diff --git a/Tools/px_uploader.py b/Tools/px_uploader.py
index aa25560a64..3f628eaed6 100755
--- a/Tools/px_uploader.py
+++ b/Tools/px_uploader.py
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ from __future__ import print_function
 import sys
 import argparse
 import binascii
-import serial
 import socket
 import struct
 import json
@@ -68,6 +67,16 @@ import os
 
 from sys import platform as _platform
 
+try:
+    import serial
+except ImportError as e:
+    print("Failed to import serial: " + str(e))
+    print("")
+    print("You may need to install it using:")
+    print("    pip3 install --user pyserial")
+    print("")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
 # Detect python version
 if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
     runningPython3 = False
@@ -726,29 +735,6 @@ def main():
         print("WARNING: You should uninstall ModemManager as it conflicts with any non-modem serial device (like Pixhawk)")
         print("==========================================================================================================")
 
-    # We need to check for pyserial because the import itself doesn't
-    # seem to fail, at least not on macOS.
-    pyserial_installed = False
-    try:
-        if serial.__version__:
-            pyserial_installed = True
-    except:
-        pass
-
-    try:
-        if serial.VERSION:
-            pyserial_installed = True
-    except:
-        pass
-
-    if not pyserial_installed:
-        print("Error: pyserial not installed!")
-        print("")
-        print("You may need to install it using:")
-        print("    pip3 install --user pyserial")
-        print("")
-        sys.exit(1)
-
     # Load the firmware file
     fw = firmware(args.firmware)
 
diff --git a/Tools/setup/requirements.txt b/Tools/setup/requirements.txt
index 2e95aa65c2..c4af02e354 100644
--- a/Tools/setup/requirements.txt
+++ b/Tools/setup/requirements.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ pygments
 wheel>=0.31.1
 pymavlink
 pyros-genmsg
-pyserial>=3.0
+pyserial
 pyulog>=0.5.0
 pyyaml
 requests