Everything is in flux. DJI keeps bringing out some pretty amazing plug and play products while 3D Robotics tries to catch up (update: they are basically out of the consumer done business). I love the PixHawk, personally. I am a tinkerer and own an Arduino, a Beagle Bone Black, a Raspberry Pi 3, and various other trinkets and doodads. I enjoy tinkering and 3DR has allowed someone like me to do everything I want to do instead of having to hack DJI products or buy into their Matrice 100. I mean, $3,300? I can go out and buy an Iris+ for between $400 used to $750 new, then hook up one of the boards for co-processing. The PixHawk is getting dated (March, 2016) in this super accelerated world we live in, but is a perfectly capable platform and will remain so for several more years. 3DR has (not officially) announced a PixHawk 2 (so has a previous developer at 3DR, so don’t get confused) and I am excited.
In the meantime, it seems that the demand for PixHawks continues to climb and because the architecture is open source the options are getting better and better.
Worth mentioning, ArduPilot and all related (and confusing) Open Source software has created this world and it’s continuing development by hundreds of seriously amazing people is what enables this hardware to exist.
After reading and searching for all the different manufacturers, I decided to make a list of everything I can find. If you know of any others, PLEASE comment and include a URL. I will edit the list so it is included!
Note: I’m not including all the places to buy a PixHawk. I am focusing on all the different products based on the platform.
I can’t fit the table in here, so I had to make a new page. Click here to go the list of Pixhawk Products.
Please comment and add additional sources and products!
UPDATE 12-10-2016
It looks like 3DR is selling a 3DR branded mini Pixhawk (I am assuming it is the one that HobbyKing sells). Here’s the PixFalcon at HobbyKing for reference.
I would buy the one from 3DR. It includes just about everything you need, including GPS and power.
I assume you will also need new telemetry radios with the new plugs? They do appear to have better communication specs, though, with frequency hopping! Both frequencies are there for US/Europe.
i was soo happy to have finally committed to buying a pixhawk fc off amazons free one day delivery last week. and sat patiently while at work waiting to finally have a brain for my bird. it was perfect. finally, my mistakenly ordered parts for the fried arducopter i had bought from wish would actually be used for the right reason and for the right application.
I read and read through the documentation i could find while waiting arrival. noting every precaution.
i had a frame and everything ready to go with accesories all ready to go because i had previously had a non gps enabled naza v1…v2Hacked i guess. and jsut simply removed it from its cradle.
eventually the delivery homie struted up and jokingly tossed my package my way. i just stared at him. unknowing to him he was tossing a fragile weeks pay.
cautiously observing polarity i plugged everything in….the buzzr scared probably my whole neighborghood with its lovely chime. then “burrr-burrr-burrr” light had gone from a fuschia to a sollid red when plugging in my futaba sbus.
then the case had suddenly become hotter.
Fuck.
i give up.
first let down was a needed flyaway with my phantom 2 vision trainer.
second was a faulty cloned arducopter2.8, my fault i knew what had gone wrong here .
but i swear i am not even trying to seem cool here . but i actually read every page and precaution and made sure i meticulously plugged in each conne tion like a game of operation . and this just happens.
be carefull man it is a touchy lil mistress but please tell me how awesome drift mode is if you get yours in the air soon. was really looking forward to this one.
Hi Jason,
That is truly a bummer. What exactly did you buy from Amazon? If you bought a real 3DR version they will replace it for you – they’re really good about that.
Also, just making sure you plugged SBUS into RC port and not SB port as SB is output, not input.
https://pixhawk.org/users/wiring
Note: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they have been updating and moving around just about all of the documentation!
At this point (if you want to keep with 3DR), I would keep my eye on Ebay. I’ve seen Iris+ with a couple batteries going for $300 (this price threshold keeps dropping) and B&H has sold them on sale for $450 brand new (no gimbal).
If you’re only interested in the flight controller I would buy from HobbyKing – 3DR fully supports them as an alternative. Support, on the other hand, is going to be tougher, but that’s the “open source” world me live in, I guess.
As for staying with 3DR, I’m still all in. I am really impressed with the Phantom 4, however, and wish/hope that 3DR pulls its head out of its rear end and realizes that hanging a GoPro just isn’t going to do it. I mean, have you seen the video the Phantom puts out?!? Pretty amazing.