Gimbal Solo -3

I really hate to be writing this. The drone is well built and did a few really great flights that were easy to control and smooth. Right out of the box, the HDMI to GoPro didn't work. All I got on the mobile app screen was a solid magenta screen instead of a live video feed. I contacted support and they never responded. I tried again and got nothing. So I couldn't see the flight through the drone's eyes, which meant being super conservative, as well as not getting the value the whole thing is marketed around with the GoPro.Then, on a standard landing after about 10 flights, it jerked sideways and went full speed at a hard tilt and slammed into a tree, snapping off a rotor and nearly hitting someone. It landed upside down, and when I picked it up, all the rotors turned on full blast and nearly sliced my arm open. I managed to turn it off while holding it from taking off like a zombie drone, then went immediately to write the incident to the support email.I was offered an extremely dry and robotic-toned response of instructions to "download the log files from the vehicle and send them for review". No "sorry, that must have been a scary experience" or "wow, we're going to make this right". It's like the support emails are being fielded by backend software engineers.Realizing I should take advantage of having made contact with someone (albeit not very helpful), I noted that I had an unanswered ticket on the broken GoPro issue. They said to test it on iOS and Android, as well as prove the GoPro works on a TV. I did all of this, taking a picture of the phone screen showing a magenta screen instead of a live video feed. The guy responded basically suggesting I was lying because he could see ceiling lights in the live feed view, citing that as proof that it's working. I promptly clarified that it was the reflection of the ceiling lights on the glassy phone screen when I took the picture, and that our ceilings aren't solid magenta. Idiot. You'd expect something instead like "I'm sorry to hear it's not working, let's get to the bottom of this to resolve the issue as soon as we can." Nope.They finally agreed to address it by having me send the vehicle back so they can look at it to determine what's wrong and whether they can fix it for me. Again, no "we'll do what it takes to make up for selling you a broken expensive drone that almost hurt you and didn't work properly from the first use out of the box". Just a "we'll take a look".They asked for my mailing address to create the shipping label. I sent it. Then they asked again 2 hours later. I sent it again. They said I'll need to go purchase a box to send it back in since I didn't keep the original shipping box. Then the shipping label they sent me has the wrong address under my name (remember how I sent it twice?). I just got their reply that I must have sent them the wrong address. No, I didn't.Literally every touchpoint with the 3DR team has been absolutely horrible, and it's clear they put all the investment into the product and zero into handling customer support issues. Just no human touch or consideration at all. Cold, suspicious, and unhelpful tone of service.While I'm at it, it's worth mentioning that after initially purchasing the Solo, they asked me two separate times to take photographs of my credit card to email them proof that I bought it before they'd approve the purchase. That process took about a week. Why they had to do this once is beyond me, and twice is just insulting.If I were an investor with them, I'd have the ass of whoever forgot to build a support structure for customers spending $1500+ per purchase. If you buy and are lucky to get a great one, I'm sure you'll love it. But if you have 1 single issue to deal with, God help you.UPDATE: I mailed the drone back to them about 10 days ago and haven't heard anything at all. I emailed today and still haven't gotten a response. Nothing to assure me it's arrived, or in the right hands, or status. Just silence. #thisJustKeepsGettingWorseUPDATE #2: After 2 weeks of radio silence, I Tweeted the founder and company and the VP of support has commented here assuring it would be sent out the next day. Many days went by and I still haven't gotten the drone. I got an email 6 days after asking for tracking information, notifying me that there was a problem with delivery. Remember above how they botched my address and I corrected it twice to get the right return label? Well they sent the actual drone to the botched address instead of the correct one. They asked me to call FedEx to sort it out myself. I said I'd prefer if they would just fix it. They asked again for me to contact FedEx. I insisted that it's not my problem to fix, and I shouldn't have to spend my time cleaning this up. So he contacted FedEx and learned they'd addressed it incorrectly. Keep in mind, this is the level of service when the founder and VP of support are aware of the situation.How many thousand of dollars in lost sales because of this review will the company have to eat until they get a single competent person from the support team to take a few minutes to get this right?#theNightmareContinuesUPDATE #3: The unit was sent back to the billing address, which is my office in Los Angeles. I live in San Francisco (remember how I've supplied my address like 5 times now?). I had my office in LA overnight it up to me. A big sigh of relief that I finally had a fixed Solo abruptly ended when I opened the box. The controller screen was all scratched up now. It was missing the charging cable. The bottom of the Solo was also scratched up. The video feed still didn't work. One of the rotors had been replaced and the plastic was left stuck in the seam that I can't pull out. I called the support line and we were able to get the video feed working, though the app no longer had a record button so I couldn't actually capture any of the footage while it was in flight.I've now asked for an entire replacement unit. We'll see how that goes. Here are the photos of the unit I got back that was "fixed" - (...)The DJI is looking pretty attractive right about now.UPDATE #4: I sent the unit back over two weeks ago to be replaced. I was promised that the moment my return shipment was logged by FedEx, they would get the confirmation it was on its way back and immediately ship the replacement overnight. Two weeks later, I haven't gotten an email or phone call, and the replacement hasn't arrived. I just called to see what the hell is going on and they said it hasn't been shipped yet, but they could offer me overnight shipping and send it out today. This is the final straw. I've asked for a full refund and never want to deal with this company again. 2+ months of my time wasted, countless frustrations, $1,500, and both the founder and VP of Support are aware - and this is the result. No human being should have to work this hard to get a company to simply get a working product to a customer who's paid for it.This company is a nightmare. They'll happily take your money, but clearly don't care about you. KEEP YOUR MONEY AND STAY CLEAR OF 3DRobotics.UPDATE #5: When I last called demanding a refund because they literally forgot to send me the replacement I'd been waiting for (and was promised would be overnighted as soon as they got tracking confirmation that I'd sent the broken vehicle to them), they confirmed that the replacement wouldn't be sent and instead they would process the refund. Days then went by, and it hadn't come through. I called and learned that instead of issuing a refund, they shipped the vehicle to me, and that I'd have to send it back to get the refund. Seriously!? So I waited a few days and received a small box with only a battery charger. I called and asked what's going on and they said their systems showed that I have received the new drone. I explained that I only got a battery, and they said it must have been (ANOTHER) mistake from the shipping department. So they emailed me a label to send the charger back, and promised the refund would be sent right away. Of course, 6 days later (at the time of this update), I'm still waiting with no update from them.UPDATE #6: It's been 12 days now since I got the message that the refund was being processed. Still no refund. I'm currently on hold waiting for them to find someone in customer support who can figure out what's going on. This review is turning into a eBook.Comcast is a customer support dream compared to this s***.

I have gotten to know the 3DR Solo very well since I purchased it just over a week ago. I've flown it about 12 hours already, have disassembled it, and completed the necessary crash test (that tree came out of nowhere!)First of all, this is a serious quad-copter. At the height of its popularity, a 3DR Solo package sold for about $1,100. Fast-forward to April 2017 and it's been discontinued, disowned by 3DR, and has a bad reputation. Do not expect support from 3DR! The trade-off here is self-sufficiency, so buy from Amazon who has a great return policy. Heck, maybe buy two so you have parts for months or years to come.My experiences with Solo have been fantastic- like the kind I would have paid twice the price for. Since we're talking money here, while the thing is ready to fly right out of the box, you should factor in a phone or tablet plus a GoPro into your total cost of ownership.Optionally you might want to purchase extra propellers and a neutral density filter kit for your GoPro.

This is actually really amazing technology. Unfortunately it was blown out of the water by DJI when they decided to offer the Mavic Pro Drone. I ended up selling mine for the Mavic. The 3DR had all the same features and was a couple years older. I also liked the open-source nature of the 3DR which allowed it to do some things that the Mavic probably can't. I loved using this drone with my GoPro that I already owned. At the end of the day though, the backpack in which I would carry it was HUGE and that meant I almost never took it with me anywhere. And if that was the case, what is really the point?

I received my Solo it on time opened it and everything was there that was supposed to be followed the instructions and everything went fine took it out side fired up the engines oh yeah this is straight out the box stock it picked up 12 satellites in less than 2mins and was flying with no problems period..... I haven't tried all the functions as of yet will update accordingly till then Thanks

This is the best purchase out there at the moment in terms drones in its class. I say this because there are reviews on the internet that compare this to say a bugs3 which is a good drone, but not in the class of this drone. This a legitimate filming drone when it works properly. Extremely smooth flyer. So much so that my friend who owns a DJI inspire 1 was very impressed and I didn't not feel jealous in the least bit in terms of flying ability and the ability to capture cinematic footage compared to the inspire. I was a little jealous of the retractable landing gear on the DJI. But the jealousy ended there. The DJI is a nice machine, but also cost at least 2 times what this drone cost. More if you use a Chinese GoPro knockoff as a camera. Which is easily done. So now for the bad. It requires both mechanical and electrical knowledge if your are not lucky enough to get a good one from the factory. If you get a good one then you are set. Enjoy being the owner of a top notch drone for the price of a basic GPS drone.I got both one that was perfect. Luckily the first one, otherwise​ my review may not have been as positive. The second I was not so lucky. It did not require a financial investment, but did require my time (about 30 minutes of reading and 10 minutes to perform the fix) which I was more than happy to give since I knew that it's a great performer when it works as it should. All in all this is an awesome buy at its current price. No doubt this is a 5 star value.