A few questions about insurance/warranty through DJI vs. "others", and a few other questions as well......

[JustJeff]

Let me assure you with this; except for the image coming out of the camera of the M3 (and not by much), the Air2s is their best value for the consumer line. You purchased the right bird . . . incredibly powerful and rock solid stable.

Enjoy yourself pilot!!

Thank you, that was my goal! I wanted something that provided the most "features per dollar" that I could get, within reason. Since I'm so new to this, I didn't want to spend close to 3K for an M3, just to find out later that I may not be as interested as I thought I was going to be, and then be out 3 grand. Who knows though? I may end up loving this, and end up being a part 107 holder and just using the Air 2S as a stepping stone to something bigger and better in the future! LOL. We recently bought 40 acres of wooded property here in MI, and I want to check out the parts of the property that I haven't been to yet (there are some pretty rocky and hilly parts), and I'd like to use the tracking on the drone to video us riding in our side by side, and out on the lake in the boat when fishing etc...The possibilities are endless I suppose .

 

[JustJeff]

When you turn your drone on the first time and you activate your account, You will be asked then if you want the policy or not. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. I've used it twice, once for a crashed drone and a second time because the replacement drone developed problems... The policy was not needed for the warranty work, but the Customer Support is the best I have ever seen from an company, bar none!

Because, the replacement drone was defective, DJI sent me a gift coupon for a "New Battery" from the DJI Store and it included free postage.

That's really good to know. Thank you!

 

[Starz]

Others in the forum have mentioned drone crash insurance from State Farm.

Research this. May be less costly and could be easier to deal with a local agent versus DJI.

 

[offtheback]

That's really good to know. Thank you!

State Farm if available in your state is about $70 to insure up to $6000 worth of drone equpment against all perils or loss.It quickly pays you replacement value for fire,theft,loss.

 

[LoudThunder]

Others in the forum have mentioned drone crash insurance from State Farm

I bought my Mini 2 from Costco for $440 and I am a firm believer of the Allstate Policy serviced by SquareTrade from Costco. The cost for the drone coverage would have been $49.99, same as DJI's. I have their policy on all my computers and tablets and when I cracked the screen on my S2 in the second year of coverage, I mailed it off to the Allstate service center (free shipping) on a Monday and it was back in my hands that Friday.

The policy from Costco can only be bought for items you buy from Costco, the low cost is one of the benefits of membership (like their $1.50 Foot Long Hotdog with Soda). If you want to buy a policy from Allstate directly because you bought you drone elsewhere, it will cost $89.99, no bargain there…

But if you have an issue with a DJI Drone, who from Allstate will service it, some techy who specializes in phones and tablets, or would you prefer the actual factory trained technician at DJI (their service center is in Fort Worth, TX) who actually stocks the parts?

For me, DJI's policy is the simple answer… Plus, DJI seldom actually repairs the drone under warranty, the labor cost are too high. They usually just replace it with a new one and wholesale the wrecks and repairables to the third-party market who repair and sell "refurbished" drones, check eBay for examples.

Good luck!

 

[JustJeff]

I bought my Mini 2 from Costco for $440 and I am a firm believer of the Allstate Policy serviced by SquareTrade from Costco. The cost for the drone coverage would have been $49.99, same as DJI's. I have their policy on all my computers and tablets and when I cracked the screen on my S2 in the second year of coverage, I mailed it off to the Allstate service center (free shipping) on a Monday and it was back in my hands that Friday.

The policy from Costco can only be bought for items you buy from Costco, the low cost is one of the benefits of membership (like their $1.50 Foot Long Hotdog with Soda). If you want to buy a policy from Allstate directly because you bought you drone elsewhere, it will cost $89.99, no bargain there…

But if you have an issue with a DJI Drone, who from Allstate will service it, some techy who specializes in phones and tablets, or would you prefer the actual factory trained technician at DJI (their service center is in Fort Worth, TX) who actually stocks the parts?

For me, DJI's policy is the simple answer… Plus, DJI seldom actually repairs the drone under warranty, the labor cost are too high. They usually just replace it with a new one and wholesale the wrecks and repairables to the third-party market who repair and sell "refurbished" drones, check eBay for examples.

Good luck!

Your whole post makes perfect sense to me. I think I'll stick with the DJI program. I ordered the drone from Amazon last night, and it's supposed to be delivered between May 5th and 10th. But I live in the sticks pretty far back, so when Amazon gives me their "receive date", it's usually overly optimistic, and takes an additional day or two. So, now I eagerly sit here twiddling my thumbs, looking at the calendar! Everybody who has responded here has been extremely helpful, and I appreciate it!

 

[Dbez1]

I’m not sure if it has been mentioned here, but you have to produce the damaged drone for the DJI insurance. If you lose it in Lake Michigan or high up in a tree where you can’t retrieve it, they won’t replace it. Where I live, I only pay $45 per year for SF and I don’t need to produce the lost unit.

 

[Cymruflyer]

DJI Labour costs are $65 an hour which is the same as most of the vendors who advertise on here. In fact, some are charging high than that for Labour, so DJI is well worth it. As has been stated, they quote you a repair cost of parts and labour but then send you a new drone as a replacement and send your broken one off for repair somewhere, so dealing with DJI direct is my best bit of advice if you crash it.

I have State Farms insurance and although less cost than DJI, I have heard that when people claim under State Farm, the insurance company will often no longer allow you to renew that policy when you get a new drone.

As for Sod's law, that is a British term and in the USA you call it Murphy's Law. As for what to do with the FAA, you will need to register yourself, not the drone, if you are just flying recreationally. However, be sure to just use the FAA.Gov website and the cost will be just $5 for 2 years. There are private websites out there that look almost identical to the official Gov. FAA website and they charge you a whole lot more for the same thing.

Therefore, be sure you only pay $5 for registering yourself. Then go to one of our vendors on this forum "Pilot Institute" and take your TRUST Exam via them. As has been mentioned, you cannot fail it because it won't let you move to the next question until you have given a correct answer from the multiple choice on each one. With that said, you really should know enough to pass it without needing to keep trying a new answer.

One more thing, you need to have your drone marked with your registration number and the "Pilot Institute" offers free registration number printing, so get your registration number first via the FAA, then go to P.I. and take your TRUST test and after that, take advantage of their free offer for registration stickers. And you have a great value for money drone there and one that will give you several years of quality flying and image making.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Your whole post makes perfect sense to me. I think I'll stick with the DJI program. I ordered the drone from Amazon last night, and it's supposed to be delivered between May 5th and 10th. But I live in the sticks pretty far back, so when Amazon gives me their "receive date", it's usually overly optimistic, and takes an additional day or two. So, now I eagerly sit here twiddling my thumbs, looking at the calendar! Everybody who has responded here has been extremely helpful, and I appreciate it!

You can go to the FAA.Gov website and register yourself now, before you get your drone. It may ask you for the drone's serial number but ignore that, you don't need to enter that if you are flying recreationally. Once you have that paper, go to the P.I. website and pass your TRUST test and get your reg. number stickers ordered for free. That way, when you get your drone, you might even have your registration stickers to immediately attach plus all your paperwork will have been completed.

 

[JustJeff]

That's all good stuff there @Cymruflyer, I appreciate that, and telling me the correct order to do it in.

 

[offtheback]

DJI Labour costs are $65 an hour which is the same as most of the vendors who advertise on here. In fact, some are charging high than that for Labour, so DJI is well worth it. As has been stated, they quote you a repair cost of parts and labour but then send you a new drone as a replacement and send your broken one off for repair somewhere, so dealing with DJI direct is my best bit of advice if you crash it.

I have State Farms insurance and although less cost than DJI, I have heard that when people claim under State Farm, the insurance company will often no longer allow you to renew that policy when you get a new drone.

As for Sod's law, that is a British term and in the USA you call it Murphy's Law. As for what to do with the FAA, you will need to register yourself, not the drone, if you are just flying recreationally. However, be sure to just use the FAA.Gov website and the cost will be just $5 for 2 years. There are private websites out there that look almost identical to the official Gov. FAA website and they charge you a whole lot more for the same thing.

Therefore, be sure you only pay $5 for registering yourself. Then go to one of our vendors on this forum "Pilot Institute" and take your TRUST Exam via them. As has been mentioned, you cannot fail it because it won't let you move to the next question until you have given a correct answer from the multiple choice on each one. With that said, you really should know enough to pass it without needing to keep trying a new answer.

One more thing, you need to have your drone marked with your registration number and the "Pilot Institute" offers free registration number printing, so get your registration number first via the FAA, then go to P.I. and take your TRUST test and after that, take advantage of their free offer for registration stickers. And you have a great value for money drone there and one that will give you several years of quality flying and image making.

They renewed me after a loss-State Farm.

 

[LoudThunder]

As a follow-up to my previous posting and based on issues that have been raised here is some more information…

I wrote that I needed to replace my Mini 2 using the Care Refresh policy. DJI sent me a New one in just over 7-days (the time to send and the time they returned the replacement). Within a week, the New Drone gave me an ESC Error 30080 message. I contacted DJI and they had me send the new Drone and my Controller to them for service. After a few days, I received an email telling me that the New Drone needed service and they sent me an invoice. The invoice specified the items needing replacement and the cost. However, since this was under warranty, I would not have to pay anything… The Estimate is provide below as "DJI Repairs" have been mentioned by other members.



I wrote back and told DJI that I should not have to wait for a New Drone the failed in less than a week to be repaired. I told DJI that they should replace the defective Drone with a New one.

After a few day, DJI replied that I was right, and they did not know why I was sent an estimate and not immediately sent a New Replacement and that they would look into my Case.

In another couple of days, I wrote back that I've now been waiting for over two-weeks and have not had the use of my drone and I would like them to make this right and I requested a Free Mini 2 Battery included in the return of my Drone as a recompense for the lost use of my Drone.

DJI agreed and send me a Coupon Code for a Free Battery ($55.00 value) that included Free Postage (the postage alone was worth about $8.00). And I've included the email that they sent concerning the coupon code.



Now, as I wrote previously, I received wonderful service on my broken tablet from SquareTrade (Allstate) and my New Samsung Galaxy Tablet A8 has one of the Allstate (serviced by SquareTrade) policies on it, but I only trust DJI to fix my Mini 2.

If you think taking a DJI Drone apart is easy, take a look at some of the YouTube Videos on self-repair on these Drones and they often talk about broken snaps, stripped screws, and surface damage as they try to open the Drones. So it isn't easy if you have not been trained.

Let's be honest now, both a Podiatrist and a Proctologist are Doctors, but when it comes to giving me a Prostate Exam, I do not want my Podiatrist putting his "foot" in it…

 

[macfawlty]

I can’t speak to DJI Refresh except to say that, in most cases, it does not cover loss or theft. If it’s irretrievable in the bottom of a lake, ocean, river, tree or on the side of a mountain when you can’t reasonably access or have time to do so because you’re traveling and it’s far from home, darkness, etc. I have State Farm Insurance. You should also have DJI Refresh.
Check out modelaircraft.org membership which includes great liability coverage.
I’ve learned from a few crashes where some or all of the factors I describe are in play. When you do crash, assume it will be at a very inconvenient time or place. You should have multiple methods and devices to aid retrieval. ArcLight XL strobe/audible, Apple AirTag, Marco Polo GPS. Don’t rely on the internal methods alone.
If it’s your first drone, I would buy the MA2s over the M3. I’d only recommend the M3 if you’re a professional videographer/photographer and need the absolute best image quality in the most challenging lighting scenarios. Save yourself the extra cost and complication. You may need to use part of the savings to buy a higher end workstation to handle 4K filesets.

 

[JustJeff]

I can’t speak to DJI Refresh except to say that, in most cases, it does not cover loss or theft. If it’s irretrievable in the bottom of a lake, ocean, river, tree or on the side of a mountain when you can’t reasonably access or have time to do so because you’re traveling and it’s far from home, darkness, etc. I have State Farm Insurance. You should also have DJI Refresh.
Check out modelaircraft.org membership which includes great liability coverage.
I’ve learned from a few crashes where some or all of the factors I describe are in play. When you do crash, assume it will be at a very inconvenient time or place. You should have multiple methods and devices to aid retrieval. ArcLight XL strobe/audible, Apple AirTag, Marco Polo GPS. Don’t rely on the internal methods alone.
If it’s your first drone, I would buy the MA2s over the M3. I’d only recommend the M3 if you’re a professional videographer/photographer and need the absolute best image quality in the most challenging lighting scenarios. Save yourself the extra cost and complication. You may need to use part of the savings to buy a higher end workstation to handle 4K filesets.

Thanks for this post. Very informative. And actually I'm about to replace my laptop, and am in the process of starting a thread for that, and how buying one may/should affect which one I buy.