Buying advice thoughts…

[vtcats]

Thanks for the update. It appears B&H found another sucker! Yeah!
I had a new M2P battery fail, leading to a crash. The battery inside the brand new M2P was from the separately purchased FlyMore kit instead of the original M2P purchase. Both purchases were part of the same order from B&H, and it happened within 10 days of purchase. After getting an RMA and returning it, B&H refused to replace it, claiming they couldn't read the .DAT files, despite the fact I could still read them when they returned it! They clearly never tried! They told me I needed to go through DJI. They sent it back to me, after wasting 30 days evaluating it. A $500 Mini 2 may be handled differently than a $2,000 M2P/FlyMore sale. Amazon would have accepted it for refund without question. Not a fan of B&H drone sales any more, but I have spent some $30,000 with them on camera gear over the last two decades, before they started charging sales tax! Always a fan previously, but you find out who your real friends are when you need their help!

Interesting. You returned the drone to Amazon AFTER a crash for a full refund? Able to do so because it was within 30 days of purchase? What did you fill out for a reason when sending everything back?
I’ve spent similar with B&H over the last few years on photography but also including for the latest MacBook Pro M1 max and have never had issues (but as you mention, never had any reason to send something back so I honestly have no idea how they would react).

 

[vindibona1]

@GadgetGuy You're welcome. Though you had a bad experience with returns with B&H, based on my experiences with them, I think a lot depends on who you talk to for customer service. Even if you are correct, I still have more faith in them than other stores that don't have the history and reputation of B&H. I'm not sure what your taxing district charges for sales tax, but on a $3000 drone the $300 savings for me would be significant IMO and worth the extra hassle if things don't go 100% as I think they should. Even the $60 savings for my Mini 2 was good because it covered the annual premium for State Farm insurance.

 

[Norval]

Been years since I’ve kept up with this forum and drones. I have the original Mavic Pro since 2017. Used it a fair amount during the summers for the first 2 years (got my part 107, since lapsed) and then just sparingly since. Mostly because of negative people reactions when flying and always trying to time weather, locations, etc.
Primarily used for personal photography and video. The last few years I’ve done the same but from the ground more with my Sony A1 and acquiring a variety of useful but expensive lenses.

Fast forward to today. Read up on all the new laws and processes (including using Laanc to get approval in my blue circled area near at my home) Took out my Mavic Pro and loved it all over again (and now that my wife is involved and with me, I don’t get the negative reaction anymore (plus we fly early in the morning). But now that I’m taking high quality images and video with my mirrorless, pretty disappointed with the old Mavic in that capacity. I’m going to taking a vacation a few weeks in June to Alaska and would love to have upgraded drone images and video like what I’ve seen the M3 provide.

I’m wondering how much of an issue it really is on the Mavic 3 with acquiring GPS, and getting DJI unlock codes (I don’t need them today as my Mavic is free/bypassed of all that; I just go by the rules and fly when approved). And I’m going to spend 10-15 minutes on the ground just trying to get everything coordinated and hopefully to work??

Also, while nobody can predict the future it seems as though there are some upcoming rules, drone ID etc (end of 2022 with compliance set to 2023). What do you think that means for a drone not equipped with that like the Mavic 3??

Appreciate any feedback on this and experiences.
Thanks

Stay away from the M3, the DJY fly app is terrible compared to the GO4 app.

 

[akdrone]

Been years since I’ve kept up with this forum and drones. I have the original Mavic Pro since 2017. Used it a fair amount during the summers for the first 2 years (got my part 107, since lapsed) and then just sparingly since. Mostly because of negative people reactions when flying and always trying to time weather, locations, etc.
Primarily used for personal photography and video. The last few years I’ve done the same but from the ground more with my Sony A1 and acquiring a variety of useful but expensive lenses.

Fast forward to today. Read up on all the new laws and processes (including using Laanc to get approval in my blue circled area near at my home) Took out my Mavic Pro and loved it all over again (and now that my wife is involved and with me, I don’t get the negative reaction anymore (plus we fly early in the morning). But now that I’m taking high quality images and video with my mirrorless, pretty disappointed with the old Mavic in that capacity. I’m going to taking a vacation a few weeks in June to Alaska and would love to have upgraded drone images and video like what I’ve seen the M3 provide.

I’m wondering how much of an issue it really is on the Mavic 3 with acquiring GPS, and getting DJI unlock codes (I don’t need them today as my Mavic is free/bypassed of all that; I just go by the rules and fly when approved). And I’m going to spend 10-15 minutes on the ground just trying to get everything coordinated and hopefully to work??

Also, while nobody can predict the future it seems as though there are some upcoming rules, drone ID etc (end of 2022 with compliance set to 2023). What do you think that means for a drone not equipped with that like the Mavic 3??

Appreciate any feedback on this and experiences.
Thanks

The gps thing is an irritation for some but not at all a deal breaker IMHO. I live in North Pole, AK and for whatever reason have never had an issue with GPS acquisition. When you travel a few hundred miles you can always expect a longer time to acquire but I've never seen the issue others report. I live in a blue zone for dji and got a 3month OK. Other places take just a few minutes typically but it does require some internet connection to be sure. Once you have that unlock there is no 10-15min to it. I fly along a local highway...stop...hop out...and I'm up within seconds (once everything is all connected.

 

[vtcats]

The gps thing is an irritation for some but not at all a deal breaker IMHO. I live in North Pole, AK and for whatever reason have never had an issue with GPS acquisition. When you travel a few hundred miles you can always expect a longer time to acquire but I've never seen the issue others report. I live in a blue zone for dji and got a 3month OK. Other places take just a few minutes typically but it does require some internet connection to be sure. Once you have that unlock there is no 10-15min to it. I fly along a local highway...stop...hop out...and I'm up within seconds (once everything is all connected.

Great to hear. I'm headed to Homer, Seward and that entire area as well as Ketchikan. Most where I'll use it is open, but there is a blue area next to Homer and one by Ketchikan. I'll most likely try and get approval before I get there.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Interesting. You returned the drone to Amazon AFTER a crash for a full refund? Able to do so because it was within 30 days of purchase? What did you fill out for a reason when sending everything back?
I’ve spent similar with B&H over the last few years on photography but also including for the latest MacBook Pro M1 max and have never had issues (but as you mention, never had any reason to send something back so I honestly have no idea how they would react).

Had I bought from Amazon, since the only damage was to the gimbal and props from the crash, I would have cited "defective" and "battery failure." Amazon would have returned it to DJI as infant mortality, after first refunding my money, just like B&H should have done. Buying from everyone is easy. It's when there is a problem that you need a good return policy, where they have your back, rather than telling you to send it to DJI, after jerking you around for 4 weeks, having you send it to them first, pretending to look at .DAT files, when they never tried. B&H doesn't handle drone returns and exchanges themselves. That's the problem. Limited to drone purchases from B&H.

 

[GadgetGuy]

@GadgetGuy You're welcome. Though you had a bad experience with returns with B&H, based on my experiences with them, I think a lot depends on who you talk to for customer service. Even if you are correct, I still have more faith in them than other stores that don't have the history and reputation of B&H. I'm not sure what your taxing district charges for sales tax, but on a $3000 drone the $300 savings for me would be significant IMO and worth the extra hassle if things don't go 100% as I think they should. Even the $60 savings for my Mini 2 was good because it covered the annual premium for State Farm insurance.

My bad B&H experience was limited to drones. They outsource the returns and exchanges. B&H is trustworthy, but their drone return vendor is sketchy. I would buy drones from DroneNerds.com before B&H, as they don't charge out of state sales tax, and also don't require any Payboo gymnastics to avoid the sales tax, and have worked with me on returns. They also able to do drone repairs in house, and offer free estimates.

 

[vindibona1]

@GadgetGuy My refurb M2P was from Drone Nerds. The experience was great.

 

[GadgetGuy]

@GadgetGuy My refurb M2P was from Drone Nerds. The experience was great.

Exactly! Good guys with great prices!

 

[vtcats]

I pulled the trigger…the Mavis was on 300 firmware, how much trouble and I in for? Haha.
I updated to 600 via Assistant 2,and did a refresh as well.
The Pro Controller had a mark on the screen so I sent back for another. I’ll have the replacement tomorrow or the next day and then I’ll most likely update and then link and see what I’ve got. Hopefully not horrible given how old I’m guessing this was sitting on a shelf with that firmware….