Now that I have my MW quad flying well enough to start doing stupid things with it I figured I'd chime back in with my thoughts on MultiWii now that I have more experience with it.
First my single biggest complaint. Documentation is sorely lacking and that which does exist is usually for older versions of MultiiWii and/or written in broken English that's hard to follow. Figuring things out tends to take either someone who knows what they're already doing or some good google skills. Thankfully I have some killer google skills
The #1 complaint I hear about MultiWii is that it's harder to setup. Honestly though the initial setup on the MW is no worse than doing a firmware upgrade on a KK2.0 - and possibly easier. I've yet to try the KK2 uploaders but I've had issues with AVRdude before but never had a problem getting the arduino GUI to "just work" out of the box. The configuration changes to MW seem daunting at first because the config file is so big...but really there's no "programming" to it - just a matter of adding and removing #'s at the start of lines to choose which options you want (What sensors are you using, Are you using a summing RX or individual channels, do you want to mix up the order of the channels?) Bottom line here is that the things that require using Arduino and reflashing are in general things you only change once when doing initial setup.
And if going through that big config file is really that scary and you're ok using v2.2 or below (I haven't even tried 2.3 yet) there's a webpage that will setup the config file for you. I actually used this to get started - but now that I'm experimenting with adding new sensors it's quicker and easier for me to just find and adjust the correct lines in the config file:
http://panoramaic.se/configurator/
Honestly - building the wiring harness and physically connecting the new sensors I added yesterday took a LOT longer than the time it took to update the configuration. I spent maybe 5 minutes updating the software but a good hour or two wiring up the sensors. If you actually buy a ready to go board you don't have to deal with any of that unless you choose to add extra sensors down the road.
I will admit I'm not a fan of the stock config GUI for MW. I can't figure it out. And I'm pretty good at figuring out odd interfaces. But I seriously can't figure out how to actually change things like the PID values. It's windows specific but the alternative GUI is FAR FAR better IMHO:
https://code.google.com/p/mw-wingui/ It's also maintained by the guy who's making a lot of improvements to the GPS code so it's developing into a bit of a mission planner type of app as well.
I am however a huge fan of the android app and bluetooth for configuration. So quick and easy. It's one of the few positive bluetooth experiences I've had. I love the idea of bluetooth...but so often it leaves me screaming at what a joke the implementation is. In this case though it all just works. The android GUI is quick and easy to use and makes tweaking things a true joy. This is the android GUI I've been using, it's under active development and the free version is great but I liked it enough I went ahead and donated for the extra features of the paid version even though I don't need them (And I'm really cheap so impressing me enough to pay for features I don't need is no easy task!):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ezio.multiwii
The MW does support adding a LCD, and I even have a LCD or two laying around that would probably work. But I have zero interest in pursuing it because the bluetooth option works so well. Why add the extra weight of a LCD when the BT module is so small and light and "just works". Plus at only 4 wires the BT module is easy to remove when I don't need it.
If you're thinking of trying MW but are scared of the prospect of "programming" then do yourself a favor and take a quick look at the setup. Download the free Arduino IDE:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software it's really not hard to get setup on most modern computers. Then download v2.2 of MultiWii
https://code.google.com/p/multiwii/downloads/detail?name=MultiWii_2_2.zip&can=2&q= (2.3 is out...but it sounds like it still has a few issues so I haven't tried it yet...but also sounds like some major improvements so I'm probably going to try it fairly soon.) Now just open the folder you put the MW code in and double click the main MultiWii file - if you installed the Arduino IDE correctly it should open all of the MW files in it, then just find the tab for "config.h" and start browsing. Most sections of the config you can just skip over entirely if they don't apply to your situation. The rest it's simply a matter of making sure options you don't want have a # in front of them and ones you do want don't have a #. If you can handle that - congrats as that's the hardest part of MW.
I still want to try a KK at some point when they become available again. But MW has blown me away so far and sucked me in. Getting past the poor documentation is a hurdle, but once past it the rest gets easy quick. The biggest problem I had with my build was being scared to try auto level mode - once I finally gave that I try I quickly realized it was my flying skills causing most of my problems since I wasn't used to a full acro mode!
