November deliveries

[Old Man Grizz]

I ordered mine on day 1 and I'm too not concerned or in a hurry.

The S2 is a major launch for Skydio albeit a minor release for the big guy. I don't think they expected the demand to ramp up so quickly so they need to proceed with caution; you don't want to release an unfinished product. American based they don't have the means of production of a mature Chinese vertically integrated company. Looks like considerable hand assembly and time consuming calibrations.

I'm actually surprised at the price point of $999 even without a Beacon or controller. I think of the S2 more like a exotic car or high end hand fit gun; not the assembly line widget's cranked out by the Chinese drone machine. Skydio may have set that price point under the M2's to make a statement, but it is risky. DJI can crank out quality drones by the thousands and set the price to steer the market (profit vs competition). DJI can drop prices to drive competitors out of the market so Skydio has to perform, this is their big shot. American made, fewer security risks, holiday season are all on their side but they still have to perform.

I'd rather give them the time to best sort the firmware, app, hardware... This is a next generation drone with capabilities not seen before. Pressure from consumers to deliver quickly may cause some stumbles like the Solo launch.

Realize Skydio is launching something new, revolutionary not evolutionary. DJI launces are really the same old same old with a better camera, extra sensor, smaller..... so it's just a repacked format.

I'm really excited about getting mine but I chose to give Skydio some space and hope they perform. I don't think DJI considers Skydio a threat yet, just another upstart with dream's but little substance. So I don't mind waiting a little longer.

Very Well Said!?
I’m with You....Let’s cut them a bit of slack, and see how they perform in the long run...

 

[Jim_bo]

I ordered mine on day 1 and I'm not too concerned or in a hurry.

The S2 is a major launch for Skydio albeit a minor release for the big guy. I don't think they expected the demand to ramp up so quickly so they need to proceed with caution; you don't want to release an unfinished product. American based they don't have the means of production of a mature Chinese vertically integrated company. Looks like considerable hand assembly and time consuming calibrations.

I'm actually surprised at the price point of $999 even without a Beacon or controller. I think of the S2 more like a exotic car or high end hand fit gun; not the assembly line widget's cranked out by the Chinese drone machine. Skydio may have set that price point under the M2's to make a statement, but it is risky. DJI can crank out quality drones by the thousands and set the price to steer the market (profit vs competition). DJI can drop prices to drive competitors out of the market so Skydio has to perform, this is their big shot. American made, fewer security risks, holiday season are all on their side but they still have to perform.

I'd rather give them the time to best sort the firmware, app, hardware... This is a next generation drone with capabilities not seen before. Pressure from consumers to deliver quickly may cause some stumbles like the Solo launch.

Realize Skydio is launching something new, revolutionary not evolutionary. DJI launces are really the same old same old with a better camera, extra sensor, smaller..... so it's just a repacked format.

I'm really excited about getting mine but I chose to give Skydio some space and hope they perform. I don't think DJI considers Skydio a threat yet, just another upstart with dream's but little substance. So I don't mind waiting a little longer.

Your analysis of not expecting this kind of response falls short. That may apply to later groups, but it should not have affected group 1.

Again, this is another case of over promise and under deliver. I'm just hoping the final product won't produce similar disappointment.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

Well if you listen to the DJI Phanboy's the S2 is a specialized sports drone, not mainstream. Many proclaim the S2 will not replace the Mavic's and Phantoms; but, secretly I think they are putting their orders in

 

[Jim]

I received mine last week, they are definitely shipping.

 

[GarthH]

I received mine last week, they are definitely shipping.

How does the photo and video quality compare to the DJI lineup?

What kind of range are you getting?

How's the noise level?

Any issues?

 

[Ridefreak]

I received mine today, it'll probably be a couple weeks before I can start flying it, once again work has gotten in the way.

 

[DoomMeister]

Agree with this synopsis pretty much. I would not be surprised if one of the big drone companies offer to buy the technology behind the Skydio. Owners walk away multi-millionaires and be done with it.

Hopefully they will only lease the tech to others, if they release it at all. I’d love for a US based company to keep production here in the States and have a competitive product and still become billionaires.

 

[KlooGee]

Agree with this synopsis pretty much. I would not be surprised if one of the big drone companies offer to buy the technology behind the Skydio. Owners walk away multi-millionaires and be done with it.

I would be shocked if they sold easily. I really think Skydio knows they have something huge for the future. If they can ramp up manufacturing to take advantage of the software they've pioneered, they can be a dominant force and an industry disrupter for the long haul.

 

[VEGASROBBI]

I agree but how many pioneers who truly created a game changing products died penniless?

I'd like to be a fly on the wall at DJI HQ. DJI teased us with Phantom X then gave us Active Track, what a dissapointment.

We all know Chinese companies steal(no nice word for it) others successful products. Look at the recent Anafi rip off. How many Phantom knock offs were there.

Skydio has the benefit of complex intellectual knowledge which won't be as easy to copy, but they will try. I'd wager DJI has Skydio's on the dissection table by now. There will be offers to buy them out so it will be interesting to see if they grow or merge. Intel wanted this with Yuneec but it didn't pan out.

We build mildly complex CAN modules and it has taken years to develop the software. Our EE bugs the chips, encrypts them and some still try and hack. Recently we had some Russians hacking our modules.

I wish SD success I just saw a video on the development of S2 from the S1 and they took risks to get here. Risk vs return( finance major). These are hobbiests like many of us so I hope they get the return they deserve.

 

[Jim]

How does the photo and video quality compare to the DJI lineup?

What kind of range are you getting?

How's the noise level?

Any issues?

Noise level seems no louder than other drones and it’s absurdly easy to pilot by comparison to cheaper drones at least, on my second flight not only was I using the various skills but in manual mode I was going between trees that I would never even have attempted without the autonomy. I don’t have a DJI and haven’t spent the time to compare closely but the image quality for the first few flights seems great, it’s not jumpy or shaky and seems quite clear. Two thumbs up. I handed it to my 9 year old and he was able to walk away and fly it without difficulty, which I would never in a million years be able to do with most of them, he has tried others and obviously flying outdoors is... a skillset.

I actually did have some issues to start with, which may or may not be cured - I am using a 1TB SanDisk extreme memory card which the Skydio guys told me in advance they had never tried and I think perhaps it did not like the card (not sure if this is still true), but after reformatting the card and doing a factory reset it may or may not be cured at this point - it was not recording sound initially and generated a bunch of error messages, etc., but recorded fine last night, will see if that returns. I’m quite enjoying it, highly recommended.

 

[parkgt]

[QUOTE="Jim, post: 421, member: 133

- it was not recording sound initially and generated a bunch of error messages, etc., but recorded fine last night, will see if that returns. I’m quite enjoying it, highly recommended.
[/QUOTE]

Don't expect it to record sound; even if it did all you would get would be annoying buzzing anyway. A 256 is the biggest they suggest.

 

[Ridefreak]

[QUOTE="Jim, post: 421, member: 133

- it was not recording sound initially and generated a bunch of error messages, etc., but recorded fine last night, will see if that returns. I’m quite enjoying it, highly recommended.

Don't expect it to record sound; even if it did all you would get would be annoying buzzing anyway. A 256 is the biggest they suggest.
[/QUOTE]
When you fly with the app and give permission to the mic it records from the phone. Then it will sync the audio stream with the video stream.

 

[Jim]

[QUOTE="parkgt, post: 426, member: 37"]
Don't expect it to record sound; even if it did all you would get would be annoying buzzing anyway. A 256 is the biggest they suggest.
[/QUOTE]
Actually it now records sound just fine, from the phone. Of course you can hear the props when the drone is close, but this is to be expected. One other possible issue I should have mentioned is that so far, I have not gotten a flight up to 19 minutes. I have not been flying at high speeds or in high winds, so unless the card size is somehow causing it to use way more than the expected power, I have no explanation for a seeming shortage of 25% of rated flight duration.

 

[Ridefreak]

That's kind of weird, I just flew for 16min and had 37% left and that was after a software update that had to take 10min with the drone turned on. I'd put in a 128G or 256G card and see what happens. My testing went perfect, everything worked as it was supposed to and the 4K60HDR looks really nice. Of course I wasn't pushing any limits with it though. All the leaves are off our trees here so I wasn't testing the avoidance with all the bare branches.

I purchased a 87W USB3.2 charger to use with the SD dual charger. During charging last night I tested both and they each took 55min to charge a battery. Obviously the supplied charger puts out enough to charge at the batteries max rate.

 

[Jim]

That's kind of weird, I just flew for 16min and had 37% left and that was after a software update that had to take 10min with the drone turned on. I'd put in a 128G or 256G card and see what happens. My testing went perfect, everything worked as it was supposed to and the 4K60HDR looks really nice. Of course I wasn't pushing any limits with it though. All the leaves are off our trees here so I wasn't testing the avoidance with all the bare branches.

I purchased a 87W USB3.2 charger to use with the SD dual charger. During charging last night I tested both and they each took 55min to charge a battery. Obviously the supplied charger puts out enough to charge at the batteries max rate.

Interesting, when you power on the drone and the app, does the battery stay at 100%? Mine drops to 99 basically instantly and then 98 shortly, I don’t think I’ve managed to take off without dropping it to 94% or lower before first liftoff.

 

[parkgt]

[QUOTE="parkgt, post: 426, member: 37"]
Don't expect it to record sound; even if it did all you would get would be annoying buzzing anyway. A 256 is the biggest they suggest.

Actually it now records sound just fine, from the phone.
[/QUOTE]

Actually the Skydio2 doesn't record sound at all!

 

[Jim]

Actually it now records sound just fine, from the phone.

Actually the Skydio2 doesn't record sound at all!
[/QUOTE]
Correct, but initially, it did not even seem to be recording from the phone, but that seems to be working now.

 

[Jim_bo]

Your analysis of not expecting this kind of response falls short. That may apply to later groups, but it should not have affected group 1.

Again, this is another case of over promise and under deliver. I'm just hoping the final product won't produce similar disappointment.

I just got a reply from skydio. Basically, they told me that my drone is not ready yet and I should just wait. Not what I was hoping to hear.

 

[flymydrone]

I am in batch 2. I have (realistically set my sites on Feb. 2020. Happy flying to all the batch 1 pilots and keep the info coming.

 

[Jim_bo]

I just got an email from Skydio saying that batch 1 customers will be delayed to January. Very disappointed. I suppose batch 2 customers should not expect February deliveries.