Mini disaster's

[flybigR1]

I've been flying a platinum pro for two years and have had very little trouble , except for one crash and a trip to DJI care . So I figured it was time to buy the mavic mini . After convincing my wife that I needed it and it would make a perfect Christmas gift .I was all set to order it in early December but changed my mind after reading about all the trouble everybody is having ,flyaways , crashes, ect. I've put off buying my new mini for now , I think I'll just keep flying the MPP until I read about fewer mini disaster's or if DJI comes up with a fix .

 

[Camino Ken]

I have been flying my M2P for about a year with no problems as well and was thinking about getting a second drone like the mini. I think it is best to wait to buy a new product like this for at least 6 months to let early adopters and the company to find, and hopefully resolve, all of the bugs and quirks. It seems like the mini has had more than it‘s share of issues IMHO.

 

[Skywatcher2001]

flybigR1 me too . . .

Camino Ken me too . . .

I'll wait till late spring (then) maybe the rotor issues and IMU problems are worked out. Even though 90% of the disasters have been pilot error . . . there are some issues.

 

[old man mavic]

it has been a problem with new mavics since the original mark 1, and there are always issues with the app, and the drones firmware needing updates when they first come to the market,i for one can honestly put my hand on my heart, and swear that i have had none of the issues with my MM that others seem to be experiencing the only thing that i would like to see is on the app screen, it needs a black background for the flight info displayed across the top as it is very hard to see white writing over a light sky it works well in the go4 app screen and should be simple to fix in the fly app

 

[slup]

To be honest guys ... haven't seen so many real "FlyAways" for the Mini. The wast majority have been clear pilot errors not knowing better.

The thing with Mini is IMHO that it's suddenly within reach price wise for a very different customer group then the more expensive ones. This group consists to a large share of first timers that have swallowed DJI's marketing about the perfect nooby drone that is completely fail safe. So with this belief to start with & not having any previous experience any weather, any distance, any altitude any handling of the drone should be safeguarded by either DJI's engineers or SW department.

No wonder that Mini's are falling from the sky ...

 

[old man mavic]

some of the problem,with any sport or hobby that people access on the internet ,is when you watch all the wonderful videos of model planes ,helis ,and drones flying around,it looks so easy, because the people flying them have had years of experience and practice, and have probably written off many of their craft honing their skills,to get where they are today ,and it gives a false picture of what is involved ,i myself was guilty of falling for the hype several years ago when i first retired ,i had always fancied flying a model helicopter and purchased one with the twin counter rotating main blades it was great ,so easy to fly ,so i thought i would get one that had the same controls as a proper heli ie collective, throttle ,tail rotor ect ,as i thought it would be similar to the one i had already,how wrong i was,after rebuilding it many times because of all the crashes, i decided it was not for me ,it was a quite expensive lesson to learn but at least i now know how hard it is to fly them

 

[sar104]

To be honest guys ... haven't seen so many real "FlyAways" for the Mini. The wast majority have been clear pilot errors not knowing better.

The thing with Mini is IMHO that it's suddenly within reach price wise for a very different customer group then the more expensive ones. This group consists to a large share of first timers that have swallowed DJI's marketing about the perfect nooby drone that is completely fail safe. So with this belief to start with & not having any previous experience any weather, any distance, any altitude any handling of the drone should be safeguarded by either DJI's engineers or SW department.

No wonder that Mini's are falling from the sky ...

Considering how many Minis are reported to be selling there have not been that many unresolved issues. There have been numerous claims of flyaways, but almost all have been the result of inexperienced pilots flying in high winds - there have been plenty of those. I've seen three apparent IMU failures that might also have involved incorrectly initialized yaw values. A couple of disconnects for no apparent reason. It's probably well in line with the failure rate of previous models.

 

[flybigR1]

Thanks , it's good to hear some positive comments , compared to all the negative threads. Still got it on my wish list ,who knows maybe flying one sooner than later !

 

[Deleted member 93449]

There is a guy on YouTube that is a master car mechanic. The guy really knows his stuff and is very entertaining (goes by the name of Scotty). Anyway, in one episode he goes on a rant about never, ever buy a first model year vehicle. I feel pretty much the same way about buying a new model anything. Manufacturers are in such a rush to get a product to market that sometimes the hardware and/or software hasn't been tested in a wide varieties of operating configurations and environments. The first group of the general public to buy it become beta testers for the product.

That said it wouldn't surprise me that there would be a rash of issues with the Mini. Some will be user error while others will be clichés that weren't uncovered during product testing in the rush to get it to market, maybe even timed to coincide with the recent FAA ID announcement and the exemption for under 250g drones (just my pure speculation).

 

[RickinWaST]

Especially for new drone owners...

The temptation to quickly go outside and fly their drone is hard to resist. A few days spent in this forum can quickly educate the new drone owner.

 

[pross]

You have to remember .. "..reading about all the trouble everybody is having ,flyaways , crashes, ect..." you are reading them in a forum where people come when they have issues, like a doctors surgery being strangely full of sick people.
There are hardly ever posts here like "Took drone out, nothing happened" or "Yet again another successful flight"

 

[slup]

You have to remember .. "..reading about all the trouble everybody is having ,flyaways , crashes, ect..." you are reading them in a forum where people come when they have issues, like a doctors surgery being strangely full of sick people.
There are hardly ever posts here like "Took drone out, nothing happened" or "Yet again another successful flight"

But we have thread's like "Your Best Photos/Videos" ... quite problem free I would say. And not to mention all nice Christmas/Happy New Year greetings

 

[Johnmcl7]

There is a guy on YouTube that is a master car mechanic. The guy really knows his stuff and is very entertaining (goes by the name of Scotty). Anyway, in one episode he goes on a rant about never, ever buy a first model year vehicle. I feel pretty much the same way about buying a new model anything. Manufacturers are in such a rush to get a product to market that sometimes the hardware and/or software hasn't been tested in a wide varieties of operating configurations and environments. The first group of the general public to buy it become beta testers for the product.

That said it wouldn't surprise me that there would be a rash of issues with the Mini. Some will be user error while others will be clichés that weren't uncovered during product testing in the rush to get it to market, maybe even timed to coincide with the recent FAA ID announcement and the exemption for under 250g drones (just my pure speculation).

I think it's far too broad a generalisation due to different companies handling product launches differently, I have some first generation devices which have been great and better than the ones that came after (due to cost cutting or some other unwanted changes) while there's others I've avoided because they are poor on release. I assess each device on its own merit before deciding whether to purchase and have not had any issues with buying both the Mavic Pro and Mavic 2 Pro on launch pretty much as expected.

 

[brettbrandon]

I got my Mavic 2 Pro when it first came out and have had it replaced twice. The first one bricked and the second one had a defective camera and that was over half a year after they came out. The third one seems good but out of the three M2P's I got, two were bad. My M2P is my first and last DJI purchase.

 

[Deleted member 93449]

I think it's far too broad a generalisation due to different companies handling product launches differently, I have some first generation devices which have been great and better than the ones that came after (due to cost cutting or some other unwanted changes) while there's others I've avoided because they are poor on release. I assess each device on its own merit before deciding whether to purchase and have not had any issues with buying both the Mavic Pro and Mavic 2 Pro on launch pretty much as expected.

Whether "it's far too broad a generalization" if for each individual to decide but I've seen far to many first generation products suffer from issues, especially in the digital age where one wrong string in coding or issue with a component smaller than your fingernail can screw up the works.

BTW, how do you "assess each device on its own merit before deciding whether to purchase"?

I'm also not the type of person that needs to be the first to have the latest generation of anything so I never rush to be participate in field testing. Having been on various product forums for many years (depository for people having an issue with a product) and involved in failure analysis for 25 years (electronic components) I lean to the side of leaving first generation stuff for others to find the glitches.

 

[Tweeter]

Considering how many Minis are reported to be selling there have not been that many unresolved issues. There have been numerous claims of flyaways, but almost all have been the result of inexperienced pilots flying in high winds - there have been plenty of those. I've seen three apparent IMU failures that might also have involved incorrectly initialized yaw values. A couple of disconnects for no apparent reason. It's probably well in line with the failure rate of previous models.

so true

 

[Meta4]

so true

The post you are agreeing with was from the first week of January.
If you were to ask @sar104 now, his opinion will have changed.
See here and the following post: More Mavic Mini Uncommanded Descents

 

[sar104]

The post you are agreeing with was from the first week of January.
If you were to ask @sar104 now, his opinion will have changed.
See here and the following post: More Mavic Mini Uncommanded Descents

Agreed. Since then there have been numerous occurrences of uncommanded descent, apparently associated with the rear motors spooling up to maximum speed but still being unable to generate enough lift. While that seems like an issue with the props, it's still a significant problem.