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Delta Blue

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Joined
Jan 13, 2018
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Age
68
Location
Missouri
Website
www.deltablue-birds.com
Hi. I am an independent drone pilot, mainly flying for creative purposes, but keeping my eye open for income opportunities in the future. I will be moving to western Colorado soon, where the terrain is much more interesting than the sea of trees as far as can be seen here in Missouri. I use the Autel X-Star and the coming Evo is what I have my eye on. I just didn't want to get involved with DJI products...just a personal thing.
 
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Welcome Delta!

I've been looking at the X-star for some time and woul love to hear how you like it.

Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
 
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Welcome Delta!

I've been looking at the X-star for some time and woul love to hear how you like it.

Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
I like it a lot. It is very reliable and I can easily fly it to the limit of my vision ability, maybe a couple thousand feet with no communications problems. It's supposedly capable of 1.2 miles I think but being a remote pilot I don't do that. The Ultra HD at 30 fps is good, and since the firmware update it is a much better machine with better features. The follow mode and way points feature especially is much improved, up to 99 points that can be drawn or pointed onto the map. Of course, some on the X-Star forum have complained that their machines seem to work differently sometimes, but my machine has been great, and I have nearly 30 hours flight time on it. I got it a year ago Christmas. I nearly got the Mavic instead but decided to go with Autel at least at first. The biggest beefs from fellow X-Star users seem to have been getting the machine to conform to existing software uses like mapping that DJIs and others can use. The new Evo will have that stuff though, a much more advanced machine.
 
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I like it a lot. It is very reliable and I can easily fly it to the limit of my vision ability, maybe a couple thousand feet with no communications problems. It's supposedly capable of 1.2 miles I think but being a remote pilot I don't do that. The Ultra HD at 30 fps is good, and since the firmware update it is a much better machine with better features. The follow mode and way points feature especially is much improved, up to 99 points that can be drawn or pointed onto the map. Of course, some on the X-Star forum have complained that their machines seem to work differently sometimes, but my machine has been great, and I have nearly 30 hours flight time on it. I got it a year ago Christmas. I nearly got the Mavic instead but decided to go with Autel at least at first. The biggest beefs from fellow X-Star users seem to have been getting the machine to conform to existing software uses like mapping that DJIs and others can use. The new Evo will have that stuff though, a much more advanced machine.
Sidenote: It's great to be among other pilots who probably are much more aware and respectful of the FAA rules...and oh yeah, by the way, I would not mind winning a DJI UAV...
 
Hello,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the CommercialDronePilots forum.
I hope that you will be able to use the forum to further your safety knowledge, for the exchange of innovative ideas and as a resource for current developments in the commercial drone field.
Enjoy!
 
Welcome Delta!

I've been looking at the X-star for some time and woul love to hear how you like it.

Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
The Autel XSP is now barely supported. Autel seems to be a good company with a decent machine but the XSP has short range, no SDK even though they promised one, no modular cameras, even though they promised them, no new model they teased us with (for 2017), and they rarely update the app or firmware, (once each since owning it over a year now). I like it, but it is no DJI. I hope they actually bring the EVO to market but it is still in development. All the EVO's I could see at CES are different in some way, camera's, logo's, etc. It is not a production machine by a long shot. I can only imagine DJI will take them back to court... again (X-Star vs. Phantom) over infringement of the Mavic. If you pick one up an XSP for a deal, it may be worth it. Keep in mind spare parts are hard to come by, cameras are sold out and even used parts are hard to come by. Stop on over to our Autel site if you want to do more research on them - Autel X-Star Drone Forum
 
The Autel XSP is now barely supported. Autel seems to be a good company with a decent machine but the XSP has short range, no SDK even though they promised one, no modular cameras, even though they promised them, no new model they teased us with (for 2017), and they rarely update the app or firmware, (once each since owning it over a year now). I like it, but it is no DJI. I hope they actually bring the EVO to market but it is still in development. All the EVO's I could see at CES are different in some way, camera's, logo's, etc. It is not a production machine by a long shot. I can only imagine DJI will take them back to court... again (X-Star vs. Phantom) over infringement of the Mavic. If you pick one up an XSP for a deal, it may be worth it. Keep in mind spare parts are hard to come by, cameras are sold out and even used parts are hard to come by. Stop on over to our Autel site if you want to do more research on them - Autel X-Star Drone Forum
Thanks for the update. I haven't kept up with it since I first saw it last year, but it sounds like it's a bust.
 
I like it a lot. It is very reliable and I can easily fly it to the limit of my vision ability, maybe a couple thousand feet with no communications problems. It's supposedly capable of 1.2 miles I think but being a remote pilot I don't do that. The Ultra HD at 30 fps is good, and since the firmware update it is a much better machine with better features. The follow mode and way points feature especially is much improved, up to 99 points that can be drawn or pointed onto the map. Of course, some on the X-Star forum have complained that their machines seem to work differently sometimes, but my machine has been great, and I have nearly 30 hours flight time on it. I got it a year ago Christmas. I nearly got the Mavic instead but decided to go with Autel at least at first. The biggest beefs from fellow X-Star users seem to have been getting the machine to conform to existing software uses like mapping that DJIs and others can use. The new Evo will have that stuff though, a much more advanced machine.
Thanks for the input! Unfortunately it doesn't sound like there is much support for it and it's not "growing" technologically speaking.
 
The Autel XSP is now barely supported. Autel seems to be a good company with a decent machine but the XSP has short range, no SDK even though they promised one, no modular cameras, even though they promised them, no new model they teased us with (for 2017), and they rarely update the app or firmware, (once each since owning it over a year now). I like it, but it is no DJI. I hope they actually bring the EVO to market but it is still in development. All the EVO's I could see at CES are different in some way, camera's, logo's, etc. It is not a production machine by a long shot. I can only imagine DJI will take them back to court... again (X-Star vs. Phantom) over infringement of the Mavic. If you pick one up an XSP for a deal, it may be worth it. Keep in mind spare parts are hard to come by, cameras are sold out and even used parts are hard to come by. Stop on over to our Autel site if you want to do more research on them - Autel X-Star Drone Forum
Those are good points, Maddog. I guess I like the X-Star because I have flown it a lot, about 30 hours, and it has been easy to keep it safe and out of trouble. For me it is reliable and gives great imagery. Like most companies, Autel has to follow the technology. For what it can easily do for me, which is to do VLOS flying, required by the FAA anyway, mainly vertical flights within 400 feet altitude, it is a great machine. I do want to add a better aircraft when I decide what it is, and if I needed something better for when my services are in higher demand. I guess I just do not want to (at this point) to get into the DJI maze. I have read plenty of nightmare scenarios about dealing with DJI aircraft, updates, etc., and that thought just turns me off. My X-Star has not needed spare parts and it should not if kept within its standard operating envelope and I own three batteries so I can do about an hour and a half flying at once. One has to weigh the negatives against the positives and initially for my first expert drone I wanted to be able to get help from the company if needed. Autel looked best at that time and still boasts of the best CS. I only called a couple times about minor issues and I got quick responses. The updates did take longer than we all hoped, and we never did get the SDK stuff we waited for, no mapping software, etc. So now Autel claims they wanted to abandon a losing idea, in this case modifying and improving the X-Star's capabilities, and go for something much better. If the Evo does what Tim at the show claims it will do, it will be pretty fantastic, if Autel can still survive DJI's lawyers. I will pray for miracles the first half of this year. If it does come out in production, I will probably see it at Best Buy like I did the X-Star, and pull out my BB credit card!
 
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Those are good points, Maddog. I guess I like the X-Star because I have flown it a lot, about 30 hours, and it has been easy to keep it safe and out of trouble. For me it is reliable and gives great imagery. Like most companies, Autel has to follow the technology. For what it can easily do for me, which is to do VLOS flying, required by the FAA anyway, mainly vertical flights within 400 feet altitude, it is a great machine. I do want to add a better aircraft when I decide what it is, and if I needed something better for when my services are in higher demand. I guess I just do not want to (at this point) to get into the DJI maze. I have read plenty of nightmare scenarios about dealing with DJI aircraft, updates, etc., and that thought just turns me off. My X-Star has not needed spare parts and it should not if kept within its standard operating envelope and I own three batteries so I can do about an hour and a half flying at once. One has to weigh the negatives against the positives and initially for my first expert drone I wanted to be able to get help from the company if needed. Autel looked best at that time and still boasts of the best CS. I only called a couple times about minor issues and I got quick responses. The updates did take longer than we all hoped, and we never did get the SDK stuff we waited for, no mapping software, etc. So now Autel claims they wanted to abandon a losing idea, in this case modifying and improving the X-Star's capabilities, and go for something much better. If the Evo does what Tim at the show claims it will do, it will be pretty fantastic, if Autel can still survive DJI's lawyers. I will pray for miracles the first half of this year. If it does come out in production, I will probably see it at Best Buy like I did the X-Star, and pull out my BB credit card!
I know what you mean. There is a huge community (myself included) that still fly the 3DR Solo, even though 3DR has basically gone belly-up. There are a lot of spare parts still available and there are many 3rd party developers still providing new software and hardware.
 
3DR is a good aircraft.

It is unfortunate that their initial release wasn't as good as they would hope for. With all the reported fly-aways, LoC, and DJI dropping prices, it was really hard for 3DR to compete.

Our Agi Instructor loved his 3DR that is until the MAVIC Pro came out.
 
3DR is a good aircraft.

It is unfortunate that their initial release wasn't as good as they would hope for. With all the reported fly-aways, LoC, and DJI dropping prices, it was really hard for 3DR to compete.

Our Agi Instructor loved his 3DR that is until the MAVIC Pro came out.
True, and many 3DR owners seem to be serious users and good at understanding the workings of their aircraft.
 
3DR is a good aircraft.

It is unfortunate that their initial release wasn't as good as they would hope for. With all the reported fly-aways, LoC, and DJI dropping prices, it was really hard for 3DR to compete.

Our Agi Instructor loved his 3DR that is until the MAVIC Pro came out.
the solo had very little fly aways compared to DJI. They had to. They replaced every fly away that was proven to be a fault of the equipment.

Sadly the term Fly Away, is a blanket term that covers anything from a true equipment failure to novice users with no clue what they are doing losing control of their craft.

Solo is now experiencing a nice community transition since we know 3Dr failed miserably.
An upgrade to the flight controller is now available
And with the new flight controller you can run Ardupilot Master
So pretty much the ties to 3DR at cut
And on the horizon are a lot of new capabilities for that little black bird.
Not to mention what made Solo unique were the two Linux computers and Wifi Link
Those little gems are now being moved to bigger frames so heavier lift, with solo smarts
 
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