Mavic Pro flies like a GoPro Karma in winter
2466 7 2017-1-19
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hzokTX3cVPWd
lvl.1
Canada
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So I've bought a Mavic Pro.  It was my first Drone; Is my first Drone, rather.  

I nearly canceled my order because of the manufacturing and shipping delays, and where I live the winters are cold and long.  (Southern Manitoba).  

But eventually it came and after seeing pics and videos of other people flying in the winter, I decided to risk it.  I used common sense, taking all the precautions I could think of.  
- Flying from my house and around the farm to keep the batteries inside before use.  
- After takoff hovering for 20-30 sec to make sure everything was working and warmed up before flying away
- Not flying on super cold days (-10 to -15 celsius max), about the lowest my fingers could handle on the controls
- Ending my flights with plenty of battery life left (Usually 30-50%, never below 25%)

Anyhow, the other day I was flying in the front yard playing around with the smart flight modes, specifically target follow.  Probably -15 degrees.  The drone was about 15 ft off the ground and suddenly, without any sort of warning, it just fell to the ground.  Lights off, props off, remote disconnected.  After a few seconds, the lights came back on and it reconnected to the remote.  I looked it over, and everything looked ok.  Nothing obviously broken or cracked, the gimbal was still tracking and focusing, etc.  I put it down and took off again and all the flight characteristics felt 100% normal.  Later I saw that one of the legs had a slight crack  in it, where it mounts to the front arm.  I think it's minor, but will probably need to be replaced.  

So I have some questions:
1. Has anyone else had a similar occurance?  I haven't heard of any
2. Is there any sort of record of this flight saved on the drone/app?  
3. Does someone on here from DJI or their engineers care about investigating this occurance?  Who do I talk to?  
4. Or am I SOL because I was flying the drone outside the specified temperature range in the operator's manual?  
5. Should I be worried about this happening again in the future?  Perhaps in a location where the landing wouldn't be onto partially impact absorbing snow from 15' up but instead a hard surface or water?  

Thanks for Reading and I look forward to your comments,
Stefan
2017-1-19
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WolfgangStiller
Second Officer
Flight distance : 599416 ft
United States
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I have never heard of anything like that (shut down while in flight).  I have flown in the mountains down to -18C with no issues so I'd guess it's more than just the cold. I'd send it in and let DJI check out the logs and repair/replace the Mavic (you don't want to live with that crack.
2017-1-19
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xordium
lvl.2
Flight distance : 79219 ft
Australia
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Yep, there are quite a few now occurring:  Mine: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... mp;page=1#pid706309
This guy:  https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... 6orderby%3Ddateline
Another one here:  https://forum.dji.com/thread-84875-1-1.html  

All have exactly the same symptom - total power loss halting any logging.  Plowboy was lucky - DJI honoured the warranty - in my case DJI are refusing to honour the warranty saying "not enough data" - even tho we watched it drop out of the air...
2017-2-22
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JakeS
lvl.4
Flight distance : 7287871 ft
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United States
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It certainly could be weather related if the battery gets too cold but I and others here in Alaska have been flying regularly at -30c (-20f) and had no trouble. I hope you get it sorted out soon!
2017-2-22
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xordium
lvl.2
Flight distance : 79219 ft
Australia
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lol well I live in Australia - cold certainly isn't a problem at this time of year (or ever  ;)
2017-2-22
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geofox784
lvl.3
Flight distance : 1482175 ft
United States
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BTW the antenna are in those legs so that could be a problem.
2017-2-22
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Jason Lane
lvl.4
Flight distance : 260144 ft
Philippines
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I remember some weeks back there seemed to be some correlation between using the Auto Takeoff feature and Mavics dropping shortly after takeoff. Did you happen to use Auto Takeoff?
2017-2-22
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xordium
lvl.2
Flight distance : 79219 ft
Australia
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Hey, no, coming from a Phantom I've never used auto takeoff. With all of them it appears to be power failure as camera and logging both halt at exactly the same moment that the drone drops.
2017-2-23
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