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Flytrex Live 3G for Inspire 1 - pre-orders

Maybe you could post some installation pics and a review once you receive it?
Sure. I will make a nice video and post it on Youtube. I expect that i need to remove the front canopy of the I1, take out the canbus cable from the I1 board on the front. Stick in canbus cable from flytrex in the board. Stick in I1 cable (the one that was initially connected to the I1 board) into new canbus device. Then the only thing left that needs to be done is to stick in Live-3G cable in canbus, feed it to the bottom of the bird (where i recommend to place the Live-3G, right behind the sonar-sensors). Remove Pin code from Pre-paid GSM card using a phone. Place GSM card in Live-3G. Glue the Live-3G with 3M two-side power tape on the bird. Power-up the bird. Initialise the Live-3g and link it to the Flytrex user profile (you need to provide the GSM no belonging to the SIM car, on the flytrex website, so flytrex knows to which user the data belongs). Power down the bird. Cut of power cable of Flytrex, isolate the remaining ends (shrink wraps?) so that red wire does not touch the black wire. Glue the flytrex canbus device to the wall of the front of the I1 so that it does not bounce around in the front canopy when flying the I1. Place back front canopy and mount the 6 screws; That's it. Flytrex 3G gets its power directly from Canbus. If, for some strange reaso, you don't like the Live-3G you can go back to Out-of-the-box I1 setup easily and sell your Live-3G to someone who has an A2.
 
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Yep you think it's not enough to pay $200 for that. For me it is. I don't think I need to sell it to you, because it's my own paranoia about possible fly away.

In 2014 I have lost a Phantom-2 with GoPro H3 Black, 64 GB SD card, Zenmuse H3-3D, Boscam FPV sender, IOSD-Mini, Flysight cloverleaf antenna and Flytrex Core-2. Of course it was not possible to replace the air-portion of the drone only, i had to replace the whole kit. Total direct damage: 2.700 Euro

The P2 went down, minutes after it lost its contact with the controller (fly-away). With the Flytrex-Live, i'm sure i would have been able to find the air-portion of my Drone 1.0. On Drone 2.0 I mounted a long-range Futaba T14SG sender/receiver with telemetry (the flight were logged in the Futaba controller). Lateron, I added the Live 3G because that would give extra safety by near-real-time logging/tracking over GSM (even when the Futaba T14SG could no longer "see" the drone, e.g. in case of fly-away).

The LAST SEEN POSITION feature of the Flytrex Live justifies an investment of 200 US$ to me.

When I will lose my new inspire-1 (aka Drone 3.0), it is highly likely my wife will divorce me and this will even more likely cost me more than the investment of a Live 3G :)
 
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Hi guys!

My name is Amit and I'm part of the team @ Flytrex. I just spotted this thread and wanted to post back with more feedback to some of the different questions and I hope I'll be able to help with it a bit.

@ Regarding Flytrex Live vs. other available stand-alone trackers - Unlike other stand-alone trackers Flytrex Live connects and uses the aircraft main battery and basically offers seamless integration with the existing system. This is true for the Inspire 1 as well as all of the others models the Live supports (we cover most of the popular models today).

Using the main battery means that the Live starts working automatically every time you start your aircraft. You don't have to worry about forgetting to power-up your tracker or having to charge yet another separate battery every time. Such seamless integration gives you the peace of mind that with the Live installed you will always have the additional protection layer of GSM tracking for your aircraft (Inspire 1 or other).

The Live itself consumes very little battery, especially when compared to the engines which consumes far more than any other part of the system. Most chances that if you try flying with the Live and without the overall "cost" in flight time will be between 3 to 4 seconds and isn't really noticeable.

In some cases we see users who are worried that using the aircraft battery means that they won't be able to find their lost aircraft if the aircraft main battery have died/crashed. However, this shouldn't be a problem either. Unlike other trackers, Flytrex Live creates a live connection between the Live system and our servers and transmits your flight data automatically twice a second every time you fly. This flight data then gets securely stored in your personal Flytrex profile. The data is stored on our servers safely and is available on your personal account. Our servers are running on AWS infrastructure (Amazon).

In the event of a crash, you can always find the last data received from the device, even if the main battery have died your will still be able to pin point your last know location and flight data in 0.5 second accuracy. This approach actually means that the Live will be able to guide you even if crashing to water or similar, where other trackers might have failed.

@ Regarding pricing and technology - The Live uses an expensive 3G module by Telit. This module does the job VERY WELL. We had some bad experience with a previous 2G GSM module we used with an earlier model after which we decided we can't afford to compromise on the GSM module. This is why the Live connection simply works. The antenna we use is also very (very) good and probably an overall for our needs, but this is another reason why the Live connection simply works.

@ Regarding installation - We will soon finish our Inspire 1 Installation guide and have it posted on our web-site, I really hope to have updates about this within a week from now. In general, installation is 100% plug-n-play, no soldering involved. You will need to remove the front part of the canopy (6 screws) -- this is probably the easiest part to remove from the Inspire. Then, gently release the CAN-BUS connector, install Flytrex Live Inspire adapter in between and mount the Live at the back of the Inspire.

To meet the Inspire 1 design we also re-designed the Live 3G hardware and plastics, so installation is much cleaner than it used to be before.

I hope this information helps a bit. :) Let me know if you have any specific questions I missed and I'll be glad to help.

Thanks! :)
 
Hi guys!
Let me know if you have any specific questions I missed and I'll be glad to help.
Hello Amit, nice to meet you.

Out of curiosity (as I already pre-ordered) if flyaway happen because of inaccurate gps data on a aircraft that will be same inaccurate data in Flytrex system? I am not asking about real life scenario, more about possible risks.
 
Hello Amit, nice to meet you.

Out of curiosity (as I already pre-ordered) if flyaway happen because of inaccurate gps data on a aircraft that will be same inaccurate data in Flytrex system? I am not asking about real life scenario, more about possible risks.

With 2 satellite GPS systems available for the Inspire, it is going to be a lot more accurate using a Flytrex unit wired in, than a stand alone GPS tracker, and of course the other advantages such as being powered by the main battery, logging of other metrics, and live data uploading in case of loss/crash of aircraft. Seems a no brainer really to me ;)
 
Fyi if anyone's curious about status / shipping dates:

Rebecca (Flytrex)
May 12, 12:35

Hi Damon,

Thank you for your mail. The pre-order period for Live 3G for Inspire 1 is almost to an end and we will begin shipping orders per the queue in about 1 week from now. As soon as your order leaves the shop you will receive an email notification with the tracking information for your convenience.
 
Just for the record. I wouldnt put a GPS GSM tracker on anything and expect it to be any good.

What when you are flying where there is no GSM? What if it lands upside down and loses GPS?

Fair enough it has the last know position, but if you want an almost foolproof system, buy a Falconry tracker...... almost foolproof. But harder to use.
 
No system is foolproof. This one, though uses the GPS of the aircraft, will track last known position (a drop into even shallow fresh water and other trackers are useless if not GSM or if not updating a remote site constantly), it runs on aircraft power so no extra batteries or prep required, it's super light, and uploads telemetry in near-real time. It also comes with a handy app for quick hunting.

GSM is pretty prevalent in the civilized world these days.

For folks flying regularly in places with no GSM coverage I'd say get a non-GSM tracker if you're over land. If over sea/Great Lakes, don't worry about it, it'll be lost if it goes down anyway (salt water or depth).

You also get to earn badges, participate in contests with other flyers worldwide, and see where others have flown around you.
 
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Last edited:
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With the risk of repeating myself.

I have bought the new Flytrex Live 3G for the following reasons; in order of importance to me:
  1. Enable recovery of my I1, in case of fly-away (especially if/once contact between I1 and the remote controller gets lost and if RTH does not work).
  2. Fully Automated Flight-Log on Flytrex.com, without manually having to upload/enter anything
  3. Fully Automated Publication of my Flight summary on my Facebook account (evidence that I stick to the rules)
  4. Overview of all my flights, incl. option to link each flight to its youtube/vimeo video (which i still have to add manually)
  5. Export of GPS position, hor. speed, vert. speed, max. speed, distance, max distance, height, max height and battery-voltage recordings (in CSV/Excel/KML format),
    which I use in dashware, in google earth and to fill a SQL Database (for automated trend/battery analysis)
  6. Real-time display of whereabouts of I1 on my own website
  7. Flight Comments of fellow pilots on Flytrex.com
  8. Badges
note: fly-aways usually happen if/because the bird suddenly "thinks" that its home location is somewhere else, e.g. in Shenzen :)

Current I1 position then is to far away from the perceived home location and hence "Return-to-Shenzen" automatically kicks in. If one uses the Remote Controller as Dynamic Home location for the I1, interference of the GPS signal to the I1 remote, will impact the Home Position of the I1 (DJI programmers are good, but this typically is a situation which a programmer does not anticipate/encounter in a lab-setup). I personally do not use GPS (not in I1 and not in controller) when I fly in areas where GPS signal may be disturbed.

There are also a couple of cons (which, clearly I accepted as a fact of live) in order of importance to me:
  1. Price: Investment in the Flytrex Live 3G and cost of GSM card/traffic
  2. Extra weight: Less flight time on one battery
  3. If I1 battery/GPS fails, Flytrex Box will not work either
  4. Does not work when there is no GPS coverage (minor issue for me; I fly most of my flights in Netherlands with 95% coverage)
  5. Need to have a Phone with Internet access with me
  6. No playback of "live display" that i can record/export and place in a PIP (I still need dashware to overlay flight data on some of my videos which is a lot of work)
By the time DJI integrates most of the above Pro's, i will take the Flytrex Live off again (again: no soldering required). However, I consider it highly unlikely that DJI will add GSM communication in the bird. I also consider it possible that this early generation of bird will still fly-away due to technical malfunction of its components/software. Risk thereof may be low but impact thereof may be great, i.e. risk mitigation is recommendable.
 
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Yep, i tried to fit an old Flytrex Live GPRS that i still had under my I1, and indeed it fitted perfectly, like it was designed for that spot. I believe the new Flytrex has the same dimensions.

Now the only thing left is delivery of the new flytrex unit to me. My order has been with them since April 27th. According to Flytrex's mail on April 28th my "new Flytrex will be ready and shipped shortly." I guess they use a bicycle-courier to ship th ebox, and he got lost on the way to Holland :)
 
hi there just joined the forum, had the Inspire 1 for some time now, never had any issues up to now! The flytrex looks like a good idea if all is lost, is there a supplier in the UK or do we have to send out for it.thanks
 
Has anyone actually received theirs yet? Or heard any news regarding its actual ship date/availability?

Last I saw, they were talking of a mid-May ship date, but then I saw that they got a bad batch of boards and that shipping would be "delayed"
 

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