unbound drone??

[cabinfourus]

It would seem to me that DJI is trying to limit the second hand market with their binding program.
A drone bound to an account is useless.
Do they also do this with the controllers?

 

[mavic3usa]

It would seem to me that DJI is trying to limit the second hand market with their binding program.
A drone bound to an account is useless.
Do they also do this with the controllers?

The "binding program" is designed to ensure the integrity of the DJI Care Refresh process and in particular the Flyaway insurance aspect. While it may be a bit ill-conceived and has some unintended side effects, it certainly is not an attempt "to limit the second hand market."

There are better, more nefarious ways for DJI to make money or to get people to buy new DJI drones such as the drone checking to see when Care Refresh or warranty is expired and then breaking something in the drone. Or, installing a timer in the drone that will disable it and force you to send it back to DJI to pay them to reset it. Binding the controller and the drone using the DJI account that can quickly and easily be defeated by the owner logging out of the account properly is a super lame way of trying to adversely influence the second hand market; it won't work.

 

[Feek]

It would seem to me that DJI is trying to limit the second hand market with their binding program.
A drone bound to an account is useless.

I see it as they're protecting their products against theft. If it's well known that a drone bound to an account is effectively useless to a third party, then it should reduce theft.

Of course, this relies on the person who's buying a second hand drone checking to make sure it's unlinked from the original account before they buy it.

 

[mavic3usa]

I see it as they're protecting their products against theft. If it's well known that a drone bound to an account is effectively useless to a third party, then it should reduce theft.

Of course, this relies on the person who's buying a second hand drone checking to make sure it's unlinked from the original account before they buy it.

But it doesn't reduce theft. There's no way to know this binding is in effect until after you've stolen the drone at which time you either offload it to the next sucker or you trash it. A drone that could be locked down is no different than a drone that won't fly due to mechanical problems. No way for a thief to know the drone is bound before stealing the drone just like there is no way for them to know if the drone will even fly properly or the camera is working....they just steal it *anyway* because very few drones are bound. If all drones were bound, no exceptions...maybe this would be somewhat viable.

There is only one victim due to the process and it's you and I, the honest, law-abiding consumer. If you think your Mavic 3 Pro enjoys any sort of enhanced protection due to binding, leave it visible on your backseat at 5th and Main while you go to lunch downtown for an hour and let's see if theft is "reduced."

Personally I'm not one for taking satisfaction in knowing that a thief cannot profit much from something they took from me but I understand some may feel comfort and it might make the loss a little less painful. However, I can assure you DJI did not implement this with theft deterrence in mind and no other electronics have plans to copy and implement this "brilliant" solution.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I wish it were designed to discourage theft but, by restricting it to only insured drones DJI have, in my opinion, done us no favours.
I would love to be able to bind my drones to my DJI account and their controllers to the drones, such that the drone was grounded if not used with an App logged into to my account and if a thief attempted to use the controller with another drone.
I bet anyone who has had a drone stolen feels the same way.
I can't see that it would cost DJI anything or much to allow all FLY App using drones to be bound, I think it's simply some sort of software switch the needs to be 'thrown'.
In fact I'd like it extended to Go and Go4 drones too but that would presumably require fresh programming.


That said to answer @cabinfourus 's question

Do they also do this with the controllers?

They do sort of ....... it the drone had flyaway coverage or maybe just care refresh coverage and had been bound to its drone then, yes, it is my understanding that the controller will become useless after 5 flights.

And no I do not see this as a feature intended to kill the second hand market.
The original owner can undo the bindings and undo them remotely if needs be, it is only incompetant or uninformed original owners who would/will be penalised by this.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Do the binding restrictions persist after the DJI Care Refresh that initiated it has expired?

 

[mavic3usa]

Do the binding restrictions persist after the DJI Care Refresh that initiated it has expired?

DJI is not that smart. If they didn't automatically bind upon DJI Care Refresh start then it is unlikely they would automatically unbind after DJI Care Refresh end. Would be nice if all drones would automatically unbind after 2 years tho.

 

[GadgetGuy]

DJI is not that smart. If they didn't automatically bind upon DJI Care Refresh start then it is unlikely they would automatically unbind after DJI Care Refresh end. Would be nice if all drones would automatically unbind after 2 years tho.

Agreed!