H Plus vs H520 ponder

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I wonder if there is a Chinese Yuneec Pilots forum, and if they feel just as ignored as we do...

 

[PatR]

My musings are easily misunderstood. The H and H Plus ate both great systems, but they could easily be a lot better, and with a little advertising do much better dales numbers than they do. The “nannyware” you would have to deal with in DJI stuff comes close to offsetting Yuneec’s deficiencies, and those “deficiencies” could be easily remedied to place the Plus at the head of the pack. Also necessary is to factor in is the H and H Plus are intended for pilots where a lot of other stuff is designed in order to allow monkeys to operate them. Note I did not say fly.

After a few setbacks not of their doing Yuneec appears to be trying to find a new path. The questions is whether they are “rudderless” or thinking a room full of various level engineers think they know the direction the customer base want’s to go, without benefit from a marketing or advertising plan.

It also needs to be understood I’m picky and demanding. Whatever I buy has to fulfill all the needs I have, today. Not tomorrow or the next day, unless a firm communication is presented with a date for fulfillment. It also has to work reliably out of the box. That assurance was part of what I did did for a living, along with listening to customer needs. Quality, reliability, versatility, feature improvement, and service sell.

Being competitive requires innovation. Innovation requires ideas or needs to fulfill. Customers are real good at telling companies what they want or need. Listen to the customers and you can establish a path. Engineers are usually too busy trying to finesse minutiae and get lost in diversions. Creativity is not their general strong suit. What they do best is find solutions to problems often resolved through adaptation after they were informed of them.

So if you want more customers, listen to the one’s you have and make them happy. Their peers will quickly become aware of customer satisfaction.

BTW, have you checked range again after removing the recorder from the -16? For VLOS purposes, 2000’ is plenty. Beyond that lies monsters[emoji6]

 

[rdonson]

Please keep in mind that Yuneec hasn’t even released a firmware update yet. Don’t write them off until at least 6 months after the release of the Plus. So far the aircraft flies well and the camera works well.

I do want a portable, capable drone to add to my squad but so far I don’t see myself going DJI. I am looking at the Autel EVO and the Parrot Anafi.

If things go as in the past I’ll likely purchase an H Plus around the end of the year.

 

[Barton]

My musings are easily misunderstood. The H and H Plus ate both great systems, but they could easily be a lot better, and with a little advertising do much better dales numbers than they do. The “nannyware” you would have to deal with in DJI stuff comes close to offsetting Yuneec’s deficiencies, and those “deficiencies” could be easily remedied to place the Plus at the head of the pack. Also necessary is to factor in is the H and H Plus are intended for pilots where a lot of other stuff is designed in order to allow monkeys to operate them. Note I did not say fly.

After a few setbacks not of their doing Yuneec appears to be trying to find a new path. The questions is whether they are “rudderless” or thinking a room full of various level engineers think they know the direction the customer base want’s to go, without benefit from a marketing or advertising plan.

It also needs to be understood I’m picky and demanding. Whatever I buy has to fulfill all the needs I have, today. Not tomorrow or the next day, unless a firm communication is presented with a date for fulfillment. It also has to work reliably out of the box. That assurance was part of what I did did for a living, along with listening to customer needs. Quality, reliability, versatility, feature improvement, and service sell.

Being competitive requires innovation. Innovation requires ideas or needs to fulfill. Customers are real good at telling companies what they want or need. Listen to the customers and you can establish a path. Engineers are usually too busy trying to finesse minutiae and get lost in diversions. Creativity is not their general strong suit. What they do best is find solutions to problems often resolved through adaptation after they were informed of them.

So if you want more customers, listen to the one’s you have and make them happy. Their peers will quickly become aware of customer satisfaction.

BTW, have you checked range again after removing the recorder from the -16? For VLOS purposes, 2000’ is plenty. Beyond that lies monsters[emoji6]

Understood . Your response adds clarity and some calm to my reactions. In general, except maybe on the portability topic, the H+ has way more capability than I have proficiency and it will likely stay this way for a long time, especially if FW updates occur that add features.

Having experienced a number of cycles of product development, your summary above brings back some good and some painful memories . Some of the development projects were for 'internal' customers which meant we had to deal with them telling us HOW do design the product, not WHAT their requirements were, which they generally didn't really know, or would only truly understand or discover halfway through the development schedule.

Regarding my comments about Bonaire, the one area I would like to use the H+ is the bay used for windsurfing, but this is also a protected nature area with a firm NO DRONES edict. The rest of the island is so saturated with tourist drone videos that get posted to YouTube that it hardly seems worth the effort to make more videos . Hence my hesitation to make the effort to haul the H+ to Bonaire.

One of the reasons I opted out on DJI, and others, was that I didn't see a need for 'flips' and 'astroids', and ... None of these 'features' made sense to me in a relatively expensive flying camera platform where I would like to minimize the strain on the gimbal system. I don't view the H+ as a 'stunt flyer', if I wanted that, I'd buy a cheap FPV UAV.

Regarding the range check - haven't performed the test yet. Am waiting for the 4Hawks to arrive (Thursday) and to get the new ProAm sun shield in place so I can easily move/adjust the recorder location as desired. I want to do the testing in one sitting to minimize variability. My plan on the recorder is to run one test where it is presently located and then another test with it in my 'extender' tray. If I have time/batteries, I'll also do a run with the recorder completely removed from the system. Ultimately, I don't want to give up the functionality of the recorder unless it severely impacts the control communications. Also, I suspect the recorder may be blocking the GPS antenna of the 16 as it takes a long time for it to recognize sats and typically only 6-9, while the H+ is seeing 18! I'll post results as soon as I have run the test.

 

[PatR]

Regarding Bonaire’s no drone policies. Pick a day with wind forecasts between 12 and 30 knots for Hood River and spend the day between the main beach, the adjacent river, and the sand spit on the east side of the river. Join the AMA before you go for whatever insurance coverage they might extend in the event something happens.

Up until I left there in in May 2017 the Port was wide open legal for drones. I’d even read the opinions of their legal team confirming that. They have one grounds guy that hates drones and will try telling you it’s not legal but if you call him out he backs down. Even if they’ve changed their ways the sand spit is outside of their area of authority as it lies in the middle of a navigable waterway and is seasonal. You can walk out on dry ground and have kite boarders and wind surfers on three sides of you. The east side has a bunch of jump ramps. Just stay upwind of the kite shrouds. Take a few batteries. You can shoot the harbor while you’re there. Hood River and Bingen WA on the other side is the home of a very large and successful UAV outfit. The area is used to them. As the day's crowd grows the spit works out as a lot safer place to fly as you won't have as many people under you. The main beach gets pretty crowded on a good wind day.

The H-480 handled the wind just fine[emoji4]

BTW, it sounds like you’ve worked on some programs of record.

The Spit from a couple years ago.

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[Barton]

Pat, I'm very familiar with Hood River and the windsurfing sites. Years ago, the Gorge was where I learned to windsurf on the weekends. One of my mentors and captain of the GPS Team Challenge windsurfing speed sailing team that I'm on lives in Mosier and regularly sails at Waterfront Park and the sandbar. In fact, when I told him I had purchased the H+, his first response was to ask when I would be competent enough as a pilot to take some UAV-based videos of him speed sailing the sandbar. On a typical day he will be maxing out between 35-40 knots. Good to know the 480 handled the wind speeds there as I was concerned about how much margin existed. I have sailed the sandbar but my speed is pathetic compared to the team captain's . Once the tumor behind my right eye is resolved I hope to be back on the water to join my friend.

I think the UAV outfit in Bingen that you are thinking of is Insitu, now owned by Boeing. The team captain's son just graduated as a mechanical engineer with straight A's and is now working in Hood River at Insitu's R&D location (one proud papa ).

Regarding AMA - already a member. Membership is required to fly at the county aerodrome and getting the insurance is well worth the yearly membership fee. Thanks for making sure I am covering my bases .

 

[YuKay]

The Spit from a couple years ago.

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That's one surreal, hypnotic, discombobulating video. And so sharp, it could be CGI.

 

[Haydn]

Ok. So you may or may not know they I import and sell these in Australia....
I say that so you can judge my comments on what ever merits you feel comfortable with.

The H520..
It is advertised as a Commercial Drone.
Is it perfect. No. Is it the best one out there? No.
What you do get is the following.
A commercial drone that Handles wind like no other. Seems unphased by electromagnetic, and telecommunication interference.
A great inspection tool.
The ability to manage multiple units.
Set the job up on your PC or Mac remotely.
Multiple payloads currently 3 but the other E10T thermal is due soon. (More info on that next week)
A maintenance schedule to incorporate into your reporting.
No NFZ flight restrictions.
An ability to add custom 3rd party control apps. (Unlike Tunas awesome app. These can fly the drone and give control over it)
What you should also be getting from this drone is what I offer my customers. That is Support. Knowledge. And quick turn around.
It is a commercial product and you can't afford it to be sitting for 1-2-3 weeks in a repair centre)
You don't buy these from Bestbuys or Costco , as you need that support.


The H Plus.
A proven hardware base of the H520.
Features that are more suited to consumers (and photographers/videographers)
An awesome out of the box image (better than the H520.... So clearly it can be fixed in software)
A super quite machine (again even more quite than the H520... Don't know if that can be addressed in firmware)
A refreshing interface that is nicer to work with. Intuitive in its layout. And quickly mastered especially by those coming from DJI.

The down side of the H Plus is the payload options. NON other than the C23.
A NFZ (That you may or may not be able to get lifted)
No 3rd Party Apps (Yes Tuna may be able to add something... But it is a form of a hack. Don't get me wrong I think his software is great. But it can't be native. It is like Jailbreaking an iPhone or iPad..... You can do it and then install any program you want... Or you use a 3rd party native app on the H520s open network)
In a lot of cases no knowledge, no support, no after sales service. Because you are buying it from there Big Department stores or the discount eBay guy or wherever.....


So if price is important and money is the number one reason for buying then look around and get your cheapest discount price with no support and go and fly it and when you have a problem or crash you will probably jump on a forum or Facebook group and winge about how the company is crap and the service and support is crap and the drone is crap......

Anyway you get the idea.
Bottom line they are both good machines and they do a job.
If they don't do your job.... Then go to DJI, Parrott or Autel or whoever and buy the drone that does.

I will say again there are better drones..... Some are more expensive and have more features. Some are cheaper with less features.
For my mind the two Yuneecs are competitive.

 

[YuKay]

Haydn, how well is the H Plus selling over there - both in comparison to the market leader and to the "H" when it first launched?

 

[PatR]

I know Insitu well having spent over 11 years with them.

The capability of your Plus is greater than what is available with the H. The Plus is faster and stability in high wind has been demonstrated better as well, although the H is no slouch in that department. The attached video link (you’ll recognize the location) was one of the test flights to establish what the 480 could handle on a day another brand had problems dealing with it. The 480 was rock solid and experienced no issues with stability, controllability, take off and landing, or flying back against the wind. The end result of the the flight established total confidence for flying in wind speeds higher than other systems could deal with. The Plus has even greater ability.

Although I grouse much about Yuneec’s management there’s no denying their hexacopters are extremely capable machines and will serve well those operators having the flight skills necessary to fly them in conditions too severe for other systems to deal with. For people used to systems where they pushed a button to land or take off, or tapped the screen to go hither and yon, they'll need to develop their personal flight skills before attempting windy days. As you would expect the battery is depleted faster under such conditions but effective flight time is still good. You can fly the Plus in windy conditions with confidence once. Those that have their flight control skills down should be able to explore boundaries they never thought could be achieved.

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[Haydn]

Poorly.
Unlike the H480 the is no hype around it.
It is not in all the hobby stores etc.
3 years ago when the H480 was coming out there wasn't a lot of competition...
Now there are drone makers pooping up left and right. And some are really great machines.
But there is no concerted effort behind advertising them. No review units going out to YouTubers etc.
It isn't in any large department stores ATM. When it does I hope that it will give awareness.
....

This is a reason why I'm going to a drone expo here next week to sell drones (of course) but mainly to show people there are alternative products that can do a great and sometimes better job than the competition.

 

[YuKay]

Have you got stocks of both H Plus models? Most territories seem to have one or the other for now. Maybe Yuneec are biding their time on the promotions until they can get the stock out?

 

[Haydn]

Have you got stocks of both H Plus models? Most territories seem to have one or the other for now. Maybe Yuneec are biding their time on the promotions until they can get the stock out?

Yes H520,
H Plus Realsense and Backpack
And
H Plus with Backpack but no Realsense

 

[PatR]

That's one surreal, hypnotic, discombobulating video. And so sharp, it could be CGI.

Thanks,...I think In one portion of it had the landing gear been down the H would have been in the water. The H was lower than it needed to be and a kite control line zipped by, missing the H by only a couple inches as the kite flew past over head. It's how I learned to keep upwind of those things.

 

[Haydn]

Regarding Bonaire’s no drone policies. Pick a day with wind forecasts between 12 and 30 knots for Hood River and spend the day between the main beach, the adjacent river, and the sand spit on the east side of the river. Join the AMA before you go for whatever insurance coverage they might extend in the event something happens.

Up until I left there in in May 2017 the Port was wide open legal for drones. I’d even read the opinions of their legal team confirming that. They have one grounds guy that hates drones and will try telling you it’s not legal but if you call him out he backs down. Even if they’ve changed their ways the sand spit is outside of their area of authority as it lies in the middle of a navigable waterway and is seasonal. You can walk out on dry ground and have kite boarders and wind surfers on three sides of you. The east side has a bunch of jump ramps. Just stay upwind of the kite shrouds. Take a few batteries. You can shoot the harbor while you’re there. Hood River and Bingen WA on the other side is the home of a very large and successful UAV outfit. The area is used to them. As the day's crowd grows the spit works out as a lot safer place to fly as you won't have as many people under you. The main beach gets pretty crowded on a good wind day.

The H-480 handled the wind just fine[emoji4]

BTW, it sounds like you’ve worked on some programs of record.

The Spit from a couple years ago.

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How those kite Surfers don't run into each other and get all tangled up is a mystery.

 

[YuKay]

Hm, still no stocks of the RS option in the UK AFAIK. But slow sales are disappointing for everyone (unless they lead to a price drop, in which case some consumers will benefit). But is the whole market a bit slow? Every current and future Yuneec owner needs them to be successful.

 

[PatR]

Every current and future Yuneec owner needs them to be successful.

In a nutshell, that’s what I am most concerned about. The opportunity is there to be very successful but they continually deny achieving that due to their management and marketing practices.

 

[Barton]

I know Insitu well having spent over 11 years with them.

The capability of your Plus is greater than what is available with the H. The Plus is faster and stability in high wind has been demonstrated better as well, although the H is no slouch in that department. The attached video link (you’ll recognize the location) was one of the test flights to establish what the 480 could handle on a day another brand had problems dealing with it. The 480 was rock solid and experienced no issues with stability, controllability, take off and landing, or flying back against the wind. The end result of the the flight established total confidence for flying in wind speeds higher than other systems could deal with. The Plus has even greater ability.

Although I grouse much about Yuneec’s management there’s no denying their hexacopters are extremely capable machines and will serve well those operators having the flight skills necessary to fly them in conditions too severe for other systems to deal with. For people used to systems where they pushed a button to land or take off, or tapped the screen to go hither and yon, they'll need to develop their personal flight skills before attempting windy days. As you would expect the battery is depleted faster under such conditions but effective flight time is still good. You can fly the Plus in windy conditions with confidence once. Those that have their flight control skills down should be able to explore boundaries they never thought could be achieved.

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Happy to read this as stability in windy conditions was on the list of desired features. While I may not do a lot of flying at the Gorge, I wanted to have that capability. Thanks for posting.

 

[hyflyer1]

To add to this scheme to produce the H920Max! If this was a DIY Kit Upgrade in the range of $2000 it would probably be a sought after kit and you'd see the sales of H920's climb!

Not to disturb the thought with a "Mix" Gene pool... but I've pondered a wrecked or retired S900, S1000 or M600 transfer. The works, including the A2 and Lightbridge 3. The M600 various gimbal mount frame(s) would resolve any issues mounting up various gimbals & cameras. Could even swap the carbon arms for longer arms to use the M600's 21" props. Visually, it'd be a Beast!

I've been watching the H520's. I'm mainly interested in the Grid, Map, Tower Inspection type of tasks. But even with a "used" H520 it's more than a new H Plus, the Orange isn't worth that much.

Hello, EdK/ hiflyer1 hr. I’m in the process of collection components for a S900/S1000 build. So far, picked up a new used Lightbidge2 and just had to order wiring harness kit for it. Also joint Lenmuse GH4 gimble used once and like new, more than reasonable. Now looking for a S900 S1000 frame. I’ve built a number of drones and have the q500 and Typhoon H with mod antenna systems. Work great and friend has improved battery mod for Hugh savings on mods. This is a Great hobby, young and old. Hope you find what you are looking for too. Good luck and safe flying. Like your post

 

[LinsonW]

Mark this thread and thanks for these info mentioned here