Buggy recent updates?

[Kell74]

Hi folks. Has anyone has issues with the last two SW updates? A few weeks back my drone lost connectivity with the app when I was in line of sight and maybe 70ft away from it. Went totally unresponsive and I also got error msgs. Skydio said it was a bad GPS issue and update the app.

Today, on the latest update, things got worse. First flight was fine with controller up to 3 mins in when the gimbal rolled to the side, connection dropped and I started to get critical error msgs. Couldn’t connect, again within 60ft and line of sight.

When it eventually did respond, I turned it off and back on and Bam, like the problem hadn’t happened.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the new updates? There’s been an IOS update thrown in too.

 

[BlueHeeler]

Nothing Buggy here and I am always weary after an update.

I think it's pretty common for some weird behaviors for some of us after updates, but they seem to vanish.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

Yeah recent updates have been very inconsistent, some guys have little issue and others have a lot. Before the current update I had nothing but problems with GPS tracking, disconnects, returning to home when my S2 was 10 ft away from me....

The current software does seem to perform good but I do get the occasional disconnect. The more flight time you put on the software the better it seems to get.

Tracking with the current software is almost but not quite as good as the original software in my opinion. I would trade off the new features added to get the stability of the original software.

It would be interesting to track what equipment guys are using, what tablet iOS or Android, controller versus beacon, phone versus beacon... I have noticed changing up the equipment does affect performance.

 

[Ridefreak]

To me it appears sometimes it doesn't seem to boot up perfectly, I first noticed that after an update after the drone had been out a couple years. It also seems GPS related, usually I notice weird tracking like the drone thinks I'm 100' away from my actual location, or it just becomes mostly unresponsive. It's probably happened 3 times now in the last year or so, before that I can't remember having to reboot ever.

Now when it acts weird right after takeoff I try and land and reboot everything, if it happens after flying awhile I come to a stop push the blue button on the beacon and that'll usually cause it to re-home on me as the subject.

 

[Kell74]

Tracking with the current software is almost but not quite as good as the original software in my opinion. I would trade off the new features added to get the stability of the original software.

It would be interesting to track what equipment guys are using, what tablet iOS or Android, controller versus beacon, phone versus beacon...

I’d happily go to the out of box release. Had no issues with it.

I’m on IOS latest release on an XR. I’ve had the issues using phone only and with the remote.

 

[Kell74]

So the answer from Skydio was - make sure the drone is on the latest release and do a factory reset.

That seems to be the stock answer. They don’t say what the problem was just to update or factory reset the device. WTAF

 

[bikeridez]

Yes, I'm going nuts.. Since November I had over 30 flawless, full battery, flights. Then about 6 weeks ago there was an update. The next flight the drone lost visual tracking of me. It would not respond the beacon to come back. I finally just back tracked on the trail while hitting the minus button on the beacon until I got close enough that I could reach it to land. Then 2 weeks later I went out and there was another update which I installed first. On the next flight the same thing happened. This time the drone was so far away before I got the beacon alert that I could not find it. I had to backtrack 1/2 mile before I could hear it and even when I was right back under it, it still would not respond to the beacon. The solution again was to keep back tracking while hitting the minus button on the beacon to get it low enough to land.

Today I went out again. Less than 1 minute into the flight again the beacon starts beeping that visual tracking was lost. The drone was on the first distance setting, less then 30 feet from me, staring right at me. I wear very bright clothes that don't match anything in the landscape. This time the beacon was saying "Hit select". I hit that select and the drone took off. At least 400 feet away, hovering over a 6,000 foot cliff! No response from the drone using the beacon. I was in a tricky spot where backtracking was difficult. Finally, again, back tracking and hitting minus key brought the drone back over ground that I could recover it. I feel like the drone was trying t return to a way point maybe, but in todays case, the way point it went to was not any where that we had traveled previously (6,000 ft off a cliff). This is extremely nerve racking situation when the drone takes off and/or wont respond to beacon. I just emailed Skydio support explaining the issues after firmware update and then after, I checked here and see other having the same issue and it's not situational.

I'm so freakin' upset now. I had finally gotten this drone working flawlessly and now these updates have totally screwed it up. I want to roll back 2 version until they can fix this. Is that possible?

I see that some are saying Skydio said to factory reset? Are you kidding? Won't I loose all my previous flight data or is that stored in the beacon or somewhere else?

What is the procedure for recovering the drone when it won't respond to the beacon? I'm wondering if I should have tried to open my phone again and use the signal boost.

(Note: I only fly with the beacon. I connect the beacon to my drone to get a quick GPS signal but after launch, put the phone away.)

 

[VEGASROBBI]

My S2 has been great with the new software..... until today. I could barely go 10 feet without it spinning around facing the wrong way, wandering all over the landscape, flying erratic, diving at my Jeep - I had to slam on the brakes a few times to avoid hitting it....

I might try the reboot; I wish the older software was available.

 

[Kell74]

Yes, I'm going nuts.. Since November I had over 30 flawless, full battery, flights. Then about 6 weeks ago there was an update. The next flight the drone lost visual tracking of me. It would not respond the beacon to come back. I finally just back tracked on the trail while hitting the minus button on the beacon until I got close enough that I could reach it to land. Then 2 weeks later I went out and there was another update which I installed first. On the next flight the same thing happened. This time the drone was so far away before I got the beacon alert that I could not find it. I had to backtrack 1/2 mile before I could hear it and even when I was right back under it, it still would not respond to the beacon. The solution again was to keep back tracking while hitting the minus button on the beacon to get it low enough to land.

Today I went out again. Less than 1 minute into the flight again the beacon starts beeping that visual tracking was lost. The drone was on the first distance setting, less then 30 feet from me, staring right at me. I wear very bright clothes that don't match anything in the landscape. This time the beacon was saying "Hit select". I hit that select and the drone took off. At least 400 feet away, hovering over a 6,000 foot cliff! No response from the drone using the beacon. I was in a tricky spot where backtracking was difficult. Finally, again, back tracking and hitting minus key brought the drone back over ground that I could recover it. I feel like the drone was trying t return to a way point maybe, but in todays case, the way point it went to was not any where that we had traveled previously (6,000 ft off a cliff). This is extremely nerve racking situation when the drone takes off and/or wont respond to beacon. I just emailed Skydio support explaining the issues after firmware update and then after, I checked here and see other having the same issue and it's not situational.

I'm so freakin' upset now. I had finally gotten this drone working flawlessly and now these updates have totally screwed it up. I want to roll back 2 version until they can fix this. Is that possible?

I see that some are saying Skydio said to factory reset? Are you kidding? Won't I loose all my previous flight data or is that stored in the beacon or somewhere else?

What is the procedure for recovering the drone when it won't respond to the beacon? I'm wondering if I should have tried to open my phone again and use the signal boost.

(Note: I only fly with the beacon. I connect the beacon to my drone to get a quick GPS signal but after launch, put the phone away.)

We won’t solve anything here. Get onto Skydio support with that description. The last two updates are obviously problematic by Skydio aren’t admitting same

 

[bikeridez]

Just report back on this... I've been still going back and forth with Skydio support on this issue. Their latest reason for my drone taking off after losing visual tracking is:

Ryan (SKYDIO): I see that the highest satellite count during this flight was 11, but the average was closer to 7-8 for the majority of the flight. . If the drone loses visual tracking capabilities, it will switch to GPS tracking. Since the drone's GPS connection was poor, it had trouble positioning itself in regard to the Beacon's signal.

Now this is contradicts what I was told by support back in October where I rarely ever able to get a GPS lock with the beacon only. I was told use the phone to get the GPS lock and that after I launch I can put the phone back to lock screen and the drone would be fly fine:

Gavin (SKYDIO): I want to reassure you that you are absolutely safe to close your phone after connecting with the Beacon and launching the drone - there is no risk in trying this.

So there you have it. You can use your phone as a hack to get the beacon to allow the drone to launch with a GPS sync, but once it launches it will likely lose a number of satelities and if it losed visual tracking, there is a good chance the drone will take off....

Anyway, Skydio still says there is no issue with the Jan and Feb firmware updates that is related to my last 3 failed flight attempts. It makes no sense that I had 30+ successful flights on the October firmware update and then on the first flight with Jan's update, I've had an issue on the next 3 flights in a row.... I've asked repeatedly to roll back the firmware but they claim their is no way to do that which is total BS. Everyone with any device that know even a small amount about electronics knows that firmware can be rolled back and is done very often when there are issues with the latest firmware.

 

[Kell74]

Anyway, Skydio still says there is no issue with the Jan and Feb firmware updates that is related to my last 3 failed flight attempts. It makes no sense that I had 30+ successful flights on the October firmware update and then on the first flight with Jan's update, I've had an issue on the next 3 flights in a row.... I've asked repeatedly to roll back the firmware but they claim their is no way to do that which is total BS. Everyone with any device that know even a small amount about electronics knows that firmware can be rolled back and is done very often when there are issues with the latest firmware.

Hey. My ticket didnt even go so far as to dig into the number of satellites and coverage etc. I did a hard reset of the drone and "test" flown it successfully with Beacon, controller and phone.

I did note that the range has reduced to a less than a few hundred metres with all control devices though. Mind, my iPhone has been a pig lately so waiting to test the new phone to see if that what the issue was.

Lets just keep up the pressure to see if they will roll back or release another update to fix this issue.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

I have been getting very mixed results with the current software; some of my flights are trouble free and others are plauged with disconnects and GPS follow.

A couple things to try. I was out on the trail with a brown Jeep and while it followed it didn't follow well it kept disconnecting; the next day I was on the same trail with a bright orange Jeep and it never lost me, so I think contrast has a lot to do with the optical tracking. Try adding something bright to the subject.

Second I was out by Red Rock and the BLM had a bunch of trucks out there with satellites and antennas on the roofs. I had a real hard time that day my S2 was wandering all over I could not even complete one battery. So outside interference I think has a large effect also even though this is supposed to be optical tracking.

 

[Ridefreak]

Yes, I'm going nuts.. Since November I had over 30 flawless, full battery, flights. Then about 6 weeks ago there was an update. The next flight the drone lost visual tracking of me. It would not respond the beacon to come back. I finally just back tracked on the trail while hitting the minus button on the beacon until I got close enough that I could reach it to land. Then 2 weeks later I went out and there was another update which I installed first. On the next flight the same thing happened. This time the drone was so far away before I got the beacon alert that I could not find it. I had to backtrack 1/2 mile before I could hear it and even when I was right back under it, it still would not respond to the beacon. The solution again was to keep back tracking while hitting the minus button on the beacon to get it low enough to land.

Today I went out again. Less than 1 minute into the flight again the beacon starts beeping that visual tracking was lost. The drone was on the first distance setting, less then 30 feet from me, staring right at me. I wear very bright clothes that don't match anything in the landscape. This time the beacon was saying "Hit select". I hit that select and the drone took off. At least 400 feet away, hovering over a 6,000 foot cliff! No response from the drone using the beacon. I was in a tricky spot where backtracking was difficult. Finally, again, back tracking and hitting minus key brought the drone back over ground that I could recover it. I feel like the drone was trying t return to a way point maybe, but in todays case, the way point it went to was not any where that we had traveled previously (6,000 ft off a cliff). This is extremely nerve racking situation when the drone takes off and/or wont respond to beacon. I just emailed Skydio support explaining the issues after firmware update and then after, I checked here and see other having the same issue and it's not situational.

I'm so freakin' upset now. I had finally gotten this drone working flawlessly and now these updates have totally screwed it up. I want to roll back 2 version until they can fix this. Is that possible?

I see that some are saying Skydio said to factory reset? Are you kidding? Won't I loose all my previous flight data or is that stored in the beacon or somewhere else?

What is the procedure for recovering the drone when it won't respond to the beacon? I'm wondering if I should have tried to open my phone again and use the signal boost.

(Note: I only fly with the beacon. I connect the beacon to my drone to get a quick GPS signal but after launch, put the phone away.)

You're learning some of the idiosyncrasies of the SD2, all drones have them. In the case of the SD2 you'll eventually start recognizing them and come up with ways to deal with it. I'll share how I handle similar issues.
After getting bitten by updates, I now fly it on some easy tracking flights in an obstacle free area the first two flights (batteries) after an update. It's obvious some of the updates also reset the drone but you don't know till you fly it and all of a sudden discover it's acting weird. Obstacle avoidance has never suffered after an update but I've seen tracking/GPS performance effected and signal loss issues so the first flights after an update are test flights for me, I use open easy areas and not needing OA means it's not having to avoid anything which simplifies the flights and more importantly makes it less likely to lose track or get confused. I just want a couple successful flights that hopefully cause a recalibration cycle when it lands, 2 is all it's ever taken to get it working pretty well after an update and the second flight is usually just a confirmation, subsequent successful flights make it even better over time, next time the drone's reset ether by the owner or an update you're starting over. I can usually tell if the drone's been reset on it's next flight, it's likely to loose subject lock and/or also loose it's GPS mind right after takeoff. During those times it obviously thinks it's location is different then it actually is. It'll fly off 50 ~ 200 yards away despite never directing any distance changes. At that point I know the drone is confused, I need to get it down, power cycle everything and start again. I've found 2 easy successful flights will cause a "Calibrating". I don't always notice the calibrating but I've figured out the key is a successful flight with no drama, that's far more likely in an open easy area and it's far easier to recover from. If you're next to a 5K' cliff the first flight after an update and that happens that's not ideal as you discovered. That sounds like allot of work but compared to the anxiety when it's behaving bad in a risky location or the effort of lugging the drone along on a ride only to have it act up when you need it to perform makes those test flights well worth it to me.

 

[AstroNoot]

This "Gimbal went limp, drone disconnected, entered emergency landing" thing is becoming super frequent.
I had this happen 4 times. Every time, without an obvious reason. It didn't happen during some fast maneuver, it wasn't windy, etc.

 

[LaunchedPix]

This "Gimbal went limp, drone disconnected, entered emergency landing" thing is becoming super frequent.
I had this happen 4 times. Every time, without an obvious reason. It didn't happen during some fast maneuver, it wasn't windy, etc.

I suggest you send it in to Skydio to have it evaluated. About a year ago my S2 made a couple of emergency landings on it's own. After I sent it in I learned some sensor issues probably caused that behavior. I had it repaired (replaced) and although it cost some money due to it being out of the warranty period, that process got me back to flying with confidence. Anyway... I highly recommend sending your in for a check before flying. Just my two cents.

 

[Littleton sUAS]

Hi folks. Has anyone has issues with the last two SW updates? A few weeks back my drone lost connectivity with the app when I was in line of sight and maybe 70ft away from it. Went totally unresponsive and I also got error msgs. Skydio said it was a bad GPS issue and update the app.

Today, on the latest update, things got worse. First flight was fine with controller up to 3 mins in when the gimbal rolled to the side, connection dropped and I started to get critical error msgs. Couldn’t connect, again within 60ft and line of sight.

When it eventually did respond, I turned it off and back on and Bam, like the problem hadn’t happened.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the new updates? There’s been an IOS update thrown in too.

It bricked my iphone