Is it ok to power on the drone with the gimbal protector in place?

Will it cause damage to the drone over time?

I would also like to know as I did it accidentally once.

Would like to know too... needed to switch it on today to check something and wasnt sure if i needed to extend the arms and/or remove the gimble cover...

I’ve done it a few times. Haven’t had any problem.

Don't know about mini 2, but on my mavic pro if the gimble was not able to get through the gimble check at start up you would get a gimble fail notice?

The mini does a gimble check on start up, this uses the gimble motors an I would presume any strain on these over time would not be good??

As we know the gimble struggles in wind so I would not be locking it still while it tries to move?

No and yes

Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for these given information. DJI would recommended for you not to forget to remove the gimbal cover of your DJI Mini 2 before you power on the drone to avoid any issue that might occur in the future. Thank you and fly safe always.

DJI Stephen Posted at 3-9 20:18
Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for these given information. DJI would recommended for you not to forget to remove the gimbal cover of your DJI Mini 2 before you power on the drone to avoid any issue that might occur in the future. Thank you and fly safe always.

There you are, 'straight from the horse's mouth'. Don't do it!

yogi053 Posted at 3-9 23:46
There you are, 'straight from the horse's mouth'. Don't do it!

Hi there yogi053. Thank you for the reply and if you have any other inquiries or concerns with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are here to help and assist you. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 3-10 21:50
Hi there yogi053. Thank you for the reply and if you have any other inquiries or concerns with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are here to help and assist you. Thank you.

Cheers for that! Hope I didn't offend you, calling Dji a horse! It's just a saying we have in the Western World and other English speaking countries. Stay safe!