No longer a virgin - Mini 2 in a tree

[wags1]

It only took a week but my new Mini 2 ended up in a tree last night. I was at a friends party taking some pics and doing some dronie videos of the group. It was a fairly tight yard with lots of trees, I thought I was being careful...LOL. First couple of dronies went fine but then I miss judged the distance to the tree behind the drone and it ended up perched on one of the upper branches. Luckily the tree trunk was thin and we were able to shake the drone loose and it dropped to the grass. Upon initial inspection I could see the the upper gimble fork mounts had come off. Rather than try any field repairs I just packed it up.

When I got home I gave it a closer look and not only had the upper gimble fork mounts come off (which I could have fixed) but the flat gimble cable was broken. Decided to take advantage of Care Refresh (sure glad I bought it). Took care of the online form this morning and selected Care Express. The online process was very easy and I received a shipping label in minutes. Packaged up the drone, slapped on the label, and dropped it off at the local UPS store. Hopefully I will receive my replacement in 8 days or so.

I knew it would only be a matter of time before I had my first crash. I was just hoping it would be later rather than sooner. I'll chalk it up to a learning experience.

 

[-MavicMiniPilot]

It only took a week but my new Mini 2 ended up in a tree last night. I was at a friends party taking some pics and doing some dronie videos of the group. It was a fairly tight yard with lots of trees, I thought I was being careful...LOL. First couple of dronies went fine but then I miss judged the distance to the tree behind the drone and it ended up perched on one of the upper branches. Luckily the tree trunk was thin and we were able to shake the drone loose and it dropped to the grass. Upon initial inspection I could see the the upper gimble fork mounts had come off. Rather than try any field repairs I just packed it up.

When I got home I gave it a closer look and not only had the upper gimble fork mounts come off (which I could have fixed) but the flat gimble cable was broken. Decided to take advantage of Care Refresh (sure glad I bought it). Took care of the online form this morning and selected Care Express. The online process was very easy and I received a shipping label in minutes. Packaged up the drone, slapped on the label, and dropped it off at the local UPS store. Hopefully I will receive my replacement in 8 days or so.

I knew it would only be a matter of time before I had my first crash. I was just hoping it would be later rather than sooner. I'll chalk it up to a learning experience.

I had done something similar with the mm1. I know how it feels.

 

[snowghost]

Altitude is your friend. That notwithstanding, if I'm anywhere lower than surrounding trees, I'm physically under the drone so I can judge the distance accurately.

 

[wags1]

Altitude is your friend. That notwithstanding, if I'm anywhere lower than surrounding trees, I'm physically under the drone so I can judge the distance accurately.

I hear you. In this case I was doing a “Dronie” so it was going up and directly away from my location. I found it obviously difficult to judge the distance between the drone and the tree directly behind it. Lesson learned for sure!

 

[retiredNH]

Been there, done that. My first drone crash, last year, put the drone in a tree about 50 feet off the ground. Amazingly, next door were two painters painting a church with a platform lift. They moved the lift to under the tree, raised it to near the drone, and shook a branch to dislodge it. It fell right onto the platform with no damage. Interestingly too, the drone video was recording the whole thing.

I upgraded to a Air 2s and managed, a few weeks ago, to crash the thing into a tree which sent it on a wild crash to the ground, breaking an arm off. Refresh to the rescue. Took 8 days total to from Texas to New Hampshire.

 

[wags1]

Just to close this out. I dropped off my Mini 2 at the UPS store on 7/23 and just received the replacement today 8/3 a total of 11 days. A bit longer than I expected but the return trip from TX via UPS took a bit longer than the trip to TX from PA and that was not within DJI's control. Not sure why. That said I did receive a new Mini 2 not a refurb.

 

[retiredNH]

Just to close this out. I dropped off my Mini 2 at the UPS store on 7/23 and just received the replacement today 8/3 a total of 11 days. A bit longer than I expected but the return trip from TX via UPS took a bit longer than the trip to TX from PA and that was not within DJI's control. Not sure why. That said I did receive a new Mini 2 not a refurb.

How can you tell it's new, not a refurb?

 

[frcaloy]

My first crash was caused by my flying too low. I misjudged the power lines.

 

[wags1]

How can you tell it's new, not a refurb?

You can tell by looking at the aircraft SN. Per the DJI website:

How can I identify a refurbished product?

Check the serial number. For all refurbished products, the fifth from last character will be "S"or "R".

 

[GadgetGuy]

You can tell by looking at the aircraft SN. Per the DJI website:

How can I identify a refurbished product?

Check the serial number. For all refurbished products, the fifth from last character will be "S"or "R".

Not necessarily. My DJI Refurbished Mavic 2 Pro purchased as such from DroneNerds.com contains no S or R anywhere in the serial number.