FREEFLY Systems Freefly ALTA, RTF collapsible hexacopter

[jfro]

From my conversations with Tabb and others, it's realistic if you have a camera operator unpacking and setting up your MōVI that you can be from Pelican case to airborne in 5-10 minutes. Talk about a game changer.

I have 3-4 MR"s that are air ready right now and 2 more sitting doing nothing. I recently (in my mind downgraded my filming capabilities) bought a Inspire and have had some problems with 2 cameras and a bricked remote, & the worst customer service experience I have ever had. But I have hung onto it because of the ease of transporting it, the quickness to get it airborne when packed, the quietness of it, the wind capabilities for a light MR, & some exposure control while in the air. I give up a bit of image quality, but the quickness and simplicity of getting in the air and just the plain fun of flying has convinced me to give it another chance.

If the Alta can be airborne in 5-10 minutes and is quieter, I could use the same reasoning to purchases it. I think ease of getting into the air is becoming a very important feature now days. Congrats FreeFly....

 

[stevemaller]

I have 3-4 MR"s that are air ready right now and 2 more sitting doing nothing. I recently (in my mind downgraded my filming capabilities) bought a Inspire and have had some problems with 2 cameras and a bricked remote, & the worst customer service experience I have ever had. But I have hung onto it because of the ease of transporting it, the quickness to get it airborne when packed, the quietness of it, the wind capabilities for a light MR, & some exposure control while in the air. I give up a bit of image quality, but the quickness and simplicity of getting in the air and just the plain fun of flying has convinced me to give it another chance.

If the Alta can be airborne in 5-10 minutes and is quieter, I could use the same reasoning to purchases it. I think ease of getting into the air is becoming a very important feature now days. Congrats FreeFly....

I am a huge fan of Freefly's customer service.

True story: I bought one of the first MōVI M5s, and have the distinction of crashing the first one, too. I was hovering my octo in front of me with the MōVI on it on its 2nd or 3rd flight and as I dug my iPhone out of my pocket to take a photo, my hand hit the throttle stick and caused the copter to land hard on the gimbal, breaking it. Freefly had it repaired and back to me in one week. They've got superb folks up there.

 

[stevemaller]

I am really thinking about dumping a lot of rigs and getting one...

Yeah man, that's one heck of a .sig you've got there.

 

[SleepyC]

Yeah man, that's one heck of a .sig you've got there.

Each one has had a use, but now with portability and lift capacity being handled with one rig, it seems to be a waste. Cleveland right now is becoming a go to spot for movie filming due to tax breaks... so I am needing less and less small camera rigs. Most people won;t even let me shoot with a GH4 anymore around here. Bit rate this and full frame that... and meanwhile I see "commercial" companies in other cities filming with Inspire 1's. SEND ME THAT WORK!

 

[econfly]

I've been looking around at gimbal options that offer flexibility (various cameras/lenses up to a GH4), great service, reliable results, easy no-tool balancing, etc. It's a unicorn hunt. It seems like it's either a DJI Zen with zero flexibility or the M5. I can't believe I'm seriously considering this ALTA with an M5, but I am.

 

[SleepyC]

The Gremsy H6 is also an option. We should be reviewing one, I'm waiting on the package!

 

[econfly]

The Gremsy H6 is also an option. We should be reviewing one, I'm waiting on the package!

Very interested in this option as well. Looks like this H6 is quite a bit lighter than the M5 or other options I've been considering (e.g., Defy G2X). They have a video up showing it under a DJI S900, which is pretty interesting (and extremely affordable relatively speaking).

 

[scotth]

Have they said how well it flies on 5 motors?

 

[SleepyC]

Have they said how well it flies on 5 motors?

SteveMaller asked Tab this question and this was the reply:
"

1. How about redundancy? What if you lose a motor?
   The Synapse flight controller can compensate for the loss of a motor to a certain degree and you may be able to fly and land safely. Maneuverability is compromised, especially for yaw, but the copter can theoretically fly on 5 motors as long as the payload is not to near the max. Stated another way, this is not perfectly clear at this time."

 

[scotth]

I think I'd want something a little more concrete than that if I'm going to put a lot of money in the air.

 

[stevemaller]

I think I'd want something a little more concrete than that if I'm going to put a lot of money in the air.

There might be more clarity on this by the time it ships. But I've spent quite a bit of time analyzing causes of accidents where motor(s) failed in "traditional" multirotors. ALTA addresses many of these with newer design elements such as redundant bus connections, ESCs cooled by prop wash, and brand new, application-optimized ESCs. So IMHO there is a far lower chance of a motor/ESC failure in and ALTA than in existing multirotors.

But the truth is that the vast majority of multirotor crashes are caused by pilot error of some kind or another, including overloading a system, which leads to a ESC or other system failure. ALTA's fully-integrated design and its clearly-stated payload limit will allow many of us to fly it with confidence, providing we comply with its system limits.

 

[Bartman]

are the ESC's mounted by the motors?

 

[econfly]

are the ESC's mounted by the motors?

Looks like they are under the motors. DJI's S900 and S1000 have the same setup. Note how it violates the supposed rule about shortening ESC power wires... --- an overblown assumed problem in the first place.

 

[scotth]

There might be more clarity on this by the time it ships. But I've spent quite a bit of time analyzing causes of accidents where motor(s) failed in "traditional" multirotors. ALTA addresses many of these with newer design elements such as redundant bus connections, ESCs cooled by prop wash, and brand new, application-optimized ESCs. So IMHO there is a far lower chance of a motor/ESC failure in and ALTA than in existing multirotors.

But the truth is that the vast majority of multirotor crashes are caused by pilot error of some kind or another, including overloading a system, which leads to a ESC or other system failure. ALTA's fully-integrated design and its clearly-stated payload limit will allow many of us to fly it with confidence, providing we comply with its system limits.

True, and ignoring basic maintenance and warning signs of an impending failure I guess. Still, I don't fly single engine at night or over water
Nice write up btw.

 

[stevemaller]

Looks like they are under the motors. DJI's S900 and S1000 have the same setup. Note how it violates the supposed rule about shortening ESC power wires... --- an overblown assumed problem in the first place.

It's actually a well-documented issue with ordinary off-the-shelf ESCs. I'm no EE, but I believe you have do use a different set of capacitors if you have longer power supply wires. I asked Freefly about this, and they said their new ESCs are engineered from the ground up to account for this.

 

[econfly]

It's actually a well-documented issue with ordinary off-the-shelf ESCs. I'm no EE, but I believe you have do use a different set of capacitors if you have longer power supply wires. I asked Freefly about this, and they said their new ESCs are engineered from the ground up to account for this.

I did a little write-up on this a while back. Not exhaustive, of course, but I came away thinking that most cases can be managed without adding capacitance.

http://www.multirotorforums.com/thr...d-power-wires-should-we-add-capacitors.19336/

 

[stevemaller]

I did a little write-up on this a while back. Not exhaustive, of course, but I came away thinking that most cases can be managed without adding capacitance.

http://www.multirotorforums.com/thr...d-power-wires-should-we-add-capacitors.19336/

Wow, I never saw this. I'll have to put on my thinking cap and give this a good read. Thanks!

 

[econfly]

For you guys who saw the ALTA in person: How do things work when carrying an MōVI under the rig? From photos it seems like the gear is mounted to the MōVI (but not the same gear as in the past?). Yet, one benefit is being able to carry the MōVI on top and under the rig, and if one is disassembling / assembling gear on the gimbal the transition from top to bottom mount is quite a bit more involved. So, how does this work?

 

[scotth]

Does not seem like it would be a quick conversion.

 

[econfly]

I may be coming at this the wrong way. The ALTA is aimed at pros, and those guys probably would just have one MōVI dedicated to top mount and another with gear aimed at classic mounting under the rig. Simple enough. Maybe that's all there is to it.