How resilient is the gimbal?

ff22 · Dec 6, 2018

CanadaDrone said:
Yes, I believe that is the most common reason for things like this to happen. With no intention to fly, people turn the drone on for a firmware upgrade or whatever, and of course the gimbal goes through it's calibration phase - gimbal guard or not. Same with the props, as you point out.

Have to look at the DJI firmware update video again. Do they suggest removing the gimbal guard?

mavikelli · Dec 6, 2018

lolo780 said:
Yes. One of my Pro cameras is slightly off center by around 1 degree. It would be nice if DJI adds yaw adjustment to the gimbal menu in a future firmware update.

I think there is in the advanced menu on the mavic 2

CanadaDrone · Dec 7, 2018

ff22 said:
Have to look at the DJI firmware update video again. Do they suggest removing the gimbal guard?

I don't know what DJI suggests, but if you turn the drone on, the drone doesn't know you aren't going to fly it, and it will go through it's pre-flight routine which includes a gimbal calibration and it will test the motors.

On my Air I just leave the giant yellow sticker that came on the drone on the gimbal guard so there is no way I can ever forget to take it off. Hasn't happened yet.

nobby · Dec 15, 2018

lolo780 said:
Yes. One of my Pro cameras is slightly off center by around 1 degree. It would be nice if DJI adds yaw adjustment to the gimbal menu in a future firmware update.

I also noticed that my M2 Pro's camera isn't pointing dead ahead (checking it visually) by a couple of degrees. But unfortunately I only noticed this during initial setup, after I forgot to take off the gimbal guard while powering up the Mavic! So I was worried it was damaged or knocked out of whack as it tried to spin inside the guard.

At least I'm less concerned, now I've read comments like lolo's. But I tend to have something approaching OCD about symmetry/alignment in general, so this is bugging me..!

I went to the gimbal adjustment controls and was bemused at there only being a "roll" adjustment. Why can we only manually adjust on those axes? It may only be off dead ahead by a small amount, but this is still an OOTB defect that I want to fix!

EDIT: So, today - after one short test flight yesterday - I powered up the MP2 to check some settings, and it looks like the camera is now aiming dead ahead. So maybe it just needed a bit of exercise to loosen up and get itself sorted...

ff22 · Dec 15, 2018

I just posted this general question on the DJI forum. I expect I know the answer is to remove the guard when copying files or doing firmware updates. But let's see what the official word is.

PropSpin · Dec 15, 2018

ff22 said:
I just posted this general question on the DJI forum. I expect I know the answer is to remove the guard when copying files or doing firmware updates. But let's see what the official word is.

Yes, please let us know what they say. Based on the way the quick start guide is written I expect that it needs to come off, although I doubt forgetting it will be catastrophic, otherwise they would have pointed it out in the quick start.

PropSpin · Dec 15, 2018

nobby said:
I also noticed that my M2 Pro's camera isn't pointing dead ahead (checking it visually) by a couple of degrees. But unfortunately I only noticed this during initial setup, after I forgot to take off the gimbal guard while powering up the Mavic! So I was worried it was damaged or knocked out of whack as it tried to spin inside the guard.

At least I'm less concerned, now I've read comments like lolo's. But I tend to have something approaching OCD about symmetry/alignment in general, so this is bugging me..!

I went to the gimbal adjustment controls and was bemused at there only being a "roll" adjustment. Why can we only manually adjust on those axes? It may only be off dead ahead by a small amount, but this is still an OOTB defect that I want to fix!

EDIT: So, today - after one short test flight yesterday - I powered up the MP2 to check some settings, and it looks like the camera is now aiming dead ahead. So maybe it just needed a bit of exercise to loosen up and get itself sorted...

If the misalignment was noticed during the same power cycle as when you notice the gimbal guard and took that off, I would expect a restart to sort it out after get did its calibration.

ff22 · Dec 15, 2018

PropSpin said:
Yes, please let us know what they say. Based on the way the quick start guide is written I expect that it needs to come off, although I doubt forgetting it will be catastrophic, otherwise they would have pointed it out in the quick start.

So far, only ordinary USERS have replied - take it OFF! We will see if a DJI rep replies.

EDITED TO ADD: I got a reply from DJI moderator: "Hi there. We highly recommend you to take-off the Gimbal Protector when turning-on the Aircraft and especially when updating the drone to avoid any trouble. If there is any help needed, please let us know. We're here to help. Thank you. "

FatherXmas · Dec 15, 2018

The M2P is pretty sturdy. There's several videos on YouTube where it took a real beating and still works. I guess if your YouTube channel is making a ton of money, you can afford to buy one and try to trash it.

lolo780 · Dec 15, 2018

FatherXmas said:
The M2P is pretty sturdy. There's several videos on YouTube where it took a real beating and still works. I guess if your YouTube channel is making a ton of money, you can afford to buy one and try to trash it.

I've bent one of my M2P gimbals twice and bent it back both times and it's still working. Another one took a light hit, no exterior damage, roll motor quit. Go figure.

nobby · Dec 31, 2018

The frequency (about 100%) of times I've failed to remove my gimbal guard before powering the M2P on has prompted me to take action and fabricate a "reminder ribbon" that I really can't fail to spot when the Mavic's on the ground with my finger poised over its power button... As you can see, it's currently in the shape of something seasonal - I may replace the "Merry Christmas" ribbon with something a bit more professional looking at a later date.

PropSpin · Dec 31, 2018

nobby said:
The frequency (about 100%) of times I've failed to remove my gimbal guard before powering the M2P on has prompted me to take action and fabricate a "reminder ribbon" that I really can't fail to spot when the Mavic's on the ground with my finger poised over its power button... As you can see, it's currently in the shape of something seasonal - I may replace the "Merry Christmas" ribbon with something a bit more professional looking at a later date.

I've forgotten three times now - the horror!

I figure I'll put a small decal near the power button to be a reminder.

jdyck · Dec 31, 2018

I found the gimbal very resilient to minor abuse however, after a couple gentle crashes into trees my gimbal (Mavic Pro) would not calibrate anymore. Appeared to click up or down with clicking noise. Called service centre and they knew exactly what it was, replace gimbal and back in service again. Works fine. So they can be broken. As the posts suggest above, first step is try to re calibrate. If not, find nearest service centre.

Goldenmember1000 · Jan 20, 2019

jdyck said:
I found the gimbal very resilient to minor abuse however, after a couple gentle crashes into trees my gimbal (Mavic Pro) would not calibrate anymore. Appeared to click up or down with clicking noise. Called service centre and they knew exactly what it was, replace gimbal and back in service again. Works fine. So they can be broken. As the posts suggest above, first step is try to re calibrate. If not, find nearest service centre.

How much did the repair cost ?