Hoverfly Firmware Updates

Photronix

Photronix

Pilot
I wanted to communicate this to all of you. We have recently made some major changes to our development team. The latest releases 4.6 r1, r2, and r3 although safe to fly are not working well for all platforms. We recommend that you downgrade for the time being to 4.3.860. Many of you already have. The performance of r1, r2, and r3 is well embarrassing for me. We have been quiet here on the forum because we have been re-writing the AH, PH and RTH features from scratch.

The good news is that we are almost ready to make a major release. The major change will be to AH, PH and RTH and I believe you will find that these features perform radically better than they have in the past year. I have asked Bart to beta test the new software on Monday and I am sure he will report his findings to all of you. We will of course most likely make some tweaks after we hear from Bart and then hope to release after that. We are shooting for Friday 3/1.

Ground station and waypoint navigation? Well the development of ground station has been close to release for awhile now. Unfortunately, the poor performance of AH and PH has meant that we couldn't release it. So yes it is coming but our goal is to make the standard features work well first.

Thank you for all of your patience and loyalty.

Al
 

Webheadfred

Webheadfred

Air Traffic Controller
It takes a top notch company to put forth a product and not just settle on mediocre performance, even if it means downgrading to a previous known good firmware. Anyone who has ever designed and developed a cutting-edge device, knows how difficult it is to get it perfect, especially on such diverse flying platforms. I am behind HoverFly 100%! Keep up the good work Al!
 

Mactadpole

Mactadpole

Member
This is VERY encouraging news, Al! Sorry to hear about the troubles but hopefully you and the team are back on track.

Can you elaborate on waypoint navigation at this time? How many points, maximum distance out (hopefully beyond rx/tx contact), POI, etc.?

I would love to go back to flying Hoverfly.
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
i have to admit, i've been reaching out to Al for help for a while now and my comments were not always flattering. The folks at Hoverfly have been sincere though in their efforts and have been responsive in trying to keep their users happy. i appreciate that.

it'll be interesting to see how the new firmware revisions perform. weather permitting i'll try to get to it Monday.

bart
 

S

Stacky

Member
I just want to add this. I have been using the HFP for close to 2 years now. I have had 2 issues in that entire time, one which was an auto level flip issue which was fixed within days of me asking for help and another which was related to my thrust to weight ratio and essentially not a HF fault.
I have probably built 20 different machines in the last 2 years and each and every single HFP build has flown beautifully from the very first flight. I had a problem with the gimbal controls on the HFP and within 2 weeks HF and improved the performance.
I have tried a number of different FC's and a couple have given me nice results but none have given me consistent first up quality and none have given me the support HF have.
In the 2 years that I have owned HF there have been countless firmware upgrades which no other company of any product I have ever bought have come close to matching. I paid US$450 for my 2 boards and whilst expensive compared to many other FC manufacturers has in the long run been fantastic value. There is a term called false economy which i have found to be very true. The number of repairs I have had to fork out for on other FC's compared to HF is simply incomparable. HF for me have been amazing. I have used Apple computers with my commercial photography business for close to 20 years now without a single hardware fault. HF are the only other company who's product I have bought which come close to matching that.

Call me a fanboy if you want but the economics and more importantly the flight quality mean I have no choice but to fall in to fanboy status.

I have always hated watching the whole preorder for new products thing but in HF's case i will be first in line on the day they eventually produce a new FC.

Right now I am the happiest camper on earth, my latest build a waterproof Hexa is from first flight flying wonderfully and thats with HF admitting they could do better....

Thanks HF, good luck and keep it up.

Appreciate your efforts at customer support and your desire to be as good as you can be.
 

Bowley

Bowley

Member
Just want to say thanks guys for the almost immediate reply to my support request at Zendesk. good to hear you have things in hand.
My HFP is a bit like the forbidden fruit for me just now, Its the FC I want to use but cant use at the moment. shall invest in GPS when I have faith in more than just its fantastic basic flight characteristics.
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
I just received my HFP board today. Still in the box. Anyway of knowing what firmware is on it? I assume I can get the old firmware on the website if I have to go backwards. Can I get into the card via usb without it being installed or externally powered by my lipo?

Received board and a usb cable. Nothing else. Is this correct? No software or manual printed or CD.
 

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
This is the sign of a great company! I would never expect to hear this from anyone else either. I haven't yet tried the newer 3 fw but after a statement like this I will try the next one. :) thanks for being real. Honesty goes a long way.
 

S

Stacky

Member
Have you been to the Hoverfly website and looked at the support link?

Try this http://www.hoverflytech.com/support_HUBT.html



jfro said:
I just received my HFP board today. Still in the box. Anyway of knowing what firmware is on it? I assume I can get the old firmware on the website if I have to go backwards. Can I get into the card via usb without it being installed or externally powered by my lipo?

Received board and a usb cable. Nothing else. Is this correct? No software or manual printed or CD.
Click to expand...
 
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Efliernz

Efliernz

Pete
Good on you stepping-up Al and the team.

I rolled back to 4.3.802 after I had two machines flip in AL while almost stationery - loosing a camera too. I fly a lot and I fly in 30Km winds at times. Nothing handles the wind like a HFP.
Like Stacky, I have two boards (and a 2nd-hand Sport board on the way) and despite a few frustrations, they are the best I have. So easy to setup, alter the gain in the field without a pc.

Good luck with the new team and the future developments.

Pete
 

G

gweleps

Member
Good to hear from you and see that you're working hard to always improve the flights. I like the guys who can say "hey, it's not as perfect as we want, so step back a little, we'll improve this" . This is really a good attitude!
 

hoverben

hoverben

Person of Interest
jfro said:
I just received my HFP board today. Still in the box. Anyway of knowing what firmware is on it? I assume I can get the old firmware on the website if I have to go backwards. Can I get into the card via usb without it being installed or externally powered by my lipo?

Received board and a usb cable. Nothing else. Is this correct? No software or manual printed or CD.
Click to expand...

If your product was ordered in the last 3 months, it most likely has version 4.6 firmware on it. The Hoverfly Users' Guide, Firmware Update Client, and Setup Client are all available through the website, specifically here: http://www.hoverflytech.com/support_HUBT.html

For anyone who decides to step back the firmware, be sure to completely un-install your Setup Client and re-install the "older version." The "latest version" checks for the latest firmware and it won't work if you don't have it.

Please feel free to contact me or email support@hoverflytech.com if you have any further questions or concerns.
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
OK, mucked my way though back loading firmware 4.3.860. Only thing I didn't do is when one of the steps took me to a web site for something from Parallax. No idea what that was so I went right to firmware and then it let me load the old 4.3.860.

What is the Parallax stuff for? Totally no idea what I was suppose to download there. Hope I didn't mess up.

At end of firmware to 4.3.860, it did not tell me to move switch back to position 1. Assume that was left out because when I went to run HF setup, it asked me to set switch to 1.

Tomorrow, will start mounting electronics and finish wiring. Balancing motors in next day or two.
 
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SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
Just saw this thread, and it may have saved me from pulling my hair out. I was stupid and just flashed to the latest R3 Rom last night and tried to maiden a medium lift Hex today, and it was doing WEIRD things. i triple checked everything and was about to get a baseball bat out to "fix" the rig.. saw this, and now at least I have hope.

My other HF boards have never let me down.

I love HoverFly. The fact that these guys are here in teh States is a big deal for me, and two they seem to be real guys, people who know the industry and care about it.
Cheers!

OK.. time to down boot my rig!
 




ross_badger

ross_badger

Member
Awesome.....can't wait to load the new firmware on my two HFPro hexes and try them out! Thanks Hoverfly for your efforts!
 

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