amitregev - If you could address some of the problems folks have been complaining about with the Live and what you're doing to fix them, I think it would go a long way with those who are on the fence on whether they should return their Live or not. A lot of folks are reporting incomplete missions and issues with the site. It's my recommendation you go back through this thread very carefully and look at what issues people are dealing with and then address your confidence in future firmware upgrades or site side changes that may remedy these issues. One person even identified something that was posted to the Live site about a hardware fix and then it was removed... I can say that the reports from U.S. personnel isn't very encouraging due to the sparse 2G signals...
New Flytrex Goodies
- Thread starter pyrophantom
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Bummed! Flew four times this evening at two different high schools. Last flight was at Broadneck High in Cape St. Claire near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 19:29 duration flight made it out to 6,851' with STOCK setup...my personal best! The Live recorded 1:43 seconds of the flight, and shows I traveled 126' with a max distance of 1'. The Live was connected when I lifted off and when I landed. POS!!! :twisted:
Dirty Bird said:
Were you recording? Would be interested to see that Bay Bridge footage (if you went out in that direction).
Sadly, I'm ceiling-limited by BWI, and inside the general NOTAM (*cough*), so I actually haven't been flying as much as I would like... I don't want to attract any attention for which I'd have no valid rebuttal.
Sorry the Flytrex is terrible. It's the closest thing I've seen to a bona-fide tracker. I've been searching quite a bit and it's really difficult to find one that'll use 3G/4G (all of the carriers are running free SIM promos!)
Dirty Bird said:
It seems like you might want to just get the core 2 to be able to lay info over videos... I was disappointed that I didn't spring for flytrex live, but now I'm happy that I avoided that headache. Sorry it had to come at the expense of so many members of this forum's expense.
Morgon said:
About a third of the way in you can see the Bay Bridge off in the distance as I head out towards the Bay/ I really hope Flytrex figures out WTH is going on with this thing?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxogIDegNDc[/youtube]
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My Flytrex Live has stopped working completely. Solid red LED all the time. I tried bringing it to a location where I know there is good 2G and no avail. I tested my SIM in my ipad and it works even where there is only GPRS/2G. I've gotten a couple emails from Flytrex saying they can help and will fix my problem but they have not actually provided any information including the RMA I requested. Mine worked quite poorly when it did and now doesn't seem to work at all.
As much as I wanted this to work I'm afraid this will end with me putting the charges to Flytrex in dispute with my CC company. I am often an early adopter and very patient with these things but this has worked so poorly and the customer service /support is terrible.
As much as I wanted this to work I'm afraid this will end with me putting the charges to Flytrex in dispute with my CC company. I am often an early adopter and very patient with these things but this has worked so poorly and the customer service /support is terrible.
DronePilot said:
The samething happened with mine. It suddenly stopped working. I found out due to it not updating the most recent flight in my account profile. I began investigating the device itself and found that the yellow wire was cut with only a couple strands of wire connected. I asked for a replacement harness, and at that time went through some serious support issues. I have since been contacted by a couple of people from flytrex and I have to say they have really went all out to correct my issues with them.
Even though I went through all that I have with them, I decided to remain a customer and allow them to mend all that took place. So with that being said, my goal will be to help them understand what they have now is not going to work in the US in it's current state. As a customer, the 1st thing I have to know is what their plan is for getting the device functioning here in the US. If there is nothing going to take place short term, then I just as well look for a refund as others have already done. In the conversations I have had so far, they obviously know there is a problem, they just are not sure what approach they're going to take yet. I was told they are researching their options now.
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srandall25 said:
Hi Srandall25,
Thank you for your feedback!
I'd like to reassure you myself, and the rest of the Flytrex team, are doing our utmost to reply to as many posts possible. At the end of the day, the problem is that if we'll try replying to all Flytrex related posts we'll simply have no time left for development, implementing fixes and upcoming features. As we see it, within time limitations, we believe it the best approach is push development as quickly as possible -- based on the feedback we're getting from users, including in PhantomPilots forums.Although we don't reply to each post here, we are spending a lot of time reading pilots feedback here and other RC related forums (at least those that are in English), and try to spend most of our time pushing development as fast as possible - with the goal to actually provide fixes and improvements to the new Live system as quickly as possible and create an awesome new platform from our current starting points.
As a first step, we just released a few hours ago a new Flytrex Live firmware update (v35). Introducing several critical fixes together with other code optimization. Firmware updates are pushed to devices Over The Air (OTA), so no need to install any software - trying to innovate our hobby as much as we can. Users can read more about the new firmware here: http://www.flytrex.com/blog/flytrex-liv ... -released/
Regarding our comment for US pilots posted on our Facebook page - this post wasn't removed. Apart from spam or offensive posts we do not remove any post from our Facebook page. This post is still there - it was just pushed slight down due to the way Facebook sorts replies - something we have no control of (if you'll review all comments closely you should be able to find it). We stand behind the same statement that we are working to offer a solid solution for our US pilots as well (working on it with very little sleep nowadays..) and we will make sure to put a fair solution until we get a perfected product out there.
The new Flytrex Live was a major leap forward for us, both on the electronics and servers side. Our goal from day one was to develop only products that can actually bring something new and innovate our hobby and I want to believe we're only starting. Doing new things is never simple and I confident things will get really awesome in upcoming weeks and months.
I hope I was able to help a bit with this. Let me know if you have any other concerns of questions that I can help with.
Cheers!
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DronePilot said:
Hi DronePilot
I'm sorry for the slight delay with this. Our team have been investigating this issue specifically for the past couple of days and the fix for this specific issue, among others, is one of the critical fixes that were introduced with today's new Flytrex Live firmware update. You can read more about it here: http://www.flytrex.com/blog/flytrex-liv ... -released/
Up until now, we have received 5 reports about this similar issue from our Flytrex Live pilots. The new firmware update fixes this issue so it won't happen again in the future.
I will ask our team to email you a new follow-up tomorrow morning with instructions how we can get this fixed for you as quickly as possible. (It's already rather late here now.. so we'll send the email about this tomorrow morning). I hope this is OK and will be helpful.
Thanks!
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Since the Flytrex Live I have doesn't seem to connect at all anymore I don't see how this firmware update would help me. I have no broken wires. From what documentation there is http://www.flytrex.com/support/flytrex-live/led-reference/ It appears that a red LED means its not connected.
amitregev: You leave comments stating your business intent but you offer little information on how to solve Flytrex problems. Please tell me how to install a firmware upgrade on a Flytrex Live that is not connecting. Please tell me how a Flytrex Live goes from connecting and communicating data (albeit poorly) to no longer connecting at all where nothing has changed, no broken wires, no different location, no prior firmware upgrades. Please tell us why the Flytrex Live (when working) drops data and drops flights mid flight. Please tell us how the new firmware or server side software is addressing these problems. Please tell us why we can't retrieve the missing data from the Flytrex Live after the fact as we were assured was available.
amitregev: You leave comments stating your business intent but you offer little information on how to solve Flytrex problems. Please tell me how to install a firmware upgrade on a Flytrex Live that is not connecting. Please tell me how a Flytrex Live goes from connecting and communicating data (albeit poorly) to no longer connecting at all where nothing has changed, no broken wires, no different location, no prior firmware upgrades. Please tell us why the Flytrex Live (when working) drops data and drops flights mid flight. Please tell us how the new firmware or server side software is addressing these problems. Please tell us why we can't retrieve the missing data from the Flytrex Live after the fact as we were assured was available.
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DronePilot said:
Hi DronePilot
Unfortunately, as you mentioned, we don't have a way to push a new firmware update in this specific case without establishing a connection. The only way for us to do it is at our lab using special equipment.
As mentioned in my earlier post, this is the critical issue that was fixed with today's new firmware - so that it won't happen again to other Flytrex Live pilots. This is a rare bug that we found and fixed, and currently we found 5 pilots (you included) that experience this issue.
We're now working with each of the pilots that experience this issue to send you guys a new Flytrex Live system ASAP (hence we'll need your shipping information via email), so you can start using it right away again. We'll then ask you to email us the faulty system - which we can fix at our lab within seconds. We'll of course cover full shipping costs.
We already got 2 new Live systems with the new firmware shipped to other customers who had the same issue and working to get everything ready and shipped ASAP.
If possible, please send me a short email including your full mailing address with phone number to amit[at]flytrex[dot]com and we'll make sure to get this shipped to you by tomorrow morning.
I hope this information helps a bit and that we can get things working back again as quickly as possible.
To elaborate on Amits email and answer the open questions.
The bug we have found was related to the internal memory on board the Flytrex Live - on certain occasions and under certain internal conditions, the Live would halt upon filling up the internal memory. We have identified the cause and fixed this bug.
Yes, the Live records all your full flights to an on board memory, so even if the connection is lost mid-air, you can still download your full missions after landing
We planned to ship the Live mission downloader software a few days ago, but were set back due to this rare bug we wanted fixed asap. So expect a mission downloader very soon (=a few days days) .
Regarding dropped packets over the air - unfortunately, this is due to coverage problems.
We've seen many long flights that were fully covered by the Live, not a single packet dropped. But we've also seen missions that were almost null, with high packet loss. We have learned a lot from both cases.
We are now working on redundant encoded transmissions, which will minimize packet loss while keeping the used bandwidth to a minimum. This will take about a week or two to ship out as a new firmware.
The Live is a cutting edge device, with Firmware over the air, automatic detection of the attached GPS protocol, as well as a quad band antenna capable of handling most GSM networks all over the world.
Our mission is to make sure you guys are happy using it, and we are working on it day and night
Hope this answers your questions,
Yariv from Flytrex.
The bug we have found was related to the internal memory on board the Flytrex Live - on certain occasions and under certain internal conditions, the Live would halt upon filling up the internal memory. We have identified the cause and fixed this bug.
Yes, the Live records all your full flights to an on board memory, so even if the connection is lost mid-air, you can still download your full missions after landing
We planned to ship the Live mission downloader software a few days ago, but were set back due to this rare bug we wanted fixed asap. So expect a mission downloader very soon (=a few days days) .
Regarding dropped packets over the air - unfortunately, this is due to coverage problems.
We've seen many long flights that were fully covered by the Live, not a single packet dropped. But we've also seen missions that were almost null, with high packet loss. We have learned a lot from both cases.
We are now working on redundant encoded transmissions, which will minimize packet loss while keeping the used bandwidth to a minimum. This will take about a week or two to ship out as a new firmware.
The Live is a cutting edge device, with Firmware over the air, automatic detection of the attached GPS protocol, as well as a quad band antenna capable of handling most GSM networks all over the world.
Our mission is to make sure you guys are happy using it, and we are working on it day and night
Hope this answers your questions,
Yariv from Flytrex.
For what it's worth, I read an article today about a new Intel 3G chip, and thought of you guys at Flytrex
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/27/intel-tiny-3g-modem/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/27/intel-tiny-3g-modem/
Morgon said:For what it's worth, I read an article today about a new Intel 3G chip, and thought of you guys at Flytrex
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/27/intel-tiny-3g-modem/
Awesome little device. That would be sweet & tiny in a Flytrex Live v2!
Haven't had a chance to fly with the new firmware yet, but I just powered on and the Live updated itself to the new version without incident. I am fortunate here as 2G coverage is very good., which makes me curious why I am having issues with truncated missions.
I personally like what you flytrex guys are doing and enjoy my core 2.
But I doubt you will find anyone that thinks "cutting edge" and 2g should be used in the same sentence. Its a lot like Ferrari releasing a state of the art sports car with a 1930 Ford model A engine. Actually its exactly like it.
But I doubt you will find anyone that thinks "cutting edge" and 2g should be used in the same sentence. Its a lot like Ferrari releasing a state of the art sports car with a 1930 Ford model A engine. Actually its exactly like it.
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Apparently already available from UBLOX
http://www.u-blox.com/en/wireless-modules/umtshsdpa-modules/sara-u2-series.html
http://www.u-blox.com/en/wireless-modules/umtshsdpa-modules/sara-u2-series.html
yariv said:Yes, the Live records all your full flights to an on board memory, so even if the connection is lost mid-air, you can still download your full missions after landing
Yariv from Flytrex.
I seem to have great 2G coverage in my area, but I am having major issues with truncated mission data. I hope the mission data is safely retained within the Live's memory, and I look forward to the availability of the Mission Downloader. It would be nice if there was some way for the Live to compare its internal mission logs with the logs that have been transmitted to the site and, when a log has not been fully transmitted, to have it automatically sync the data between the Live & the site.
ya, they could implement a 'hash' code to determine if the logs are a match. Using a hash would allow a quick determination on whether the Live mission is complete...Dirty Bird said:yariv said:Yes, the Live records all your full flights to an on board memory, so even if the connection is lost mid-air, you can still download your full missions after landing
Yariv from Flytrex.
I seem to have great 2G coverage in my area, but I am having major issues with truncated mission data. I hope the mission data is safely retained within the Live's memory, and I look forward to the availability of the Mission Downloader. It would be nice if there was some way for the Live to compare its internal mission logs with the logs that have been transmitted to the site and, when a log has not been fully transmitted, to have it automatically sync the data between the Live & the site.
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