I purchased a Mavic Pro from the DJI online store directly, and received it on Dec 27, 2017 in anticipation of a trip I'm going on for Jan 5.  On Dec 28, I updated all the firmware and tried to do an initial indoor test flight to make sure that it simply hovers.  Upon initiating take off, the drone immediately veered off to the right with no controller stick input and crashed into the wall.  I then noticed and replaced a damaged propeller (probably caused by the previous attempt), then tried the same thing outside.  After initiating take off, it hovered for a second and then started spinning out of control.  I tried this one more time.
I've contacted DJI Support via chat and phone, and they have both said that the best they can do is to examine the unit and repair if necessary.  This is of no use to me, as I will be without a working drone while I'm on my trip, which was the reason for which I purchased the drone in the first place.  I want a refund so that I can go to a retail store and repurchase a working one.  As of this moment, I sent the flight logs to the DJI Support person last Friday (Dec 30), and have yet to have an update on what their initial assessment is.  I'd like another set of eyes on this as I'm considering filing a dispute with my credit card issuer, and they want a 3rd party expert to provide a letter to support my case.


Can someone take a look at the flight logs included and help determine whether this was a defect out of the box?  I've owned a Spark in the past and have had no such problems.  This is incredibly frustrating as I bought the drone for a trip, and now I'm stuck with a damaged one 2 days before I'm about to leave.

If it did what it did as you said out of the box. I am sure that you have grounds to dispute payment with your credit card company. To protect yourself and save you time, you should use your credit card company to deal with DJI. Consumers do not have the power and resources to resolve a simple faulty product issued without hundreds of email/telephone requests with DJI. Take it as a lesson, buy any DJI products from your local store because you can always check them and return if there is a problem. The problem for online purchase is that it needs to base on trust. It really does not work if trust is broken by supplying faulty or unreliable products.

Sorry to disappoint but I've looked into this before and even if DJI authorise a refund it can take 14 days to return the money and they won't even start the process until they complete diagnostic checks after receiving the drone. In reality getting your money back will take over a month, if you're lucky as refunds need to be escalated to higher levels. You'll get a brand new replacement quicker but that will take 2-4 weeks in my experience. The fact that you've admitted to crashing the drone may also prevent a refund now too.

DTK Posted at 2018-1-3 13:21
If it did what it did as you said out of the box. I am sure that you have grounds to dispute payment with your credit card company. To protect yourself and save you time, you should use your credit card company to deal with DJI. Consumers do not have the power and resources to resolve a simple faulty product issued without hundreds of email/telephone requests with DJI. Take it as a lesson, buy any DJI products from your local store because you can always check them and return if there is a problem. The problem for online purchase is that it needs to base on trust. It really does not work if trust is broken by supplying faulty or unreliable products.

Totally agree - I purchased a P4P from the on line store last Nov '16 - broken IMU out of the box - didn't even get to fly it. Took 35 emails, 7 phone calls and 4 weeks - I eventually got a brand new replacement that was perfect but never flew a drone in Dec last year because of it but they did come through in the hand and kept me updated.
I bought an Alpine White Mavic from Apple London in Nov '17 - it overheated and the drone shut down whilst I was updating the app... Took it back to Apple the same day and received a full refund on the spot. Now I own the Platinum (bought from Jessops London) and that has been perfect from day 1.
I don't buy ANYTHING worth more than £100 on line now - from anywhere.

I guess it is just an instinct reflex for some people to open the box, update and then fly indoors. I would say the crash into the indoors wall probably did that drone in so when it finally got outdoors it wasn't going to fly correctly. The drone won't hover in one spot "usually" without GPS and indoors there is no GPS for it to lock onto so it kissed the wall.
Good luck with your refund and sorry to hear you will miss your Jan 5th appt

rolling56 Posted at 2018-1-3 13:31
I guess it is just an instinct reflex for some people to open the box, update and then fly indoors. I would say the crash into the indoors wall probably did that drone in so when it finally got outdoors it wasn't going to fly correctly.
Good luck with your refund and sorry to hear you will miss your Jan 5th appt

Yep - flying indoors is a big mistake especially for those who have never flown before. Weak to no GPS, heavy interference, low light making VPS ineffective and into ATTI mode it goes. ATTI mode loves walls...

The thing is, I did nothing during the indoor flight except launch it.  At the very least it should have simply hovered, and not veer off with no user input.

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 13:37
The thing is, I did nothing during the indoor flight except launch it.  At the very least it should have simply hovered, and not veer off with no user input.

No not really. You are not the first to do/think this and won't be the last.

I did this on the top floor of my house, where I have a skylight and plenty of windows.  If you look at the flight log I had a lock on 13 satellites.

I have also flown my Spark indoors for the initial test and encountered none of these problems.

Mavic is not a Spark.

I've replayed the initial flight on my DJI Go 4 app, and at no point did it go into ATTI mode.  It was always in GPS mode.

Did you calibrate the compass?

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 14:18
I've replayed the initial flight on my DJI Go 4 app, and at no point did it go into ATTI mode.  It was always in GPS mode.

Our discussions here do give you more thinking to prove your grounds of asking CC company for a dispute. It is all good thing.

I attempted to calibrate the compass after the initial indoor crash, and it refused to recognize anything when I was turning the drone. I then consulted some online videos on how to calibrate, went outside and tried again, with the same results. There were no errors in the app regarding the compass, but it refused to calibrate.

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 13:37
The thing is, I did nothing during the indoor flight except launch it.  At the very least it should have simply hovered, and not veer off with no user input.

I'm learning (the hard way) that the Mavic is not the fun grown-up toy I thought it was going to be. In fact, it might be a much more sophisticated tool than I was ready for. I think that's why I keep getting into trouble. It's the difference between riding a 2.5 hp go-kart at the local carnival and a 460 hp Mustang GT at Laguna Seca. You can get into a lot more expensive trouble with the GT.

You can fly a cheap Parrot in your house and it hovers just fine (for 9 minutes) mostly. But the Mavic is a different animal with enough sophistication to make some of those things I took for granted with a styrofoam drone a real issue when flying the Mavic. This is what I kept missing when I would hear the OTs wax eloquently about GPS's, compasses, IMUs, dinged props, vision systems, water hazards  and all sorts of things. I just wanted to fly and I thought sophistication and money would make that a lot easier. It doesn't. It makes it a lot more functional but gives you a lot more responsibility for its control.

I want to say that DJI should make the Mavic idiot proof (an iMavic?). For all that money it shouldn't glitch out and dive into the lake in some sort of narcissistic suicidal maneuver. But I'm learning that's not what the Mavic is about. It's not meant to be simple to fly. I think it's meant to be powerful and sophisticated. And with that come responsibility. And that is where I keep getting into trouble. But I am not giving up.

Man... I'm not going to reread what I just wrote. Too much typing to delete it before sending.

Kev

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 13:42
I have also flown my Spark indoors for the initial test and encountered none of these problems.

Totally different animals.

I also had the Spark which yeah did fly/hover indoors without a problem (even with no gps lock). The MP on the other hand, will 100% not do that as you found out.

My first got the MP I too tried to hover it but because there wasn't any GPS connection, it swayed all over the place in atti-mode. Thank goodness I quickly grab it from the bottom and at the same time deactivated power via RC. It was literally inches from crashing into the wall.

The MP needs to be unleashed outdoors where it belongs definitely not indoors unless you live in a mansion.

I'm sorry about the damage to your Mavic. I tried to do the same thing and was fortunate not to cause a problem with the MP or more importantly injury to anyone in the room! The first flight has got to be outdoors with lots of space with benefit of a  good GPS signal. I have not  flown indoors since as I have not had the need or inclination following my close call. The Mavic is a capable piece of  technology that demands respect and a level of pilot understanding in order to deliver an exceptional experience. I wish you the best of uck.

Kevin_d Posted at 2018-1-3 15:02
I'm learning (the hard way) that the Mavic is not the fun grown-up toy I thought it was going to be. In fact, it might be a much more sophisticated tool than I was ready for. I think that's why I keep getting into trouble. It's the difference between riding a 2.5 hp go-kart at the local carnival and a 460 hp Mustang GT at Laguna Seca. You can get into a lot more expensive trouble with the GT.

You can fly a cheap Parrot in your house and it hovers just fine (for 9 minutes) mostly. But the Mavic is a different animal with enough sophistication to make some of those things I took for granted with a styrofoam drone a real issue when flying the Mavic. This is what I kept missing when I would hear the OTs wax eloquently about GPS's, compasses, IMUs, dinged props, vision systems, water hazards  and all sorts of things. I just wanted to fly and I thought sophistication and money would make that a lot easier. It doesn't. It makes it a lot more functional but gives you a lot more responsibility for its control.

What's the saying - "with much power comes much responsibility"?  As a graduate from Parrot Bebop 2 to Mavic Pro, a very different beast indeed! Ironically the Parrot seems to built to take a bit of punishment, whereas for the Mavic, failure is an expensive option! On the upside Mavic seems to be a much more solid platform however critical that aspiring pilots are across all the fine detail before, say, doing an indoor uncalibrated hover test ...

I understand that I should not have flown this thing indoors, but there was no indication on the app that anything was wrong.  All indicators were green, and there was a solid GPS lock from the app's standpoint.  What I'm trying to determine here is whether I can glean anything from the flight logs to bolster my case.  If not, then so be it and I will have learned an expensive lesson.

It will end up being option B I’m afraid.  I also attempted an indoor flight.  It did not goes as expected.  Just not an indoor bird

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 15:48
I understand that I should not have flown this thing indoors, but there was no indication on the app that anything was wrong.  All indicators were green, and there was a solid GPS lock from the app's standpoint.  What I'm trying to determine here is whether I can glean anything from the flight logs to bolster my case.  If not, then so be it and I will have learned an expensive lesson.

I fly my MPP and MP indoors all the time , without any issues, for me the tip is too have a super bright area (all lights and blinds open) and also a pattern on the floor for the vps.

Hovering without GPS is taken care by the barometer and vps takes care of positioning if there is enough light and pattern

I suspect your issues are from compass interference, the issue around not being able to calibrated the compass is a big concern.

Before taking off, as part of preflight, I always check the detailed sensors page for the degree of interference to the imu and compass, I don't rely on the summary page

I checked the sensors page before and after the initial flight, and there were no issues with either the IMU or the compass.  I saw very low interference from both compasses (the green bars were barely there).  I agree that not being able to calibrate the compass is a concern, but there was no indication from the app that the compass was an issue before or after the flight.  Does the compass affect the ability to hover even in P-GPS mode?

I want to repeat that I was not in ATTI mode (I had 13 GPS locks), so the barometer nor VPS should have been a factor.  However, I did do this on the top floor with a skylight, so there was plenty of light, and my floors are hardwood with lots of grain so even if it did go into ATTI mode it should also not have been an issue.

Here is proof that I was in GPS mode.

Hi, I am so sorry for the mishap that happened, that must be really frustrating. Please provide me with your ticket number, I would like to check the details of it and see if there is anything I can help. Besides, if there is a need to get a refund, you might also need to send the drone back first and diagnose, if the product has a manufacturing defect and it is within seven (7) calendar days of receiving a product, you can request a refund service. Sorry again for your difficulties.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-1-3 20:38
Hi, I am so sorry for the mishap that happened, that must be really frustrating. Please provide me with your ticket number, I would like to check the details of it and see if there is anything I can help. Besides, if there is a need to get a refund, you might also need to send the drone back first and diagnose, if the product has a manufacturing defect and it is within seven (7) calendar days of receiving a product, you can request a refund service. Sorry again for your difficulties.[view_image]

Hi Thor, the case number is 915050.  I sent the logs on the 29th and I’ve been waiting for someone to examine the flight logs for 6 days now.  I would appreciate if you could expedite the process as I’d like to know if I’m eligible for a refund so that I have enough funds to buy a replacement before I go on my trip on the 5th.  

Thanks in advance for your help.

Gonna vouch to never fly an MP indoors as well. My first flight was an indoor test and I found out that the drone will drift a lot and even when hovering, the amount of force it's putting out will cause it drift around more if there are objects near it. I thankfully saved the drone from ramming into the wall and ceiling by grabbing it until I could throttle off the motors (and almost losing 5 fingers in the process). Just do it on an open field with no trees, objects, or other humans around.

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 20:53
Hi Thor, the case number is 915050.  I sent the logs on the 29th and I’ve been waiting for someone to examine the flight logs for 6 days now.  I would appreciate if you could expedite the process as I’d like to know if I’m eligible for a refund so that I have enough funds to buy a replacement before I go on my trip on the 5th.  

Thanks in advance for your help.

Noted with thanks. I had informed the proper team to follow your case and reply you asap. And could you please provide me with your phone number? Thank you so much, and hope things will be sorted out soon.

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-3 13:37
The thing is, I did nothing during the indoor flight except launch it.  At the very least it should have simply hovered, and not veer off with no user input.

You are wrong. This is exactly what to except. Indoor no GPS and if not enough light indoor (sunlight) it will go all over the place and not hoover. This is what to except from a quad-copter.

It seems you are new to all this and saw videos on how stable it is and bought one that way, but never flew any quad with "atti" mode. I bought a small indoor quad to learn to fly when things go wrong like that.

My guess? Something got damaged due to indoor crash. Perhaps a motor isnt working 100% and caused the spinning.  In the end, the product was probably fine. This is 100% user error? If it was outdoor, first flight, then might be a defect, but not anymore in this case.

A CW Posted at 2018-1-3 13:35
Yep - flying indoors is a big mistake especially for those who have never flown before. Weak to no GPS, heavy interference, low light making VPS ineffective and into ATTI mode it goes. ATTI mode loves walls...

Yeah, the "indoor test flight" statement was the first thing that caught my attention.

Wanted to edit my previous post, but couldn't edit is so here it is:

Edit: As I saw you were in GPS mode, what can happen is that you started with low GPS count and took off, then the GPS increases and the drone starts to correct its position and it will start to shift. So might hit a wall... 12 sats isnt that high, so my theory might be right and I speak out of experience that I took off with about 9 sats outdoor, didn't want to wait for more and when it was in the air, i saw it correct itself like half a meter quickly, to more sats it saw.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-1-4 03:58
Noted with thanks. I had informed the proper team to follow your case and reply you asap. And could you please provide me with your phone number? Thank you so much, and hope things will be sorted out soon.

Thank Thor. I PM’d you my number.

Tviscomi Posted at 2018-1-4 05:25
Yeah, the "indoor test flight" statement was the first thing that caught my attention.

To be fair we've all been there but I've been lucky to land in time. I don't fly indoors anymore after a near miss. You can explain to people on here why not to fly indoors but sometimes people will only listen to what they want to hear.

A CW Posted at 2018-1-4 05:47
To be fair we've all been there but I've been lucky to land in time. I don't fly indoors anymore after a near miss. You can explain to people on here why not to fly indoors but sometimes people will only listen to what they want to hear.

Point well taken...though I've never performed any of my initial flight tests indoors.  Can you imagine what would happen if I were to test my I2 inside...lol.  My dogs would look like sushi

dickydoo Posted at 2018-1-4 05:36
Thank Thor. I PM’d you my number.

Noted with thanks. Please keep us updated if there is a need. Appreciate your patience.

Tviscomi Posted at 2018-1-4 05:53
Point well taken...though I've never performed any of my initial flight tests indoors.  Can you imagine what would happen if I were to test my I2 inside...lol.  My dogs would look like sushi

A 4KG quad with four, one-foot blades spinning out of control in your living room... Texas quadcopter massacre LOL

Nees Posted at 2018-1-4 05:27
Wanted to edit my previous post, but couldn't edit is so here it is:

Edit: As I saw you were in GPS mode, what can happen is that you started with low GPS count and took off, then the GPS increases and the drone starts to correct its position and it will start to shift. So might hit a wall... 12 sats isnt that high, so my theory might be right and I speak out of experience that I took off with about 9 sats outdoor, didn't want to wait for more and when it was in the air, i saw it correct itself like half a meter quickly, to more sats it saw.

I never went below 12 GPS during the 5 second flight, and it did go up to 14 at one point.  GPS Health was at 4 bars the entire time.

I know I'm relatively new at this, but I'm not a complete beginner and have flown 2000 metres on my Spark, as you can see in my profile.  I have flown in ATTI mode in the past and felt it was safe assume that since the Mavic is more sophisticated than the Spark, it should be able to do the same thing.  Obviously as has been pointed to me numerous times here, I was wrong.

I do think there is a good chance that it was a defect out of the box, regardless of whether it was flown indoors or not.  Since it was not in ATTI mode and I had a good GPS fix, many of the comments here do not apply.  Hopefully DJI Support can corroborate this.

When your mavic crashed was it on a reflective surface like marble / tiles? It seems that the VPS sometimes gets confused and starts to move randomly and violently when it sees itself in the reflection.

No, it was on top of hardwood floors with lots of grain...I've included of pic of what it looks like.

Pattern of the floor isn't good enough... when there is not much light, MP will drift to compensate...

My first flight was also indoor, my floor looks like yours, I was able to hoover around... A few days later I tried again, not that much luck like the first thime and allmost directly after take-off the MP moved towards a wall, I was able to catch it before hitting the wall. Then I promised myself NEVER TO DO THAT AGAIN...

Still have my first flight on video...