Which to buy conundrum...

[Maniac_au]

Hi, all as per my introduction am looking to get a Mavic..
Conundrum part..
Buy new local MPP about AU$1370 or Fly More AU$1699 through a registered dealer.

Buy a MP or MA refurb AU$900 through same dealer.

Buy privately 2nd hand not much less than, local deals new.

Last option risky, a MP crashed with 1 battery & spares as well as an MPP crashed but no repairs attempted as yet. Still under discussion is whether 1 or 2 controllers trying to get the person who crashed it to bring 1 in still, a car charger to charge the battery obviously. With some parts to fix the MPP as well. Frames seem pretty cheap even complete motor arms not too expensive. Risk factor both unrepairable, advantage factor fix both, possibly, for little more than a new unit. Can’t imagine that they can’t be repaired? Anyone repairing them had any that didn’t work assuming “no water damage”.
Anyone had to transplant into a completely new frame? Reason for the Sale is Christmas rush. Seller better served dealing with new sales rather than spending time on repairing hence 2 for the price of 1 AU$1000.
My background used to work in a large Radar Company many years ago in electronic area, have repaired consoles & computer motherboards a long time ago using pretty basic equipment compared to nowadays, have built a few heli’s before as well as a couple of small quads, I’m pretty proficient with a Soldering Iron.

Problem nowadays is the eyesight for fine soldering. How fine are these things inside?

Sorry for the big post but would love to hear people’s thoughts.

Bill

 

[Nosebump]

You can purchase a new Mavic Pro from Amazon for $699. It'll come complete with warranty, and no shady history. Everything'll be brand new. Why purchase used, much less used and damaged? How many hours are on the motors? Were the batteries damaged too? How many charge cycles have they had? How about the delicate camera gimbal? -Soldering?? Circuit boards are now multi-layered where you can't fix, but must replace. Do you have the schematics?

 

[Maniac_au]

Hi, thanks for the reply Nosebump.

Amazon sounds a good proposition if in the US, however from Australia harder due to new tax laws.

Apparently Amazon USA will no longer ship to Australia, even if they do will get hit with GST. Along with exchange rates works out not much less than local.

Also if it went faulty in Warranty would have to arrange return to the States to access DJI cover, along with somewhere to be collected from & returned to, then forwarded back to me in Australia.

Apparently we get redirected to Amazon Australia with significant price differences for the same product.

Not sure if you noticed i’m In Australia.

Ended up buying 3 needing repairs for the same price as a fly more combo in Australia.

 

[Maniac_au]

Update already fixed the fly more combo unit with spares supplied with other units, hardest part was pushing the gimbal rubbers in place. Want’s to do a firmware update as appears to be below 700.
It appears flyable but still got a dent in middle frame @ back where the clear part should sit

 

[Maniac_au]

Hi, all, also checked all 4 batteries I ended up with & confirmed with the seller of the last unit bought, some either 0,1, or 2 battery cycles before he actually crashed it.

The MPP I got has been stripped out of the unusable frame that was damaged too much. Have installed a Micro SD card, as not sure what firmware is currently on it, as the negative main connection had already been cut out. All solder points cleaned up for rebuilding. No apparent water damage so hasn’t been wet, Need to save up for a complete replacement, Will probably buy everything replacing all current arms, & frame.

The 1st MP that I got with the MPP has issues with the gimbal & shuts down, pretty quickly, have 3 camera gimbles , + 2 dummies only good for cosmetic parts, but only 1 set of gimble cables lvds & flexi pcb cable, all cameras crack open easily now, so happy replacing lvds cable, the flexi cable is a pain though to route correctly, arms appears to have been rebuilt by extending some dummy motor wires that are real motors but have the wires cut very short, but all appear to be happy connected to esc. Have to buy a few of the flexi pcb’s and lvds cables to fix the gimbles, possibly some rubber mounts. Have 2 remotes 4 new batteries, a fly more pack, an extra non oem fast charger, a dummy remote for spare parts, as well as a box full of screws & other pieces I’m happy Wife not so happy.....