3D Robotics announce IRIS+ quadcopter shipping 15th September

[P13]

As an existing IRIS owner, the issues I mentioned from owning it, mainly being the limited flight time have been addressed in a new update, it's a fairly decent upgrade using a quality battery and T-motor props along with lighter arms/legs and more powerful motors and an ESC. This platform is fine for using a GoPro with a gimbal but not heavier cameras, flight time is claimed at 15 minutes with a gimbal+GoPro.

The upgrades are:

1) Powerful 920KV motors
2) 4 Self Tightening 9" Propellers (T-motor)
3) New Lighter Arms
4) 4 New Long Legs
5) GPS Shield
6) New Orientation LEDs (2 white, 2 red)
7) Custom high quality 3S 5100mah battery - less susceptible to degradation (Gens Ace)
8) Presoldered 4-in-1 ESC

The upgrade for existing customers is $200, the IRIS community have been told this is about 1/2 the cost of the parts if bought separately. As evidence of the good customer service with 3DR, they've not left their existing customers out on a limb and even took to Facebook to post this information this evening.

For people buying the IRIS+ now the price starts at $750 (without a gimbal), so is more expensive than some DJI models but software wise offers more, plus the firmware updates come with proper release notes which I find priceless (hence I bang on about it).

The only gripe I'd really have is the FPV set-up isn't as neat and easy as doing so with DJI gear for example.

 

[Vultch]

Thanks for posting, DJI must be nervous this looks great. I love the flight planning on the tablet device.

 

[P13]

Thanks for posting, DJI must be nervous this looks great. I love the flight planning on the tablet device.

The software (Arducopter) that 3D Robotics use has that capability on all their flight controllers, so the APM and Pixhawk, both of which are fairly inexpensive and there's even clone versions, 3DR now employ a number of key developers to keep improving the code. Of interest for me is that 3DR have listed on their site a successful kicker starter device called a LIDAR-Lite which once coded to work with the Pixhawk will be a welcome addition as it should make sense and avoid a reality.

http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/32-pulsedlight-single-board-range-finder-minimodule

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has invested in 3DR, he's the first significantly high profile person to become involved in the multicopter business and is a sign there's real growth potential in the industry and he's already pushing out positive news on drones/multicopters via the www.virgin.com website.

http://www.uavhive.com/2014/09/06/richard-branson-invests-in-3d-robotics/

 

[Berk]

Hi P13
do you know if Iris+ would be compatible with other 3axis gimbals? or just 2d Tarot?

 

[P13]

The IRIS outputs normal PPM signals so will work with any GoPro gimbal. Some users are already using the FY-G3 Ultra, there are community members printing 3D parts for gimbals other that the tarot.

I'd just ordered one of these so I can try an FY-G3: http://flocmultirotorupgrades.bigca...apter-for-fy-g3-ultra-3-axis-brushless-gimbal

 

[Berk]

thanks for the links. read somewhere that Iris is not that friendly built when it comes to FPVs. I am wondering if there is any forum where these mods are being discussed. have checked Rcgroups. there is not much info there..
thanks

 

[P13]

thanks for the links. read somewhere that Iris is not that friendly built when it comes to FPVs. I am wondering if there is any forum where these mods are being discussed. have checked Rcgroups. there is not much info there..
thanks

The best place on the internet is this IRIS forum: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DRIRIS/

It was set-up by users but even 3DR's support director helps people out on there and there are plans to allow support tickets direct from Facebook.

3DR do an FPV kit but I'm not sure if that's an option on the IRIS+, even if not people on the Facebook page would point you in the right direction. If FPV is your thing though you might want to consider an APM or Pixhawk on a TBS frame.

This is a good FPV group here (albeit with a slight bias towards the UK):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fpvuk/

For FPV if you don't need GPS the Naze and Openpilot CC3D are great options too.

 

[P13]

The first user reviews of the IRIS+ are very positive. The upgrade kit has been delayed a week (it should have shipped today) but once they're in the hands of existing users I'd expect more online reviews.

In the time being the Mission Planner software has been upgraded and is really user friendly now, you can literally draw a path for the Pixhawk to follow, check it out. I've installed it on the Nexus 7 and the only thing I can't figure is the correct way to cache maps, other than that it's child's play.

 

[arturrito]

As begginer in aerial following 3DR products, I´m feeling more serious and robust products, X8+ cannot transport a Gh4 with 12mm lens yet really?

 

[P13]

As begginer in aerial following 3DR products, I´m feeling more serious and robust products, X8+ cannot transport a Gh4 with 12mm lens yet really?

The X8+ is designed for a mirrorless such as LX100 at heaviest from what I can gather.

For the GH4 a DJI S900/S1000 with Wookong is currently the best choice (steer clear of the A2 unless you like having to follow RC Groups to see what the latest firmware mishap is). 3DR has a lot of catching up to do where gimbals are concerned, DJI's Zenmuse is still the best.

Having said that the latest promo video for the X8+ suggests it can get some nice footage, there are one or two shots with jello albeit it's not clear which shots are X8+ and which are IRIS+, I suspect the opening shot is the IRIS as those are the least stable.

The strength that 3DR have is the customer service, they've fixed and replaced kit, >no quibbles< at their cost when the logs have shown it wasn't the user's error for a crash and that has continued, their US support team is being increased in size to keep pace with sales. The Pixhawk also has a number of redundancy and safety features to reduce the likelihood of fly-aways and the software is continually refined and the bug fixing process is transparent with discussions posted on Google groups, from a user viewpoint this transparency is reassuring.

I've installed a FY-G3 gimbal on an IRIS+ (upgraded version from IRIS) but I've not had time to fly and see the video yet.