I am a disabled veteran and have been avid UAV enthusiast for about 15 years. I spent 25 years desinging datacneters and cloud infrastructure so I have some experience with programming and a lot in troubleshooting. I have tested about 10 different manufacturers products and at first DJI seemed to be the best choice. I should have called and spoke with them first because the type of communication with them was a total indicator of how their product works. It looks great on the web page and videos however the reality is that this is like windows 95 but with potentially deadly consequences when programmers make a mistake.
This has been my “escape” ever since my cancer diagnosis in 2010. My first order was immediately returned to Amazon (at DJI’s request - never once activated DJI Refresh because I was told not to and it would automatically be transferred to the new one they had sent already.
DJI care was never transferrred to the new UAV (FPV)received 2 drones (FPV) one was immediately sent back *the same day due to missing components*, the other went into a river (that was my fault and I took the blame - but what i didn’t realize is that when DJI sent out the replacement (never flew the first one NOR activated DJI refresh (was told they would transfer it over to the replacement - this NEVER happened. I called - again was told it was fine to fly and the problem would be addressed immediately. (again NEVER HAPPENED)
After about 3-4 weeks and more than 12 hours (all logged) of explaining the same thing over and over again to a different person each time (you would think they took notes maybe?), I was forced to purchase a drone rather than wait for someone competent to solve the problem. I have waited 4 years for this? I now no longer have any working DJI products and could never in good faith recommend them. I am so upset about this - and found out that there is one group in China and one in the US (I believe China handles orders and some support - DJI Refresh is in the states i think but they had ability to fix what was wrong because it should have been done automatically when DJI requested the return and authorized an immediate replacement (the FPV that never got Refresh on it). Even after all this i found out on my own that I wasted all this time because they never would have replaced it (no flyaways - even though i have logs and images of where it went in the raging white water of a river after plunging around 200 feet.
Again - this was my fault on the flying - but the lack of communication and constant lies by their support team is what made this experience so poor. It made me feel like all they care about is getting their money and not caring about their customers satisfaction at all. (3d printer is coming and I will no longer count on anything that I can not program myself) The entire ordeal was a bad Chinese fire drill - no pun intended but i couldn’t resist. I spent all this money on the FPV to find out that they have no intention of releasing an SDK and was constantly was given misinformation to simply drag me on………I then figured I would try the
2s (a bit less power but the photo’s looked great and hadn’t seen many bad reviews until lately)
The
Air 2s so far has been a great disappointment for me. I am tired of horrible support, people that speak our language so badly it sounds like an old karate movie when you have no idea what the plot is and unfortunately there are no subtitles on phone calls. (DJI maybe a new product for ya?), Not to mention the constant firmware “updates” which always seem to just say - fixed bugs for better flight control. Perhaps the last firmware caused this crash but the other
2s had over 300 hours of great flights! *this one had less than 10 hours*
I’ve been flying now over 10 years (commercially for 3). This is the first time I’ve lost a drone, yet alone 3 from one company which wasn’t replaced by the manufacturer. Parrot was great like that - i wish i tried the ANFI or Skydio 2 first instead of wasting a lot of time and money on a horrible experience with DJI. The products are no where near as bad as their communication skills and support. I feel like I’ve been penalized for following instructions given to me by DJI and when I called, was made to feel like i was bothering them when all i wanted was for them to do what I was told they would by their own customer support (ha - at least typing that made me laugh) - last thing they should be called is support - maybe support diversion team?
My replacement arrived about 2 weeks after they received it I had it for about 3-4 weeks (less than 10 hours of flight time until this incident). The replacement
2s aircraft which from the start seemed like something was wrong is now another DJI drone in pieces. I thought it was maybe the fact I was nervous, but soon realized it wasn’t my nerves…….the uav was in a banked left turn on final approach to my landing area (same test flight I take every morning), at about 400 feet started to spiral downward not responding to any controls! (nothing was hit!) - I could not regain control and just watched another 10 feet then everything went black around 300 feet (like the battery failed?) I was way above anything like tree’s or homes etc…….) I don’t fly over people or homes unless necessary, luckily no one was killed or injured when this catastrophic failure happened. I found it submerged in a puddle with 3 of 4 propellers just ripped of, two broken front landing legs and a hole in the side (initially looked for a bullet - but it wasn’t shot - just had no idea what happened until I read other i’d def get the reinforced legs for this drone or you most likely will be replacing the legs very soon).
So - I now have a Mavic
2s that fell out of the air and hit the ground– kinda looks like a replica of a bad B movie air disaster. I’ve called twice to speak with them - never to get a human. I believe that this was a rehabbed drone they sent, not new and didn’t have it long enough to get a response from DJI until after this incident. I no longer have faith in DJI’s ability to keep aircraft in the air and will only use drones that provide access to an SDK or use open source software. Even getting all of the log files is not possible. You only get what they want you to see…….
I would not recommend DJI to anyone right now and this started as a test to review which company a former client of mine would use in their SAR services. Needless to say, they lost about a 10mln contract because of my reporting of my treatment and responses by DJI.
I have been reviewing technology for 25 years and have yet to work with a company worse than this one. I wish i could say something positive - well it takes ponice photos and videos when it’s stable. I lost confidence in DJI’s abilities and constant deception over the SDK release.
If you are doing anything other than taking personal photographs, the mavic series is not for you. I could never rely on it for business and now do not trust any DJI product. I now own the Mavic
2s, the
DJI FPV v2 w
goggles, and a Skydio. The skydio is made in the US and their support provides a drone the day you report the crash! You get your replacement the next day even before you send back the broken one! That is the customer service I am use to, and no one should settle for less.
I was hoping to open a business, being disabled really stinks and UAV’s for me was my escape - so i figured I’d try and not be “disabled”……..I never thought that the UAV and the company who sold it to me would be more disabled than myself………..I don’t know if I’ll be a MAVIC pilot much longer - I simply can’t afford it - but really love flying. I’ve had to give up so much I thought this would make me happy again - all I’ve had is problems that I wouldn’t want ANYONE to have to go though.
Sorry if this seems scattered - I am pretty upset about this as well as mad, and my hopes of a business are now just a hope I can get this fixed without the hours and hours of calls and horrible support like last month.
I
