Well I've had my Mavic for a month with over 30+ flights and not a single problem or even close call. Today I crashed it. I wasn't even recording at the time, rather doing a demo flight for a buddy who is big into RC planes and jets (yep the real jets) who was curious about it.
I decided to demo the obstacle cameras by hovering 4 feet off the ground and flying it towards my closed garage door. This worked perfectly and the drone did its job and stopped a few feet away from the door. I then yawed (turned) the drone around on itself to point AWAY from the door and let it continue to hover a few feet away from the door while I discussed the "awesomeness" of my Mavic. After 20-30 seconds I did what I always said you never do, you input a control movement without thinking it through first. I had forgotten I had rotated the drone around and THOUGHT it was still facing forward toward the door. I didn't even bother to glance down at the screen which would have obviously showed it was pointing AWAY from the door. Thinking I was facing the door I applied a strong rearward aft input and my beautiful flawless Mavic did just what I told it to do and flew directly into the garage door.
When it struck the door the Mavic instantly pitched up 90 degrees to the vertical and all 4 rotors were parallel to the door and spinning like mad along the door. The Mavic then essentially "slid" down the door, struck the solid concrete driveway, spun once or twice upside down and came to a stop. Ugh.
The propellors were all destroyed. Most had significant portions ripped away and the leading edges were eaten away by the concrete. The upper surface of the battery was covered by huge white scratches and the white scratches extended past the battery unto the rear of the Mavic itself. Two of the arms just below the motors had plastic scratches. The bottom of the Mavic was nearly perfect with just a hint of scratches (maybe 1-2 cm wide at most) in the metal surface in one tiny area. The all important camera had some nearly imperceptible scratches on the gimbal surface and near the lens BUT NOT on the lens itself. Ugh again.
I removed all the props and replaced them with new ones. I did a full IMU and gimbal calibration and a new compass calibration. The Mavic flew PERFECTLY! The camera appears to work PERFECTLY and the gimbal had full range of motion and was stable. I have NOT yet recorded video to inspect in 4K so hopefully it didn't affect focus or anything but I doubt it. When I brought the drone in I used a "Magic Eraser" (the home cleaning product) to rub at all the scratches on the plastic AND THEY ALL CAME OUT and now you can't see a single scratch on the upper surface of the Mavic or its battery at all. From a warzone look it looks new now. The tiny metal scratches on the bottom, the scuffs below 2 motors on 2 of the arms, and the microscopic scuffs in the gimbal remain but you have to know to look for them and it appears they don't affect the use of the Mavic. Talk about lucky, I watched my Mavic strike a solid wall and fall 4 feet onto solid rough concrete.
Learn from me. This drone is NEARLY uncrashable and will do everything to save you from yourself that it can. After 30+ flights and hours of flying in multiple countries I thought it couldn't ever crash it but inattention will bite you. Thanks DJI for making a great drone, I know I got lucky (but I have their insurance) but yep, I'll be trading up in 12-18 months when the Mavic 2 Pro comes out with the rear facing obstacle cameras. ;-)
I decided to demo the obstacle cameras by hovering 4 feet off the ground and flying it towards my closed garage door. This worked perfectly and the drone did its job and stopped a few feet away from the door. I then yawed (turned) the drone around on itself to point AWAY from the door and let it continue to hover a few feet away from the door while I discussed the "awesomeness" of my Mavic. After 20-30 seconds I did what I always said you never do, you input a control movement without thinking it through first. I had forgotten I had rotated the drone around and THOUGHT it was still facing forward toward the door. I didn't even bother to glance down at the screen which would have obviously showed it was pointing AWAY from the door. Thinking I was facing the door I applied a strong rearward aft input and my beautiful flawless Mavic did just what I told it to do and flew directly into the garage door.
When it struck the door the Mavic instantly pitched up 90 degrees to the vertical and all 4 rotors were parallel to the door and spinning like mad along the door. The Mavic then essentially "slid" down the door, struck the solid concrete driveway, spun once or twice upside down and came to a stop. Ugh.
The propellors were all destroyed. Most had significant portions ripped away and the leading edges were eaten away by the concrete. The upper surface of the battery was covered by huge white scratches and the white scratches extended past the battery unto the rear of the Mavic itself. Two of the arms just below the motors had plastic scratches. The bottom of the Mavic was nearly perfect with just a hint of scratches (maybe 1-2 cm wide at most) in the metal surface in one tiny area. The all important camera had some nearly imperceptible scratches on the gimbal surface and near the lens BUT NOT on the lens itself. Ugh again.
I removed all the props and replaced them with new ones. I did a full IMU and gimbal calibration and a new compass calibration. The Mavic flew PERFECTLY! The camera appears to work PERFECTLY and the gimbal had full range of motion and was stable. I have NOT yet recorded video to inspect in 4K so hopefully it didn't affect focus or anything but I doubt it. When I brought the drone in I used a "Magic Eraser" (the home cleaning product) to rub at all the scratches on the plastic AND THEY ALL CAME OUT and now you can't see a single scratch on the upper surface of the Mavic or its battery at all. From a warzone look it looks new now. The tiny metal scratches on the bottom, the scuffs below 2 motors on 2 of the arms, and the microscopic scuffs in the gimbal remain but you have to know to look for them and it appears they don't affect the use of the Mavic. Talk about lucky, I watched my Mavic strike a solid wall and fall 4 feet onto solid rough concrete.
Learn from me. This drone is NEARLY uncrashable and will do everything to save you from yourself that it can. After 30+ flights and hours of flying in multiple countries I thought it couldn't ever crash it but inattention will bite you. Thanks DJI for making a great drone, I know I got lucky (but I have their insurance) but yep, I'll be trading up in 12-18 months when the Mavic 2 Pro comes out with the rear facing obstacle cameras. ;-)
I could just imagine as your heart sunk when your fingers told it to respond and it did correctly... So was your buddy still impressed with the Mavic? At least it held up nicely!
This sounds like something I might do.
