I would like to add to the discussion with a few cents...
First, Hoverfly started 20 months ago just a very short time after Droidworx starting shipping. When we launched the HoverflyPRO there were some discussions and the MK system and that was about it. So in only 2 years this whole industry was born and it has been driven harder I believe, and in a different way, than any other industry in history. I say this because never before has a company introduced such a highly complex product with the ability to receive an overwhelming amount of feedback in emails, forum posts, skype, etc in just a few minutes after firmware is released. Think about this, weeks and months are spent on a new feature. The firmware is pushed out and customers flash, fly, and then get on the forums to post their impressions. We have literally gotten feedback with in 15 minutes of pushing out firmware that took months to get right. So within a few hours customers are "constructively providing feedback" and suggesting how it should have been done better. I will add that they are also expecting fixes and changes in the same day on firmware that took months to write. The cycle is short which is good for rapid development but the expectations are not in-line with the complexity of the technology. It drives us hard but we actually love it. We have introduced 9 new products in the past 20 months and that is unheard of.
It has been said in this thread and others that companies should not release products that don't work as promised. I agree, the problem is the number of variables associated with all of the different aircraft people want to utilize. When we first released the HoverflyPRO we had a "reset" problem that drove us nuts and I personally lost about a month of sleep over it. We thought OMG its broken! We finally had a customer send us his multi-rotor because we simply could not repeat the "reset" problem. We knew the problem without even plugging the battery in. The entire wiring harness was all cold solder joints and literally insulted with scotch tape...seriously it was a mess. When we did power the system and looked at the power on the oscillosope it was a mess of noise. It was still our fault because I didn't account for this high amount of noise (it was fixed on the next manufacturing run). So my point is the companies and the customers have been on a rapid and steep learning curve in the past 2 years.
I understand that everyone just wants something that works...so they can get the job done. I agree..however everyone in the community has to understand that when you buy or build a multi-rotor today it is in my opinion the most sophisticated and complex piece of technology that you can buy. Now I have built laser dopler phase erbium doped silicon crazy high-tech systems for many years. But trust me the current DSLR carrying multi-rotor is more complex. Our multi-rotors contain over 50 microcontrollers each running their own firmware hopefully in harmony.
We at Hoverfly, I, owe an enormous amount to our extremely loyal customers. Stop by our vendor forum (on RC Groups...sorry Bart) and you will see the most professional, positive, constructive discussions I have seen. I have flown MK, DJI, Arduino based, KK, and others. I have to do this to make sure we are on track. I also do production work myself. In these cases I too "have to get the job done" and if our products didn't perform then I wouldn't get more work. The absolute truth is that I believe to my core that our HoverflyPRO flies smoother and more reliable than anything else on the market. I have thousands of flights and I have never...never had a crash caused by my HoverflyPRO. Having said that...we have our problems too. We introduced our auto-leveling before their was anything, besides MK, to compare it to. It was too aggressive. We changed it so you can smooth it down to that of MK. Our altitude hold works great for some and not as good for others. We are working on this. The HoverflyGPS works great on every multi-rotor we build. On some of our customers aircraft not so good. We are working on this as well. Waypoints? We have been flying this for a while.....its not released. Why? Not sure anyone will be able to use this in the very near future. This feature scares governments and the people they govern. The debate is ongoing.
You as a customer have the ultimate choice of course. When we keep sending our money overseas we give them (and you know who I mean) the advantage. We are a US company that builds its flight controllers in the US and therefore at some disadvantage. I can promise you this...we will continue to deliver if you choose us. Someday when you are on location and something fails you may wish you went with US. I will pick up the phone at all hours of the day to make sure you get the shot. Customer service is extremely important for most products but its crucial for a flight controller because of the level of complexity.
Al
Proud President of Hoverfly Technologies
www.hoverflytech.com