Hoverfly Something Big?

[Webheadfred]

So how much longer must we wait for this 'Something Big'? I'm about to move to another vendor unless we can get some sort of GPS waypoint feature or at least equivalent GPS performance as the competition. I feel like Pavlov's dog every time they throw us a tidbit of information. It's sad. I was really rooting for this company and I feel totally abandoned. I watch everyone else, and their Point-to-point navigation, their auto land, and their enthusiasm. Me, I don't trust the GPS to do nothing more than show a sorta-cool trick to a curious passer by. I wouldn't dare use it for work as the random fly off looms. I even sent my log to the Zendesk. I asked for a look-see to determine if anything was amiss. Crickets. Not even a response. I have 2 HFP's, 2 GPS's an HFOpen and a Sport. They have my money. I have my disappointment.

Oh, they fly very smooth. I guess I had my expectations a bit too high. My new motto - Don't expect much from them and they'll never let you down. I am looking forward to the 3DR Pixhawk. Sorry for the rant.

Fred

 

[DucktileMedia]

The fact that they brought out this "big surprise ahead" campaign and didnt even post one follow up on here is kinda weird. I love the way my Hoverfly flies and have taken off my GPS just so I dont have to wait 3 minutes for it to find sats. But honestly, like you say, if I built another heli, I might just switch back to the dark side......Xaircraft. I NEVER thought I would say that but if everyone has good things to say and they are half the price and are NOT dji, that sounds great to me. I'd also be curious what this whole Pixwolf FC is about. Having said that, I still am very confident with my manual only rock solid Hoverfly Pro. When I go do a flight for a client, it is very simple and I dont get nervous worrying about the GPS and all its woes. But it would be nice to have some of the more modern features that everyone else has seemingly figured out how to put in a nice small package. Wasnt Freefly supposed to have a FC out a while ago too?

 

[Webheadfred]

I think you're right. Freely was supposed to have one and I was interested until I heard the 2000 price tag. The Pixhawk looks really promising. I really want the point-to-point navigation that Arducopter provides. The silence says it all.

 

[tombrown1]

The fact that they brought out this "big surprise ahead" campaign and didnt even post one follow up on here is kinda weird. I love the way my Hoverfly flies and have taken off my GPS just so I dont have to wait 3 minutes for it to find sats. But honestly, like you say, if I built another heli, I might just switch back to the dark side......Xaircraft. I NEVER thought I would say that but if everyone has good things to say and they are half the price and are NOT dji, that sounds great to me. I'd also be curious what this whole Pixwolf FC is about. Having said that, I still am very confident with my manual only rock solid Hoverfly Pro. When I go do a flight for a client, it is very simple and I dont get nervous worrying about the GPS and all its woes. But it would be nice to have some of the more modern features that everyone else has seemingly figured out how to put in a nice small package. Wasnt Freefly supposed to have a FC out a while ago too?

Not sure why you keep blasting DJI. I understand they've rolled out a lot of things before they were ready, but I've stuck with things they've made that have been proven to work - namely WKM 5.16, and it has been perfect for me for well over a year and hundreds of flights. I know about the S800 issues and FW issues, but it seems like every company has these issues - this stuff is hard to make without bugs. If I had to purchase all over again, and my choices were WKM and Xaircraft, Pixwolf, and Freefly - I would take WKM in a heartbeat.

 

[SleepyC]

Not sure why you keep blasting DJI. I understand they've rolled out a lot of things before they were ready, but I've stuck with things they've made that have been proven to work - namely WKM 5.16, and it has been perfect for me for well over a year and hundreds of flights. I know about the S800 issues and FW issues, but it seems like every company has these issues - this stuff is hard to make without bugs. If I had to purchase all over again, and my choices were WKM and Xaircraft, Pixwolf, and Freefly - I would take WKM in a heartbeat.

I’d personally take the SuperX all day over the WKM, just because of the way it flys. If you have flown RC airplanes or helicopters for may years, the DJI stuff flys very robotic. It’s hard to be smooth when the controller fights you. The HFP and the SuperX can be made to fly very smooth, and the SuperX can fly smoothly even in GPS mode. I personally can not stand the way the DJi stuff flys.. It’s a personal thing I guess.

 

[Aerovideo]

I've stuck with Hoverfly because of the simplicity and reliability of manual mode and that's it. Plus I'm getting old and it's hard to learn new stuff... hehe

I've been researching the open source ardupilot stuff, looks complicated but once you get it working it looks impressive.

I liked it a lot better when they were more in touch.

I've got 3 working Hoverfly Pro's + 1 dead one, and 2 working Sport boards + 1 questionable one. Oh yeah and 1 GPS which I literally only use for the OSD features it adds

Quadcopter years are like dog years, and that means the pro boards I have now are ancient!

I seriously do question if they are still afloat? I really liked having a "Made in the USA" option and touted that whenever I can.

The silence is deafening...

 

[DucktileMedia]

The reasons have been listed here and in damn near every post about DJI. aside from all the crashes and bogus updates I really just dont lean towards the big kid on the block. I dont like a company that has no problem making billions of $ and not ever once feeling the need to answer a single question on the worlds most popular multi forum. I really dont like that people continue to support them when they wont help and their products are the root of 90% of the crashes world wide. They come on the forum and announce they have new products without ever answering a question after that in the thread. I never got that great results from my DJI equipment. It did have amazing gps hold and I liked the way AH worked. But I never trusted RTH to the point I never even tried it on a heli of value, only my little test quad. and the flying characteristics were not to my liking either(as mentioned). I also dont feel confident that electronics can be mass produced in China with decent quality control. I have had numerous bad soldering joints that have needed replacement 3 times to get a solid joint on a board (Naza). So here you have a company in China that doesnt really care about anyone crashing as they have no penalties. Everyone continues to buy their product because they have so much market share and momentum that it almost cant be stopped. And yes, I like having a board made here in the states, although this will be my last Hoverfly board if things continue as they are. So my question is, why are you so defensive about DJI?

 

[jfro]

Webheadfred. I agree with the disappointment aspect of your post about something big coming and then no follow up.

I now have my x8 with Xaircraft and a small quad with Naza V2/ GPS. Both with gps and flying is much more enjoyable. The first weekend I had my x8 reconfigured and flew with the XAircraft, I flew 8-9 short 4 -5 minute flights in 30-40 mph winds with higher gusts. It was a gas with the GPS keeping the X8 in the vicinity of where it was. Never felt like I was in danger of crashing. Granted, I didn't do much, but never would have attempted that with my non GPS HFP.

I have some more work todo to get the XAircraft flying the way I imagine it can in the wind, but feel I'll get there. My little quad with Naza gps flies silky smooth and I get up to 20 minutes without camera and 12-14 safe minutes with gopro gimbal. I put the X8 away for about 6 week after having an issue with the HFP board. I had so much fun flying the little guy. I attribute it to 1. Longer flight times, 2. More controll in ATT & GPS mode, 3. Less anxiety because I had less money in the air and more control.

I'm holding on to the HFP for a while, but if they don't do something soon, I'll probably sell mine. I'm not flying with GPS anymore. I don't crave the way points, but will probably get there sometime. But I am flat out sold on the ATT and GPS based features of the Naza and Xaircraft....

 

[SleepyC]

The reasons have been listed here and in damn near every post about DJI. aside from all the crashes and bogus updates I really just dont lean towards the big kid on the block. I dont like a company that has no problem making billions of $ and not ever once feeling the need to answer a single question on the worlds most popular multi forum. I really dont like that people continue to support them when they wont help and their products are the root of 90% of the crashes world wide. They come on the forum and announce they have new products without ever answering a question after that in the thread. I never got that great results from my DJI equipment. It did have amazing gps hold and I liked the way AH worked. But I never trusted RTH to the point I never even tried it on a heli of value, only my little test quad. and the flying characteristics were not to my liking either(as mentioned). I also dont feel confident that electronics can be mass produced in China with decent quality control. I have had numerous bad soldering joints that have needed replacement 3 times to get a solid joint on a board (Naza). So here you have a company in China that doesnt really care about anyone crashing as they have no penalties. Everyone continues to buy their product because they have so much market share and momentum that it almost cant be stopped. And yes, I like having a board made here in the states, although this will be my last Hoverfly board if things continue as they are. So my question is, why are you so defensive about DJI?

All this and Colin Quinn is just a giant pretentious ****. He should be in sales of used cigarette boats or renting jacked up Hummers to douche nozzles trying to score on the Vegas strip.

 

[JZSlenker]

I personally have nothing against DJI. It just flies like sh*t compared to HFP. Last weekend I had another opportunity to fly several other new multi's. Now it's possible they weren't setup perfectly but not one came close to flying as well as our X-8s in manual. I don't understand this obsession with GPS. We finally have a second pilot. A CP heli vet. He too doesn't use GPS, AL or AH. You just don't need it to get good footage with HF. Perhaps that is the difference. I don't get the HF bashing.

 

[jfro]

I don't and didn't mean to bash HF. I was just commenting on the there Big News with no follow up announcement.

As far as flying, I'm new and I'm just giving my personal take. For myself, if I (and I do) lose orientation on line of sight, it's a nice to be able to hit the gps switch and have it hover in place while I slowly yaw and move around to try and figure out which way I'm facing.

Flying in ATT mode is almost like flying with a governor on (for me). I'm only interested in slow flying for video and an occasional photo. Right now, with my skill level, ATT and GPS gets me more hours in the air that are stress free...... I'm partly to blame for starting with a x8 @ 12lbs for my first RC. After flying many hrs over 6 weeks on my little quad w/ gopro, I then put the XAircraft with ATT & GPS on my converted my 12lb X8 (converted from xy8) MR. It was easier to fly and again, way less stressful which translates into more fun.

I'm hanging onto my HFP for a while and if my skill level increases to where I'm flying in manual more often, it will definitely go back on a MR.

 

[DucktileMedia]

Just curious, what frame are you using that converts from an XY8 to an X8?

 

[SleepyC]

I love my HFP but i feel nervous flying too far out as if I make a mistake.. it’s butt clenching to figure out what’s up to get back. but with my SuperX’s I can fly WAY, WAY out, get confused and hit RTH and it’s on it’s way back. Also, the SuperX if set up properly can actually fly very smoothly in GPS mode unlike the DJI stuff. So it makes it very comfortable to fly into a spot, relax the sticks wait for the action and then just start flying after the shot you need. I was a die hard HFP guy until I flew the SuperX, and i still like my HFP. It just doesn’t produce the confidence a good GPS does.

 

[jfro]

Just curious, what frame are you using that converts from an XY8 to an X8?

Using Rusty's Frame. UAP2. His 8" and 6" plates have a whole bunch of screw holes pre-drilled. I basically moved 2 arms over 2 holes on inside and 3 on outside and it was converted to 4 symmetrical arms.

I temporarily (they are still attached) my legs to my arms. I had my batteries mounted on my arms on a plate on the sides. For now, I took off my dome on top and have the batteries on the top plate. Not decided if they are staying there.

I'm not 100% sure I like round arms for the x8. I have to check alignment on my motors frequently. Seems square or rectangle arms wouldn't need to be checked....

I'm contemplating converting to a little stronger frame and going the 300-400kv motor route with larger props. I'd like to up my carry weight about 2-3 lbs and increase my flight time a bit. I'd do it in a minute, but it's such a big investment in 6s batteries and I haven't figure out how to properly manage my 8 5000 mah 4s batteries.

Although I don't have nearly as much experience, I agree with SleepyC in the above post. You can fly farther (LOS) and feel more confident which is more fun and less stressful and in the end, will save $$.

 

[JZSlenker]

If RTH is all you are concerned about then HFP works great. It just doesn't hold in one position as well as others. I get what you are saying about feeling nervous when you are out that far. If you want to get better at that I recommend you take up CP heli's. Practice flying out and back with a CP and you will improve your MR skills exponentially. Even though we have GPS, our flight policy is to never get that far out. We ALWAYS need to be in 100% control. With that much weight and money in the air we will not take any unnecessary chances. If we need longer shots we switch to FPV. There is too much that can go wrong as it is without adding a risk of pilot error. Add in the fact that it's still not legal to shoot video like this and there is still plenty to be clenched about.

 

[SleepyC]

I’ve been flying Giant Scale RC planes and heli’s for 20+ years, I can fly, that’s the not issue, even FPV, GPS gives you a safety net. Like I said i love my HFP for the “Feel” but that only goes so far.
I had a shoot recently where I had to wait for the start of a race that could happen at any time, being able to park a ship in a position and have it ready (within 1 foot) to start and get the shot the director wants is pretty darn important, especially in 15+ MPH wind... there is no real way to do that with the HFP. It’s easy with the SuperX.

i wish the HFP GPS worked better, I’m still waiting.. still have mine.

 

[Aerovideo]

Hmmm tell me more about this SuperX you speak of?

Easy to setup? Smooth manual flying?

Their web site is pretty sparse on info... would be nice to hear about it from someone who has flown a hoverfly pro and compare them if you don't mind

 

[SleepyC]

Hmmm tell me more about this SuperX you speak of?

Easy to setup? Smooth manual flying?

Their web site is pretty sparse on info... would be nice to hear about it from someone who has flown a hoverfly pro and compare them if you don't mind

Mind you i am not a rep for Xaircraft, or the SuperX. I did that review and was blown away at how well the unit worked and how easy it was to set up.
I had been a HFP flyer for quite a while and just got sick of waiting. I still have my HFP’s but honestly after that review i purchased 2 more SuperX’s and have pretty much all my rigs flying on them.
(AV rigs that is)



Here is a full review of the super X I did on RCG
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2004253


here is the super X flying my Hex in a review of the Avrotos: (Just scroll to the bottom of the review of the motors for the video)
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1980129

 

[Bartman]

just to be fair folks, Sleepy, has the SuperX been used successfully on Coaxial X and Y frames? it's been having problems with my XY frame and there's maybe a solution to it but I don't recall anyone saying it's as good on coaxials as it is on flat heli's.

survey says......?

 

[SleepyC]

Bart is correct, I have not tried a co-axial except the XY8 and that was giving me issues. But I know bart has spoken with the engineers and hopefully there will be an update. They did send a solution to try but I have not had time. Again, I’m not rep-ing for SuperX, just a pretty happy user. And I still like my HFP... I just like everyone else wishes the GPS and Alt hold were better.