Loved my mini, it lost control - now I am gun-shy

[Playa 55 beach pilot]

Hola from Mexico.

THE STORY
I was the owner of a Mavic mini for the past 8 months - 13 total flight hours..... I loved my mini up to the point where it decided to flip itself upside down just after takeoff (no stick input) and crash.
I lovingly cleaned every aspect of the drone and it flew again smoothly as usual.... until 1 week later it pulled the same stunt hovering about 10 feet above the ocean. This time I recorded...
I was able to retrieve it....

RETURN
DJI customer service advised to upload the flight data and the video for them and then they’d decide if it was pilot error or malfunction. With the later they would send me a new drone....
In the meantime my wife returned the unit to the local Costco who took it back and refunded the full amount.

GUN SHY
I wanted to purchase a new Mavic BUT after browsing through all sorts of forums, reviews and reports online I am seriously gun shy to drop that kind of money again only to find out later that these guys are susceptible to these failures and (in some cases) DJI refuses to honour their warranty agreements.

I have to mention that we live by the Gulf of Mexico and the salt content in the air is very high...

WHATS YOUR EXPERIENCES
now I joined this forum in the hopes of learning from all of you if you are willing to share your thoughts and experiences.

THANK YOU
Nicolas

 

[MA2 317]

Hello from the Crossroads of America Playa 55 beach pilot.

Since I'm far away from a salt water atmosphere, I can't comment on the flights of those aircraft.

I assume they fly fine and I don't recall reading anything about the air. The ocean spray from the surf may effect the electronics if it got wet.

I've flown the Spark since 2017 and the MA2 since 2020 and I have faith in the products.

Plenty of ocean pilots here so someone may pop in with advice.

Good luck and welcome to the Forum.

 

[StantonZ]

I think you wait and see what DJI says; I would assume if they choose to "replace" they would ask for the "return" of the (defective) drone for further analysis.
It's possible you simply had an (intermittently) defective unit, but only you can decide your risk tolerance.

 

[dirkclod]

I think you wait and see what DJI says; I would assume if they choose to "replace" they would ask for the "return" of the (defective) drone for further analysis.
It's possible you simply had an (intermittently) defective unit, but only you can decide your risk tolerance.

His wife has already returned it to Costco for a refund
Wecome to the forum @Playa 55 beach pilot ?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Post your logs here, some of the folks here are pretty darn good at reading them.

With regard to worries about a new drone etc., it is my own impression that DJI are generally fair when it comes to warranty issues. Of course people who have had their claim rejected probably 'make more noise' than people who have had good or better than fair treatment.

With regards to a new Mavic, which new Mavic are you thinking about?

 

[Steel63]

I live in Florida beach side I Owen 2 drones a p3s and my main drone is a ma2. I've been flying drones since 2015. Most of my flights are at or over the ocean no issues so far. but I can only speak for myself . ? good luck with your decision. Greetings from. ? Florida ?

 

[iReviewFrozenDinners]

Something that's worth mentioning is that Mavics are notoriously unpredictable that close to water due to the Visual Positioning System seeming to take priority over IMU altitude below a certain height. I don't usually fly my Mavics below 20ft above water for this reason, it just keeps happening.

 

[MS Coast]

Something that's worth mentioning is that Mavics are notoriously unpredictable that close to water due to the Visual Positioning System seeming to take priority over IMU altitude below a certain height. I don't usually fly my Mavics below 20ft above water for this reason, it just keeps happening.

I'm not disagreeing, just asking a quantitative question.

Are there really that many cases that are ultimately attributed to the drone misbehaving? While there are quite a few instances where the pilot posts a report of a drone fault causing a crash, it seems like in almost every case the real cause is pilot error or someone just pushing the limits beyond reason, resulting in a problem of another sort.

 

[b3hr057]

Hola from Mexico.

THE STORY
I was the owner of a Mavic mini for the past 8 months - 13 total flight hours..... I loved my mini up to the point where it decided to flip itself upside down just after takeoff (no stick input) and crash.
I lovingly cleaned every aspect of the drone and it flew again smoothly as usual.... until 1 week later it pulled the same stunt hovering about 10 feet above the ocean. This time I recorded...
I was able to retrieve it....

RETURN
DJI customer service advised to upload the flight data and the video for them and then they’d decide if it was pilot error or malfunction. With the later they would send me a new drone....
In the meantime my wife returned the unit to the local Costco who took it back and refunded the full amount.

GUN SHY
I wanted to purchase a new Mavic BUT after browsing through all sorts of forums, reviews and reports online I am seriously gun shy to drop that kind of money again only to find out later that these guys are susceptible to these failures and (in some cases) DJI refuses to honour their warranty agreements.

I have to mention that we live by the Gulf of Mexico and the salt content in the air is very high...

WHATS YOUR EXPERIENCES
now I joined this forum in the hopes of learning from all of you if you are willing to share your thoughts and experiences.

THANK YOU
Nicolas

I thought it would be better to buy direct from DJI.com instead of some seller on Amazon or wherever, but now I'm wishing I had the option of getting the Air 2S at Costco, because they are seriously amazing. But I haven't even flown yet so fingers crossed everything will go well.

 

[b3hr057]

Something that's worth mentioning is that Mavics are notoriously unpredictable that close to water due to the Visual Positioning System seeming to take priority over IMU altitude below a certain height. I don't usually fly my Mavics below 20ft above water for this reason, it just keeps happening.

dang I got mine specifically for sailing and rowing videos. Is this the Air 2S as well? Can the VPS be disabled?

 

[dozzn]

Hola from Mexico.

THE STORY
I was the owner of a Mavic mini for the past 8 months - 13 total flight hours..... I loved my mini up to the point where it decided to flip itself upside down just after takeoff (no stick input) and crash.
I lovingly cleaned every aspect of the drone and it flew again smoothly as usual.... until 1 week later it pulled the same stunt hovering about 10 feet above the ocean. This time I recorded...
I was able to retrieve it....

RETURN
DJI customer service advised to upload the flight data and the video for them and then they’d decide if it was pilot error or malfunction. With the later they would send me a new drone....
In the meantime my wife returned the unit to the local Costco who took it back and refunded the full amount.

GUN SHY
I wanted to purchase a new Mavic BUT after browsing through all sorts of forums, reviews and reports online I am seriously gun shy to drop that kind of money again only to find out later that these guys are susceptible to these failures and (in some cases) DJI refuses to honour their warranty agreements.

I have to mention that we live by the Gulf of Mexico and the salt content in the air is very high...

WHATS YOUR EXPERIENCES
now I joined this forum in the hopes of learning from all of you if you are willing to share your thoughts and experiences.

THANK YOU
Nicolas

I’m sure you are discouraged and disappointed but, I would recommend using the money you have from the Costco return and get you another drone (maybe even upgrade to a mini 2??) !

We learn as we go, but we have to keep going to keep learning. I hope you will get another drone. Keep us posted!
?

 

[Meta4]

Are there really that many cases that are ultimately attributed to the drone misbehaving?

No .. it's a common myth.

 

[Meta4]

Something that's worth mentioning is that Mavics are notoriously unpredictable that close to water due to the Visual Positioning System seeming to take priority over IMU altitude below a certain height. I don't usually fly my Mavics below 20ft above water for this reason, it just keeps happening.

What just keeps happening is the repetition of this myth or misunderstanding in forums.

 

[mrjohnc1]

Welcome from Ohio!

 

[iReviewFrozenDinners]

What just keeps happening is the repetition of this myth or misunderstanding in forums.

No, this seems to happen quite a bit. Look at 51 Drones' latest video from a couple days ago and note the VPS altitude vs IMU altitude in the flight logs right before it crashed into the water. It is definitely a big contributing factor into some Mavics taking a swim when flying just a few feet above water.
You're more than welcome to take one of yours and fly it at under 10ft above a body of water for a while to test this.

 

[Meta4]

No, this seems to happen quite a bit.

The constant repetition of this myth is what happens quite a bit.
People with very little understanding of how drones work hear others say it and they repeat it like you are doing.

Look at 51 Drones' latest video from a couple days ago and note the VPS altitude vs IMU altitude in the flight logs right before it crashed into the water. It is definitely a big contributing factor into some Mavics taking a swim when flying just a few feet above water.

Look at his video?
The one that he put out a week or so back, where he lost a drone and had no idea why?
I did look at it and it was pretty obvious that he had no idea about what caused the loss of his drone.
It was obvious that it was none the things he guessed at were responsible.
That video is just more junk misinformation.

When he finally provided his flight data, the cause of the incident was quite clearly that he had flown his drone into the lake.
No mystery, no confused sensors mysteriously taking the drone downwards.
It was him holding the left stick down hard when he was flying close to the water.

You can see my analysis of his data here:

Air 2S Crashed in the Lake. Why?

Curious if switching to maven at disconnect would work?

mavicpilots.com

I've been doing incident analysis for several years, I've heard all the myth and misinformation like you've taken in.
But I still haven't seen any flight data to support it.

You're more than welcome to take one of yours and fly it at under 10ft above a body of water for a while to test this.

I'm way ahead of you on that.
I've flown several thousand miles, almost all over water, some of it low down and understand what's involved.

 

[bnoel3414]

I’m new to dji drones but am experienced solo drone flyer. I have had my mini for about a week and have flown it twice in the time I have had it it seems to fly beautifully over water. Granted I have not had it as close to water but rather at about 25ft.

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum

 

[msinger]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Laborous]

Welcome to the forum from the beautiful woods of Maine!