For me, it is ok to have something that isn't plug and play. And, also the path of eliminating the source of a problem and not the symptomps sounds reasonable and it also worked for me. Overall, I am happy with the AQ. For me, it is both: a "toy" for my hobby but also kind of a !!! SPAM !!!. But latter probably would not work without the former.
BUT: If I have a copter that is setup nicely and has a minimum amount of vibrations and so on (as I try to set up my "!!! SPAM !!!" right now) and I tune it to the best performence, then I have one big fear: If something happens in flight that causes suddenly high vibrations (broken prop, screw that gets loose, damaged esc, minor collision with a branch of a tree...), it can actually lead to a divergence of the UKF resulting in an inevitable crash. I am afraid that this risk seems to be significant higher with the AQ compared to other FC. At least one of my copters drifts in pitch or yaw (resulting in a crash) reproducible when the vibrations get a little bit higher (as e.g. with cheap Gemfan-Props). And I observed the same when I accidently mounted a bad, unbalanced prob on my octo! Twithing continuosly to one side, probably due to saturation effects....
Even worse, PID settings that support the most stable flight for a low vibration setup by trend create a higher sensitivity to vibrations (high D-values)!
I will stick with the AQ, but this is one point that might be worth to take into account. Especially as the AQ is designed for camera-copters . For me, this is an important safety issue. What is the use of an octocopter, that can still fly when one motor is lost, but the FC causes a crash when the vibrations exceed a relatively low level?
A machine, that is working almost perfect on a "sweet spot" as it is highly optimized for it, I love it. I am also willing to work hard to get it into this sweet spot. But if a crash is almost certain as soon as the sweet spot is left....
I would realy love to see the AQ to be a little bit more "robust". It does not has to fly well with incresed vibrations e.g., but it has to be possible to get it home safely.
I hoped that this will be less risky with the DIMU .
This is not meant to criticize the work of the team, don't get me wrong! Overall, I am still happy with the support in forums and the progress of your "baby"! It is just meant to be an additional point of view...
Sören