I loved my Mini 2, some lessons learned from a beginner

[Deleted member 103366]

I was a bit surprised that the drone didn't have a shut off when upside down, but I suppose there can only be so many safeguards in place.

It does seem a bit daft doesn't it, but "ours is not to reason why" 'but to suffer the consequences' lol

 

[vindibona1]

That's not true. I was able to get coverage by submitting video verification to DJI. They have a procedure for this on their website.

Really? I'll have to check that out. They sure lead you to believe otherwise. Thanks for corrrecting me. Perhaps I'll do that. I have had a Mini 1, now have a Mavic 2 Pro and Mini 2 and never was made aware of post-purchase applications for the DJI Care.

I think I have modified my position regarding State Farm and DJI Care/Refresh. State Farm is cheap enough that you can carry that in addition to the DJI coverage. If I have a fly-away of either my Mini 2 and especially my Mavic 2 Pro, both covered by State Farm for the same price, claiming on SF is a better deal based on DJI's newly established fly-away replacement protocols and costs. While you can claim damage with no deductible with State Farm, my agent told me that after a single claim you get canceled. I learned that when I had some minor damage to my Mini 2 and discovered it was minor I skipped the SF claim and got very very lucky that the repair was only a few dollars more than the DJI deductible. So you pay $49 for Mini 2 coverage then another $49 per repair. If you have fly-away for Mini 2 it's an additional $225, so the $60 State Farm coverage with no deductible would be better.

One thing worth noting is that (I am also led to believe) that if you sell your DJI product during the policy period there are not pro-rated refunds. I sold my Mini 1 after just a few months so ended up flushing some money on the Care purchase, requiring buying insurance on my Mini 2.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I think the the care refresh moves with the drone, this is used by many sellers on ebay UK as a selling point.

So you pay $49 for Mini 2 coverage then another $49 per repair

You might want to check that, you may find that the second repair is more expensive than the first.

 

[Gbugari]

All,

Hello from frost bitten north central Texas. I got my first drone, a Mavic Mini 2 for Christmas this year and it was awesome! On my fourth flight, on our first snow day this week, I clipped a tree branch, and sent it to the ground. On the ground it landed upside down, so the sensors thought it was still in the air and accelerated to full power. I couldn't get the thing firmly in my hand or turned off, so upon me trying to pick it up, it flew hard and fast directly into a tree nearby. Busted two of the motor arms, cracked top and bottom cases, and busted the camera gimbal (camera is ok, but the holder is broken) Not a good flight....

I wanted to share to give some advice.

1) If you crash and the blades are still turning, hold it down without hurting yourself. If I had just held it with my foot so it wouldn't have flew into the tree, I would have had some scratches and busted propeller blades, but likely nothing more. *Edit, see the post below about the CSC shut off feature. If it could have been done within seconds, then that is a better option than holding it down.
2) I am sure this could be debated, but the 2 year care offer when purchasing for $100 is worth it, unless you are a very experienced pilot. I have babied this thing, and I am not hard on things. (I have Oakleys from when I was in my 20's without a scratch on them). If I had purchased the care option (or another insurance option) I would not be looking at likely a $450 total loss.

I sent my Mini 2 in today to the repair facility via UPS. In hopes this would not be as big of a deal as I thought, I did stop by an "authorized" repair center here in North Dallas today before sending to DJI. They told me that it would be $500 to repair, and not worth it. So at this point I am hopeful that DJI has some way of keeping me in this really fun hobby without me having to start over by purchasing a new one.

I hope this post helps anyone new to flying. Good luck in this fun hobby and many safe flights!

My personal way of flying for the first time is go to a open field with plenty of space and fly several days until a feel confident enough. I have a Mavic Pro, a Holy Stone 720 and also fly RC Planes. Continue having fun!

 

[Ol' Sparky]

I used to shut off my drones by turning them upside down. Would love for someone to check the flight records (Waaaaay beyond my knowledge and capability) and figure out what she was thinking and why the motors didn't shut off while upside down. That's just wrong.

 

[cgmaxed]

I have seen at least one thread and I think two where a 'mavic' has ended up upside-down with the motors still active. This leads me to wonder if 'too much' of a tilt is seen as 'too little', almost as if the drone is sees a 90deg tilt as say zero and then anything within say +-20deg of that zero being "uh oh, switch off time" and anything outside those angles as 'safe, keep flying'.
If that idea isn't complete rubbish then I suspect there must also be a minimum 'dwell time' within the "uh oh" zone.

You would think the motors would have shut down as it was in the process of flipping. Perhaps the "refresh" rate on the data coming in from the sensors is too delayed. It must have flipped over fast.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I used to shut off my drones by turning them upside down. Would love for someone to check the flight records Reply(Waaaaay beyond my knowledge and capability) and figure out what she was thinking and why the motors didn't shut off while upside down. That's just wrong.

Unfortunately with the mini 2 you may have encrypted flight logs, try searches concerning that on here.
You might be able to get some data via airdata? but backup any and all logs you are inclined to up loadto somewhere BEFORE you upload any.
I do not use it myself so I do not know what it requires to upload logs. However it is my recollection that the data the site can extract form the new DJI flight logs is very limited when compared to what I can see for my MM etc. via CsvView.
Incidentally when I put 1.2.4 on my phone the logs flown using it were unreadable to/by CsvView so 1.2.4 came off and an earlier version went back on. Unfortunatley I think 1.2.... is a must for the Mini 2 so you are 'stuck' with it.
Another interesting point is that whilst any .txt logs recorded under 1.2.4 where on that phone the replacement older version of the app could not read any of the fly app flight logs on that phone irrespective of the app version used to record them. As soon as the .txt logs recorded under 1.2.4 were removed the app could see the other .txt flight logs.

You would think the motors would have shut down as it was in the process of flipping. Perhaps the "refresh" rate on the data coming in from the sensors is too delayed. It must have flipped over fast.

Similar thinking but not so well worded, was behind my "minimum 'dwell time' within the "uh oh" zone"

 

[vindibona1]

You would think the motors would have shut down as it was in the process of flipping. Perhaps the "refresh" rate on the data coming in from the sensors is too delayed. It must have flipped over fast.

I would have assumed as much too. But even with a quick flip one would assume the sensors would have shut it down. I you were to manually flip it after and hand catch you'd be pretty quick in flipping it too. You're certainly not going to linger getting it shut off.

I maintain, that in it's zeal to bring the Mini 2 to the market quickly it hasn't been that long since its release and still IMO has some semi-serious bugs.

 

[Grey Hawk Photography]

All,

Hello from frost bitten north central Texas. I got my first drone, a Mavic Mini 2 for Christmas this year and it was awesome! On my fourth flight, on our first snow day this week, I clipped a tree branch, and sent it to the ground. On the ground it landed upside down, so the sensors thought it was still in the air and accelerated to full power. I couldn't get the thing firmly in my hand or turned off, so upon me trying to pick it up, it flew hard and fast directly into a tree nearby. Busted two of the motor arms, cracked top and bottom cases, and busted the camera gimbal (camera is ok, but the holder is broken) Not a good flight....

I wanted to share to give some advice.

1) If you crash and the blades are still turning, hold it down without hurting yourself. If I had just held it with my foot so it wouldn't have flew into the tree, I would have had some scratches and busted propeller blades, but likely nothing more. *Edit, see the post below about the CSC shut off feature. If it could have been done within seconds, then that is a better option than holding it down.
2) I am sure this could be debated, but the 2 year care offer when purchasing for $100 is worth it, unless you are a very experienced pilot. I have babied this thing, and I am not hard on things. (I have Oakleys from when I was in my 20's without a scratch on them). If I had purchased the care option (or another insurance option) I would not be looking at likely a $450 total loss.

I sent my Mini 2 in today to the repair facility via UPS. In hopes this would not be as big of a deal as I thought, I did stop by an "authorized" repair center here in North Dallas today before sending to DJI. They told me that it would be $500 to repair, and not worth it. So at this point I am hopeful that DJI has some way of keeping me in this really fun hobby without me having to start over by purchasing a new one.

I hope this post helps anyone new to flying. Good luck in this fun hobby and many safe flights!

I'm thawing out here in San Antonio. I put my MA2 and Mini 2 up in the snow this week. They handled great in 30 MPH Wind gust and snowing.

 

[powertrip]

If you're going to use acronyms, please tell people what they mean, I have no idea what CSC stands for

 

[twebb223]

All, I appreciate all of the posts and insight. I received good news today from the DJI repair center. My mini 2 can be repaired for a very modest amount. I am thrilled! I look forward to learning more from all of you once I am back in the air!