Happy New Year to one and all.

My Mavic Pro is an amazing piece of technology. I am new to the drone world but have some experience of helicopter r/c from the distant past.

I received my Mavic in mid November having made a pre-order through a well known retailer here in the UK. I can't say the day to day operation of the Mavic has been flawless, but I have taken great care in spending the time to understand what you must do if gremlins appear. Loss of signal , interference, and Go app crashes have been anticipated and thanks to the remarkable failsafe redundancy built into the drone, I have survived any problems. I also suffer from a belt and braces approach to safeguarding against potentail problems by calibrating everything that can be calibrated when updating firmware and software, and other times on an ad hoc basis, which I believe has protected the Mavic from problems others may have encountered. Return to home never ceases to amaze me when all else fails; it is staggering how the autonomous safety features of this drone operate.

My problem is with the camera on the Mavic. I believe it has foreign bodies within the lens, so impossible to clean without taking the camera apart. I suspect the material inside the lens is mould as it has steadily increased over time rendering footage unusable when the camera is facing at an oblique angle relative to the sun (when it shines!). This is nothing to do with glare, we all experience that and in some situations can actually add to the overall image, but not often. When the sun catches the particles within the lens dirty blotches and strange "strands" appear on stills or video that spoil the image's appearance. This has been getting steadily worse, but I haven't used the Mavic that much due to short days, inclement weather and work commitments. Viewing the footage on a five inch smartphone screen is hard to see the anomolies, but once on a pc screen or TV, the particles of mould are very distracting and make for an ugly image.

I am unsure what I must send back to DJI. I have printed out the "Global Technical Support Form" which says to send all the accessories that came with the Mavic back, apart from props, the controller or SD card. I purchased the fly more package that included two extra batteries, extra props, the DJI bag, car charger, multi battery charger adapter etc. Should these be sent back too? What I don't want to happen is for the Mavic to get returned back to me but without these extras that came with it originally. This is a standard form, not one that has been written up specifically for my particular problem or my specific package.

If either a fellow member has been through the RMA experience or one of you knowledgable admins can advise me, I would very much appreciate your input. Thanks for getting this far!!

You just need to send aircraft, battery x1 and controller and copy of invoice , you will get a case number followed by courier pick up date, make an inventory of all you are sending and put 1 in the box you are sending and keep a copy for yourself, I would also take a note of the S/N for your own reference.

It will probably be a couple of days for them to receive your Mavic, and it also might take a day or two to assess it, but once that is done they will email you with the price or warranty, once you accept it will move fairly quickly, you should have your Mavic back in ten days to two weeks.. Good luck.

Thanks for the swift reply hallmark. The form specifically states to keep the controller, sd card and props and send back all other accessories that came with the aircraft. It doesn't offer any distinction between the standard package and the fly more combo package. It does say somewhere in the t&c's that failure to comply with the correct returns procedure may result in the package being sent back to me unrepaired and any costs will have to be charged for, including postage courier charges. Have you experienced an RMA yourself and was it accepted and successfully delivered back to you?
Thanks again hallmark, the majority of members here are courteous and sensible, and there are some such as yourself that excel in that department.

rick39 Posted at 2017-1-7 03:19
Thanks for the swift reply hallmark. The form specifically states to keep the controller, sd card and props and send back all other accessories that came with the aircraft. It doesn't offer any distinction between the standard package and the fly more combo package. It does say somewhere in the t&c's that failure to comply with the correct returns procedure may result in the package being sent back to me unrepaired and any costs will have to be charged for, including postage courier charges. Have you experienced an RMA yourself and was it accepted and successfully delivered back to you?
Thanks again hallmark, the majority of members here are courteous and sensible, and there are some such as yourself that excel in that department.

I have had experience with my P4 , it was painless, I did send remote control because they asked for it, but in your case I would only send battery in the aircraft as they don't seem to need the remote, I'm sure you don't need to send extras you received with the combo.

Also when they receive your Mavic it's not a bad idea to get on to a moderator here and have them check out your case, they can in my experience expedite your case.

And thank you for your comments.

Thanks again hallmark. I hope one of the admins sees this post and confirms the correct procedure.

I had just the normal Mavic package and went through the RMA process twice but it's really easy. You create your case and they send you a mail with the UPS label. I sent always the pure drone without everything and the controller without any cables to them - batteries, cables, etc. I kept. Repair was around 2 days, delivery one way 4 working days from Michigan  :-)

Sorry you are having difficulties, can you post a photo and show the strands you are talking about?
And only send back the aircraft (with gimbal clamp/cover) and RC without any batteries, charger, SD card, and other accessories.

Thanks for the reply Ken. The Global Technical Support Form states "Please don't send your Sd card, propellers or remote controller back to us if not asked"
I haven't been asked to send those items back, but nor have I been told whether to send the whole combo package back less those items just quoted or just the standard items one would expect from the bare package. If I gave you my case number could you confirm the items I should send back. I don't want to get it wrong.

See images below for evidence of my problem. The 2nd and 3rd image were taken a couple of frames apart from the video. Blotches can be seen quite clearly when comparing the two images. Another strand can be seen just below the corner of the white house in the grass (mid right in image) that is long and thin with a rectangular shape. These anomalies look far worse when viewing the moving image in a video. Generally, these marks cannot be seen when facing away from the sun or on a cloudy day. It would seem that the suns rays catch the dust/grit/eyelash/mould when at an oblique angle whenever you get sun glare. These marks should not be confused with glare, they are quite different.

rick39 Posted at 2017-1-7 18:49
Thanks for the reply Ken. The Global Technical Support Form states "Please don't send your Sd card, propellers or remote controller back to us if not asked"
I haven't been asked to send those items back, but nor have I been told whether to send the whole combo package back less those items just quoted or just the standard items one would expect from the bare package. If I gave you my case number could you confirm the items I should send back. I don't want to get it wrong.

Are these photos with the clear gimbal protector on ?

No Ken. It has always been flown with the gimbal cover removed. I understand that lens glare and any imperfections in the gimbal cover would show up on stills and video, which is why I have never flown the Mavic with the gimbal cover on. Yesterday when I was going through the RMA procedure through on line chat, I was asked to do an IMU which was awkward when conducted during an on line chat in front of a computer and speakers etc. I had suffered no damage to the Mavic up until that point, but found that I'd somehow broken one of the lugs off the gimbal cover whilst organising an RMA. That could be a first!!
Thanks again Ken for your assistance, and if you could advise how much of the combo package I should send back, or whether it would be sufficient if I itemise each item I send back. Can I send photos with the RMA for good measure? And would it help me if I sent you my RMA case number.

D_jan_i Posted at 2017-1-7 09:56
I had just the normal Mavic package and went through the RMA process twice but it's really easy. You create your case and they send you a mail with the UPS label. I sent always the pure drone without everything and the controller without any cables to them - batteries, cables, etc. I kept. Repair was around 2 days, delivery one way 4 working days from Michigan  :-)

Many thanks D_jan_i. I appreciate your reply, that makes perfect sense to me and reduces the danger of losing peripheral items that would be awkward to get back.