Tau Labs CC3D release!

[RTRyder]

there is definately two levels of rc distribution and 2 different types of people that put up with about anything to get what they want. on one hand you got these horizon/tower fed montrosity almost walmart like shops that you can have anything, as much as you want, just pay and play. Then theres the other side,,,, it is super previlant in fpv gear and even more so the deeper you get into it. I've waited 5 months for a dragonlink system,,,, after paying, then to find out it was total garbage for what i was trying to do...... I've waited months for immersion rc video transmitters, waited about as long for the immersion ezuhf, but now i have what i needed and it is working like it is suppose to, what a difference in my abilities.

The difference being the guys doing it being corporate or not. The problem with fpv in general and probably even these is the liability that comes as the risk outweighs alot of what smart college educated investors will risk. not fcc approved, not alot of the American acceptance labels..... I came from the land of i want it now, but have slowly creeped to the other side and waiting isn't so bad as long as i'm getting as advertised products.

there us distributors bailed when invensense took there chips and ran, the dealers were told they didn't know when thered be stock till they just gave up... i've been on innov8tives wait list for this since last december..... he never let me in on the release, i had to learn from some guy in Portugal....

There was a time when I would have been chomping at the bit to be one of the first adopters of new multirotor technology and this would have been no exception back in the day. Several years worth of paying for a new product only to quickly find out I was essentially a beta tester compounded with a box full of broken frames, props, landing gear, etc has put me off wanting to be one of the first to take the leap these days. With a few exceptions I've kept to that policy lately and it's a lot more relaxing and enjoyable to know that what I'm about to put in the air is going to stay there and behave as I expect it to, not mention I can easily get another complete system or part for it by just placing an order with the appropriate vendor. I'm leaving the bleeding edge stuff for the folks that haven't had their fill of broken parts and broken marketing promises yet, I like stuff that works and works the same every time you use it and you can buy one when you want it.

Beyond that I have a non-traditional job in the sense that my home is my office even though I work for a very large corporation. My job often requires me to be on the road within an assigned territory that is large enough to make each trip an all day or multi-day affair, I simply don't have the kind of time it takes to fully debug a new/unknown system and get it working to the degree of reliability that I expect and keep up with the requirements of my job. The upside is that I'm extremely well compensated and can afford to pay for pretty much whatever I want at the expense of having time to tinker and fully understand the flight controller system I'm putting together. Given that, I can't/won't spend time lurking on the web to be able to obtain one of a limited run of something that I can readily get elsewhere that does essentially the same job.

Ken

 

[kloner]

the beta part is what the wait was.......... theres hundreds of these already going, complete setup info for Discoveries from Enthlapy.... dunno, i'm still on the first flight controller i ever bought and being the worse in wind ever, and flies off as a reputation, mine work bitchen...... This month i'm buying into 2 flight controllers you hate so it will be what it is...... The one thing your gonna see from me is aerobatics, finally. dives, inverted, it's on

I work form home too, and every last bit of my time is a labor of love for RC. My wife enables it way too much, i just want to know what his name is

 

[Tahoe Ed]

I am with RT. Too much time debugging and too little time flying. That is why I went from MK et al to DJI. I did take the plunge yesterday. I have a friend that has the original CC board and really likes them. I will play with it on my F330.

 

[jes1111]

There was a time when I would have been chomping at the bit to be one of the first adopters of new multirotor technology and this would have been no exception back in the day. Several years worth of paying for a new product only to quickly find out I was essentially a beta tester compounded with a box full of broken frames, props, landing gear, etc has put me off wanting to be one of the first to take the leap these days. With a few exceptions I've kept to that policy lately and it's a lot more relaxing and enjoyable to know that what I'm about to put in the air is going to stay there and behave as I expect it to, not mention I can easily get another complete system or part for it by just placing an order with the appropriate vendor. I'm leaving the bleeding edge stuff for the folks that haven't had their fill of broken parts and broken marketing promises yet, I like stuff that works and works the same every time you use it and you can buy one when you want it.

Beyond that I have a non-traditional job in the sense that my home is my office even though I work for a very large corporation. My job often requires me to be on the road within an assigned territory that is large enough to make each trip an all day or multi-day affair, I simply don't have the kind of time it takes to fully debug a new/unknown system and get it working to the degree of reliability that I expect and keep up with the requirements of my job. The upside is that I'm extremely well compensated and can afford to pay for pretty much whatever I want at the expense of having time to tinker and fully understand the flight controller system I'm putting together. Given that, I can't/won't spend time lurking on the web to be able to obtain one of a limited run of something that I can readily get elsewhere that does essentially the same job.

Ken

Not sure why you're spending time defending your decision not to be interested in OpenPilot - but I will say that your evident understanding of the OP product is incorrect: it's the commercial products that (by the evidence) make you pay to be an unwitting beta tester.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Not sure why you're spending time defending your decision not to be interested in OpenPilot - but I will say that your evident understanding of the OP product is incorrect: it's the commercial products that (by the evidence) make you pay to be an unwitting beta tester.

I disagree. Can I take you back to the ArduCopter and the MultiWii to name a few that were all for Beta Testers.

 

[jes1111]

Jes,
There's a limit to how much you can sell the "They do what they do for the love of it" stuff. If they did it for the love then they'd be a part of the larger community. I went to engineering school so I'm very familiar with the personality types and the oddball behaviors but their love seems to be limited strictly to their product line, which is fine, but let's not paint them to be something more than they really are.

Again, I wish them the best and hope their customers get everything they expect from the product.

Bart

Breezemont,
I didn't want to mention it but that's why they aren't here anymore. David was very flattered when we started the OP forum and they swept into the site in droves until one person said something they didn't appreciate, then they were gone, like they had never been here. It's very weird but consistent with a lot of other people's experiences with them.

I wish them and their customers the best, I really do but it's just not for me personally at this time.

it is something of a mystery to me as well. i'll just leave it at that and hope the board lives up to buyers' expectations.

You really should knock it off with the back-handed comments, Bart!

This site (whether intentionally or not) is heavily centred on AP, which is not (yet) a major focus for OpenPilot. Given the volume (and breadth) of activity at OP's own forum (established long before this one) it should be understandable that an unfriendly reception here would cause a "why bother?" reaction. As much as you'd like it to be, mutirotorforums.com is not the centre of the MR universe. OP has it's own forum, Freefly has it's own forum, etc. - you just need to accept that and quit pouting

 

[Bartman]

You really should knock it off with the back-handed comments, Bart!

This site (whether intentionally or not) is heavily centred on AP, which is not (yet) a major focus for OpenPilot. Given the volume (and breadth) of activity at OP's own forum (established long before this one) it should be understandable that an unfriendly reception here would cause a "why bother?" reaction. As much as you'd like it to be, mutirotorforums.com is not the centre of the MR universe. OP has it's own forum, Freefly has it's own forum, etc. - you just need to accept that and quit pouting

it's not pouting Jeremy. I too had a vision, as you say OpenPilot did, and that was to bring everyone into one place where the discussions and learning could be shared. The MK specific forum I was in was too restricted and taught me very quickly I had to think like the owner and buy from his shop or I wasn't welcome to expand my knowledge of multi-rotor heli's. it's about control and the personalities involved that keeps people from supporting their products in a place like this. I'm quite happy with what goes on here and the thank you's I get are very satisfying. like OpenPilot, I limit the commercial activity and only ask people to be honest in what they present. That goes for you as well which was the basis for my comments.

 

[RTRyder]

Not sure why you're spending time defending your decision not to be interested in OpenPilot - but I will say that your evident understanding of the OP product is incorrect: it's the commercial products that (by the evidence) make you pay to be an unwitting beta tester.

Which if you truly understood my post you'd see why I don't play that game anymore. I use what works and what I can buy when I need or want it, my time outside of work is too valuable to p*ss it away trying to be one of the lucky few that buy into the it's available when it's available game or be an unwitting or not beta tester of some corporations rushed to market product. I'm not defending my decision to NOT be interested, I already have an OP board, it's the mystique of exclusivity that I don't buy into and the intentional artifical limitations created to build and maintain it.

Ken

 

[Breezemont]

You really should knock it off with the back-handed comments, Bart!

This site (whether intentionally or not) is heavily centred on AP, which is not (yet) a major focus for OpenPilot. Given the volume (and breadth) of activity at OP's own forum (established long before this one) it should be understandable that an unfriendly reception here would cause a "why bother?" reaction. As much as you'd like it to be, mutirotorforums.com is not the centre of the MR universe. OP has it's own forum, Freefly has it's own forum, etc. - you just need to accept that and quit pouting

You came in here pimping the CC3D, now you get your panties bunched and lash out when people don't see it your way.
Typical fanboy response.

 

[jes1111]

it's the mystique of exclusivity that I don't buy into and the intentional artifical limitations created to build and maintain it.

eh?

 

[jes1111]

You came in here pimping the CC3D, now you get your panties bunched and lash out when people don't see it your way.
Typical fanboy response.

I'm not pimping anything. I relayed the announcement that CC3D was going on sale as a simple courtesy to this community.

And at least I support something instead of taking unhelpful cheap shots at everything and everyone like you do

 

[RTRyder]

eh?

By making sure the multirotor equivalents of the Szabo brothers of Align heli fame all get one well before release to the public and show the world what they can do with it, it creates an air of excitement by making everyone believe that if they only had one they could fly that way too when in fact there are a half dozen or more systems already out there that these guys can and have done the same thing with, it's not the hardware so much as it is the pilot manning the controls.

By also making sure the board is hard to get and hyping the release on as many internet forums as possible it's assured that the limited number available will be scooped up in a feeding frenzy by those that see it as the be all and end all of multitrotor aerobatics, an artifically imposed limitation of availibility. By the act of owning one you become part of an exclusive club that only so many can be a part of and intentional or not that is exactly what you and OP are promoting. In order to become a member of the club you have to first buy into the hype then be willing to do whatever it takes to become one of the chosen few that get one, and that means buying into the OP mystique created by handing out the samples to the celebrity pilots and then artifically limiting the number available to the general public and the means by which they can be obtained. There are far more fair and equitable ways to do it if the intent is really to share with the larger community but by keeping it an exclusive club it's feeding the ego of some of the participants to a level that you have to see to believe.

Clear enough now?

And by the way, Dankers left here in a huff after I posted that I had an issue getting the config problem to run on my laptop and that when I did get it running I did not find it the most intuitive application to use, or in other words I didn't glowingly agree with him on all aspects of OP so I automatically became an enemy. At that point he took his ball and went home, it had nothing to do with the site being more AP oriented because back then it wasn't. If that isn't having an ego the size of a continent I don't know what is.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

Jeremy,

FWIW, I find it as regrettable as you probably do that this thread has gone in the direction it has. Hopefully the CC3D will perform as advertised and the community of users will be very happy with them.

Bart

 

[BayAreaCrasher]

It's unfortunate this thread got all out of whack. I for one am VERY active on OP forums but I come here to the MR forums daily because I find the conversations here are very very intelligent (don't post much unfortunately because I don't fly the complicated rigs I see here, maybe one day I'll have a CS8). Especially around AP. I'll continue to hang out in both areas. We got better things to do on the Internet than get into shouting matches.

Pablo

 

[Pelted]

There was a thread over at RCGroups that got all off kilter about some company's frame and board on Kickstarter. However, OpenPilot boards seem to be a really great candidate for launching on Kickstarter or something like it. I'm sure the guys involved have considered such things, but really I wouldn't hesitate to back the CC3D, or Revolution boards on Kickstarter having read and seen what they have been doing. All of the criticism aside for a moment, using that mechanism to fund a project like this has some very real value and could go a long way towards helping supply reach demand.<style id="_clearly_component__css" type="text/css">#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } </style>

 

[BayAreaCrasher]

I'm one of the members of the core OP team now so I know how it works internally to some extent (my username is LemaLife over at the OP forums, wish I could change it here). I came in as a proponent of a Kickstarter, pre-funding, technique for helping the project reach more people. However, those means of funding are not without risk. Because we don't run gigantic, consistent, production runs with manufacturers, we are exposed to the risks of bad production (i.e., the project eats the cost with out recourse). In the case of a Kickstarter project, if we are unable to deliver the product a) on time and b) to everyone who funded (due to production issues), then that is even worse. Both ways of doing it have their pros and cons. It's always a balancing game between options. There will be some exciting news very shortly about the future of OP and we are actively addressing some of those very concerns people are mentioning (lack of supply, time to release, etc.)

 

[BayAreaCrasher]

BTW, we have a nascent effort over at OP regarding using the OP code/frameworks to do interesting work in gimbal control and other AP areas. I think some of the experts here could add a lot of value and we could create something pretty badass to make something like the Zenmuse more affordable for all. That is just a great outcome if it happens.

 

[Stacky]

One thing that is very clear to me which I find sort of ironic is that the one FC that is completely and utterly tested so that the consumers dont end up as beta testers is the CC board. So the FC thats produced outside of a profit driven approach is the only one which isnt released till the OP gang are 99.999999% certain its bug proof. Hopefully in the future they can solve the demand and manufacturing issues because they deserve a ton of credit for showing the commercial operations that it is possible to put out a FC thats as close to ready for consumers as is possible.

 

[dankers]

I'm a bit disappointed how this thread has gone, sad that motives are being questioned and people try to make things personal. OpenPilot is a positive place, the project is done with the best intentions and we made many more boards than we have ever made before, this is a huge financial risk to do but we try hard. There certainly is no wacky conspiracy theory and we just do the best we can with what we have. We don't want things commercial as money can cause issues, so that puts a limit on what we can do and we look after the people that help first, I think that is fair in a community. However, it's not a big deal as there are many other commercial projects around for people to go to, it's good to be different and give people options. It's why we don't take donations or run any ads on any of the OP sites, even the link to tee-shirt sales etc goes to one of the hard working devs and not to me or the project.

Additionally, I released the CC3D with a CC-BY-SA license, this is so others can make them, it will make them cheaper and help satisfy the demand for them. We can't do better than that, this is not the action of some closed club that wants exclusivity and it was done without any of the games seen elsewhere, it was a genuine effort to help. We are aware of the problem and addressed it that way, the Chinese can make many more for much cheaper than we can, in return I hope they do the right thing and help out the project.

Disappointed some of the vitriol, I don;t think it's right or fair, I would expect it at RCGs but not MRF as this place is above that. I really thought the guys here were our friends, sorry to see this.


View attachment 7136

 

[Breezemont]

If you sell something, it's commercial.
I don't understand how you can't see that.