Originally Posted by boiko

I think the potentially biggest news here is the application for Multi-rotors.

At a MSRP of $74.99 this could be a major cost/performance improvement in future Multi-rotors.

Was thinking about going with a DJI Flame Wheel F450 w/NAZA. But I might hold off until the Guardian w/multi-rotor support is available.

That of course brings up the question (though this is speculative at this point) how the Guardian w/multi-rotor support would match up to the NAZA controller.

Any ideas..?

Thanks,
-mike-

Very interesting point Mike,

I got into multirotors a few years back as it allowed me to blend my two favorite hobbies (RC and photo-videography). it seems a lot of people are getting into them and I agree it is a market ET should at least consider / scout out.

I bet their hardware can handle it - but I can't speak to the effort vs return for them to go in that direction with developing and testing firmware hardware to support mulrirotors. I suspect it would be more of a buisness decision for them. It would be interesting to see stats of the number of people that actually fly multirotors ? Horizon hobby - just got into the market with their as3x gyro but thats a huge company that can offset losses in one of their product lines

Al

Originally Posted by alros_100

Very interesting point Mike,

I got into multirotors a few years back as it allowed me to blend my two favorite hobbies (RC and photo-videography). it seems a lot of people are getting into them and I agree it is a market ET should at least consider / scout out.

I bet their hardware can handle it - but I can't speak to the effort vs return for them to go in that direction with developing and testing firmware hardware to support mulrirotors. I suspect it would be more of a buisness decision for them. It would be interesting to see stats of the number of people that actually fly multirotors ? Horizon hobby - just got into the market with their as3x gyro but thats a huge company that can offset losses in one of their product lines

Al

....and it's not even a question of if the new standalone Guardian will be supporting Multi-rotor in the future...it most curtaining will.

Listen to Bill on ATTF....his interview starts at 34:00 into the show and then acknowledges future Multi-rotor support at around 40:50.

http://hw.libsyn.com/p/0/2/a/02a6946...bd0c01cbb30196

Yup..good news for sure..

-mike-

Originally Posted by boiko

....and it's not even a question of if the new standalone Guardian will be supporting Multi-rotor in the future...it most curtaining will.

Listen to Bill on ATTF....his interview starts at 34:00 into the show and then acknowledges future Multi-rotor support at around 40:50.

http://hw.libsyn.com/p/0/2/a/02a6946...bd0c01cbb30196


-mike-

Cool - didn't know about that interview!
Al

All, Guardian engineering has been busy. Here's a nice video...

Guardian 2D/3D Stabilizer with a Quadcopter (1 min 57 sec)

Support for other non-fixed wing craft are in progress also.

Silverexpress,

Will the unit have independent travel limit adjustments for each of the axis'?

Thanks for that suggestion - we're looking into it!

rusty,

The case your guidance as to which to choose misses is the FPV pilot who wants the 3D ability, with all the tight integration of the expander.

we're still considering the best solution(s) for this - I'll get back to you once we have made some decisions.

flying-llama,

A basic question: what will be the allowed voltage range for the Guardian 2D/3D

Our preliminary range is 4-16V, but take this with a grain of salt as we may need to revise it. It's possible that the low voltage will be a little lower than 4. PS: you might like this video.

Charles,

It would be interesting to know how many of the first batch have not been spoken for as yet. I know between indivuals and vendors that some first batch devices are all booked before they arrive and sometimes the second batch is months away.

At this point, we have units remaining with our first production run. We ran out of the expander version of the Guardian long before the first batch arrived, and we've tried to keep that from happening this time with the standalone version. We need to get it shipped soon to avoid the issue, though!

Well, I went to put in my pre-order and everything was going fine until I hit the shipping cost... $50 BUCKS!!!???!!

Crikey! guys... take it easy with these charges.

Is there an Australian Distributor I can order though, Bill?

I have a question about powering the unit on an FPV platform. Most often, we have to disable the ESC's BEC and use an external UBEC due to the number of servos we run (pan tilt). I noticed you power the unit through the throttle channel from the Rx. Could we use a Y cable in this instance to power the unit from UBEC? I assume this would be OK, just making sure.

Originally Posted by billpa

All, Guardian engineering has been busy. Here's a nice video...

http://vimeo.com/39795427

Support for other non-fixed wing craft are in progress also.
...

Looks promising. If you make it easier to setup than multiwii (lots of capability, about same hardware price range, but the instructions for the software setup look a bit much), that would be nice.
One question: are you aiming more for the sport market (flips, rolls, etc.) or the video/camera market (good stabilitization) or trying for options for both?

Originally Posted by billpa

...
flying-llama, Our preliminary range is 4-16V, but take this with a grain of salt as we may need to revise it. It's possible that the low voltage will be a little lower than 4. PS: you might like this video.
...

Preliminary range sounds quite wide to me. Thanks!

cactus

Guardian 2D/3D is powered from the receiver thru the Ail. channel not the throttle Ch.
in fact it does not even have a Throttle channel connection.

Charles

Quads today Helis tomorrow ,hopefully.Perhaps with a great stabilization device I will start flying my retired Blade 400 again. I tried a different device in it but as it was IR based it really did not work great at my primary flying sight do to the way the terrain slopes three direction from the run way.

Meanwhile back to the Guardian 2D/3D in my Lil-Banshee which now has 31 Guardian equipped flight . A few days ago I installed a Y -Harness ( servo splitter) so that I could turn of Flaperon in my DX7 and use the three position Flap switch for Guardian 2D / Off / 3D.
Very interesting to be in 3D mode roll into KE center the sticks and way it continue in a perfect knife end then flip Guardian off and watch the plane drop the nose and roll into a downward and semi rolled atritude, from a 3D hover to off results in me having to get busy on the sticks to kind of maintain what looks sort of like a hover.



Charles

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

Quads today Helis tomorrow ,hopefully.Perhaps with a great stabilization device I will start flying my retired Blade 400 again. I tried a different device in it but as it was IR based it really did not work great at my primary flying sight do to the way the terrain slopes three direction from the run way.

Meanwhile back to the Guardian 2D/3D in my Lil-Banshee which now has 31 Guardian equipped flight . A few days ago I installed a Y -Harness ( servo splitter) so that I could turn of Flaperon in my DX7 and use the three position Flap switch for Guardian 2D / Off / 3D.
Very interesting to be in 3D mode roll into KE center the sticks and way it continue in a perfect knife end then flip Guardian off and watch the plane drop the nose and roll into a downward and semi rolled atritude, from a 3D hover to off results in me having to get busy on the sticks to kind of maintain what looks sort of like a hover.



Charles

Hey Charles,

Any chance that you could post us some pics of what your Lil-Banchee installation looks like. Close-ups of mounts, foam isolators, etc., would be great.

Many Thanks,
Bob

Really nothing special to see but as I have received several request.

Ply. tray Guardian is straped to is the LiPoly tray. A 3Sn 1000 which is 2-3/4 " long fits with 1/4" to spare. Guardian just happens to be exactly on the CG.

Charles

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

Really nothing special to see but as I have received several request.

Ply. tray Guardian is straped to is the LiPoly tray. A 3Sn 1000 which is 2-3/4 " long fits with 1/4" to spare. Guardian just happens to be exactly on the CG.
...

I think that just showing that no special mounting was needed gives people assurance that mounting the Guardian will be easy.
In this case, it also looks like adding some foam to help isolate the Guardian from vibrations is part of your working solution for mounting.

While I wait patiently for an answer... any answer... to distributor locations and lower shipping costs...

I just received an order from USA(Cal) inside a standard USPS Small Flat Rate Box, which was then placed into a large A4 envelope), insured and with tracking for a postage cost of $9.70.

Originally Posted by NitroCharged

Well, I went to put in my pre-order and everything was going fine until I hit the shipping cost... $50 BUCKS!!!???!!

Crikey! guys... take it easy with these charges.

Is there an Australian Distributor I can order though, Bill?

noticed this over the years occuring from virtually every US and Europe suppliers.
they dont give a rat's arse about freight costs. why should they! they use the most convenient shipping method available to them, like local pickup, insurance, etc..
why should they bother about freight costs! the buyer pays, no skin of their nose.
you want it mate? then pay up or go to an Asian supplier, which is what I try to do as much as possible.

We all hate high shiping / handling cost .

I ordered a Guardian 2D/3D on 3-15-12 and with $8 shipping that amounts to over 10% of unit's cost. I just ordered two more but this time I get two for one shipping so only 5% of units cost. Now a really customer friendly vendor's site would check and see that I have 3 units prepaided / preordered and combine them and issue credit / refund for one of the shipping charges.

One member here on RC Groups ships power supplies world wide in the USPS Flat Rate Prority boxs without any issues that I am aware of. Perhaps some clubs,,groups etc. in other countries could do a grpup order of 20 units or more so shipping would be reasonable.

I order from several vendors fairly often who charge between $1 and $3 for shipping and handling one charges $1 US domestic and $2 for international and they ship iytems aprox. same size and weight as Guardian. I am sure they are losing money on the paper work side but perhaps increased orders make up for it.

Back when I was employed as a plant engineer one of our suppliers of bearings,chains,sprockets etc. was 1/4 mile from the plant andif I needed a $3 master link the branch manager would just hand it to me at no charge. Why would he give mechandise away ,simple it cost them a lot more than $2 to do the paper work and same on my end as I would have to generate a PO and then turn around and do the follow up paper work.

Charles