Originally Posted by RC Man

How is GPS beta testing going?

It is a huge project, dealing with live data. Unlike all the other GPS systems out there that use assumed values with preset data. Not that I am a tester here. But I get almost daily updates from some of the guys. There are still some serious gnats in the honey as they say that still need to be worked out. And as usual Art and his team are frenetically pouring themselves into the effort. The Skookum GPS program is different in many ways. What they are pursuing is the perfect system working in real time with live data figures, this links together several streams of moving information. Not an easy task by any means. But one well worth owning when they finalize the software.

My only beef is having to wait for the release of the black that is due at the moment they actually release the gps to the public. I would almost kill to have one of those in my hands right about now.

Originally Posted by Luvmyhelis

It is a huge project, dealing with live data. Unlike all the other GPS systems out there that use assumed values with preset data. Not that I am a tester here. But I get almost daily updates from some of the guys. There are still some serious gnats in the honey as they say that still need to be worked out. And as usual Art and his team are frenetically pouring themselves into the effort. The Skookum GPS program is different in many ways. What they are pursuing is the perfect system working in real time with live data figures, this links together several streams of moving information. Not an easy task by any means. But one well worth owning when they finalize the software.

My only beef is having to wait for the release of the black that is due at the moment they actually release the gps to the public. I would almost kill to have one of those in my hands right about now.

They have been working on it for 3 years. It must be much more difficult than anyone expected. Maybe next year.


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Well align seemed to get a handle on it pretty quickly......

Originally Posted by GetToDaChopper

Well align seemed to get a handle on it pretty quickly......

Not from what I've heard. Very expensive and doesn't work very well.

Rick

Originally Posted by RC Man

They have been working on it for 3 years. It must be much more difficult than anyone expected. Maybe next year.


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That is probably a good estimate. Weather for testers is deteriorating across most of the country . . .

Rick

some people have got the align GPS to work as advertised.......

Originally Posted by GetToDaChopper

some people have got the align GPS to work as advertised.......

There is also a NAZA unit for helis - that is impossibly (for me) expensive.

Rick

I think that GPS is like the early days of FBL. In a few years there will probably be a dozen excellent GPS units for $100 or $200. The hardware is very inexpensive it’s the firmware development that costs. Once the industry has absorbed that cost they price may be lass than $100.

Paying $1000 today is crazy when it will be much less in a couple of years. This was a good year and I spent less than $200 this year for repairs so the SK GPS is definitely not cost effective for me. With the $1000 price tag I expect that the sales will be very limited.


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I will be getting units for two of my helis, both will be very pricey (to me) once finished and in the air. I call it an affordable one time cost insurance policy vs mulit-thousand dollar repairs if something goes very wrong. I already lost a 3500 dollar heli this year through a mistake on setup (hard deck may have helped in this case), but since then, I have used my SK720s to recover 5 instances that would have either destroyed or caused me to loose the helicopter because of it being a bit far away to get proper orientation to fly it back. I will wait for the tested unit to become available and let's hope they have guys like me doing the testing so that there is a dummy in there to flush out the bugs. Take care.

Don

Originally Posted by Rickn816

There is also a NAZA unit for helis - that is impossibly (for me) expensive.

Rick

The brand new Naza H just dropped this week and can be in anyone hands by the end of this month. It's only $269 for the FBL unit and then $169 for the GPS add on. Not bad at all considering they have already been doing this successfully with the Naza M on multi rotors, and its much, much cheaper than than the DJI H and Ace One products for helis they have been selling at $1250 and $3200 up until now.

It's doesn't make the 3D with GPS or hard deck claims that the Skookum claims to be capable of, but it has full 3D FBL capability in manual mode and a built in accelerometers, magnetometer and barometric sensor for self leveling and attitude hold and then you can add the additional GPS feature to lock the helis coordinates further within a 2.7 foot area even in wind. This may be all guys like me who just fly big air, but would like a GPS assisted bailout or scale flying style or photography assist and don't need all of the promised yet never delivered Skookum stuff.

Its half the cost of the Align GPS setup at $440 for both components and best of all..........the product actually exists!!!!!

Originally Posted by Xrayted

The brand new Naza H just dropped this week and can be in anyone hands by the end of this month. It's only $269 for the FBL unit and then $169 for the GPS add on. Not bad at all considering they have already been doing this successfully with the Naza M on multi rotors, and its much, much cheaper than than the DJI H and Ace One products for helis they have been selling at $1250 and $3200 up until now.

It's doesn't make the 3D with GPS or hard deck claims that the Skookum claims to be capable of, but it has full 3D FBL capability in manual mode and a built in accelerometers, magnetometer and barometric sensor for self leveling and attitude hold and then you can add the additional GPS feature to lock the helis coordinates further within a 2.7 foot area even in wind. This may be all guys like me who just fly big air, but would like a GPS assisted bailout or scale flying style or photography assist and don't need all of the promised yet never delivered Skookum stuff.

Its half the cost of the Align GPS setup at $440 for both components and best of all..........the product actually exists!!!!!

Looks like Skookum has waited too long and will have to lower the initial price or sales will be zero. I would pay $169 for a Skookum GPS upgrade but no way that I will pay anything close to $1000.


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Originally Posted by RC Man

Looks like Skookum has waited too long and will have to lower the initial price or sales will be zero. I would pay $169 for a Skookum GPS upgrade but no way that I will pay anything close to $1000.


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I think it really depends on what your individual needs are. I don't think for a minute the features the Naza has will be the same as the Skookum claims, but do you really need GPS real time while doing 3D or need GPS to function inverted? Some of the claimed features seem to be technology for the sake of it rather than for any real useful purpose. Sometimes simpler is actually more elegant with less things to fail. Hard decks could be useful, but only if at a useful altitude, and once again it doesn't matter what anyone's claims are if they are only claims and never any real product.

For me, a standard 3D FBL unit with the capability to switch into a GPS hold or attitude mode is fine for what I do and will keep me entertained for a while as the technology grows and improves. DJI and Naza are not new at this technology either, so its claimed features are proven and already out there being used today.

These new features will mature quickly just like FBL technology has recently, so what's cool today won't be anything spectacular in two years anyway.

Originally Posted by Xrayted

I think it really depends on what your individual needs are. I don't think for a minute the features the Naza has will be the same as the Skookum claims, but do you really need GPS real time while doing 3D or need GPS to function inverted? Some of the claimed features seem to be technology for the sake of it rather than for any real useful purpose. Sometimes simpler is actually more elegant with less things to fail. Hard decks could be useful, but only if at a useful altitude, and once again it doesn't matter what anyone's claims are if they are only claims and never any real product.

For me, a standard 3D FBL unit with the capability to switch into a GPS hold or attitude mode is fine for what I do and will keep me entertained for a while as the technology grows and improves. DJI and Naza are not new at this technology either, so its claimed features are proven and already out there being used today.

These new features will mature quickly just like FBL technology has recently, so what's cool today won't be anything spectacular in two years anyway.

I do some AP so I want something that will navigate me to a location (GPS coordinates) and hold position for some photographs. Will Naza, Align and Skookum all perform those tasks?


I have a simple autopilot that will do that (AMP2) but it won’t fly a FBL helicopter.

Originally Posted by RC Man

I think that GPS is like the early days of FBL. In a few years there will probably be a dozen excellent GPS units for $100 or $200. The hardware is very inexpensive it’s the firmware development that costs. Once the industry has absorbed that cost they price may be lass than $100.

Paying $1000 today is crazy when it will be much less in a couple of years. This was a good year and I spent less than $200 this year for repairs so the SK GPS is definitely not cost effective for me. With the $1000 price tag I expect that the sales will be very limited.


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Warren Buffett's SMC 15: The High Cost of Demand (4 min 2 sec)

Two reasons why DJI can sell the gps at a lower price...development cost was already absorbed by their higher end units years ago, and they are speculating that units will sell based on the reputation of their brand name and their extensive line of high end units - which everyone or anyone who's in rc has heard of by now.

Originally Posted by RC Man

I do some AP so I want something that will navigate me to a location (GPS coordinates) and hold position for some photographs. Will Naza, Align and Skookum all perform those tasks?


I have a simple autopilot that will do that (AMP2) but it won’t fly a FBL helicopter.

Why do you want to use a helicopter? It's been proven that a multirotor has greater carrying capacity and is more stable as an AP platform.

Bikini Models vs Multirotors (3 min 13 sec)