Rotorpixel gimbal for Phantom Vision
- Thread starter Shrimpfarmer
- Start date
When you order something that is "in stock and ready to ship" and don't get shipping confirmation in a couple days you have a right to complain.
When you "pre order" and acknowledge on the order page before paying that it will be some time before it ships, you need to sit back and wait.
Enough with the whining, the RP gimbal from all available information seems to be the best unit available or soon to be available for use with the P2V, and more importantly for some, it also appears to be the most flexible and adaptable. I for one look forward to fab'ing a mount for my GP2, and perhaps my Sony P&S cam, as well as using the gimbal for stabilization on other camera positioning rigs beyond the P2V.
When you "pre order" and acknowledge on the order page before paying that it will be some time before it ships, you need to sit back and wait.
Enough with the whining, the RP gimbal from all available information seems to be the best unit available or soon to be available for use with the P2V, and more importantly for some, it also appears to be the most flexible and adaptable. I for one look forward to fab'ing a mount for my GP2, and perhaps my Sony P&S cam, as well as using the gimbal for stabilization on other camera positioning rigs beyond the P2V.
wp6529 said:
I don't think most of us mind the wait. I think what is bothersome to some (or at least me) is that, while not explicitly stated, was the feeling that RP would be shipping units. Would be ramping up production. Would be making the masses happy happy. I got the impression that the first batch of 100 was near ready at the time of the pre-sale and that the 2nd production run materials had been ordered. That was a time ago. Now we find out only 10 units have shipped to "lucky" individuals.
And we learn that Keri is trying to do modifications which may, or may not have stalled production, he never said.
I think some of us would just like some good, honest, production and shipping forecasts. Not just a drop in once and I while to draw the coos of the RP faithful. Of course Keri can't really do that because he would really set himself up if he should happen to miss a number or date.
wp6529 said:
I agree with this for the most part and don't mind waiting. However we collectively gave Rotrorpixel a 0% interest loan for more than $120000. Is it normal in a pre-order to charge customers cards when they place the order and not when the order ships ? We should charge 20 % interest after a month.
Dronexpert did the same... My dealer in the UK did the same when I pre-ordered the Vision. I guess you pays your money (or not) and takes your choice...
OldFlyer said:
I pre-order a lot of stuff (I'm into computer synchronised Christmas displays). Some vendors charge, some wait until deliver (even on custom orders). Usually depends on the size of the vendor. This is the time of year for Christmas pre-sales. I have made several orders with projected ship dates later this summer. Every pre-order made was done at a discount. We don't really know if Keri has given us a discount but I suspect not.
Units were sent out to those were first in line. When I call them "lucky", it really doesn't have to do with luck. They're the first ones who ordered them.
I personally designed, manufactured, assembled, and am still testing the first few prototypes, but having the same gimbal manufactured by others being brought onto the job must be done with care. It's not something that one can assume will be done perfectly from the start, and sped up to full speed in a day. We're being careful to make sure that units being assembled in our current assembly process will be free from problems.
A good example of how *not* to do things, in my opinion, is the way that 3D printed gimbal was just released. I suspect that people who jumped on it because it is shipping immediately are going to be a little disappointed when they realize that the manufacturer didn't really think about certain aspects to the extent that we have.... proper vibration elimination, various tuning parameters for different types of flying accessible through a simple push-button, long-term frame life, mounting the camera perfectly level, etc.
I thought that it was made pretty clear that as of the week of Feb 10, we would have enough materials for 100 units, and that they would start shipping out soon after. We're now only 2.5 weeks from then, and units are shipping out already. I think that we've done pretty well so far.
As for production numbers. Yes, we *only* produced 10 units initially, and they're on their way to customers who we are hoping for immediate feedback from, so if there are any very last-minute changes that need to be made, we'll still be able to make a tweak here or there before sending several hundred more units out. Assembly is still underway though, so we're not waiting for feedback before continuing shipments... many of the members of this forum will likely be in the next batch. We'll be able to to produce significantly more than 10 units per week folks, please don't worry about that. Once we're going full steam, I expect that we'll be able to get at least 50 out per week, but hopefully closer to 100. Time will tell!
Keri
I personally designed, manufactured, assembled, and am still testing the first few prototypes, but having the same gimbal manufactured by others being brought onto the job must be done with care. It's not something that one can assume will be done perfectly from the start, and sped up to full speed in a day. We're being careful to make sure that units being assembled in our current assembly process will be free from problems.
A good example of how *not* to do things, in my opinion, is the way that 3D printed gimbal was just released. I suspect that people who jumped on it because it is shipping immediately are going to be a little disappointed when they realize that the manufacturer didn't really think about certain aspects to the extent that we have.... proper vibration elimination, various tuning parameters for different types of flying accessible through a simple push-button, long-term frame life, mounting the camera perfectly level, etc.
I thought that it was made pretty clear that as of the week of Feb 10, we would have enough materials for 100 units, and that they would start shipping out soon after. We're now only 2.5 weeks from then, and units are shipping out already. I think that we've done pretty well so far.
As for production numbers. Yes, we *only* produced 10 units initially, and they're on their way to customers who we are hoping for immediate feedback from, so if there are any very last-minute changes that need to be made, we'll still be able to make a tweak here or there before sending several hundred more units out. Assembly is still underway though, so we're not waiting for feedback before continuing shipments... many of the members of this forum will likely be in the next batch. We'll be able to to produce significantly more than 10 units per week folks, please don't worry about that. Once we're going full steam, I expect that we'll be able to get at least 50 out per week, but hopefully closer to 100. Time will tell!
Keri
Rotorpixel said:
Communication case in point...I think if this were shared previously many of us would shake our heads yes, that makes sense. A beta test if you will. But to have just said 10 with nothing else, felt like a let down.
Thanks for the quick communication Keri, always appreciated. I don't mind the wait as I'm actually going to be using the DE gimbal while waiting for my RP order to arrive.
On the other hand, I foresee that you're setting yourself up for trouble in the future. I think that the guys who ordered the $250 3D printed gimbal know that they'll be getting a lesser quality gimbal which may need a bit more R&D and improvement done by the end-users themselves through community discussion e.g. this forum. I believe it won't be a surprise to them if they get something less than stellar.
The trouble would come when the Rotorpixel gimbal actually ships to customers and new issues are to be found. As you've built up the hype that the gimbal had undergone extensive thought processes and development....and that delays (from expectation) are due to the tinkering, perfecting the gimbal, then I think you're asking for trouble by almost guaranteeing that the gimbal will not be having any issues. I know, as you said, the objective is to get feedback from early customers and make the necessary improvements. But having said that by pushing deliveries back with the excuse of ensuring quality, even the "early customers" wouldn't be happy with receiving a sub-par product after waiting so long and all hyped up.
Of course, I would really be happy to be proven wrong when the gimbal actually ships. But that would be really difficult as it would mean you'd need to have a perfect gimbal from the start.
On the other hand, I foresee that you're setting yourself up for trouble in the future. I think that the guys who ordered the $250 3D printed gimbal know that they'll be getting a lesser quality gimbal which may need a bit more R&D and improvement done by the end-users themselves through community discussion e.g. this forum. I believe it won't be a surprise to them if they get something less than stellar.
The trouble would come when the Rotorpixel gimbal actually ships to customers and new issues are to be found. As you've built up the hype that the gimbal had undergone extensive thought processes and development....and that delays (from expectation) are due to the tinkering, perfecting the gimbal, then I think you're asking for trouble by almost guaranteeing that the gimbal will not be having any issues. I know, as you said, the objective is to get feedback from early customers and make the necessary improvements. But having said that by pushing deliveries back with the excuse of ensuring quality, even the "early customers" wouldn't be happy with receiving a sub-par product after waiting so long and all hyped up.
Of course, I would really be happy to be proven wrong when the gimbal actually ships. But that would be really difficult as it would mean you'd need to have a perfect gimbal from the start.
I hope that some of the people posting on this thread (you know who you are) are able to make some money with their new gimbal and finally move out of their parents basement and get some real world experience. It's like trying to reason with a preschooler. I've never seen so much childish BS.
Pull_Up said:If you find that for your purposes fitting a gimbal has reduced your ability to operate flexibly (e.g. only being able to face one side on) then modding just the range extender to put a similar antenna on to the one I have might give enough extra gain to offset any gimbal motor issues.
Does that make sense? My brain's a little off today. Happy to take this to PM or the Horizon FPV antenna thread so as not to derail this one (again!)
I think you'd be better off to mod the camera antenna as in this pic but just on the motor side . It would only take a half hour or so. The motor side antenna will be essentially useless and you will be finding out how well the WiFi works with just one antenna. There will be an area on the motor side with no WiFi and if there's no signal then it doesn't matter how good a ground antenna you have.
I too would like to add an external camera antenna such as pictured instead of the blocked antenna but wonder if another thin cable would bother the gimbal, Keri.
Attachments
I've got the Horizon 2.4 skew planar from the kit sitting in my parts tin waiting to see what the impact actually is. If you can route the pigtail along the gimbal arms and away out the back whilst allowing enough slack for unimpeded camera travel then I think it should work - Keri has already said they went for meaty motors to allow the gimbal to potentially deal with a range of cameras in the future...
OldFlyer said:Pull_Up said:If you find that for your purposes fitting a gimbal has reduced your ability to operate flexibly (e.g. only being able to face one side on) then modding just the range extender to put a similar antenna on to the one I have might give enough extra gain to offset any gimbal motor issues.
Does that make sense? My brain's a little off today. Happy to take this to PM or the Horizon FPV antenna thread so as not to derail this one (again!
I think you'd be better off to mod the camera antenna as in this pic but just on the motor side . It would only take a half hour or so. The motor side antenna will be essentially useless and you will be finding out how well the WiFi works with just one antenna. There will be an area on the motor side with no WiFi and if there's no signal then it doesn't matter how good a ground antenna you have.
I too would like to add an external camera antenna such as pictured instead of the blocked antenna but wonder if another thin cable would bother the gimbal, Keri.
They use LHCP Patch antennas so an external ant needs to be Left Hand or Omni to work. Is it me or did the guy mount his patch antennas pointing inward?? I thought that the Coax connectors were facing inward? Don't know for sure.
EricT said:
Easy to get lost, isn't it?!
Ok, so videos detailing the kit components, installation and range testing results (in that order) are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LEHRrFSB0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsUpYNeTwaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlJ-ZXd3qnQ
Links in the descriptions of those to the Horizon FPV Antenna website with the various options available. You can buy complete kits (range extender, tx, rx and camera antenna) or just the bits you want. For my purposes I only modded the ground end, the aircraft remains totally stock... Executive summary: effective? For me, yes. Easy? I don't even own a soldering iron and embrace all things plug and play... I managed this ok.
Any questions feel free to PM me or comment on the vids, don't want to derail the gimbal thread...
RemE said:
So you say the stock camera antennas are LHCP. How do you know that? I couldn't find anything out about them.
If I was to use the mad mushroom, I would attach a RHCP directional antenna to the range extender.
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