What is the recommendation for DJI drones and 3rd party flight applications such as [size=14.6667px]Litchi? If your drone crashes are you voiding your warrntee when you are using something other then DJI Go? If so why is this?

If it crashes using a 3rd party app then you are screwed as they won't cover it.

DJI support 3rd party apps otherwise there wouldn't be an sdk.
It makes warranty claims trickier because it must be established where the fault lies (aircraft/firmware/sdk/3rd party app).
The mere use of a 3rd party app CANNOT void your warranty, but can make it trickier.

Mike_fnq Posted at 2016-3-14 03:10
DJI support 3rd party apps otherwise there wouldn't be an sdk.
It makes warranty claims trickier bec ...

Agree completely! The warranty conditions and situations not covered are provided here:
http://www.dji.com/service#warranty_service
Using third-party DJI SDK applications are completely within the scope of the warranty provided the other conditions are met.

Anyone from DJI care to chime in as all above stated are totally incorrect from emails that I have seen from DJI support unless it was proved that it was a motor or drone hardware issue.

The problem is DJI can already be super difficult and evasive in establishing a warranty claim to begin with.  So while technically using a 3rd party app would not void your warranty, others have reported they may try to use that as an excuse for a crash.  Someone had a case here recently where they had a battery fail causing the drone to lose power mid-flight and crash.  They were using autopilot.  DJI rejected the warranty claim, twice.  This person was persistent, had kept and shared all the flight data and knew the real problem was power loss and not the third party app.  Eventually DJI relented, but they didn't make it easy and if this guy had not known how to read the data (and share it with this community) and ultimately leveraged DJI people here, he would have walked away without support, as some others probably have.

BTW, this is not unique to DJI.  I recall the good old days of trying to get Apple computer support where their answer to every crash was to reformat your HD, reinstall their OS, install absolutely no 3rd party apps and if it boots it wasn't their problem.

So the bottom line is just know if you use a 3rd party you haven't voided your warranty but you better be an experienced squeaky wheel if something does happen.

citivas Posted at 2016-3-14 14:03
The problem is DJI can already be super difficult and evasive in establishing a warranty claim to be ...

Sad, but true

sifu128 Posted at 2016-3-14 10:55
Anyone from DJI care to chime in as all above stated are totally incorrect from emails that I have s ...

The damages due to the following reasons are not covered by DJI Care:
1) Lost or partially lost aircraft and accessories.
2) Stolen or abandoned aircraft and accessories.
3) Damage caused by flight under unsuitable flight conditions.
4) Any repair fees resulting from or following water damage.
5) Repair fees for battery, propellers, remote controller or other accessories.
6) Deliberate losses.
7) Abrasions and shell damage that do not affect the performance of the aircraft.
8) Direct or indirect losses caused by force majeure.
9) Repair requests for damage incurred outside the period of validity.
10) Indirect loss and/or anticipated profit in any form.
11) Extra fees resulting from technical enhancements or performance improvements.
12) Personal injury and/or property loss to the customer or any other people caused by the aircraft.
13) Any legal fees related to DJI Care’s warranty coverage.  

Thanks Amy, care to help us out with this one?

I asked DJI about using Litchi and warranty. I got the following response below as I suspected.

thanks for your request.
Yes, using a different App will void your warranty, unless it´s 100% excluded and impossible, that the fault was caused by the app, such as Motor Hardware issue or Battery problems."

Thanks

Best Regards,
Technical Support
DJI GmbH

Does anyone from DJI care to reply to this thread and my last comments?

DJI-Amy Posted at 2016-3-14 02:18
The damages due to the following reasons are not covered by DJI Care:
1) Lost or partially lost ai ...

shell damage that do not affect the performance of the aircraft - I see why with all the cracked shells. that's sad to spend that kind of cash for a defect that dji knows it has.

sifu128 Posted at 2016-3-14 07:57
Thanks Amy, care to help us out with this one?

I asked DJI about using Litchi and warranty. I got t ...

That's really strange as DJI supports SDK.

Would an app like http://www.cloudlightfpv.com/ void the warranty?

sifu128 Posted at 2016-3-14 20:57
Thanks Amy, care to help us out with this one?

I asked DJI about using Litchi and warranty. I got t ...

I bet they will file that under #5 Accessories.
That one will cover a lot of different things, Accessories don't have to be just parts that are physically added.
I think software could fall into that category.

Does anyone from DJI care to reply to this thread and my last comments?

I guess DJI doesn't care to reply

I know if you stop a waypoint flight in Litchi to avoid something and your Phantom 4 with known issues of falling when you stop forward flight drops into a tree before you can catch it,  it will not be covered by warranty.    I can accept that only because I know I am the root cause of the problem............. because I put in a waypoint incorrectly.   I was just not quick enough to overcome the drop problem.

Everything to DJI seems to be the user's fault.