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Hoverfly Gimbal vs. Freefly Radian

Discussion in 'Radian' started by David Kellermann, Nov 28, 2012.

  1. David Kellermann

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    Hi,

    I want to order tomorrow the components for a new octocopter and had a discussion about the parts with my colleague who will assemble it. He asked me why I had chosen the Freefly Radian over the Hoverfly Gimbal, even though it's more than double the price. I saw amazing videos with the Radian, but I couldn't point out any thread where the two systems had been compared.

    What are your experiences with the Hoverfly Gimbal and the Freefly Radian? Which one generated more problems? Which one would you recommend? What are the pros and cons of a single pcb vs. the three radians?

    There is a discussion about the octocopter I'm putting together in this thread.

    Cheers
    David

    PS: I'm sorry if it's against the policy of this forum to discuss products of other companies. If so, please delete the thread.
     
  2. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi David: I have not heard of any policy that says we cannot discuss other companies products -- certainly there is nothing to this effect in the terms and rules (which just know you memorized, right? ;)).

    My understanding the goals for this forum was to allow professionals in the aerial photography field to exchange information and solve problems collaboratively. Sure, because FreeFly makes the Cinestar, there is a definite flavor on the forums of those products, but that seems only fair.

    As to your first question: I don't know of any such comparisons -- I'd have to do Google searches to see -- but who knows, maybe someone on the forum is just itching to write a review?

    Andy.
     
  3. David Kellermann

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    I tried to find anything on google, but my search wasn't really successful. Sure, there are a lot of threads about the Hoverfly Gimbal and the Freefly Radian, but no comparisons.

    My friend suggested that having all three gyros on one board might help, on the other hand there has to be / should be a reason for the premium price of the Radian. Most videos I saw using the Radian looked superb, but they were shot by professionals, so they might have got similar results with a Hoverfly Gimbal.
     
  4. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi David:
    Yes -- it's a tough buying choice. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the Hoverfly to speak about it. The Radian works just as advertised. It does take some fine tuning, but I suspect the Hoverfly might do to as the flight dynamics of a copter with a gimbal underneath it are very complex.

    Sorry I can't be of more help....
    Andy.
     
  5. Pavlos Antoniou

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    as i told you on other forum..! If you are going with CS gimbal then go for RAdian...! There is not other choice..!

    If you are going for another gimbal then you have to think a lot :):)
     
  6. André Cousin

    André Cousin New Member

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    I have buy a Hoverfly gimbal about 2 month ago.
    What can I say:
    Some calibrations are necessary; and you have to frozen and let get warmer to calibrate some element.
    Not difficult to setup; software well done.
    But something seem strange to me: if you change gain, the center position is moving ......
    That seem "normal" as they talk about that into the manual: center, gain, recenter ...
    My problem - not solved with my software version (don't remember the number) - I was loosing the horizon as I make some yaw .....
    Refunded without problem.
    Some time after, software manager told me a new version correct this fault ........
     
  7. David Kellermann

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    I'll definitively get the CS gimbal. Does the CS gimbal make the Radian a necessity?

    @ Nisouck: Could you forward me the message by the software developer? Or give me his contact, so that I can ask him about this problem and if it was fixed?
     
  8. André Cousin

    André Cousin New Member

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  9. John Cunningham

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    My advice is to be sure you do your research properly before you decide.

    The alarm bells should ring when the only half decent videos you see are very carefully edited from the company themselves or people on the forums who are quite clearly more closely involved than they admit (usually signified by the fact that they continually post, and only make positive comments).

    Be very wary of those which always have the punchline "Just needs little more tweaking'.

    I have never seen the long, continuous clips which many people have posted for the Radians for any of the competing systems.

    Oh - and the next software version will always sort out the problems :)

    At the end of the day it depends what you want. The Radians are designed for professional work and for people who need to use the system to make money. If you are a hobbyist and enjoy tinkering all day, or making up new and complicated wiring looms to fix issues which are still there almost a year into service, or it doesn't matter too much that the horizon regularly goes waaay out of whack then the other systems are fine.
     
  10. Pavlos Antoniou

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    For me its a neccesity...! You can think that the RAdian is made for the CS GIMBAL...! Ofcourse the best choice is the Radian for this...!!
     
  11. Howard Dapp

    Howard Dapp Active Member

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    I'll echo Jon's comment. Do your research. Some months back I was considering HFG until I realized they couldn't produce a proper video demo showing the stabilization at work, just a bunch of crappy videos from what seemed to be inexperienced pilots who claimed to have big clients! I eventually grew annoyed at the whole deal and bounced out of there. Last I heard there were major issues with pan lock due to the fact that they use IR sensors on the pan axis. There's a member here (can't remember the name) who gave up with HFG and jumped on the FF bandwagon as well.
     
  12. John Fox

    John Fox Member

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    I have owned the Hoverfly gimble and tried to get it to work on 3 different mounts over a period to Of about 3 months. I do not want to say anything bad about the company hoverfly or their people. They have some very good devices and probably the best customer service you will ever see but, the hover fly gimbles software has a ways to go.I could never get the gimble to remain level in the horizontal or the tilt. I thoroughly believe that the hover fly gimble will be a viable product in the near future but I also believe that it will be hard to match the performance of the 3 separate devices that make up the Radian systems. The problem with a single board controlling all 3 axis is the complicated mathematical equations that are required in an attempt to predict the attitude of the mount. There are so many dynamic forces that affect the camera mount that is very hard to create a virtual reality leveling system that in the end really has no idea or means of telling if the mount is level.
    I also owed and tested the photo higher skyline stabilization system (another all in one system)and without trying to hurt anyone's feelings that system was nowhere near ready for the market. I do not know if they have made progress with it now because it's been about 4 months since I sent mine back to them.
    In a sentence I would say the skyline would score about 20 out of 100, the hover fly about 50 out of 100 and the Radian 85 to 90.
    Right now I think you would be hard pressed to find a stabilization system for any camera mount that will perform even close to the Radian.

    just my 2 cents,
    John
     
  13. Tim Joy

    Tim Joy Active Member

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    The world of gimbal stabilizers is full of big promises and small successes.

    I was one of the lucky ones to get the picloc 3x working very well, and I would guess close to a radian-like performance. Of course, as soon as cold weather hit it has problems drifting with temp changes, but leaving it outside helps.

    Without even having used them, your best bet is to go with the Radians IMO. As always, you get what you pay for. You could always buy one and try it out.
     
  14. David Kellermann

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    Thank you all for your help. I'll get the Radian. Hopefully, around Christmas, there will be the first videos of the octocopter flying. Wish me luck!
     
  15. Josh Lambeth

    Josh Lambeth Well-Known Member

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    Good Choice!

    Josh
     
  16. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Very true.
    Some software companies in the Pacific Northwest also use the next version as a way to introduce new mistakes, too.
    Sorry...sorry...."features..."

    Andy.
     
  17. André Cousin

    André Cousin New Member

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    I completely agree with John Fox when he said:

    "The problem with a single board controlling all 3 axis is the complicated mathematical equations that are required in an attempt to predict the attitude of the mount."
    That the major problem from my point of view too.

    Some time ago I tried the skyline also ....... and I have find the same problem: interaction between axis that they tried to resolve with software ....

    Don't be blind, Radian has his major default: its price; that not a joke!!!!!!!!
    But I think they don't want to sell too much! :p
     
  18. Benjamin Rowland

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    I've used both the HoverFly Gimbal board and the Radian system, and they are both good products. I've had good results with each. Both require a little bit of tuning to get them working well, but that is to be expected. Both of them are backed by great people, people that have gone out of their way to be helpful. I've had a few folks contact me privately that have asked, "Which one?" My best answer is this, download the manual of each and give them a read. From there you'll have a better understanding of the differences between the two and be better equipped to decide which one will suit your needs better.
     
  19. Jeff Atkisson (AEROXOOM)

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    We have used the Hoverfly Gimbal for about 4 months now and have had very few problems (we have a two operator setup). I kind of feel different in regards to a single board doing all the mathematical equations. I like only having one board that I have to worry about. I think with that being said though, the fine tuning can take a little while, and I"m sure the issues that the above users had might have been in the earlier stages of development. We didn't get the chance to test Radian and it was outside of our price range, but we have been really happy with the HFG and the customer support that has been offered to us.
     

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