Had a bad week, 2 crashes. Need advice.

blacksheep · Sep 29, 2017

Hi all

I've had my Mavic since the start of the year and I've been crash free, then two in one week... First crash was the day I got laid off and I should know not to fly when upset. Took off in ATTI mode because I was too impatient to wait for GPS and it immediately drifted into a gate. I know, I know. Broke a prop, landed on concrete from 2 ft and scuffed the battery. Seemed to fly OK after though.

Second crash, forgot I had the landing sensors turned off, instead of stopping and landing, it slammed into the ground and bounced. Shortly afterwards the camera which was recording, showed aperture / s.speed as N/A and the record button went white.

I got a guy at the camera store to have a look and he says there is a broken wire to the camera. I also noticed the gimbal has a crack right through the vertical arm.

I see Amazon sells complete gimbal / camera units for US$300, that's $550 in my money landed and tax paid. I'm considering ditching the mavic for the spark which is on special at $699 currently. I don't know if my crash or hard landing has caused any internal damage, visual inspection of the structure is OK. Torn as to what to do here. Any advice? I'm not mechanically minded, a bit worried about pulling it to bits to replace the camera.

Help!

Cheers

Chris

MacPap · Sep 29, 2017

JUST wanted to say I sympathise but have no real advise.
I guess it all depends on what you need the drone for.
If it were me i'd repair the Mavic.

Atlas · Sep 29, 2017

Take your mavic to an open field n run some tests. Fly low n slow and see how it responds

Former Member · Sep 29, 2017

OP, what country are you in?

mavic6611 · Sep 29, 2017

The spark is nowhere as good as the Mavic so my opinion is sort you Mavic out.
If you go onto YouTube.. Look at digdat0 he's done a tutorial on how to replace the gimbal. There will be lots of other tutorials on how to do it also. It's definitely something you will be able to fix yourself.

Former Member · Sep 29, 2017

blacksheep said:
I'm not mechanically minded, a bit worried about pulling it to bits to replace the camera.

Probably not something you should try. You can easily damage other components trying to get the gimbal out if you dont have electronics repair experience..

warlock 31 · Sep 29, 2017

If you're going to spend that kind of money for a spark why don't you pay another hundred dollars and get another Matic for backup. I can't believe you can buy just the mavic no remote or anything else or 799

warlock 31 · Sep 29, 2017

It should say I do believe you can buy another mavic for 799

Technomancer · Sep 29, 2017

warlock 31 said:
It should say I do believe you can buy another mavic for 799

If you pay attention to the original post, in his country the mavic is more like $1400 (not fly more combo).

Dragonfly · Sep 29, 2017

Blacksheep, are you by any chance in NZ?

Vilco · Sep 29, 2017

One should check the price of the Mavic only (no RC, nobatteries, no etc...) from his place on DJI website. I still freak out when I think that the basic Mavic set is 999 US$ in the US and 1199 euros in Europe. Scr3w that

locoman · Sep 29, 2017

You know why you crashed, take your own advice and fly it like it is a real plane. Think like a pilot in the cockpit. Don't take chances.

Ivo · Oct 1, 2017

blacksheep said:
Hi all

I've had my Mavic since the start of the year and I've been crash free, then two in one week... First crash was the day I got laid off and I should know not to fly when upset. Took off in ATTI mode because I was too impatient to wait for GPS and it immediately drifted into a gate. I know, I know. Broke a prop, landed on concrete from 2 ft and scuffed the battery. Seemed to fly OK after though.

Second crash, forgot I had the landing sensors turned off, instead of stopping and landing, it slammed into the ground and bounced. Shortly afterwards the camera which was recording, showed aperture / s.speed as N/A and the record button went white.

I got a guy at the camera store to have a look and he says there is a broken wire to the camera. I also noticed the gimbal has a crack right through the vertical arm.

I see Amazon sells complete gimbal / camera units for US$300, that's $550 in my money landed and tax paid. I'm considering ditching the mavic for the spark which is on special at $699 currently. I don't know if my crash or hard landing has caused any internal damage, visual inspection of the structure is OK. Torn as to what to do here. Any advice? I'm not mechanically minded, a bit worried about pulling it to bits to replace the camera.

Help!

Cheers

Chris

I broke my gimbal a week ago and within a we I ordered the parts and tools and just followed the YouTube video posted below and had recieved the parts (in less than a week) and had it fixed within 40 minutes. It's a quite easy just take your time and follow the video.

Gimbal and camera link

https://www.amazon.com/Mavic-Gimbal...8-2&keywords=dji+mavic+pro+gimbal+replacement

Tool kit link

https://www.amazon.com/Powerextra-S...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XS9AG2S41GXVF9TNYCNP

Video Link

Easier than you think, parts are small so good pointed tweezers are useful. Good luck.

Chris1180012 · Oct 1, 2017

Gimball cable is easy to repair good post on this point. A cable cost somewhere near €9-16. Did two mavics now did use two cables on one mavic, important thing to notice when installing is the middle part, take your time. Arm i never replaced so can't give pointers but see them selling currently for 40-50. If u ask me beats 350 us for a new one. On aliexpress u can buy complete camera incl gimball for 220 -250. Exchaning this is easy.

blacksheep · Oct 1, 2017

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been checking this thread, I expected to get notifications :-(

Yes I'm in NZ.

I had considered just getting the camera / gimbal module and swapping it out, that shouldn't be beyond me with the right tools I'd have thought.

I'm not so keen on the spark after seeing some reviews and the image quality is a little dubious. Of course I am not massively happy with the image quality of the Mavic either. I could just get a P4P... There's always the Karma, I am used to GoPro image quality and could work with that.

Montoyee · Oct 2, 2017

blacksheep said:
Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been checking this thread, I expected to get notifications :-(

Yes I'm in NZ.

I had considered just getting the camera / gimbal module and swapping it out, that shouldn't be beyond me with the right tools I'd have thought.

I'm not so keen on the spark after seeing some reviews and the image quality is a little dubious. Of course I am not massively happy with the image quality of the Mavic either. I could just get a P4P... There's always the Karma, I am used to GoPro image quality and could work with that.

Lol hey blacksheep do Not go for the Karma! That drone is trash!! If you crashed yours due to the sensors being turned off, the karma will crash faster on its own since it does not come with any sensors for obstacle avoidance and it doesnt hover in place on its own withoit drifting to any direction. I know a friend who for lack of better words regrets not getting the Mavic and went for the karma.

blacksheep · Oct 2, 2017

Montoyee said:
Lol hey blacksheep do Not go for the Karma! That drone is trash!! If you crashed yours due to the sensors being turned off, the karma will crash faster on its own since it does not come with any sensors for obstacle avoidance and it doesnt hover in place on its own withoit drifting to any direction. I know a friend who for lack of better words regrets not getting the Mavic and went for the karma.

I tend to think I'd not crash the Karma the same way because I wouldn't be expecting it to stop descending.

But I hear you about the Karma, I'm looking at all options right now, never been 100% happy with the image quality from the Mavic