So I have had my Mavic for about 6 weeks and I love it!  It is so much fun and I have taken some great videos.  But every time I fly, especially in the mountains, I get a little anxious.  Here are my 4 major concerns I have when flying.  Tell me if my concerns are valid or should I just get over it?

1. Mechanical or electrical malfunction - If my drone goes down, will I be able to recover it?  I don't want to loose my $1,000 toy/tool!
2. Birds - At times, I have had birds fly very close to my drone and it scares me.  One time, a night hawk flew so close it caused the drone to brake.  I have a link of the video below.
3. Wind - I have seen videos of wind carrying off drones.  Especially in the mountains, it could be calm where I'm at but very windy 200 or 300 feet up.
4. Wearing it out.  I already have almost a million feet (280,000 meters) and I'm afraid that if I keep flying as often as I currently am, it's only going to last me 6 months.

So... am I off base or do others have these same concerns?

Thanks for listening!

Nighthawk:
Timpanogos:
Mountains and Moose:

As to point 1:
If your bird goes down in water, depends on how deep it is. Flying over water, turn off the sensors.
Flying in the mountains, watch the RTH height, and pay real close attention to winds/trees/bushes. A difference of 100 feet altitude can be a whole different weather envelope. As in wind velocity.
Mountains/valleys, saddles etc. are notorious for wind variances, you start getting wind warnings, bring it back. How hard do you really want to hike up that mountain? See point #3 below.

Point 2,
Yes, you gotta watch the birds, especially seagulls. They can be very aggresive. Some folks have taken to putting "eyes" stickers on the Mavic, and they seem to state that it does make a difference. Little barnyard swallows can be a little territorial/unnerving as to their "false charges"....

Point 3,
Yes, you have to be careful, mindful of the terrain, and the winds. Spend a few minutes before you even pull your gear out, and just sit and listen/watch the trees, You can uses a pair of binoculars to check out the wind where you intend to fly, noting the trees/bushes and see the effect of the wind velocity.

Point 4,
Fly the darned thing! More than likely, you will outlive the usefull life of the battery(ies). The motors are brushless, so no issues there. If you tend to fly in dusty conditions, you "might" have to pay attention to the motor bearings, if they get contaminated with the dust/grit. Not hard to replace, but I have yet to hear of them needing/being replaced.

I'll throw in my 2 cents here (1.1 cents after taxes)

1. This is a natural fear and one you probably will get comfortable with over time. If your drone crashes, you still have connection with your RC and you have GPS, you'll have a "last know position" to start from for recovery. Be wary of flying over large bodies of water. If the drone plops in the sea, you're probably done. But most of what you see here reported as "crashes" are pilot errors. Pilots not performing a preflght check, flying beyond their capabilities or just not using their brains.

2. I fly in the country and every time I take off, I'm accompanied by a squadron of martins. I can't figure out whether they're angry or think I'm one of them. They come close to the drone but they've never attacked it. That said, I've seen drone footage of hawks/eagles attacking drones. Not so much for prey, but because the pilot was flying close to their nesting site. So yes, it's possible.

3. The Mavic is pretty good in the wind, but it has it limits. I've flown in high winds where I could barely make headway coming back into the wind. There's a lot of wind apps that will tell you what the wind is at ground level as well as altitude. I use UAV Forecast as it gives me a lot of data that is specifically targeted to drone pilots.

4. I would not worry so much about wearing the drone out. If you are clocking that many meters in 6 months, you obviously enjoy your drone. If you take care of the drone (do proper preflights, check for damage and don't fly when you shouldn't), it'll last a long time. But it's like owning a car. Your expense doesn't stop when you buy it, it continues over time as you maintain it.

My advice? Have fun with your Mavic and don't let your concerns overpower what you bought it for.

Nice videos by the way. Thanks for sharing.

No advise here. I liked the moose video

I too liked the moose vid.... as did my gf    I do get concerned about being far away from my Quad but getting that charge is also kinda fun too.

1.  Just use common sense and you'll be fine.  Keep away from hazards, maybe avoid bodies of water, and take off from a location comfortably away from any obstructions.  These drones are very well engineered, and many crashes are a result of pilot error.

2.  If a bird is messing with your drone, invest in a 12 gauge (kidding, of course).  The best evasive maneuver is to slam the left stick up and climb as fast as you can.  Birds simply can't match the rate of climb of these drones.  They can dive down and swerve sideways, but it takes them a while to gain elevation, at which point you can have your drone well on its way back.

3.  Follow the manufacturer's windspeed recommendations.  Watch the weather forecast, and if you start getting high wind warnings, exercise caution.  In a worst case scenario, you can put the Mavic in sport mode   to help it fight through a strong headwind.

4.  Don't know anything about that, but if you wear out your drone you'll probably have flown a whole lot more than most people here.

If there is any unexpected things happen, please contact us and provide the data needed, we will make a data analysis if it is under warranty period, if it is malfunction, we will take care of your case and you will not be charged.
I think it would be better if users would avoid animals when flying, besides, please note that when VPS activated, it might also scare the animals.
For the wind, do not fly the drone when the wind speed exceeds 10m/s.
For the last point, the app will remind you when there is an error, so if you have any questions, please report to us. We will offer a help.

Thanks for your feedback everyone.  It is really helpful!

As luck would have it, after nearly 1,000,000 feet flown without a single incident or crash, my son and I went out to fly today and had the scariest experience so far with my Mavic.  I turned everything on, waited for GPS signal, started the motors and went up to about 15 feet.  I was just about to hand the controller to my son when the Mavic started going crazy.  Although the controller did not say it was disconnected, it was.  I had no control over it and it finally backed up so it was just over a portion of our roof and just started hovering.  It would not respond to any of my inputs.  It was just a little windy and it was starting to drift a bit.  I was frantically trying to figure out what to do when my son took off as fast as he could to the garage and grabbed our ladder.  A few seconds later, he was on the roof reaching for our Mavic.  He was able to grab it and it started fighting back trying to get away.  "Don't let it go!" I yelled.  A few seconds later it gave up and shut down.  It was a very unnerving experience.

We then went inside and spent the next hour applying all the updates and then took it out again.  I checked everything out and it seemed fine.  I then let my son fly for a little bit and then all of the sudden, the connection was dropped again.  And it was only about 75 feet away and 50 feet up.  I quickly tried to figure out what was going on when it started to head back home.  It came back to right where it took off and regained connection as it started to descend.  I took control of it, landed and called it a day.

I don't know if something is going wrong with my Mavic or if these incidences were just a fluke.  Before today, I had a very high level of confidence in my Mavic.  But my number 1 fear that I mentioned in my first post is becoming a reality.  My plan however, is to get back out as soon as the weather permits and do what I can to regain that confidence... I hope!