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The SE Controller was never going to work!

BlairAir

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Getting ready to sell the once again half-hearted effort on Autels part Lite+.

I think Lite+ is a very capable aircraft. I'm many ways, it's a better design than Evo 2 series models. It actually gets 90% or better advertised flight time. Camera hardware also capable. Underutilized and poorly controlled with Firmware, but capable of capturing great images. All of which doesn't mean squat when the controller paired with this drone is a joke, and the firmware is buggier than (insert something witty here)
since the March update, flying my Lite+ has become an exercise in frustration, disappointment and anger. Autel Fly restarts randomly, but often - at least once EVERY FLIGHT. Restarts, and grabs a new homepoint that is wherever the drone is at that moment. So all the safety provided by a GPS homepoint is wiped in a split second and any problem from that moment is a potential loss of the drone.

I have tried 5 different phones, all 2022 Flagship models of iPhone Pro/Pro Max, and Samsung S22/S23 Ultra models. All experience the same issue

The controller is a 100% piece of crap. I bought 4 batteries at some expense, but the controller only lasts a little past 3 batteries. Why is a FAN running in a controller? Autel can't design a heat sync capable of managing that? No cable management, no stick storage, you can't even CHECK the tiny battery capacity without starting it up. And no Smart Controller. Not even the promised SE -that I knew would never work. It doesn't match the 3 bands on Lite+

I sold my Evo 2 Pro over Autels repeated MO of buggy, half hearted Firmware releases at 6-8 MONTH intervals, then giving up making a model meet promises and just starting from scratch.with a new aircraft and chipset. Rinse and repeat.

They are small, compared to DJI, and I like supporting the underdog. But not like this. I need to part with another "almost ran" before Autel abandons it, just as they always do. So.much potential, unrealized. My advice to Autel -as if it had any chance of being heard is the following:

Stop spreading your limited resources so thin. Don't try to compete in every segment. Limit the number of product releases, but do them right. If you want enterprise business, pause Consumer product development until you have the commercial business doing well. Or just do the inverse and focus on consumer models. 1 or 2. Not 8 or 10.
Finally: for transmission issues - pick a few bands. Then stick with them. Make them work, and make ALL your drones and controllers use THE SAME BANDS. This one change will end the way you Silo every Drone/Controller - and let uou actually have a functional interoperability matrix.

Either stop over-promising, or test more so what you actually deliver is successful. The problem with abandoning products and the customers who buy them is saturation. When you exist only by sales to new customers- ones that haven't given up on Autel after going through the gauntlet of promises that never materialize, poor, buggy updates after long waits and the rest of the disappointing ownership experience, eventually the entire pool of new marks gets to know your reputation.

If only Autel was listening... how great would that be? I can only shake my head, and wonder what might have been. Perhaps some of you understand how great it was to discover a whole different drone Ecosytem, applications, imaging and flight capabilities. DJI is so solid (99% of the time anyway) - has no real competition and strange as it sounds can get boring in the way all models have very similar flight modes and software interfaces. Yes they have a good range of capabilities, but the software is so familiar that it can lose the excitement of discovery.

We have all seen new Autel Customers raving over their newly found world! Check in 6 months later and the shine has definitely gone dim. Give it a year and you are left with hard-core defenders or ex-customers, with little in between the two.

If thus was 2015, the Autel Lite Series would be a moonshot. In 2023, not so much... flying with a phone for a display and running an app is for Amazon toys and heavily budgeted buyers. Those who simply want the best consumer gear should look elsewhere, in my opinion, and at the end of the day, thar is all that this is. One man's experience, thoughts and conclusions after 2 plus years of buying and flying Autel. If I saw ANY evidence that this is improving or likely to start improving, I would just bide my time. I do not. I believe I need to move on, and that is the biggest disappointment of all.
 
Getting ready to sell the once again half-hearted effort on Autels part Lite+.

I think Lite+ is a very capable aircraft. I'm many ways, it's a better design than Evo 2 series models. It actually gets 90% or better advertised flight time. Camera hardware also capable. Underutilized and poorly controlled with Firmware, but capable of capturing great images. All of which doesn't mean squat when the controller paired with this drone is a joke, and the firmware is buggier than (insert something witty here)
since the March update, flying my Lite+ has become an exercise in frustration, disappointment and anger. Autel Fly restarts randomly, but often - at least once EVERY FLIGHT. Restarts, and grabs a new homepoint that is wherever the drone is at that moment. So all the safety provided by a GPS homepoint is wiped in a split second and any problem from that moment is a potential loss of the drone.

I have tried 5 different phones, all 2022 Flagship models of iPhone Pro/Pro Max, and Samsung S22/S23 Ultra models. All experience the same issue

The controller is a 100% piece of crap. I bought 4 batteries at some expense, but the controller only lasts a little past 3 batteries. Why is a FAN running in a controller? Autel can't design a heat sync capable of managing that? No cable management, no stick storage, you can't even CHECK the tiny battery capacity without starting it up. And no Smart Controller. Not even the promised SE -that I knew would never work. It doesn't match the 3 bands on Lite+

I sold my Evo 2 Pro over Autels repeated MO of buggy, half hearted Firmware releases at 6-8 MONTH intervals, then giving up making a model meet promises and just starting from scratch.with a new aircraft and chipset. Rinse and repeat.

They are small, compared to DJI, and I like supporting the underdog. But not like this. I need to part with another "almost ran" before Autel abandons it, just as they always do. So.much potential, unrealized. My advice to Autel -as if it had any chance of being heard is the following:

Stop spreading your limited resources so thin. Don't try to compete in every segment. Limit the number of product releases, but do them right. If you want enterprise business, pause Consumer product development until you have the commercial business doing well. Or just do the inverse and focus on consumer models. 1 or 2. Not 8 or 10.
Finally: for transmission issues - pick a few bands. Then stick with them. Make them work, and make ALL your drones and controllers use THE SAME BANDS. This one change will end the way you Silo every Drone/Controller - and let uou actually have a functional interoperability matrix.

Either stop over-promising, or test more so what you actually deliver is successful. The problem with abandoning products and the customers who buy them is saturation. When you exist only by sales to new customers- ones that haven't given up on Autel after going through the gauntlet of promises that never materialize, poor, buggy updates after long waits and the rest of the disappointing ownership experience, eventually the entire pool of new marks gets to know your reputation.

If only Autel was listening... how great would that be? I can only shake my head, and wonder what might have been. Perhaps some of you understand how great it was to discover a whole different drone Ecosytem, applications, imaging and flight capabilities. DJI is so solid (99% of the time anyway) - has no real competition and strange as it sounds can get boring in the way all models have very similar flight modes and software interfaces. Yes they have a good range of capabilities, but the software is so familiar that it can lose the excitement of discovery.

We have all seen new Autel Customers raving over their newly found world! Check in 6 months later and the shine has definitely gone dim. Give it a year and you are left with hard-core defenders or ex-customers, with little in between the two.

If thus was 2015, the Autel Lite Series would be a moonshot. In 2023, not so much... flying with a phone for a display and running an app is for Amazon toys and heavily budgeted buyers. Those who simply want the best consumer gear should look elsewhere, in my opinion, and at the end of the day, thar is all that this is. One man's experience, thoughts and conclusions after 2 plus years of buying and flying Autel. If I saw ANY evidence that this is improving or likely to start improving, I would just bide my time. I do not. I believe I need to move on, and that is the biggest disappointment of all.
Autel hardware is great! Firmware is worthless! The worst part is customer service couldn’t care less!
 
The lite + is an entry level drone flying mine with old lenovo tablet everything fine. DJI is wating for your money
 
The lite + is an entry level drone flying mine with old lenovo tablet everything fine. DJI is wating for your money
DJI has plenty of my money... I have every Drone they released since the Mavic Air 2 in 2019 except the two "junior" models -Mini 3 and Mavic 3 Classic.

Entry level should not mean issues that go unresolved, often over a year. Evo 2 V3 is another example. They still haven't gotten transmission updated to use all bands. And that's not entry level. Autel Customer Support is barely functional.

Evo Lite+ entry level? Far from it. Autel tried selling it for over $1800 for a year, then knocked off 50% when all the marks that paid full price were sold to. Entry level is Mini 2 SE... Autel sells it as Consumer Level. Too bad its have baked with the current firmware. The aircraft deserves so much better in terms of control and bug fixes... but it won't get them, if history is a guide.
 
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i'm using Autel sky app with s23u since a month or so. Not a single restart. Clear app memory?

For the support, i have reported an in app bug, got response within 24h. So far it was ok. Software IS limiting, that's true and i wish to have more advanced functions, but since it's positioned as entry level then i knew what i would get i guess. Range is fine, i only fly within LOS in accordance to UE rules so i could care less about few km range.
Wind resistance is ok, though upwind speeds are not good at all, but I was prepared for this.

Cable management is bad, it sucks there is no place for sticks but controller is comfy.

I must add that i'm not very demanding consumer, i would like to have some screen with basic telemetry in the controller, some mission planning, and P/S modes in the camera... and that's that.

1800 for lite+ is a joke price i must say. I ended up paying 1100 for the combo bundle. That was mini 3 pro RC price and that was ok'ish
 
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Finally: for transmission issues - pick a few bands. Then stick with them. Make them work, and make ALL your drones and controllers use THE SAME BANDS. This one change will end the way you Silo every Drone/Controller - and let uou actually have a functional interoperability matrix.
As I said in another post, making the RF stage a separate, user-replaceable module would eliminate future incompatibility issues.

That's not to say that they shouldn't retain the same bands when that's possible; but making the radio modular would maintain compatibility even if there were a need to change bands (for example, if new bands were allocated that were better than the existing ones).

If they made the RF stage a snap-in module, the same base controller hardware could also be used to control different drone models from different series.
 
Getting ready to sell the once again half-hearted effort on Autels part Lite+.

I think Lite+ is a very capable aircraft. I'm many ways, it's a better design than Evo 2 series models. It actually gets 90% or better advertised flight time. Camera hardware also capable. Underutilized and poorly controlled with Firmware, but capable of capturing great images. All of which doesn't mean squat when the controller paired with this drone is a joke, and the firmware is buggier than (insert something witty here)
since the March update, flying my Lite+ has become an exercise in frustration, disappointment and anger. Autel Fly restarts randomly, but often - at least once EVERY FLIGHT. Restarts, and grabs a new homepoint that is wherever the drone is at that moment. So all the safety provided by a GPS homepoint is wiped in a split second and any problem from that moment is a potential loss of the drone.

I have tried 5 different phones, all 2022 Flagship models of iPhone Pro/Pro Max, and Samsung S22/S23 Ultra models. All experience the same issue

The controller is a 100% piece of crap. I bought 4 batteries at some expense, but the controller only lasts a little past 3 batteries. Why is a FAN running in a controller? Autel can't design a heat sync capable of managing that? No cable management, no stick storage, you can't even CHECK the tiny battery capacity without starting it up. And no Smart Controller. Not even the promised SE -that I knew would never work. It doesn't match the 3 bands on Lite+

I sold my Evo 2 Pro over Autels repeated MO of buggy, half hearted Firmware releases at 6-8 MONTH intervals, then giving up making a model meet promises and just starting from scratch.with a new aircraft and chipset. Rinse and repeat.

They are small, compared to DJI, and I like supporting the underdog. But not like this. I need to part with another "almost ran" before Autel abandons it, just as they always do. So.much potential, unrealized. My advice to Autel -as if it had any chance of being heard is the following:

Stop spreading your limited resources so thin. Don't try to compete in every segment. Limit the number of product releases, but do them right. If you want enterprise business, pause Consumer product development until you have the commercial business doing well. Or just do the inverse and focus on consumer models. 1 or 2. Not 8 or 10.
Finally: for transmission issues - pick a few bands. Then stick with them. Make them work, and make ALL your drones and controllers use THE SAME BANDS. This one change will end the way you Silo every Drone/Controller - and let uou actually have a functional interoperability matrix.

Either stop over-promising, or test more so what you actually deliver is successful. The problem with abandoning products and the customers who buy them is saturation. When you exist only by sales to new customers- ones that haven't given up on Autel after going through the gauntlet of promises that never materialize, poor, buggy updates after long waits and the rest of the disappointing ownership experience, eventually the entire pool of new marks gets to know your reputation.

If only Autel was listening... how great would that be? I can only shake my head, and wonder what might have been. Perhaps some of you understand how great it was to discover a whole different drone Ecosytem, applications, imaging and flight capabilities. DJI is so solid (99% of the time anyway) - has no real competition and strange as it sounds can get boring in the way all models have very similar flight modes and software interfaces. Yes they have a good range of capabilities, but the software is so familiar that it can lose the excitement of discovery.

We have all seen new Autel Customers raving over their newly found world! Check in 6 months later and the shine has definitely gone dim. Give it a year and you are left with hard-core defenders or ex-customers, with little in between the two.

If thus was 2015, the Autel Lite Series would be a moonshot. In 2023, not so much... flying with a phone for a display and running an app is for Amazon toys and heavily budgeted buyers. Those who simply want the best consumer gear should look elsewhere, in my opinion, and at the end of the day, thar is all that this is. One man's experience, thoughts and conclusions after 2 plus years of buying and flying Autel. If I saw ANY evidence that this is improving or likely to start improving, I would just bide my time. I do not. I believe I need to move on, and that is the biggest disappointment of all.
You hit the nail on the head, indeed!!!!!!!!!
 
You hit the nail on the head, indeed!!!!!!!!!
Yes I feel as if you were turning the pages aside was reading my thoughts exactly, I feel as I had the wool pulled on me.
TAKEN BY A BUNCH OF CON MEN
 
I have the same issue with the AutelSky App. 90% of the time I try to take a panorama it crashes. anytime I try to use any advanced features it is prone to crashing. It will also crashes randomly on my Galaxy S21+.
 
The problems with updating the firmware are an eternal source of trouble. Now I had to have the controller replaced under warranty (the original one had the threads of the sticks come apart).

At first, the new controller would not pair with the drone at all. The dealer then took over - more bad than good. Now the controller regularly loses the connection to the drone after a few seconds - this morning, for example, 2 feet from my face. It is absolutely annoying.

Too bad, because the drone itself is great - and with the first controller you could also easily fly for miles. Fortunately, the return-to-home mode works flawlessly in an emergency.

And a note to those who excuse such mistakes by saying that the Lite Plus is an entry-level drone: Yes, but even an entry-level drone must be absolutely safe at all times.
 
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I have disconnections occur every single flight. Only since FW 1.8.3 - No way to roll back or even reinstall. Doesn't SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE have downloads of previous Firmware? As of now every flight experiences a disconnect. Then it resets the home point to where ever the drone is. Then every few flights, right after reset of the homepoint -SUDDEN RTH. TO WHEREVER THE DRONE IS. Starts landing. Wherever it is. Wonderful.

And the threads on my "out of control-er' are coming out of the plastic as well.

So much potential - yet almost completely abandoned by Autel. Just like us customers.
 

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