Success stories with the H

[CAPTAINDRONE]

I've had no flight issues, but as I'd class myself as an experienced pilot (but certainly no hotshot) I've been running in Angle mode as that's how I'm used to flying. If you come from Phantoms and are used to holding the throttle closed for a couple of seconds after touchdown then that's exactly what you do with the H. Bring it down, then as soon as the legs touch chop and hold the throttle closed. After a couple of second the motors go into "idle" and you won't get any bouncing or take-off attempts. Then you can safely hands off and reach for the kill switch.

So far, so positive from my point of view. Hard to objectively see how it would be for beginners, though - Smart mode just messes with my mind as I'm used to flying "properly" so I've ignored it. The manual does say that it's best to get into angle as soon as possible and just learn to fly it the right way...

Simon, I would guess this is why DJI went the route they did with the Phantom 4, and that was to add in features that would permit newcomers (newbies) to the Phantom drone world less chance of crashing from the start. Smart move on DJI's part because we now have people in Apple stores picking up a tablet and a Phantom thinking it's gotta be simple to fly right... looks like an Apple product? Where's the home button exactly? Seems to have worked out well for DJI so far.

Of course this had the opposite effect on experienced & loyal Phantom pilots who found this to "dumb" down a nice piece of technology and complained that DJI spent to many resources on these "newbie" features when they should have been adding features like retractable landing gear & a 360 camera with zoom capabilities. Oh well, that's what the Inspire 2 is for I guess.

Like you I won't be bothering with the "smart mode" features when my "H" finally arrives... it's angle mode all the way baby!

 

[DroneClone]

Yeah! I will, but after a few batteries worth to make sure no bugs came with it ! LOL!

I am more into photography than road racing ! but I have gotten my P4 up to her limits a couple times! Just don't turn her sharply when blasting her, cause she squeals and tilts really bad! Kinda like my Ex !

 

[Gav Smith]

On the first flight video I published I saw 29mph groundspeed indicated on a cross-wind run. With the wind directly behind it I can believe it could reach 40mph, although in calm conditions I think somewhere in the early 30s is likely to be where it's at.

I saw that one, it was your video series that first drew my attention to the H, now I can't get enough of it, I'm constantly searching for the latest videos on them.
Early 30's I can live with, I'm still using my trusty old P2V+ at the moment so speed can't get much worse, I was about to go the P3 route until your H videos showed up in my subscriptions, any more coming soon?

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Two questions for Simon:

Question #1 - Think back to when you were with a group of people from DJI and they did a demo of the Typhoon H (long before you received your H). I think you even had a chance to fly it. My mind might be foggy, but I thought you had said, or I had read, that the Typhoon H that was being demo'd had the IPS module attached (maybe even the Realsense)? Yes/No? If the answer is "Yes", did the landing gear automatically descend upon the craft approaching the ground straight down? Just wondering if upon adding the IPS module you'll have an option (turn it on or off) to engage landing gear automatically when approaching the ground at speeds above xx.

Question #2 - My understanding, from one of your recent videos on the ST16 controller, is that if I wish to modify the defaults (i.e., 400 foot height limit), I will have to connect the ST16 to my PC and accept & agree to all the caution statements that I'm responsible. The DJI Phantom 2 series required software that you installed on your PC to do exactly this. Is this the case with the ST16, and if so where does one find this software?

Thanks Simon

 

[Gav Smith]

Let's face it, SOMEONE has to be the first to test a gear-up landing on video!

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Let's face it, SOMEONE has to be the first to test a gear-up landing on video!

Calling Mr. Ming...

 

[Gav Smith]

Loved his HDMI cable journey, and he's happy to hand catch the H while still moving towards him, balls of steel!

 

[Cogito]

Loved his HDMI cable journey, and he's happy to hand catch the H while still moving towards him, balls of steel!

Love also that Mr. Ming pre-flights his aircraft before take-off. I think I might want to secure the HDMI cable slightly better, though.

 

[Gidrock]

I didn't do anything with this video. I was just testing out some of the modes before i discovers the gimbal issue. in the 3 minute timeframe you can see the gimbal issue.

 

[John Locke]

I've had no flight issues, but as I'd class myself as an experienced pilot (but certainly no hotshot) I've been running in Angle mode as that's how I'm used to flying.

What kind of flight range have you achieved?

 

[HarveyC]

On the first flight video I published I saw 29mph groundspeed indicated on a cross-wind run. With the wind directly behind it I can believe it could reach 40mph, although in calm conditions I think somewhere in the early 30s is likely to be where it's at.

I think it was last Saturday when I flew the H out a ways in my open field both into the wind and with the wind (tailwind). Wind was reportedly 21 MPH and I thought it was odd that I got 29 MPH ground speed in both directions. I can't say I was flying precisely into and with the wind, but very close. 29 + 21 = 50 MPH wind speed roughly. I consider my flying to be pretty careful as I had lots of room, flying from right to left in front of me and slowed and accelerated somewhat gradually and first starting out at slower speeds.

 

[Simon Newton]

I saw that one, it was your video series that first drew my attention to the H, now I can't get enough of it, I'm constantly searching for the latest videos on them.
Early 30's I can live with, I'm still using my trusty old P2V+ at the moment so speed can't get much worse, I was about to go the P3 route until your H videos showed up in my subscriptions, any more coming soon?

When the rain stops and I get an opportunity I have some ND filters courtesy of Hobby Mounts to try out, plus more videos answering all the questions I'm being asked. I'm potential content rich, but time poor right now as it's the ramp up time for us getting the 2016 UK Drone Show together.

 

[Simon Newton]

Two questions for Simon:

Question #1 - Think back to when you were with a group of people from DJI...

They were definitely from Yuneec!

...and they did a demo of the Typhoon H (long before you received your H). I think you even had a chance to fly it. My mind might be foggy, but I thought you had said, or I had read, that the Typhoon H that was being demo'd had the IPS module attached (maybe even the Realsense)? Yes/No? If the answer is "Yes", did the landing gear automatically descend upon the craft approaching the ground straight down? Just wondering if upon adding the IPS module you'll have an option (turn it on or off) to engage landing gear automatically when approaching the ground at speeds above xx.

Yes, the pre-production prototype I saw and flew had the IPS. I was told that with the IPS fitted it would not let you land without the gear down. Whether that means it simply stops you descending past a certain point until you drop them, or it automatically does it I don't know. Also, on that unit, descent rates were much quicker until you hit about 30ft, when they were arrested back to the descent rate my unit has. Obviously the IPS kicked in and means you'll be unable to descend into the ground under full rates. Whether that was a feature taken out in the firmware or is deactivated until the IPS is fitted I don't know. But hover performance low down with the IPS module was comparable to my Phantom 3 Pro (which of course has optical flow and sonar as well for increased hover accuracy).

Question #2 - My understanding, from one of your recent videos on the ST16 controller, is that if I wish to modify the defaults (i.e., 400 foot height limit), I will have to connect the ST16 to my PC and accept & agree to all the caution statements that I'm responsible. The DJI Phantom 2 series required software that you installed on your PC to do exactly this. Is this the case with the ST16, and if so where does one find this software?

My understanding is that this is the same approach with other Yuneec aircraft, there is/will be a GUI that you download, plug the aircraft or transmitter in and can then edit certain parameters, including turning off the factory set 400ft height limit. I haven't seen it, and don't know when it will be arriving. When it does I'll obviously download it and show people what can be messed with - and perhaps more importantly what can't...

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

They were definitely from Yuneec!


Yes, the pre-production prototype I saw and flew had the IPS. I was told that with the IPS fitted it would not let you land without the gear down. Whether that means it simply stops you descending past a certain point until you drop them, or it automatically does it I don't know. Also, on that unit, descent rates were much quicker until you hit about 30ft, when they were arrested back to the descent rate my unit has. Obviously the IPS kicked in and means you'll be unable to descend into the ground under full rates. Whether that was a feature taken out in the firmware or is deactivated until the IPS is fitted I don't know. But hover performance low down with the IPS module was comparable to my Phantom 3 Pro (which of course has optical flow and sonar as well for increased hover accuracy).



My understanding is that this is the same approach with other Yuneec aircraft, there is/will be a GUI that you download, plug the aircraft or transmitter in and can then edit certain parameters, including turning off the factory set 400ft height limit. I haven't seen it, and don't know when it will be arriving. When it does I'll obviously download it and show people what can be messed with - and perhaps more importantly what can't...

Thanks a million Simon!

 

[humboldt 707]

I've just looked at the "issues" thread. As someone who's owned every Phantom since the Vision up to the 3Pro I haven't seen anything in there that we didn't see after the launch of all of those. Sometimes hardware, sometimes firmware.

I saw people talk about the fan in the ST16 issue, so opened mine up out of curiosity. Take off the rubber grips and then just go to town with a 2mm hex driver. Looks like the two cooling fans are miniature computer-type ones where the blades are held in by magnets. One fan points outwards, the other is flipped over and points inwards. This latter is the culprit I suspect - in transit I reckon a hard enough jolt would make the blades pop off as there's nothing to stop that happening. In normal use I suspect you'd have to drop it or treat it fairly rough to make it happen again. Should be a simple fix for the factory, just put a plastic strip across the fan unit to keep the blades attached under a shock. Looks very nice inside the ST16, though - good build quality, quality solder joints, very neat and tidy.

I've had no flight issues, but as I'd class myself as an experienced pilot (but certainly no hotshot) I've been running in Angle mode as that's how I'm used to flying. If you come from Phantoms and are used to holding the throttle closed for a couple of seconds after touchdown then that's exactly what you do with the H. Bring it down, then as soon as the legs touch chop and hold the throttle closed. After a couple of second the motors go into "idle" and you won't get any bouncing or take-off attempts. Then you can safely hands off and reach for the kill switch.

So far, so positive from my point of view. Hard to objectively see how it would be for beginners, though - Smart mode just messes with my mind as I'm used to flying "properly" so I've ignored it. The manual does say that it's best to get into angle as soon as possible and just learn to fly it the right way...

Simon you will see that there will be a number of crashes caused by inexperienced pilots switching to safe mode or being in safe mode,while being to close to the machine.I had a incident once where once I was in safe mode(unknowingly) on take off and my craft instantly scooted very quickly sideways to its safe zone which happen to be a bunch of brush.i like the safe system for high speed Fpv ,not aerial photography even though it could protect your wizard carrying subject from ones reckless filming?

 

[Pharkas]

Simon you will see that there will be a number of crashes caused by inexperienced pilots switching to safe mode or being in safe mode,while being to close to the machine.I had a incident once where once I was in safe mode(unknowingly) on take off and my craft instantly scooted very quickly sideways to its safe zone which happen to be a bunch of brush.i like the safe system for high speed Fpv ,not aerial photography even though it could protect your wizard carrying subject from ones reckless filming?

Also Ming showed in a video that if you approach the H and it has OA engaged it will back up away from you. He also flew a phantom up to it and it backed up and yielded the airspace (I assume the Phantom was a she, the the H was being a gentleman)

 

[Simon Newton]

Also Ming showed in a video that if you approach the H and it has OA engaged it will back up away from you. He also flew a phantom up to it and it backed up and yielded the airspace (I assume the Phantom was a she, the the H was being a gentleman)

Yes, you can see me do the same at the end of my "first flight" video, just before the low battery warning hit. Personally I can't see me ever switching it on. I never fly in any circumstances where I get close enough to people or objects where it would be needed, and feel that's the better option than relying on electronic systems.

 

[Pharkas]

Yes, you can see me do the same at the end of my "first flight" video, just before the low battery warning hit. Personally I can't see me ever switching it on. I never fly in any circumstances where I get close enough to people or objects where it would be needed, and feel that's the better option than relying on electronic systems.

I completely agree, especially during a landing. I think many of these automated systems will give new pilots trouble with the aircraft moving in a direction that was not intended. Senior pilots know better and will turn it off.

 

[Simon Newton]

I completely agree, especially during a landing. I think many of these automated systems will give new pilots trouble with the aircraft moving in a direction that was not intended. Senior pilots know better and will turn it off.

If you mean senior as in old... count me in!

 

[Pharkas]

If you mean senior as in old... count me in!

Typhoon H GUI link is on Yuneec.com - Support but it does not "link" to anything yet. Also they list new firmware released 5/7 and again the link is not working yet.