What to check after buying new Mavic

[genius_loci]

Hey guys,

I am currently living in Nepal and a friend of mine back in Germany is buying a new Mavic for me.

Are there any common issues to watch out for after buying a new one?

I would like him to check the Mavic before he is bringing it since there is no way I could reclaim any factory issues here in Nepal.

What would a general check up look like?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Top Hat]

Visual inspections, make sure that all parts are there.....then......
He need to be familiar w/ this drone otherwise it will be hard for him to judge if it's a keeper.
Plus you need to register before you can do your cal and initial flight and assessment.

 

[Former Member]

Hey guys,

I am currently living in Nepal and a friend of mine back in Germany is buying a new Mavic for me.

Are there any common issues to watch out for after buying a new one?

I would like him to check the Mavic before he is bringing it since there is no way I could reclaim any factory issues here in Nepal.

What would a general check up look like?

Thanks a lot!

How long are you going to be in Nepal for? That could determine whether you should register it in Germany or in Nepal and will affect where you will need to send it for any warranty or Refresh issues. If you are not staying in Nepal for long, you should register it in Germany, and you would send it to Holland for warranty or Refresh repair issues. If you are staying in Nepal forever, you might be better off registering it in Nepal and then you would send it to China for warranty or Refresh repair issues. You can also register it in Germany and then choose China for Refresh repair.

Is your friend a drone pilot? If you decide to register it in Germany, maybe you know someone in your home town that can fly it for you before your friend brings it. As @Top Hat mentioned, the drone will need to be registered before it can be flown.

 

[Former Member]

Further, if you register it in Nepal and have a warranty claim, you will need to send it to Hong Kong and pay the shipping costs. Same goes for Refresh, you will have to pay for the shipping costs to and from Hong Kong. If you registered it in Germany, then warranty and Refresh shipping is free to Holland.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

Do you mean picking it up for you, or actually buying you one? If it’s the latter then you have a good friend indeed.

If he knows how to fly and how the Mavic systems work, he could set it up, make sure the firmware up to date, hover a few seconds on the batteries to look for errors. In a big open area! If it passes a few simple hover tests, then odds are you are good to go and shouldn’t need any services.

That is if you trust him not to take off and have some fun with it lol!

 

[genius_loci]

Ah, that's really valuable info! I will stay in Nepal until April so I think it would be smarter to register it in Germany and in case of a defect, I would take it back to Germany and then send it in. My friend is not a drone pilot but is pretty geeky in terms of technical stuff so I am sure that he would be able to fly it safely although he has no experience yet. What are the (subjective) odds of having a malfunction in the first place? I am pretty stoked of getting the drone here, will also fly it for scientific purposes (forest plantation mapping with pix4d). From what I read, a malfunction of the gimbal would be most likely? Thank you so much for the info/help!

 

[genius_loci]

Do you mean picking it up for you, or actually buying you one? If it’s the latter then you have a good friend indeed.

If he knows how to fly and how the Mavic systems work, he could set it up, make sure the firmware up to date, hover a few seconds on the batteries to look for errors. In a big open area! If it passes a few simple hover tests, then odds are you are good to go and shouldn’t need any services.

That is if you trust him not to take off and have some fun with it lol!

He is buying it with my money, makes him a semi-good-friend I guess I think this is a good idea and I will ask him to do that. I think he will be pretty happy with the opportunity

 

[Former Member]

What are the (subjective) odds of having a malfunction in the first place?

Probably 0.1% chance.

Here are some polls for you:

Poll: Has your Mavic fallen from the sky for unknown reasons?

and this one:

Poll: Are you happy with your Mavic?

Poll: Your flight today, good, bad or crash?

I have bought, sold and repaired close to 800 DJI drones, and I think I had 2 that had problems right out of the box that made me return them.

 

[Youser]

Doesn't matter where you register the drone. The warranty is determined by the country its bought in.

Bought mine from China. Registered in the UK. For warranty I'll have to ship to China.

DJI just ask for your serial number and then they can determine what region the drone is from.

Get your mate go fly a few flights. That mid-flight gimbal reset problem happens straight out of the box on some.

 

[Former Member]

Doesn't matter where you register the drone. The warranty is determined by the country its bought in.

Bought mine from China. Registered in the UK. For warranty I'll have to ship to China.

DJI just ask for your serial number and then they can determine what region the drone is from.

Get your mate go fly a few flights. That mid-flight gimbal reset problem happens straight out of the box on some.

Yes warranty is based on purchase location but Refresh is not.

 

[SunnyD]

I wouldn’t have him fly it. An inexperienced pilot crash could hurt a friendship more than repair and shipping costs.

 

[Bergumbira]

Hey guys,

I am currently living in Nepal and a friend of mine back in Germany is buying a new Mavic for me.

Are there any common issues to watch out for after buying a new one?

I would like him to check the Mavic before he is bringing it since there is no way I could reclaim any factory issues here in Nepal.

What would a general check up look like?

Thanks a lot!

Imho just ask him to don't touch anything and surely not to open the box. Your friend + you make 2 newbies who can create potential damage. One (you) is enough.
Trust that dji have inspection service at packaging area. At the best your friend will see nothing, at the worst he will damage it like by touching the gimbal...
My 2 cents

 

[genius_loci]

Imho just ask him to don't touch anything and surely not to open the box. Your friend + you make 2 newbies who can create potential damage. One (you) is enough.
Trust that dji have inspection service at packaging area. At the best your friend will see nothing, at the worst he will damage it like by touching the gimbal...
My 2 cents

Thanks for your opinion! I am flying drones since several years and I am writing my thesis about drone use in forestry which is why I would like to experiment with the Mavic for mapping purposes in remote areas in Nepal. I totally trust my friend with doing it, it is not rocket science