Bruce_Clement
lvl.1
Canada
Offline
|
After spending more time than most researching my next drone acquisition, I pulled the trigger and purchased the DJI Mavic Air2 Fly More bundle last October 2020 from Amazon. After receiving my new drone, I immediately took it out for a test flight (after charging) in the parking lot at work where I was pleasantly surprised with this model's performance. Later that evenening I proceeded to run through all the updates which I was being prompted to complete within the DJI Fly app. The next day I attempted my next flight only to encounter jittery camera operation which not only affected recording, but made the aircraft very difficult to fly with the intermittant fpv leaving you without knowing the orientation or location. After several attempts to reload the firmware under the guidance of DJI Support, it was suggested that I had purchased a defective unit and I was advised to go through Amazon to have it replaced under warranty.
After receiving the replacement (complete bundle), I again updated the firmware and was able to complete several successful flights, that is until... I was filming a subject climbing a small waterfall with the aircraft simply hovering to capture his ascent. All of a sudden the view on the tablet went black and a message on the top of the DJI Fly app advised me that RC signal had been lost. Looking up as the aircraft was only a mere 100 meters or so from me, my worst fears were confirmed, no sight of it in the last known position. The next day a member of the team located the aircraft submerged near the base of the waterfall. Upon viewing the footage from the memory card I witnessed the aircraft suddenly climb, impact a nearby overhanging cedar branch, then tumble into the waterfall. Asuming that water may have splashed up and triggered the obstacle avoidance on the bottom of the aircraft, and the lack of a top obstacle avoidance sensor, I again called DJI Support for their input. After explaining what had happened, I was again asked to contact Amazon first to see if they would again replace it under warranty, which to my complete surprise they did just that.
December 2020 my now third replacement unit arrives (complete bundle) and after several updates, etc. I was off flying again! Over the next few months the aircraft performed well and I was able to complete several filming projects, a few even pushing the aircraft to distances of 8km from me. That is until... at the begining of May 2021 I was capturing some b-roll of rock formations on the side of a 600' rock face. It was a gorgeous sunny day in remote Northern Ontario with the aircraft hovering while recording just under 2 kms away from me, straight line of sight. All of a sudden again the screen goes black with a message stating that RC signal had been lost. Not really concerned, I sat down and proceeded to wait for the aircraft to initiate its RTH function and return to the point of departure. Almost an hour later, no aircraft.
Despite the fact that I had purchased a DJI Care package and could simply request a replacement under my plan, a couple friends convinced me to set out to attempt to find the aircraft at its last known position which had been recorded in the DJI Fly App. What an adventure! We spent the afternoon scaling near verticle cliffs and actually found the aircraft 3 or 4 hours later, mind you in pretty rough shape and no longer airworthy. After returning home I proceeded to review the footage from the recovered memory card. The footage matched what I had already viewed on the tablet in its cached video files up to the point of signal loss. After signal loss, rather than perform a RTH manouver as expected, the aircraft descended several meters (yes I am aware that this may have been to the altitude set for this manouver) and instead of proceeding to fly a track back to the point of departure, it flew sideways in almost the opposite direction from the point of departure directly into a rock face on the side of the mountain. As a result of the impact, it was unable to keep in flight and tumbled a few hundred meters down the rock face to where we had located it, then kept recording until the battery power was exhausted.
Yet a third call to DJI Support who after I had ran through everything above, seemed just as mystified as I was and actually commented that he had no questions to ask that I hadn't already answered. He stated that I could use my DJI Care Refresh to have the aircraft replaced but I voiced my concerns that at this point I no longer had any faith in this model. I asked if I could simply pay whatever difference to upgrade to the new Air 2S which hopefully I would have better luck with. He stated that certainly seemed like an option and that if I would stay on the line, he would send a message to the appropriate department with my request. Returning to the call, he stated that I should receive an email response with the next 24-48 hours.
A week goes by with no response received so I call back in. After explaining everything yet again, I am informed that an upgrade would not be an option, that I had to send the aircraft in for a repair estimate at which time I could use my DJI Care Refresh to have it either repaired or replaced. After the call I was sent a shipping label and instructions to send the aircraft and controller from Ontario Canada to Texas.
After multiple attempts to get the package across the border throughout June, they just finally received the package in Texas last week. Monday I received an email requesting a description of the event, copies of flight logs, etc. which I immediately replied to, providing everything they asked for including a side by side video of both the cached video footage from the tablet and video footage recorded to the memory card. Yesterday I received another email advising that they had forwarded the information I had provide to the appropriate department. I assumed they found something in the logs that raised a few questions.
Today I recieved another email advising that the repairs required would not be covered under warranty. It went on to state that I had two options, #1 was to simply pay $374 USD to complete repairs or #2 to use my DJI Care Refresh "If you want to replace your product for $69.00 with DJI Care Refresh, please click "Use Care Refresh" to apply."
Ok... obviously I clicked on the "Use Care Refresh" and was taken to their website and presented with an invoice for... $121.00 USD. Wait... what... picked up the phone and called into DJI Support to find out what was going on. The rep I spoke with looks at my case then advises that there is an addition $52.00 charge to replace the remote controller's "core board module". The Mr. Nice Guy fades away into the background and I continually apologized for the level of frustration which I found myself overcome with. I explained that the remote controller was NOT involved in the crash, had been kept in a waterproof hard case in a foam compartment cut exactly to its size, and that I am super anal with the care of any of my equipment when storing, transporting and operating. She proceeded to read me a report from the repair department on the issue found with the controller "failed user command... etc."
I then proceeded to inform her that I in fact have been a communications and security systems installation and service technician for over 30 years. What she just inadvertently did was solve the mystery... from my many years of experience, it sounds like the remote controller had a defective core board module which in all likelyhood was the reason I lost signal with the aircraft and may have also been the cause of the aircraft receiving signals to descend before flying sideways directly into the rock face. A flight behaviour which does not at all sound like anything which engineers would program into the aircraft to complete a successful RTH manouver.
Am I losing my mind or is it that obvious that for some reason after purchasing numerous DJI products without any issues, I finally have a product with an issue and they are just simply jerking me around? In my mind, although I was willing to pay the $69 to use my DJI Care Refresh package that thankfully I purchased, this case more than likely should be treated as a warranty claim.
I'd be interested in any input from the DJI Community may be willing to provide. I am by no means a professional when it comes to piloting drones, but I do hold a recreational pilot licence and do have some skills. Here is the side by side footage, app cached and memory card footage: https://youtu.be/1y7rlELSR8Y
Much Appreciated!
|
|