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Post by helicrazi on Apr 19, 2009 14:10:08 GMT -5
Ok, I'll try and tell this story as best as possible. Friday after talking to Gram at Draganfly, I called to see if the wind meter was at the post office, was told nothing there, I even went there to verify, called Lorenzo, he checked and said they tried to deliver it and left a slip ? I thought somethings not right because it was to go to a PO. Box, sp Lorenzo called me back and said something got messed up and it was sent to my street address he apoligized and gave me the tracking # went back to post office it was 4:37 and they closed at 4:30 !!!!! luckaly I knew a gal there and a guy came out and I explained the situaion, he came back out with the package, yahoo thought all was well. didn't get a chance to open the box untill after 9:30pm due to a shoot for the local papper. well it has serial conector on the end of the cable, and I don't have a serial port on my laptop. wow long story, anyway called a friend he looked around couldn't find anything but would call in the morning, he did and didn't think he had what I needed, but I went over too his house and between both of use we adapted it, usb to ps2 to serial !!! went home loaded up and went to flying well field, hooked it up and couldn't get it to work !!!! one of the guy's there had an adapter, we tried it, even went on the net and down loaded the driver's. tested the windmeter with my DVM and it was ok ? called lorenzo left a message, when he called back, laptop was dead, out of battery. today called best buy, they said that no brick and mortor store would have the adaptor, called staples, the guy check said yes we have one !!! it was an open box so gave me a deal, came home and it work's !!!!!!!!!!! but now way to windy to even test fly and get data, having gust to 23mph at ground level !!!!!! On a good note Ben called yesterday and we had a great conversation, also he gave me a name and number of another X6 owner that lives close by, so hopfully I will be able to compair mine to his before disciding what to do. Sorry for the long post but alot of explaining tring to figure this all out. I do wish Draganfly would aleast awnser question's I still don't know how or with what they messure wind.
helicrazi
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Post by sRagnar on Apr 21, 2009 1:00:08 GMT -5
and reading that over i see that i did not mention the range issue at all. loosing contact with the X6 at 450 feet is not a sweet feeling at all. they say 2100 feet? ? how??
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Post by skyshark on Apr 21, 2009 17:37:30 GMT -5
The problems mentioned in this post sound like it could all be software related. I would sincerely hope that Draganfly inc. is working in the background to remedy the problems. I'm sure that the forum members aren't the only ones experiencing abnormal flight control. I would also think that it would be in Draganfly's best interest to at least tell their customers that they were working on solutions. The aircraft and the technology is ambitiously remarkable WHEN it works. I think extensive product testing should have been done prior to marketing the X6. A refund definitely sounds in order if the craft doesn't perform AS ADVERTISED. I'm starting to think that Microdrones' MD4-200 is a better option for aerial digital photography and hoping that your problems are resolved with Draganfly satisfactorily.
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Post by skyshark on Apr 22, 2009 11:59:43 GMT -5
Not to beat a topic to death... The X6 is the first generation of the model. To be fair...I'm sure it will go through many revisions (especially in it's control software) before it will have acceptable flight behavior. Even Microdrones' MD4-200 went through several revisions in software to improve flight and add new features. Hopefully support will keep Draganflyer's customers happy.
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 22, 2009 14:15:17 GMT -5
Ben I sure hope Draganfly address this I'm basically going to do the same thing, be it email or phone. I just want a few more fact's, I don't want to send it back and them have it for who knows how long and say there's nothing wrong with it. I now have a wind meter I can raise in the air to get measurements up to 50' I have the opportunity to compare mine with another one next week. after a little more data they will be hearing from me !!!!! I am still appalled that they didn't say anything about the video I sent them. and also appalled that Cory never answered my emails or returned my calls and that they haven't ever answered allot of my questions. from what I have been told this is the 2nd generation of the X6 and if it is a software issue, I agree with skyshark, they should tell us that there working on a revision. as far as I'm concerned it dose not perform as advertised, and everyone that owns one that I've talked to feels the same.
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rdent
New Member
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Post by rdent on Apr 22, 2009 17:38:38 GMT -5
Hi Helicrazy,
Watched your videos.....Wow! That is an amazing oscillation.....certainly can't safely fly in that condition....and it definatly is not the wind.... Has anyone from draganfly contacted you about that video?
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 22, 2009 18:34:07 GMT -5
rdent, Draganfly requested video, so I supplied them video, I sent it to them Monday the 13th, I called and emailed 15-17th, I got a hold of Gram, Friday morning and he said Cory was training someone and would be in after 3:00, I called after 3:00 Gram answered, I guess he talked with Cory and stated there was nothing wrong with the log files, I asked about the video and all he said was if I think theres some thing wrong with the unit to send it back for and they'd check it out. so no no one from Draganfly has commented on the video. I am really not happy with them at this point. they need better customer support and a better product, I have a hard time believing that a police department is able to use this, what do they do tell the chief that we can't use it cuz it's to windy today ? Lol.
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Post by skyshark on Apr 22, 2009 23:04:09 GMT -5
sRagnar,
I agree with you 100% I just hope that Draganfly is working on correcting the issues with the aircraft. It's like buying a new car and having engine problems after day one. It's frustrating and lots of stress. I wonder how many aircraft have already been sold? I'm sure all of them experience the same problems. I was told by Draganflyer that they were going to come out with a 4 rotor aircraft in summer. I agree that they need to work all of the kinks out of this aircraft before doing so.
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 23, 2009 10:46:47 GMT -5
Siggi, did draganfly reply yet ? I feel that we are on the back burner and the one's ? that the police have are priority. they defenitly need to do something about this as it dose not perform as advertised. I am going to be doing a few more test then deside what to do. (1) at a wind speed of 12mph, see if it will fly at all, manual and GPS hold modes (2) video and control range checks (3) test mine against another, compare two side by side I hope to be able to do this by 04/28/09
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 25, 2009 7:14:32 GMT -5
Went to Lake Hemet where the Hemet Model Masters annual Float Fly is held Friday 4/24/09 I arrived there a little after 1pm. wind was 8-10mph, didn't try to fly I know it wouldn't hold in GPS and I'd even have a hard time in manual mode. I took readings later around 3:30 and the wind was stronger 17.3mph. now draganfly states it can be flown in manual mode at 18mph I don't see how. Jay Turner a very experienced RC pilot said he wouldn't attempt it, has helped me test fly the x6 so he knows what to expect. he felt as I did there's now way. I still want to get a good steady wind around 8-10 mph and prove it wont hold, also try in higher winds in manual. it was just to gusty yesterday.
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 26, 2009 8:24:27 GMT -5
4/25/09 Way to windy again, but today looks good
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 27, 2009 8:57:51 GMT -5
4/26/09 when I first arrived at Lake Hemet it was calm, lake was flat and glassy. I lifted the x6 off about 25-30' and flipped the gps hold switch. it wouldn't hold. took it out off gps hold repossisioned it and flipped the switch again and it wouldn't hold. oh ya had 15 sat. 1.3 pdop. did the magnetic inclination calibration and tried it again, still wouldn't hold, all this time the lake was flat and I did have the wind meter up on the mast and it was hardly turning at times I didn't hook it up to the laptop at that time. no reason to. within an hour the wind started coming up we were Reading 8-10 at ground level and at 30' less, since it was a steady wind I lifted the x6 off nose in and had to have the right stick almost full forward and to the left to keep it in position at eye level I could have gone higher but why, I hold it there for a few minutes, I decided to set it down when I had to have the right stick at full forward and left to keep it on the spot, I couldn't have gone forward or any more left control. I slowly lowered the throttle and set it down, again this was at a fairly steady wind at about six feet. i did get some good wind measurements max was 12.1 mph. this is very discouraging to have the x6 for over two months now and I can't see how it can do as advertised. I'm going to still meet with another x6 owner to see his and also to discuss the situation and go from there, not sure how to handle it or what to do at this point.
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rdent
New Member
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Post by rdent on Apr 27, 2009 14:12:08 GMT -5
Helicrazy: Something is obviously off with your GPS hold... Need to get with Cory about that. Might need a new GPS unit sent to you. You MUST have GPS hold to fly....wind or no wind.... About the pics....I found that I had to upload my pics to Photobucket...it is free.... Then from there, you can copy the 'direct link' of the image. Go to the image icon above and click on it... that will insert a [/img] on the message. Place that direct link code in between the [/img] Should then post.. I tried getting the image from my hardrive and couldn't. This message link is looking for a direct link.... Hope this helps.
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 27, 2009 21:49:17 GMT -5
**** Logging started on 26-Apr-09 9:29:33 **** Units: MPH Date,Time,Current,Min,Max,Ave 26-Apr-09,9:30:33,9.4,4.9,9.8,7.9 26-Apr-09,9:31:33,6.6,5.3,11.6,8.5 26-Apr-09,9:32:33,9.5,6.1,12.1,9.1 26-Apr-09,9:33:33,11.2,8.4,12.1,10.3 26-Apr-09,9:34:33,8.6,8.6,14.2,12.0 26-Apr-09,9:35:33,10.2,9.2,14.4,11.8 26-Apr-09,9:36:33,10.1,9.3,12.9,10.7 26-Apr-09,9:37:33,4.7,4.7,13.5,9.2 26-Apr-09,9:38:27,0.0,0.0,5.4,3.6 ********************************************** **** Logging started on 26-Apr-09 9:42:41 **** Units: MPH Date,Time,Current,Min,Max,Ave 26-Apr-09,9:43:41,6.6,3.8,8.0,5.4 26-Apr-09,9:44:41,8.1,5.2,11.1,7.7 26-Apr-09,9:45:41,10.3,5.9,12.8,9.0 26-Apr-09,9:46:21,8.2,5.4,10.9,9.1 ********************************************** Sorry about the screen, I didn't realize it was that dirty, here's the log files for the wind meter
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Post by helicrazi on Apr 27, 2009 21:56:34 GMT -5
Thanks Rod, I think I got it now as for the GPS module I have replaced it and it didn't make any differance. I'm not sure what you meen I need GPS to fly wind or no wind ? I should be able to fly without GPS in manual mode, right ?
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