Anyone use the NEW Kittyhawk.io app?

[ssjon7]

They just updated the Kittyhawk.io app as another control app just like DJI go. I would like to hear feedback on it before I try it out. Anybody?

 

[austindave]

Just upgraded it, but seems like you have to pay to use a lot of the useful features. I could be wrong about this and will try it out later.

 

[darana]

I tried it out yesterday. I signed up for a month of premium for a few apps including Kittyhawk as I figure out the best workflows/solutions. Anyways, I tried it and it completely flaked out on me and my drone almost crashed into a tree. Now, caveat is that I also had pretty terrible problems with Litchi yesterday while trying out a few features, too. In both cases I was flying with my iPad Air gen 1 which only has 1GB of ram, works fine with DJI Go but Autopilot crashes (they clearly say it won't work) but Litchi says it'll work ... and it does until it doesn't. Kittyhawk seems like it may fall into that same category - Or there is something else going on with my Mavic! I did land and reset everything before starting up Litchi. FWIW I'm running the latest versions and firmware of everything.

*Flaked Out == wasn't hovering in place, camera was oddly responsive, started moving off on its own, it was basically unflyable.

Litchi issues were similar though not quite the same, and in that case the gimbal kept rolling back up to point as high up as it could and getting stuck there while the drone drifted. Dangerous when I'm looking at the viewpoint from the ipad!

These were all flights within 30' of me/groundstation and also thus the ground - just doing some basic testing. There were some winds, far less than I've flown in before without issues before, though.

I want to like Kittyhawk, but it kind of feels like it is trying to be everything and thus isn't doing anything great. It does most things well, just not great, and there are apps that do everything it does great. I'm not flying a fleet with a larger team, so that may also adjust my viewpoint.

Here's the flight log via AirData UAV is it's of any interest - not much there though.
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

 

[carguy4471]

I'm a little behind on responding here but I'll add what I've sorted out, for my uses anyway.

For logging, kittyhawk can't touch Airdata. Airdata (healthy drones) will log automatically from Litchi, Autopilot, and Dronedeploy. All apps that I use. It'll log from DJI as well, with a couple clicks. I think a few others as well.

Kittyhawk would require you to download your flight logs from these apps and then upload them into Kittyhawk. That's a no go for my workflow. I want the greatest amount of automation possible.

Kittyhawk does however have a decent pre-flight data screen, and has airmap built in. So it's convenient for pre-flight data acquisition.

Kittyhawk also has a checklist function that allows you to LOG your checklists each time you complete them. You can have as many as you like (I think). I have a pre-departure (before I leave the house) and pre-flight checklist and the ability to log checklist completion is great.

Kittyhawk also has maintenance logs. Another great feature.

So, my workflow is.... Airdata for logging (paid subscription), and kittyhawk (free version) for checklists and maintenance logs. Since kittyhawk simply cannot compete on the logging aspect, and Airdata doesn't do checklists and such, I'm relegated to using both.

 

[Keule]

I tried Kittyhawk one or two times on my iPad mini 4 and it always crashed after a few seconds midflight.
Second thing as carguy4471 already mentioned is the 'workflow'. I use for all my aircrafts Airdata. For my commercial flying i use in addition Dronelogbook. I am very satisfied with both of them.

Kittyhawk has some nice ideas, but as of now ... Sorry - not for me, maybe a few versions later.

 

[Josh @ Kittyhawk]

Hi everyone,

I'm Josh, one of the Co-Founders of Kittyhawk. As you might know, we listen to feedback very carefully. Since it's release, we've iterated on our Flight Deck product quite a few times. As of yesterday, we shipped in-flight analytics into the app. What does this mean? It means that you can now see things like altitude, number of satellites, battery voltage and flight path, directly inside the application.

We're working hard to build the application that complements the commercial operators work flow. If you have suggestions or requests, please don't hesitate to reach out. In the app, under profile and support, there is a button that says "Call The Founders" and it does exactly what it says.

Thank you for your support and feedback. We feel lucky to have the largest community of passionate and responsible operators in the world.

Very respectfully,

Joshua Ziering

 

[FollySteve]

Log DroneDeploy is my #1 wishlist item. DJI Log import works well enough. My other primary flight control app is DD. Logging DD manually is a pain. Really like the software otherwise. Intergrated AirData, checklist and equipment logs is nice.

Thanks

Steve

 

[Lbrown1000]

They just updated the Kittyhawk.io app as another control app just like DJI go. I would like to hear feedback on it before I try it out. Anybody?

WARNING!!! The app will not allow you to set your home point! It only remembers the home point from the last time you marked it using the DJI app. The only way you can safely fly with the Kitty Hawk app is to first open the DJI app and mark your home point in the app. Then you can close the DJI app, open the Kitty Hawk app and your home point will show as your current location.

I sent an email back in Oct. of 2017 to KittyHawk about this problem and they said they are working on it and should have an update in a few weeks that will allow us to mark the home point from inside their app, but here we are in December and no update yet.

In there last reply to me, they stated there app automatically marks the home point when you open it, but mine has never done that. It seems strange, but if you have ever manually marked a home point using the DJI, it seems to disable the automatic home point update. I have to mark my home point each time before I fly. Maybe I'm missing something in the settings, but I don't think so.

Update:
I just took my Mavic Pro out again today for another test fight and decided to try the return to home feature again. When I started the Kitty Hawk app and the aircraft there was no voice that indicated the "home point has been updated" nor was their a dot on the map indicating where the home point was. However, when I pressed the return to home command in the app, it did return to home on two different occasions. I will be taking it out to a park (another location) this afternoon to confirm it's working. Again, there was no voice or home point indicated on the map.

 

[GFields]

Hi everyone,

I'm Josh, one of the Co-Founders of Kittyhawk. As you might know, we listen to feedback very carefully. Since it's release, we've iterated on our Flight Deck product quite a few times. As of yesterday, we shipped in-flight analytics into the app. What does this mean? It means that you can now see things like altitude, number of satellites, battery voltage and flight path, directly inside the application.

We're working hard to build the application that complements the commercial operators work flow. If you have suggestions or requests, please don't hesitate to reach out. In the app, under profile and support, there is a button that says "Call The Founders" and it does exactly what it says.

Thank you for your support and feedback. We feel lucky to have the largest community of passionate and responsible operators in the world.

Very respectfully,

Joshua Ziering

I am a Kittyhawk paid subscriber. I would love to see you have mission planing (with web-hub) like Litichi. I know there is a something like that for Enterprise users. But I would hope that you would make this available for single pilot use or smalll business. I'm just getting started doing real estate and us Litchi to plan the mission in the office then go to the location. I wish there where an app that does everything that the DJI Go, Airdata, Kittyhawk, and Litchi does, all balled up into ONE app.

 

[D95GAS]

Just looked at Kittyhawk and really like some of the features, ie the planning and pre flight planning, plus some other elements. The one thing that really puts me off is the cost of $24 per MONTH.

This hobby is getting more and more expensive by the day, I just feel $24 per month is just too much for the hobby flyer...... unless of course the cost is there to deter the hobbyish and aim more at the Pro/Commercial flyer.

Which is a great pity as there are excellent features in there we could use.

This is just my personal opinion

 

[GFields]

Just looked at Kittyhawk and really like some of the features, ie the planning and pre flight planning, plus some other elements. The one thing that really puts me off is the cost of $24 per MONTH.

This hobby is getting more and more expensive by the day, I just feel $24 per month is just too much for the hobby flyer...... unless of course the cost is there to deter the hobbyish and aim more at the Pro/Commercial flyer.

Which is a great pity as there are excellent features in there we could use.

This is just my personal opinion

Good thing you got when it was $24.00. It just went up to $30.00 HUGE jump in price!

 

[rkutch]

Good thing you got when it was $24.00. It just went up to $30.00 HUGE jump in price!

I’m now seeing $14.99/monthly or $149.99/annually

 

[FL1H1]

No I've just seen a video on the polar pro app looks really good though I think the latest and best version may only currently be available to apple users, iPhone and ipad but that looks good

 

[D95GAS]

Prices seem to be up and down like a YoYo..... wish they would decide what its going to cost.

See they do 2 price plans, but no reference in Apple Store what you get for each plan ...... going to have to shift my butt and go look at the site and see if they have info there.

Having looked at the site I am no wiser as to what I get for my money. It simply says:

"
Solo pilot?
Kittyhawk has a plan just for "solopreneurs". All the premium features you need for one, none you don't. Upgrade from the app."

Which doesn't seem to be a statement that makes any sense...... or am I being dumb!!!