- Joined
- Jul 7, 2018
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Well, fellow Evo fans, just a word of wisdom and a head's-up flying.
In another post, I mentioned my issue with my Evo fly away and failure to respond to the Pause / Cancel button action. To recap, I was bringing my Evo in to land after the first low battery warning, literally less than 10' away from me. Suddenly, RTH initiated automatically and since there were tree limbs overhead I pressed the Pause button to halt the action. Nothing happened. Pressed again, pressed and held and still absolutely nothing happened until my Evo flew right into the tree limbs and crashed to the ground. There was minimal damage, but the gimbal gave an error so Autel told me to send it in for evaluation.
The trip there took just over a week (since Autel's RMA process uses the absolute slowest form of USP Ground shipping). Then, Autel tells me the roll motor needs to be replaced to the tune of $80 and my expense. They tell me the Pause button works fine and there is nothing in the logs. Sure. Right, Imagine that! Also, to keep this in perspective, I am far from an inexperienced operator as a writer for several major aviation journals and a safety instructor on this subject. Of all things, I am pretty well versed on the use of the controller and handling emergency situations like this, as best as possible.
After discussing this with different people at Autel, it was escalated to the VP (as I was told, but...?) and they offered a few dollars off the labor portion of the repair but still tell me it's my problem. Interestingly, one of the motors is also making a noise (where it impacted in the crash) yet there is no mention of that in their "thorough inspection of everything".
Whatever the outcome, I can no longer have confidence in this Evo and with the immaturity of their software and relatively newcomer status to this level of the marketplace. My flights are mostly for demonstrations to others coming into UAS operation and other professionals who are interested in bringing in drone services to their businesses. I had high hopes that Autel would have a viable option to 'the other brand' in medium sized, foldable models but they clearly have some things to get fixed, one being intermittent problems like this. In all my years of flying professionally and personally, have I experienced as many problems out of the box as I have with this Evo. This is my fourth interaction with Autel over support issues since I bought my Evo brand new in August and I must say, that is more times than I ever have had to deal with 'the other company' in years of owning and flying their products and owning nearly half dozen of their models. It was an experiment, but a failed one at that.
For those who are having good luck with your Evos, I wish you all the best! I' am sure many of them are flying just fine and I hope you enjoy all this potentially great machine has to offer. Mine, on the other hand, had been a chain of failures and disappointments and now, after a month sitting at Autel while they try and figure something out it is wrapping up as a pretty hollow customer service experience as well.
This Evo will be for sale when I receive it back from Autel, repaired with - and I quote Autel - "a clean bill of health". If anyone is interested, let me know. Extra battery, shoulder bag and a very nice LG Stylo 3 for control.
In another post, I mentioned my issue with my Evo fly away and failure to respond to the Pause / Cancel button action. To recap, I was bringing my Evo in to land after the first low battery warning, literally less than 10' away from me. Suddenly, RTH initiated automatically and since there were tree limbs overhead I pressed the Pause button to halt the action. Nothing happened. Pressed again, pressed and held and still absolutely nothing happened until my Evo flew right into the tree limbs and crashed to the ground. There was minimal damage, but the gimbal gave an error so Autel told me to send it in for evaluation.
The trip there took just over a week (since Autel's RMA process uses the absolute slowest form of USP Ground shipping). Then, Autel tells me the roll motor needs to be replaced to the tune of $80 and my expense. They tell me the Pause button works fine and there is nothing in the logs. Sure. Right, Imagine that! Also, to keep this in perspective, I am far from an inexperienced operator as a writer for several major aviation journals and a safety instructor on this subject. Of all things, I am pretty well versed on the use of the controller and handling emergency situations like this, as best as possible.
After discussing this with different people at Autel, it was escalated to the VP (as I was told, but...?) and they offered a few dollars off the labor portion of the repair but still tell me it's my problem. Interestingly, one of the motors is also making a noise (where it impacted in the crash) yet there is no mention of that in their "thorough inspection of everything".
Whatever the outcome, I can no longer have confidence in this Evo and with the immaturity of their software and relatively newcomer status to this level of the marketplace. My flights are mostly for demonstrations to others coming into UAS operation and other professionals who are interested in bringing in drone services to their businesses. I had high hopes that Autel would have a viable option to 'the other brand' in medium sized, foldable models but they clearly have some things to get fixed, one being intermittent problems like this. In all my years of flying professionally and personally, have I experienced as many problems out of the box as I have with this Evo. This is my fourth interaction with Autel over support issues since I bought my Evo brand new in August and I must say, that is more times than I ever have had to deal with 'the other company' in years of owning and flying their products and owning nearly half dozen of their models. It was an experiment, but a failed one at that.
For those who are having good luck with your Evos, I wish you all the best! I' am sure many of them are flying just fine and I hope you enjoy all this potentially great machine has to offer. Mine, on the other hand, had been a chain of failures and disappointments and now, after a month sitting at Autel while they try and figure something out it is wrapping up as a pretty hollow customer service experience as well.
This Evo will be for sale when I receive it back from Autel, repaired with - and I quote Autel - "a clean bill of health". If anyone is interested, let me know. Extra battery, shoulder bag and a very nice LG Stylo 3 for control.