Was doing a very slow video shoot in my back yard. In tripod mode and being VERY careful moving in between palm trees in the yard and decided to get some high def slow motion footage of my small water feature (2 ft high waterfall into a 4' x 8' pond) was moving toward the waterfall and just as my mavic moved over the pond area it jumped up about 1 foot, hit a palm tree frond and SPLASH right into the pond! Oh ****! pulled it out within 5 seconds, pulled and powered down the battery. Dried it out with hair dryer and let it sit outside for a full day (very dry here in Arizona) tried to fire it up on day 3 but no joy. Multiple errors on motors and controllers.
First issue: Why the crash? Well, I figured it out- when I was moving toward the pond, I flew over the brick border wall making up the water pond. Brick wall 2 blocks high, approx 18" high. Having failed to turn OFF my downward obstacle avoidance, my Mavic sensed the wall and to avoid it appropriately moved up about a foot which unfortunately had a palm frond causing the crash. Bottom line: Mavic was smarter than me. Crash was pilot error.
Second issue: Sent in for repair (My buddies at Advexure.com were GREAT with assistance in speeding the evaluation process up) and since I have no refresh service, I was prepared to pay the full price of a new drone (currently listed at $759 at Advexure.com). I sent in my Mavic (without battery) and the controller. After a couple of days got the quote which, as expected, showed nearly full price for the Mavic ($698) but they also included the cost of a new battery at $89. Odd since I hadn't sent a battery, so I emailed them (tried calling but couldn't get to a rep after waiting 40 minutes) but I thought it was just an oversight on their end. Asked them to please remove the battery charge and I would pay the $698. Well got some VERY confusing broken english replies but in a nutshell, they explained that since there was obviously a battery in the Mavic when it water crashed, the battery was also ruined, and therefore they could NOT remove the battery from the repair invoice. After several back-and-forth emails and chat sessions, the rep informed me that they had passed my invoice "dispute" to another department and to wait for a decision from them. ??
So, my stance is that even if my battery were damaged (which I'm not sure it was), it was presumptuous of them to be sure that is was but especially inappropriate for them to charge me for a "repair" of something that they hadn't even received. Now I'm fine with buying a new battery but I told them if I did I would purchase it through Advexure to support the DJI retailers. If this drags on for more than a few days, I'm thinking I will just buy a new drone for $759 as this dispute isn't really worth the 60 bucks to me but I'm not sure whether or not they will bill me for the repair assessment should I opt not to have them "repair" it.
So be forewarned: 1. Your Mavic probably will NOT survive after a fresh water crash and 2. the downward sensors do what they are supposed to do, even in tripod mode. Test this by hovering your Mavic and placing your hand under it. It should jump up a foot or so to avoid your hand.
Will post what DJI comes up with when they finish with my invoice "dispute".
First issue: Why the crash? Well, I figured it out- when I was moving toward the pond, I flew over the brick border wall making up the water pond. Brick wall 2 blocks high, approx 18" high. Having failed to turn OFF my downward obstacle avoidance, my Mavic sensed the wall and to avoid it appropriately moved up about a foot which unfortunately had a palm frond causing the crash. Bottom line: Mavic was smarter than me. Crash was pilot error.
Second issue: Sent in for repair (My buddies at Advexure.com were GREAT with assistance in speeding the evaluation process up) and since I have no refresh service, I was prepared to pay the full price of a new drone (currently listed at $759 at Advexure.com). I sent in my Mavic (without battery) and the controller. After a couple of days got the quote which, as expected, showed nearly full price for the Mavic ($698) but they also included the cost of a new battery at $89. Odd since I hadn't sent a battery, so I emailed them (tried calling but couldn't get to a rep after waiting 40 minutes) but I thought it was just an oversight on their end. Asked them to please remove the battery charge and I would pay the $698. Well got some VERY confusing broken english replies but in a nutshell, they explained that since there was obviously a battery in the Mavic when it water crashed, the battery was also ruined, and therefore they could NOT remove the battery from the repair invoice. After several back-and-forth emails and chat sessions, the rep informed me that they had passed my invoice "dispute" to another department and to wait for a decision from them. ??
So, my stance is that even if my battery were damaged (which I'm not sure it was), it was presumptuous of them to be sure that is was but especially inappropriate for them to charge me for a "repair" of something that they hadn't even received. Now I'm fine with buying a new battery but I told them if I did I would purchase it through Advexure to support the DJI retailers. If this drags on for more than a few days, I'm thinking I will just buy a new drone for $759 as this dispute isn't really worth the 60 bucks to me but I'm not sure whether or not they will bill me for the repair assessment should I opt not to have them "repair" it.
So be forewarned: 1. Your Mavic probably will NOT survive after a fresh water crash and 2. the downward sensors do what they are supposed to do, even in tripod mode. Test this by hovering your Mavic and placing your hand under it. It should jump up a foot or so to avoid your hand.
Will post what DJI comes up with when they finish with my invoice "dispute".
