Yeah, I have not reached out to him and probably won't. I don't think I will be staying with these drones much longer. Yuneec is no longer unique without full support. The problem with paying to have our gimbals calibrated, after replacing a mainboard, is the cost. Yuneec was charging around 125-150 to calibrate these things so the final cost of repairs would override the idea of repairing them. Essentially forcing us to buy new. Apple set the pace for this type of forceful tactics. I can't tell you how many batteries I have replaced for owners of their iPhones. Apple even rolled out an update that killed the battery life. There are other companies that allow the calibration of their gimbals with FREE software. It is called "supporting the product". I am currently working on linking some software I have to these gimbals, maybe even some of the electronics so I can calibrate them myself. No matter, without support in the US, Yuneec is done. Once we run out of spare parts, our drones will become the bottom layer of our trash cans. One thing about the calibration settings is when you are "calibrating" a new board to the encoders, you are just matching them together. They work by reading the location of the rotating part. One could probably find a way to rotate each encoder to match the board's readings. Yuneec was smart by not marking the chip that controls all of this and holds these settings, so no one knows the maker of this chip.
I think what people forget is that tech goes out of date very fast. Let's look at a DSLR for example. Canon and Nikon put out many new models yearly, and most are done within two years at the best, so to get the life we have gotten from the H480 is amazing as is with the Q500.
Cars.....they are the worst investment you can make. Every year they put out another model killing the value of the previous year yet no one has issue with that.
I feel that with tech you have to be of the understanding that it can be finished within a year when you make the purchase. Fortunately, this forum has a lot of members that are always willing to help another member, so in that way we are actually better at providing support than the manufacturer is, and that goes for DJI as well. I have dealt with DJI and their support is horrendous.
Apple was always doing proprietary parts, accessories, battery life. Then yes, they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, yet the Apple sheep kept buying and stayed faithful even though they knew they had been hoodwinked.
The one thing Yuneec did was to ensure the people that bought their product were using something that was reliable, safe and not prone to random failures or frequent flyaways as with DJI. The calibration software was for techs that truly understood how to use it, the bulk of people out there have no clue how to use it and will ruin their gimbal.
It boils down to this. No one is going to keep making parts for a product or have support that goes on for years, it is just not feasible. At one point in time auto makers were required to have 10 years of stock to be able to repair what they made and sold. Today, I do not believe that is the case, it's probably more like 5 years of auto parts now. Cars, like everything else today are meant to be disposable, you are not supposed to be able to repair them at home in your own garage.
Then best thing is to make sure when you purchase something like a drone, make sure you buy spare parts for as long as you feel you are going to use the product. The military never goes into a contract for jets without making sure parts are available with the contract and for the life of the jet. You are the military and you are your own contract provider for parts, do not rely on a maker keeping it up for years. They want to move on with new products or all the money they have put into research is thrown out the window as no one is going to buy what they have put years into developing.
Think about this, I still own and use a Samsung Galaxy S6. Getting parts is very difficult so eventually I am going to have to get newer model. That is just the nature of owning a cell phone.