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Should DJI have sold the INSPIRE 1?
2223 15 2015-3-11
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Dangair
Second Officer

Canada
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Ok, this might seem a little harsh but I gotta ask people's opinions here, and DJI reps please comment if you can. I wonder if it was a good idea for DJI to release this product in its current iteration? On the whole it seems like a great concept that has been poorly executed. As a business man I wonder would I put to press a piece of work unfinished? I have some concerns about the advertising of the Inspire, it was billed as a ready to fly product. There are many videos of people successfully using the product safely for various events. The actual aircraft has been anything but stellar in reviews. My own experiences have been disturbing, from the agonizingly painful firmware update, to the resultant chaos it has caused. The service from DJI has been reported by many to be sub par by a long shot, save a few representatives that grace the pages of this forum. Lets take a look at a typical successful vehicle manufacturing scenario and compare it to DJI's. A team of engineers design, oversee fabrication and test a vehicle, they find deficiencies and correct them, they go into production of both the product and serviceable and non serviceable components for after market sales and service. They create and impliment a distribution network and bring the product to market complete with spare parts galore. Do we see the same type of business model here? I see a few items missing. the online service was a fantastic idea, but after spending a few hours trying to communicate my problems for resolution I quickly realized that this was set up to placate the customer, as they knew less than I did and that's not meant as a compliment to me. I personally feel this flying camera has huge potential, but at present it is far to unstable for work. In fact I am not at all comfortable flying it. I'm not sure that I can trust it even in ATTI mode. So tell me what you think, do you think DJI pulled the trigger too early on this one? Did they have too much capital on the line and have to move product despite the fact that it was nowhere near ready for market? You be the judge.... A forum is a place for freedom of thought and on shouldn't feel afraid to speak ones mind.
2015-3-11
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arunmehta
Second Officer
Flight distance : 120909757 ft
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Canada
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Dan,

Your thoughts echo of many on this forum. Considering it is a unique product integrating existing technology(lightbridge)  with new aerodynamically stable frame that is turnkey solution for photographers  i think being the first out of the gate mattered  the most to DJI.

Unfortunately the product is released in a market (North America) where customer service is paramount to GOD in earlier cultures. There is a cultural difference in expectations .

A strategic decision was made to be the FIRST in this prosumer market at the cost of customer experience and after sales service.  The Camera was their stumbling block out of the gate. I would not be surprised if we see a completely redesigned camera for this platform in near future.

Most of the issues here centre around  QUALITY CONTROL in hardware. I have had experience with two sets of inspireones that behaved totally differently. The first one i bought reminded me of Ford Pinto of the seventies ...basically a lemon. The second one (later iteration with different carbon fiber weave) is a Ferrari out of the gate!  Same software and same operator and same geomagnetic location!

That is my experience. I love my second Inspireone. I fly it practically every day it brings so much joy and thrill to me.

Arun
2015-3-12
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lethbrp
Second Officer
United Kingdom
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There are many valid points you raise with regards to customer support and the amount of teething problems its had. I am surprised that the Inspire has suffered from issues that I would have thought DJI would already have encountered with the likes of the Phantom and thus avoided in its implementation on the Inspire. Another example being the prop issue. They have larger birds in their stable, why didn't they implement a similar strategy on the Inspire.

That said, I love the Inspire and I find that as long as you do your pre-flight checks diligently and are comfortable with flying in ATTI mode when/if the need arrises, then its a fine machine. I think there are a great deal of buyers who are new to quads and just expect too much from technology. Flying in manual mode is a skill that needs to be mastered.
2015-3-12
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ruddy951
lvl.3
Flight distance : 59324 ft
United States
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Ib bad small problems but all in all I feel it's been a great piece of equipment and I have had a blast  flying it.. 3k well spent in my opinion
2015-3-12
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Dangair
Second Officer

Canada
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Great comments so far, I feel these things too. I just have this feeling that they did this quad an injustice by opening the gate too soon. Another 6 months of beta testing could have made the difference. As well, that time could have been used to get the much needed replacement parts out there. Also I feel that all the certified dealers should have been made repair depots complete with training. However, I too echo your sentiments with regard to how cool this UAV really is and how so much better it could be. Keep up the great comments and with luck DJI will here us.
2015-3-12
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Wildcat Willie
lvl.4

Canada
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I agree...another 6 months of Beta would have been better. I like the Inspire 1. I was planning on running two down the road...But we will have to see how it goes....
2015-3-12
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tgif9623
lvl.1

United States
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I'm glad they did!
2015-3-12
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jhogge
lvl.3

United States
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I love the Inspire 1 that I bought and I have a ton of fun using it and learning how to capture better shots.

I think there are some firmware improvements that still need to be made.

The support process I experienced during my repair was the worst I have ever experienced.
2015-3-12
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budnikasr
lvl.3

Canada
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Look at it from a business perspective and taking into consideration failure rates which we don't know. If I build a business plan and I decide to purchase 4 Inspire 1's, based on 50% failure (Not Pilot Error) I need 3 additional Inspire 1's as backup.. Why? Because the way things are going, you need a back up for the backup's. So from an investment, I need to spend about $28K without additional batteries or radio's. Now consider if you didn't have the backup's could you wait patiently about 6 weeks in total for the unit to be repaired? Think about the loss of business. Even at 25% or 15% failure rates, this is a hefty investment. DJI is laughing all the way to the bank so delaying these units again, I'm sure not part of their business plan.
2015-3-12
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huppeencoyote69

Netherlands
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Defenitly they put it on sale way too early.Great potential and I love to fly it.But I don't feel the same confidence I have with the Phantom 2+.
1 Customer support is horrible.I've been on that "chat room" and they suck.Hardly any good answer and it takes hours to finish your question.
2 Lack of batteries.Common'DJI I know people who are waiting for 2 months now to get one.
3 Proplocks,Allthough they do come with later versions of the Inspire I'm still waiting for promised locks(3 months almost)
4 Not the best charger.Why put a charching cable which is only capable of charching 1 battery or the TX.It's getting too hot?
5 Stupid upgrade.Why not like the Phantom?This is customer friendly.
6 All other items are still out of stock.Trying to buy a sparepart is impossible

So mabye I should have wait,but if you're buying a new car with all these problems than this compagny will have a seriuos problem.
I expect a little more when spending 3K.
But the good thing is it will be better with future FW upgrades'
In the mean time I fly my Inspire without proplocks and 2 batteries and I will have fun anyway
2015-3-12
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gds3d
lvl.4
Flight distance : 29646 ft
United States
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I have 12 prop locks and 11 batteries.  They are all over the place.  I have 4 TB48 that are still in the box that I accidentally over ordered.
Love flying my Inspire!
2015-3-12
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huppeencoyote69

Netherlands
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Your lucky,but there are more then enough examples of people who didn't have this.
And maybe you can buy things all over the world,but for a very high price if you want them send over.
2015-3-12
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ruddy951
lvl.3
Flight distance : 59324 ft
United States
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The way I see it most of the problems that the inspire has had could be avoided by careful piloting . Yes the bird may have had faults but if u fly higher then your surroundings most crashed birds would still be  flying today. I would love to have my inspire flying perfectly  but simple fact is it doesn't.. not yet . So i don't take it into tight spots or out to far and when I do have issues they can be controlled. I guess thinking about it I would rather have my not so perfect bird now and do a few updated then still waiting 6 more months .
2015-3-12
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Fencinales
lvl.1

Colombia
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I went through the nighmare of getting my Inspire on the first place. I ended buying two because when the first was delivered the second had already been shipped and I had no time to cancel. It took me a few days to sell it at no loss. I have had my share of problems with setup and updating firmware but it has been a ton of fun. I truly enjoy a toy that seems to be at the cutting edge of technology. I spent hours learning to edit videos and have become pretty good at it. My main Inspire 1 problem as of now is that my wife is complaining she is a quad widow. So I am glad DJI didn´t wait.

From a business prespective I believe this is a product with a small window of opportunity. Very soon drones will only be permitted in very limited areas around the world. . DJI is skimming the market and they probably have made a ton of money doing so. In spite of really bad post-sale services, people keep buying Inspires because it is a unique great product

2015-3-12
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Abe
Second Officer
Flight distance : 524032 ft
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United States
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I'm pretty sure they are selling as many Inspires as they can build and will continue to do so for quite a while. So while it's not perfect and there has been plenty of hand-wringing in this very public forum for all prospective customers to see, the product continues to be a hot seller.

From a business perspective I'd think you would have to call it a success. What's not clear is how profitable it will be in the short term while DJI deals with fulfillment and supply chain issues, in particular spare parts and repairs. But DJI is still a relatively young company in a hot market and has become the clear market leader, initially due to the Phantom.

Despite the company's growing pains, I think we have to acknowledge that they have been incredibly innovative and nimble. They came up with a market-defining product category and quickly filled multiple price-points with products that many of us found irresistible.

So to answer your question, I think they were right to sell the Inspire. And I'm sure they learned (and are still learning) a lot from the experience that will make the company and its future products harder to compete with.

Possibly a better question many on this forum should ask is, "am I really prepared emotionally and financially to be an early adopter of products like these?" Many owners of Inspires would have been better served by a Phantom, or waiting for a future generation of the Inspire. The happiest customers on this forum are the ones that had relatively neutral expectations about what they were getting and weren't depending on the Inspire for their livelihood. For me it is a fantastic and fun tool that extends my lifelong photography hobby to new heights (no pun intended). For the cost of a mid-range pro-DSLR, I'm able to see the world from an entirely new perspective. And every time it lifts off the ground I get a jolt of adrenaline flowing through my veins. No DSLR has ever done that.
2015-3-12
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Dangair
Second Officer

Canada
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Fantastic feedback on this thread so far. The general consensus seems to be that we all love the quad and are willing to put up with the growing pains. But we can almost all agree the service beyond that found on this forum needs improvent. The parts need to be made available yesterday and most importantly... DJI should be actively keeping us abreast of current progress with all of these concerns.
2015-3-12
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