seems to be un answerable, I have also been the victim of poor QC on the builds with bits falling of a BL.

I was so close to pressing the WKF button for my new build until this mornings post by the ever watchful RTRyder.

I guess you choose you cake and eat it.. I do think they (MK that is) do look and listen its just how much can they do...?

This kind of evolving technology is all about consumer testing.. if it wer'nt for us dumb ***, stubborn, wont be beaten types nothing like this would ever get off the ground...

Whomever's platform we choose we are all just BETA testers.

Dave