Let's hear it for the little guy!

[ElPocho]

You have a fair point with first part of your reply, but this second part is not helpful.

I do count myself lucky (and not just because I deserved to destroy the thing today) - and I understand people have had problems. I have had the common gimbal off-level issue. I just think it's good to also have some good news stories for reasons of balance as outlined in my original post.

Some people always have to be negative. I agree the Mavic is a great bit of engineering. And brick wall? How about a concrete and stone fence? That was my first crash, and it was hard, and the only damage was a couple scratches on 2 props. After I popped the gimbal in place it was perfect.

 

[Crayons]

Some people always have to be negative. I agree the Mavic is a great bit of engineering.

I think if you've had a bad experience like a fly-away or erratic behaviour for some reason - and particularly if that resulted in damage - then you'd feel differently. I know I'd be in the negative camp for sure. And I have no desire to argue with those people or diminish their points. Clearly, it happens.

But, like you, my experience over some months now and some pretty extreme flying has been that the MP is amazingly tough and reliable and any dramas have been my own fault. I just didn't see that view posted much - and again as per my original post I understand why. Most problem free MP owners are out there flying, not tooling around looking for answers here

 

[KDog]

Great to finally see a good news post that hasn't been thoroughly trolled (and some footage of Aus!).

I think when we spend the money we do on these things, we can lose sight of the fact that, despite their recent proliferation, we're still very much in the early adopter zone for drone technology generally. The price of that is being part of an evolving learning from the manufacturers. Is the Mavic Pro perfect? Certainly not. Can and will it be improved with future versions? Definitely. Is it a bloody great little flying camera that has enough smarts to keep most people out of trouble despite themselves? I'd say yes.

Of course a company that's grown as fast as DJI is going to have trouble with customer service - that's the nature of launching into nearly all international markets at the same time without taking the time to establish a highly effective service and support network. But I for one am glad that they didn't bother waiting because here in Aus we'd likely not have them in the market for several years yet.

I think to buy what's a relatively cheap drone for what you get, and then expect what some people in here seem to expect of the product and the service and then throw themselves around when those expectations aren't met, is - if nothing else - a little naive.

Anyway, I love my Mavic and while I'm aware of its shortcomings, I still think it's money well spent.

 

[Crayons]

Of course a company that's grown as fast as DJI is going to have trouble with customer service - that's the nature of launching into nearly all international markets at the same time without taking the time to establish a highly effective service and support network.

I agree with almost all of your post except this bit ^ ... if DJI are failing to support those with real issues (and that would seem to be the case) then that's not good enough. They are not some tiny start-up. Their Phantom line has ruled the pro-sumer skies long enough for them to get their act together. Hyped marketing vs failed service reality are all too common everywhere and not good enough in my book.

Having said that, just like you I love my MP and am repeatedly amazed by it. Perhaps because, like you, I have realistic expectations. By gimbal is sometimes off-level. My front sensors randomly tell me there's an obstacle when there isn't. Both of which I can get around and live with.

 

[KDog]

I agree with almost all of your post except this bit ^ ... if DJI are failing to support those with real issues (and that would seem to be the case) then that's not good enough. They are not some tiny start-up. Their Phantom line has ruled the pro-sumer skies long enough for them to get their act together. Hyped marketing vs failed service reality are all too common everywhere and not good enough in my book.

I didn't say it was acceptable, just that it shouldn't be unexpected. It really just is an issue of growth - while they're not a small start-up, their rate of expansion into new markets was always going to be too high to put in a quality support base. I often lament when new products available in the US aren't available in Australia, and this is the reason - these other companies decide that they don't want to launch in international markets until they have the customer support network at a scale and quality that meets expectations, which often results in one, two or even three year delays before they launch in Australia. My point is simply that we can't have our cake and eat it too; if we want the product early, we need to be prepared for substandard customer service. If we want acceptable customer service we have to be prepared to wait for the support network to be able to scale up. There really is no shortcutting and one of these two things has to happen. The issue is that more often than not, product and marketing driven companies underestimate the effort required to establish the support network, which consists of regional repair centres, reverse logistics networks, support partners and the plethora of legal and commercial considerations that underpin them. Again, I'm not giving DJI a free pass here, but I am pointing out that if they had have taken the time to set all this stuff up properly (right across the world), then we'd almost certainly still be waiting for them to launch in Australia.

 

[wombat]

you may get a fine

 

[CanberraMavic]

Heh, I saw the photo before reading the attached text and straight away said "scribbly gum, Australia!". Even looks like Jindy in the background. I agree with durability of the Mavic so far, after one minor crash from 30cm and 1000km on the clock.

 

[Terry G]

Geez, with all the whining and complaining about DJI, why isn't Craig's List and the like overloaded with DJI products?

 

[Gary cato]

its crap i expected it to come with an UZI and all i got was a floppy gimbal that sometimes needs some viagra to get it straight again i swear everyone told me these things come fully terrorist ready with fitted UZI and underslung chemical warhead i am so disappointed

 

[rydfree]

Stop crashing your Mavics . They are made to fly not crash . Any crash that the Mavic survives and can fly again is a success story .

 

[tiparoch]

Enjoy. Riveting stuff:

Thanks!