I don't really care how good the products might be, I will not ever buy another Autel product. I understand that Autel has discontinued and no longer supports the Evo I, but to leave hundreds, probably thousands of owners out in the cold is completely unconscionable. For whatever software reason, many Evo I owners no longer can connect their birds and controllers. Otherwise perfectly good drones have become paper weights, a completely useless waste of investment. It appears that the issue is with the firmware. Surely, Autel could utilize its resources to develop and provide a generic fix so that Evo I users can fly again. So, until that happens, goodbye Autel.
Disgust and disappointment
- Thread starter PcolaBird
- Start date
I have an Evo, but have not flown it in years. What happened with your Evo?
I will check on my Evo on Monday.
I will check on my Evo on Monday.
Same here. I take it out and let it hover every 4 months. It's time to get it out.
Welcome to the club of abandoned Autel owners, I still have an X-Star Premium, they did the same to us but with faulty batteries from the word go. They knew the batteries they shipped out were crap, and they never made any attempt to fix the issue, now, you can't find a working battery unless you are extremely lucky, pay an arm and a leg for one on ebay, and even then the battery is on it's last leg. Autel is probably the only major drone manufacturer that never offered a single 3rd party replacement battery. Currently I have 3 X-Star premium drone with a hard case and 3 working batteries I am treating like gold.
Bought an EVO 2 Pro 6K Version 2 with the 1800 nit big screen smart controller. When I found out I couldn't use the V2 smart controller with the new 6K Version 3 drone then I couldn't wait to unload my Version 2 Autel EVO Pro 6K drone and my fancy new smart controller. I felt really good when someone actually wanted to buy the drone by itself without the high priced controller. When I paid about $5,000.00 Canadian dollars for my drone and controller two years earlier then I felt lucky to get out with about $3,000.00 Canadian dollars after it was all said and done. Bought a used Mavic 3 by DJI with the RC Pro controller for about $3,000.00 CAD all in then it was a big relief. Unlike the one trick pony Autel V2 controller my DJI RC Pro controller is compatible with DJI Mavic 3 Pro, Mavic 3 Cine, Mavic 3 Classic, Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Cine, DJI Mini Pro 3 and DJI Air 2S. TAKE THAT AUTEL..........YOU HAVE PROPRIETIZED YOURSELF OUT OF BUSINESS. I vote ALL Autel owners and users UNLOAD their Autel drones so they don't get stuck with unsupported, expensive and proprietary drones and equipment. Shame on you Autel Robotics.
Bought an EVO 2 Pro 6K Version 2 with the 1800 nit big screen smart controller. When I found out I couldn't use the V2 smart controller with the new 6K Version 3 drone then I couldn't wait to unload my Version 2 Autel EVO Pro 6K drone and my fancy new smart controller. I felt really good when someone actually wanted to buy the drone by itself without the high priced controller. When I paid about $5,000.00 Canadian dollars for my drone and controller two years earlier then I felt lucky to get out with about $3,000.00 Canadian dollars after it was all said and done. Bought a used Mavic 3 by DJI with the RC Pro controller for about $3,000.00 CAD all in then it was a big relief. Unlike the one trick pony Autel V2 controller my DJI RC Pro controller is compatible with DJI Mavic 3 Pro, Mavic 3 Cine, Mavic 3 Classic, Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Cine, DJI Mini Pro 3 and DJI Air 2S. TAKE THAT AUTEL..........YOU HAVE PROPRIETIZED YOURSELF OUT OF BUSINESS. I vote ALL Autel owners and users UNLOAD their Autel drones so they don't get stuck with unsupported, expensive and proprietary drones and equipment. Shame on you Autel Robotics.
Sold my old evo 1 and bought a brand new one on Ebay, also 3 new batteries, still love this drone, never had issues with connecting , just flew it with my wife this weekend and it worked flawlessly. I like it better than my Evo lite because I can adjust all camera setting from the controller.
I just pulled mine out and same issue. Wont pair/connect to remote and support files don’t work.
Are these really now useless?
Are these really now useless?
How do you pair?
- Rear of drone, open clip and push small white button that flashes green. Once pressed, it will flash green fast repeatedly. On remote controller, press and hold "Home" button and power button. It will start the controller in "Matching" mode. Once paired, your drone should connect.
Where does it go wrong?
- Matching/pairing drone to controller times out and doesn't connect. No video feed to controller can be established.
What color does the rear arms flash?
- Front lights stay solid red. Rear lights flash yellow.
UPDATE:
Yesterday I did find the latest FW updated for the EVO 1 on the forum here: EVO_FW_V1.5.8 (Original Page for Reference)
After downloading, I put the .bin file on a SD card and inserted it into drone.
Turned the drone on and the rear lights went from flashing yellow to a combination of flashing yellow & red. It was obviously reading the SD card. After about 5min of doing its thing, the drone started doing a 3-beep repeating sound every two minutes. So I figured I'd turned the controller on and it showed it was updating.
This is where I thought I was getting somewhere.
After waiting 15min and stuck at 99% and 1sec. I rebooted my drone.
Same issue arises. Not "connecting" to remote.
I tried a few troubleshooting scenarios, but nothing would connect after multiple reboots, pairing attempts and trying different batteries.
I tried to re-insert the SD card with the firmware on it again (as once it updates, the SD card formats and leaves a DCIM folder.) But now every time I put the SD card with the .bin file in the drone and start it, the firmware gets deleted and left with DCIM folder. So it confirms to me that the drone did update. The lights stay flashing yellow as before.
My overall consensus is that Autel has bricked all V1 Evo drones from functioning. The mere fact that the drone wont connect to controller tells me that it could be an easy FW fix but without support for these I doubt they will ever look to get them in the air again.
It's extremely sad to see this considering many that bought EVO I -and supported Autel in 2019, got their business off the ground and today 6yrs later, most if not all, sit with dead paperweights and are out $1,500+ (for me anyways) after extra batteries and accessories/parts were purchased before they discontinued all products for EVO I
I don't know after doing some research if this problem because of the China ban of Drones into the USA?
"Last month, President Joe Biden signed legislation that could ban China-based DJI and Autel Robotics (688208. SS) , opens new tab from selling new drone models in the U.S. A unspecified U.S. agency must determine within one year if drones from DJI or Autel Robotics pose unacceptable national security risks." (Original Article)
Anyways, I hope Autel does come out with a FW update to unbrick these units, but sadly I think they are done for good. This issue of connecting controller to drone has been an issue for the past few years according to some users I read posting the same issue.
It was just recently (yesterday) I pulled mine out to try them with my Augmented glasses and immediately found myself doing due-diligence on the issue. Spent the better half of yesterday trying to get it to work. Eventually, I just gave up like many..
Hope this helps..
I just tried my 2019 Evo.
I did not use a phone with Autel Explorer as the phone was dead, but I will try with the phone tommorow.
I have not flown it since August 2023.
It was already linked to the controller on power up.
I had connection and powered on the motors. I did not fly as I was inside an office.
Did anyone try without using the Explorer app?
I don't see how it is possible for it to brick itself, unless something got updated.
I will fly it tommorow and use the Explorer app and post back my results. I will also check and see what firmware is on the aircraft and controller as well as the version of the Explorer app.
I did not use a phone with Autel Explorer as the phone was dead, but I will try with the phone tommorow.
I have not flown it since August 2023.
It was already linked to the controller on power up.
I had connection and powered on the motors. I did not fly as I was inside an office.
Did anyone try without using the Explorer app?
I don't see how it is possible for it to brick itself, unless something got updated.
I will fly it tommorow and use the Explorer app and post back my results. I will also check and see what firmware is on the aircraft and controller as well as the version of the Explorer app.
I tried again today, with a phone and the Explorer app. It worked fine.
Is it because I am on an older firmware?
Is it because I am on an older firmware?
claudius62
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