Gimbal protection during flight

[Whitefalcon]

Hi all,
I've been looking at the glare hoods to use whilst flying a Mini 2. My first mini2 dropped suddenly from a low height (about 5 foot) onto concrete and this was enough to damage the gimbal and had to be sent for repair and replacement. The lens hoods are touted as a way of protecting the gimbal in the event of a crash / hard landing. Does anyone have experience with these or suggest any other devices. The gimbal and camera are really delicate and exposed if the drone drops and probably the most expensive part.

Many thanks in advance

 

[old man mavic]

i use a lens hood on both my drones and i feel that they do offer some limited protection to the camera and gimbal such as impacts with tree branches ,they will not prevent the gimbal cables from impact damage in the event of a hard crash ,or for that matter the gimbal hanger system that attaches it to the drone

 

[karlblessing]

I debated getting the gimbal shade/hood, not so much for protection but to help cut down on cross light which can have an impact on video. I guess the coverage though will be limited depending on how you're flying it (not sure if the edges of them ever got caught in the frame of the of an overcompensated gimbal).

But given how much plastic the Mini 2 has, if it's a hard crash, the gimbal shades will probably add additional points of impact and not just on the overhanging lip of the top shell.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

If you are thinking of getting one I would suggest posting a link to it before buying etc. to get opinions of it.
They seem available in differing styles which would offer differing amounts of incident protection, shading and or interference with images.
I have one for a M2P/Z that seems to offer good protection but severely limits the yaw range of the gimbal (not applicable to the Mini) before it comes into shot.