Tau Labs Regarding OpenPilot and Tau Labs....buyer beware

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Folks that might be considering buying an OpenPilot or Tau Labs product, be advised that these are not commercially produced flight controllers meant for widespread public distribution. They are produced and developed at the leisure of their development teams and support/parts may or may not be available. There are active communities supporting these flight controllers but do not consider purchasing one if you are not up to the task of chasing after answers and people to help resolve your problems.

I applaud the efforts of the developers of these two product lines but it isn't quite fair to compare them to more commercially available products backed by companies intent on remaining in business by generating a profit from their activities.

Your mileage may vary, caveat emptor.

Bartman (yes, flame suit on)
 


FWIW we structured things a bit differently at Tau Labs so the software group isn't related to hardware. In the case of Quanton, for example, it's actually manufactured by a German company Quantec which has inhouse PCB manufacturing facilities so supply of that will probably not be an issue. I'm pretty sure they've already done the second batch and managed to time it so it was never sold out.
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
That's all good James but I just think it's worthwhile to point out the business model being followed by these two projects. Like I said, I admire what's being done but it may not be completely clear to someone new to the site and looking for a flight control system to invest time and money in. Some people will love it, some won't.
 

Absolutely. For easy to fly out of the box and available I'd totally agree DJI stuff seems to have a great track record. For extremely good navigation I've been blown away with the demos from Autoquad.

We'll see what kind of track record Tau Labs can establish :).
 
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G

Guest12Oct2013

Guest
Also now the CC3D is available at readymadeRC and getFPV for anyone to enjoy the great controller :)
 

Reddog

Member
Don't buy the CC3D unless you want a toy. I have 6 CC boards at home and stopped using them long ago (would like to turn them into antenna trackers), they are pretty limited and to be honest there are cheaper boards that are similarly capable.

I hear that the Revo is out now but I haven't used it or seen it (I was kicked out around the time the other OP people were). I have the Quanton and Sparky. Both are very good boards (I have flown both on multirotor and fixed wing) but I prefer the Quanton because its got more features even if its a little too big.
 

Stacky

Member
Don't buy the CC3D unless you want a toy. I have 6 CC boards at home and stopped using them long ago (would like to turn them into antenna trackers), they are pretty limited and to be honest there are cheaper boards that are similarly capable.

I hear that the Revo is out now but I haven't used it or seen it (I was kicked out around the time the other OP people were). I have the Quanton and Sparky. Both are very good boards (I have flown both on multirotor and fixed wing) but I prefer the Quanton because its got more features even if its a little too big.

I have had a good run with my cc and cc3d boards, my only complaint is that I am too lazy and not smart enough to spend a reasonable amount of time tuning them. I know a few guys who have done some very innovative and clever things with the boards. I have always thought they were great value for money.
 
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I think his reply just read wrong. Reddog is a good guy. He's focused on autonomous stuff so that is probably not quite the same target as a lot of peopel here. My guess would be he meant don't buy it if you want something for autonomous flight, since that pretty much isn't an option for CC3D.

I loved that board from the movement I made soldered the first prototype, and it still flies well. Just not much room for growth, which is fine if you just want something that flies well.

p.s. we did add an expo to rate mode which Kipkool found flies really well:
 
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Reddog

Member
My guess would be he meant don't buy it if you want something for autonomous flight, since that pretty much isn't an option for CC3D.

That is exactly what I meant. Why I said it was - I didn't want people thinking that they could buy the CC3D and get heaps of mileage out of it. It does what it does very well but its limited to hobby use. For a few dollars more you can get much more capable hardware with room to grow (be it Tau Labs or any other project).

Sorry if it came off as short.
 
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