FREEFLY Systems Freefly ALTA, RTF collapsible hexacopter

[stevemaller]

Very cool Steve, is it going home with you?

Just arrived back in Half Moon Bay (home) with it. Survived its first trip through the Southwest Airlines baggage system completely unscathed (as I'd expect...that's a Pelican Storm case that comes with it) and I had fun setting up on my kitchen table for my family!

Going to get my FPV and radio stuff installed on it and start playing this week.

By the way, just to confirm, the ALTA does come with everything necessary to mount a MōVI either on the top or the bottom. It has two different battery cages; one for the top (normal bottom mount MōVI) and one for the bottom that doubles as a landing gear (for top-mount MōVI).

 

[Filthy]

Steve - you have a MōVI already in play that's going on this beast?

 

[stevemaller]

Steve - you have a MōVI already in play that's going on this beast?

Yes, I have the M5, and I can't wait to fly it. The process of switching it from bottom to top mount is not instantaneous (there are some screws to change) but I'd estimate it'd take only 10-15 minutes.

 

[Filthy]

Sounds promising. Definitely looking forward to any additional info (i.e. flight times, stability with wind and top mounted gimbal, motor / esc temps, synapse goodness or badness, etc), and of course any sample footage you can share. Congrats! Stoked for you!

 

[SleepyC]

Congrats dude, I am jealous. I love FreeFly stuff. SO how is the Synapse? I have been wanting to fly it for 3 years. I used to be on the short list to review it when it was going to be a stand alone FC, but then... NOPE!
Does it still have all the features the Synapse teaser video showed? It is as soom as i'd expect it to be?!?!
MORE INFO MAN.. MORE INFO!!!

 

[stevemaller]

Sounds promising. Definitely looking forward to any additional info (i.e. flight times, stability with wind and top mounted gimbal, motor / esc temps, synapse goodness or badness, etc), and of course any sample footage you can share. Congrats! Stoked for you!

I will definitely share. Not airworthy yet, though. I was going to configure it with my DragonLink radio and two DL receivers (Synapse supports dual receivers in diversity mode), but Tabb convinced me to use the same Futaba setup that they all use on theirs. They have the radios configured to send telemetry down to the Futaba 14SG so you can see the battery level on the transmitter screen. While I'm planning to use the OSD primarily for checking on things in the air, there's always value in having telemetry there, too.

So I'm picking up a Futaba transmitter on Monday and Freefly said they'd help me configure it for my ALTA.

I am slowly changing my mindset from the DIY approach to letting go of that and utilizing the support of the Freefly people. They've done thousands of hours of testing, and there's a huge advantage to leveraging that in my use of the ALTA.

 

[stevemaller]

Congrats dude, I am jealous. I love FreeFly stuff. SO how is the Synapse? I have been wanting to fly it for 3 years. I used to be on the short list to review it when it was going to be a stand alone FC, but then... NOPE!
Does it still have all the features the Synapse teaser video showed? It is as soom as i'd expect it to be?!?!
MORE INFO MAN.. MORE INFO!!!

HA! We've all been waiting, right?
I only had 10-15 minutes of flight time with it, so I can only say a few things at this point. One is that it flies like it's on rails. Even takeoffs are remarkably smooth, unlike any other MR I've flown. Tabb showed me some truly impressive moves with the ALTA that strongly indicate that its "height hold" is very robust. With HH engaged, he did some really aggressive moves in all directions, and the ALTA stayed exactly at eye level. It was easy to tell because of the propellor discs. He also used the fine tuning capability to dynamically turn the rate (?) down for pitch and yaw so that you can do extremely slow horizontal or vertical moves. When doing this for horizonal moves, the ALTA moves like it's on rails. It's really quite amazing. But even more so, when Tabb really pushed the ALTA into 30°+ banks it held its height perfectly.

 

[SleepyC]

HA! We've all been waiting, right?
I only had 10-15 minutes of flight time with it, so I can only say a few things at this point. One is that it flies like it's on rails. Even takeoffs are remarkably smooth, unlike any other MR I've flown. Tabb showed me some truly impressive moves with the ALTA that strongly indicate that its "height hold" is very robust. With HH engaged, he did some really aggressive moves in all directions, and the ALTA stayed exactly at eye level. It was easy to tell because of the propellor discs. He also used the fine tuning capability to dynamically turn the rate (?) down for pitch and yaw so that you can do extremely slow horizontal or vertical moves. When doing this for horizonal moves, the ALTA moves like it's on rails. It's really quite amazing. But even more so, when Tabb really pushed the ALTA into 30°+ banks it held its height perfectly.

View attachment 25674

 

[SamaraMedia]

Come on man, he just brought the baby home

 

[SleepyC]

Ya know... I already own a Futaba 14SG.... SO basically I'm half way there. You guys think "He babe for our Wedding Anniversary (coming up next week) I bought us a Freefly Systems Alta" would go over OK? Oh and also, we can't buy food or pay bills for 2 months because of my purchase. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"

 

[stevemaller]

Ya know... I already own a Futaba 14SG.... SO basically I'm half way there. You guys think "He babe for our Wedding Anniversary (coming up next week) I bought us a Freefly Systems Alta" would go over OK? Oh and also, we can't buy food or pay bills for 2 months because of my purchase. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"

I can't see any flaw in your logic. It sounds perfect to me.

 

[MadMonkey]

This is making me want to sell our Skyjib and just get an Alta....

 

[stevemaller]

I wanted to share with anybody who's interested the look and feel of their iOS app. It's just one part of what's really special about the ALTA. The elegance of this app is really a cut above anything I've seen in the UAV world. Take a look...thanks!

 

[SleepyC]

OK... gonna sell a rig, I need this. Hexacrafter is off the table because it's AWESOME... might have to dump the Vulcan X8... or the Vulcan U7 Hex... ARRGGHHH... I NEED THIS!!!!

 

[Bartman]

I wanted to share with anybody who's interested the look and feel of their iOS app. It's just one part of what's really special about the ALTA. The elegance of this app is really a cut above anything I've seen in the UAV world. Take a look...thanks!

nicely done on the video Steve, i like the sidebar content format, might have to "borrow" that sometime soon! ALTA's looking very nice too, no money for a purchase though but will keep an eye out in case one drops off a truck and lands in my lap (however unlikely that may be)!

 

[stevemaller]

nicely done on the video Steve, i like the sidebar content format, might have to "borrow" that sometime soon! ALTA's looking very nice too, no money for a purchase though but will keep an eye out in case one drops off a truck and lands in my lap (however unlikely that may be)!

Thanks, @Bartman!

 

[stevemaller]

My ALTA is now airworthy!

It took an extra day for UPS to find my Futaba 14SG transmitter and get it to me, which gave me a chance to get a few more things dialed in. I've done so, and the copter is ready for operations...or at least for me to get a few hours of break-in time.
Here are a couple quick videos of the first startup (gives you an idea of how eerie quiet it is) and first flight with the MōVI and camera on board.

 

[Motopreserve]

Wait, that's YOU in the video? I was convinced you had a Multirotor hat on at all times!

The craft certainly seems impressive. And you're right - creepy quiet.

Good luck with the testing.

 

[SleepyC]

My ALTA is now airworthy!

It took an extra day for UPS to find my Futaba 14SG transmitter and get it to me, which gave me a chance to get a few more things dialed in. I've done so, and the copter is ready for operations...or at least for me to get a few hours of break-in time.
Here are a couple quick videos of the first startup (gives you an idea of how eerie quiet it is) and first flight with the MōVI and camera on board.

WANT - WANT - WANT - WANT - WANT....

(drooling)

 

[BogotaMatt]

Hi Steve, I'm seriously considering buying an Alta. Couple of quick questions if you don't mind : what batteries are you using ? I have 10 16000mah, they would do wonders in parallel on the Alta or are they too big ?
Can the Mövi be controlled easily with a 14SG as I have 2 of them for the S900 ?
Thanks a lot and congrats, it's definitely our next copter.