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I'm posting this just had a heads up. We bought the old model of this drone, the IRIS, and it had serious problems and they have very poor customer support. I'v

I'm posting this just had a heads up. We bought the old model of this drone, the IRIS, and it had serious problems and they have very poor customer support. I've been waiting for at least two weeks for a call back from support. The most serious of the problems was that the drone stopped working mid-flight causing it to fall 20 feet on to concrete. We were very fortunate that no one was standing under it.

zlite 12y ago
Sorry to hear about that-our customer support usually resolves issues in a day. Please email me directly with your order details at chris@3drobotics.com and I'll escalate to manager to sort this out ASAP.
- georgemcbay 12y ago
  Just a random heads up that this may be an issue for 3DR that should be addressed to a wider audience. I recently just bought a DJI Phantom 2 after a bit of decision paralysis. I really like the open nature of the 3DR product line (and the fact that it has a San Diego presence is great) and seriously considered the IRIS but after doing a lot of "forum research" bad customer support when a problem was hit was a very common theme. I don't even know how "real" of a problem this is versus just being an echo chamber thing but it was pervasive enough that I figured I'd just buy the $600 Phantom 2 as a starter and then reassess if (well, almost certainly when) I start looking for something more than just a 'starter' drone.
invertedohm 12y ago
This is what I believe will be a (perhaps minor) roadblock towards adoption of these devices. It's relatively cheap compared to what's on the market now and appears very high quality. The problem is that flying machines are not well suited to a sudden loss of control, with their best option being crashing straight down. As an intermediate pilot myself, I'd be scared to fly anywhere near the style that the promo videos do - over open water, one mistake means your drone is taking a dive. More experienced flyers are used to the fact that flying machines crash and parts need replacing on a fairly regular basis no matter how carefully you fly. That's going to be a harder sell to people buying a complete package expecting awesome output like the promo videos. Sometimes a propellor detaches mid-flight, or the battery unplugs due to some crazy vibration. Of course, it shouldn't happen in a good design, but users are careless and it only needs to happen once to cause a good crash.
- listic 12y ago
  The drone could (should?) just hover in place sudden on loss of control. 2010 Parrot ARdrone ($299) does.
  - asynchronous13 12y ago
    I don't think you fully grasp what "loss of control" means.
    - listic 12y ago
      Whoopsie, my grasp of English failed me here.
  - sean-duffy 12y ago
    Good luck hovering in place when the sudden loss of control is due to something like a propeller detaching.
dweekly 12y ago
I found that the IRIS usually lost power at ~30% battery charge (for an array of official LiPos, fully charged with official charger and quite fresh).
utopkara 12y ago
Have you inspected the issue? One issue that makes me worry is the battery connections. These drones have a lot of vibration once they are in the air, and you need to check the battery wires before/after each recharge to make sure they solder is not broken etc.
facepalm 12y ago
I have just read in a drone magazine that it's a good idea to use drones with 8 rotors when carrying expensive cameras, because they are more resilient. Apparently with 3 or 4 rotors, the drone will inevitably fall down if one of them falls.
ahupp 12y ago
If you follow any DJI forums you'll find that the situation is not any better on that side. Anyone who's had to deal with their support is uniformly unhappy.

zlite 12y ago

Sorry to hear about that-our customer support usually resolves issues in a day. Please email me directly with your order details at chris@3drobotics.com and I'll escalate to manager to sort this out ASAP.

georgemcbay 12y ago
Just a random heads up that this may be an issue for 3DR that should be addressed to a wider audience. I recently just bought a DJI Phantom 2 after a bit of decision paralysis. I really like the open nature of the 3DR product line (and the fact that it has a San Diego presence is great) and seriously considered the IRIS but after doing a lot of "forum research" bad customer support when a problem was hit was a very common theme. I don't even know how "real" of a problem this is versus just being an echo chamber thing but it was pervasive enough that I figured I'd just buy the $600 Phantom 2 as a starter and then reassess if (well, almost certainly when) I start looking for something more than just a 'starter' drone.

invertedohm 12y ago

This is what I believe will be a (perhaps minor) roadblock towards adoption of these devices. It's relatively cheap compared to what's on the market now and appears very high quality. The problem is that flying machines are not well suited to a sudden loss of control, with their best option being crashing straight down. As an intermediate pilot myself, I'd be scared to fly anywhere near the style that the promo videos do - over open water, one mistake means your drone is taking a dive. More experienced flyers are used to the fact that flying machines crash and parts need replacing on a fairly regular basis no matter how carefully you fly. That's going to be a harder sell to people buying a complete package expecting awesome output like the promo videos. Sometimes a propellor detaches mid-flight, or the battery unplugs due to some crazy vibration. Of course, it shouldn't happen in a good design, but users are careless and it only needs to happen once to cause a good crash.

listic 12y ago
The drone could (should?) just hover in place sudden on loss of control. 2010 Parrot ARdrone ($299) does.
- asynchronous13 12y ago
  I don't think you fully grasp what "loss of control" means.
  - listic 12y ago
    Whoopsie, my grasp of English failed me here.
- sean-duffy 12y ago
  Good luck hovering in place when the sudden loss of control is due to something like a propeller detaching.

dweekly 12y ago

I found that the IRIS usually lost power at ~30% battery charge (for an array of official LiPos, fully charged with official charger and quite fresh).

utopkara 12y ago

Have you inspected the issue? One issue that makes me worry is the battery connections. These drones have a lot of vibration once they are in the air, and you need to check the battery wires before/after each recharge to make sure they solder is not broken etc.

facepalm 12y ago

I have just read in a drone magazine that it's a good idea to use drones with 8 rotors when carrying expensive cameras, because they are more resilient. Apparently with 3 or 4 rotors, the drone will inevitably fall down if one of them falls.

ahupp 12y ago

If you follow any DJI forums you'll find that the situation is not any better on that side. Anyone who's had to deal with their support is uniformly unhappy.