So the news has hit the UAV community that we have suspected for ages.  3DR, the made-in-the-USA player in the multirotor game, has officially left the drone business to pursue evaporating segments of the image capture, management and analysis.  This smacks me of the same basic hubris they fell into with the 3DR Solo in that they are rushing to get into a market that they are already significantly behind in with the same technology available to the rest of us.

According to Forbes, unnamed sources say 3DR burned through their easy capital and paid their bullishness on units with the remaining stock of Solos going to manufacturer PCH.

I can't say I'm surprised.  They utterly abandoned support for platforms and customers that built their business.  I was one so I know.  I bought my 3DR Y6 Kit in 2014 as the primary investment for my future in UAVs.  Due to a crisis and a short-notice, short-term move, I didn't even get to open the box for 6-8 months.  When I did have the box open I had instructions that I felt were incomplete without the support of forums and other internet based resources, a luxury I didn't have in the small guest room I had built into a workstation, in the boondocks of Idaho.  I'm not a novice, I know my way around a soldering gun and I stand by my purchase as the best dollar for time value that my research came across but part of that was glowing review and enthusiastic/knowledgeable customer support.  My questions weren't always great... but their answers were never satisfactory. Getting recommendations on non 3DR solutions to parts they no longer made was like pulling teeth.  Little did I know that 3DR was bleeding, not because of the sound engineering and tremendous DIY community, but because they thought that slick marketing could capture market.

Once back in the connected world I would find a far better set of instructions for a new propeller configuration that had me airborne in no time; the solution, not surprisingly, from tests by a forum member.  It's saved me decent coin on replacement propellers, which I've also self-researched and changed from stock suggestion..  It was the DIY friendly support network and a commitment to open source freedom that truly influenced my choices and, to re-iterate, the departure from that dedicated base was, in my opinion, their downfall.

R

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