I was thinking that someone should develop a carbon frame platform that is made to receive and mount DJI FPV drone internals. This would result in a drone that has the DJI FPV drone features but with a higher crashworthiness, plus the damaged quad can be reused for likely less than what DJI does for a full refresh
I Think you're spot on Ken. I have a really good relationship with my DJI dealer and when I bought the FPV drone he advised me as a friend not to waste money on the care and refresh option. Here in Australia by the time you pay for repair and refresh and your first instance you have shelled out almost $700 ... as he said to me, you can almost build a new drone for that. For perspective a single arm (part not labour) you pay about $80 here
the arm bracers do help, I crashed my dji fpv 12 times, and every single time, it keeps breaking at the same spot , where the arm attach to the frame, I just stuck it back in and applied some gorilla glue and im up in the air again. I cant afford that refresh care, plus I live in a 3rd world country and they aint even going down that road.
Best GoPro HERO10 Black settings IMO… 4K 4:3, 60fps, 1/120, ISO 100-400, ND16 lens filter. Footage with those settings looks WAYYY better than the DJI FPV camera. I cant see a huge difference in quality from the comparison in this video… but I know i see a huge difference with my own footage.
I never soldered before. Front arm broke and I just bought some new arms on aliexpress. There is plenty of videos on youtube that will show you how to do it. It's overly complicated compared to a normal drone, but as long as you make sure to label the screws when removing them you'll be fine.
You think SERVICE is profitable ? You realize there is a Care Refresh plan for almost every item DJI sells ? I think it might be a part of their goal to SELL more items if buyers know there is a reliable organized repair plan. Just my opinion ...
@@CaribbeanZapatta Lol absolutely, If you fly there other consumer drones, you’d know it’s nearly impossible to crash them. But they know 99% of people who buy the FPV will need / want the refresh because of the nature of FPV. So they bump up the price of care refresh because they know the demand will be there for it. Supply & Demand = Higher Cost = More Profits 🤷♂️
I had a similar experience broke an arm and cracked the interior shell that holds the arm. It was about $210. I disassemble it so see if I can fix it but it was to much and DJI didn't say anything had a drone back in 1 weeks of sending it in
I been learning lately on how right you really are here. Unless you dump it into the water and it is lost forever, screw DJI care refresh! Finding out, just get an assessment of the cost of the parts, pay DJI to cost of the labor and it has been much lower than buying Care Refresh. Another RUclipsr did it that way to repair it and they charged him the costs of repair and instead of actually repairing the unit, they just sent him a new one. Do not pay more for replacement and just have them charge you for repairs seems so much cheaper. Have you noticed this with your experience, Ken Dobo? Thanks for your video!
I'd still recommend it to new FPV flyers.. You can buy the Care Refresh and still decide when to utilize it, kinda like electing to file Insurance claim or out of pocket. Small crashes you can have them repaired & pay... you still gain priority service as a Care Refresh Member . Hold the Care Refresh replacements for the "smashers" learning aerobatic. If you have 1 Replacement left prior to Refresh expiring, fly it into the ground and get a new FPV. You're seeing it as a experienced FPV Flyer... someone new to FPV may have more crashes of the severe degree.... like nose diving into a parking lot.
I broke a right front arm on mine as well. Finding the arm was not a problem, but finding the what they call a "DJI FPV Image Transmission SDR Landing Gear Antenna Feeder" for that right front landing leg is harder than I thought. It seems like a very simple UFL connector? But I am very new to the FPV thing (hint's me buying this drone) Really wish I could find it because its the only thing stopping me from putting this back together.
I had a bad crash, I had to replace even the middle frame, the problem was that I had to send to DJI because one of the PCB board was affected (the one with sdcard ) it was bended. They asked me to pay 580Euro because they can not replace only the part I asked for! Now they are sending me a new unit and keep the one I have sent with replaced parts by me. You can get parts for cheap prices but if the main PCB boards (except to esc board ) are affected, you can not find a replacement for that. ( I have a video with the repair on my yt profile )
Fantastic, thank you very much for this video! Perfect. Unfortunately, I got the rip-off, and I may use it only in case of water and loss as a backup..... I wonder if you could fix it on your own and then send it back on a significant event ....?
Had my second crash today flying my dji fpv, came in hot landing with obstacle avoidance disabled, destroyed a second pair of Master Air Screw Props, but it was a bad crash and damage could've been much worse, I got lucky.. Afterwards, I started to debate on whether or not to buy arm braces in case I'm not so lucky next time ... This video was serendipitous for sure! Order Placed! ... Also, Normal mode(OA enabled) from now on when coming in to land..
I've never bought refresh on any of my DJI products, and I have a lot of them. On my Mavic One, I repaired it three different times myself, and its still going strong to date. Thanks Ken.
This is my first FPV drone and I have arm braces since day one (not flown in M mode yet). But! I have put 40hrs in velocidrone and tomorrow will be my first flight in Manual 🤞 Wich me luck!
Thank you! Wait! 10hrs in the sim to fly the DJI FPV!? I wanted to invest the most time posible in the sim cause I need only one little mistake to crash this baby into pieces 😅
Yes I agree. I send in for repair twice , $165 and $196 US dollars , I have send to Us from Canada because DJI in Canada don’t have any parts at all . And they send me what they have already repaired in the shop . Which is not the original one from me. ( I think that why they can send it back to me in a few days ) . Also they always find out more on the expensive parts to fix , such as Esc board and vision sensor module . Last time I test the ESC and it works fine before I send to them . I put the testing on video as my record . They charged $ 64.00 for repair service. Without all the experience parts , it’s not too bad to send in for repair 😂.
Has nobody built a frame for this quad yet? ⚠️😯😊 Seems like a good opportunity for someone to make a more robust, resilient and easily fixed frame, to transfer all the electronics and running gear over to.👍😎 Seems like there is a weak point in the DJI FPV arms/ frame?🤔
@@andrewut7ya511 I just think there are some very talented FPV frame designers/builders who could create a much better, more robust frame than DJI have done because there are obviously serious flaws and an inherent weakness in the original frame design if braces need to be added or the arms just snap off etc
@@CaribbeanZapatta No need for the capitals!! 😯⚠️🤔😁 and no need to take it so personally either...... DJI probably designed that 'weakness' into it so they make a load of £$ on care refresh repairs and then bring you the next 'version 2' with stronger frame, more powerful motors, lighter, better flight time, 3 axis gimbal, no props in shot etc etc The DJI FPV 2 will be out before the end of the year and will address some of the originals short comings.....so no need to get your knickers in a twist about it. ⚠️😁
Since I bought my from Best Buy, I just bought the warranty through them. It’s 300 for 3 years. Just bring back broken drone and replaced no question asked and right away. Now you will have to buy a new warranty on new drone but then your in 600 for another 3 years. It’s a little better imo then through Dji and I don’t have to mail crap off and wait.
Here in New Zealand it's $339 dollars for a dji refresh on a mavic air 2. I think that's steep even converting it. Its usd $237.35 and it takes weeks as the agents here can't approve a replacement.
Yes its Pathetic way they can't make a call on full replacement instantly Ferntech were shockers at try repair Dji lot is we got send it to China Omg what a joke
Skip care refresh and fix it yourself :) Did a full tear down on mine and I'm not great at the stuff....a few hours later - one body shell, one arm, motor etc and it was better than ever!
State Farm - $75, no deductible. Already used it once. Not really meant for drones but they are covered. Broke it on a Sunday. Monday morning by 9am, I had $1500 debited by State Farm.
@@cedantarmalabori861 yep, personal property insurance. I was actually told I had a $100 deductible when I purchased the policy but when I went to use it I was told there was none. I sent the claims person pictures of my destroyed drone and that was that. I still actually have it and might replace the arms myself.
Nicked the ground pulling up on a dive first night flying, and now front right arm is little-cracked, its under&rear LED’s offline and LEDcover blown out. Still within 48hrs. Might return/exch. for 15%restocking. And I can’t seem to find LED’s for the arm online, only the frame. Tips on best way to proceed?
Wow. DJI is charging $100-150 CAD for an arm replacement. Thats 5x the price it is to replace an arm on a Nazgul, and it will probably take at least 5 days to get it back, while on the Nazgul the arm can easily be replaced within 5 minutes!
Expedited shipping? When I sent mine in, I waited over 9 days for them to do anything at all due to some Chinese holiday that I wasn’t informed of, nor was it posted on their site. I waited over 5 weeks to get my DJI mini 2 back and missed out on multiple trips and travels with the drone.
If you’re a total tech member Best Buy will give you the geek squad drone warranty which only has $100 deductible if you total only 60 if it just has to be repaired and no limit on how many you can replace within the two years if you’re not a total tech member it’s $300
Oh and there’s no waiting for shipping obviously you just go in your local Best Buy store as long as they have one in stock that is give you a new one just just like to go pros if other fpv’s pilots know what I’m talking about
Same! I was tripping when I crashed because I didn’t have it and they fixed it for under 200$ Only good if your flying over water being sketchy or in a situation where u can’t recover the drone
I watched this because I am on the fence with buying for a new mini pro 3. Just to be clear - those extra "whoopsy" fees are applied because the drone incurred damage while paired with a non-DJI accessory? I cannot find specific mention in the care refresh docs where it covers these incident fees. Thanks!
How did it play out after all this time fam? I just got one but did Best Buy total tech 199.99 per yr (x2 years) then $7 monthly after the two years. $79 incidents (2 per yr). They say after like 5 years if I continue with the protection plan I would keep getting replacements or if it’s no longer made/ can be repaired Best Buy would give store credit of the initial value. Seems worth it. Cost is like 1/2 or more after 3 years but I’m not afraid to crash it now
So can you buy the parts and fix everything on this drone if you were an experience builder? Are all of the parts like the air frame and arms, motors, ESC's even accessible? Thanks DoBo!
I broke an arm, and repair cost was similar ( ~100 euros) , Ive since added the arm bracers, and think they will help with smaller screw ups. agreed, the care refresh is too expensive, I think the only time it pays off, is if you have a huge crash (which feels unlikely) , as I have seen some pretty big quotes - but they are the exception...so while for some it may pay-off, for most it wont.
Dang sorry to hear about your crash! I'm currently working a very similar video using the SmallRig Gopro Mount! Once again, keep up the good work and good luck dealing with DJI Refresh!
Man, I had no idea DJI Care Refresh worked that way. Yeah, definitely makes sense to skip it if you're going to fly freestyle. Great video as always, Ken! 👍
I did read there terms but I was new to the quad copter world and I wanted protection in case I damage it. I also agree with you about the freestyle subject. The DJI fpv only can be found on ebay under $300
PS the trick with these is taking a picture of every single thing you take out - label the screws...etc....the DJI is the macbooks of drones...close to impossible to fix so you better get that refresh/apple care.
At the end of the day obviously nobody can top dji as far as camera quality and me being a newb to fpv am totally blown away by this smh....I melted my brain for several months doing research on fpv before pulling the trigger on a quad and til this day I'm still amazed by how many options there are as far as quads/gogs/radios ect ect....why hasn't anyone else come out with hd???? I know there is shark bite or whatever but I feel like dji is monopolizing the market....but hey that's my opinion....just like it's my opinion that this drone is way overpriced and seeing how much it costs to get it fixed could buy a few really great quads lol I have owned dji drones before and got rid of them because I wanted to become a better pilot lol dji owners will know what I mean 😁👍great vid and info man✌
I tried to send in one of my crashed drones to dji repair and he said (after several weeks waiting) no way. It had similar damaged, the airframe. The airframe is basically the whole body of the drone, not particularly expensive part, but everything is attached to it so everything must come off of it. I suspect, even though care refresh is more money, its , at least in my case, the only way to get it fixed. On top of this, when the still damaged drone was sent back, it got stolen in the mail and I never received it, I was hoping for the spare parts but I guess fait thought otherwise.
I thought that the frame was able to be purchased also. It certainly is a pain in the ass to replace arms and what not. They don't make it easy. However I'd much rather do that and have it back up and flying in a couple hours for WAY less cost and much less time on the ground. One video I saw that was pretty cool, a guy fiberglassed around the broken arm. Yes it adds a little bit of extra weight with the epoxy, but he said he didn't notice any difference in flight characteristics or flight time. It didn't look particularly great but I know for certain that the arms won't ever break in that spot again.
Skip the drone unless your time poor, or have lots of coin to pay for repairs. The task to pull the front arms off is a nightmare. We've tried one for filming, but it's too fragile and the onboard stabilization isn't a scratch on a Hero9 or RSGO.
Yeah, this is enough for me to take a pass in the DHI FPV drone. If I break an arm on my drone it’s $8 and a couple of screw for a new one. Worst case I have to drop another $20 on a new motor and I’m back in the air.
Yup care refresh only pays if the thing is totally smashed, repair costs from DJI are pretty good, my arm and body repair was $170 which to me was super cheap. I have $500 custom "Real FPV" drones that flew once... I have $350 custom real drones that never flew. not worth trying to get it fixed... My only issue was the No real Disarm, which I think they sort of fixed. for $700 it's a pretty amazing thing. But plan on $200 repair every time it touches something. which is Fine. I have other drones for proximity. For the right person, it makes sense. Love !!! Occusync3 it's really amazing, the Return Home H... mindblowing. Pause... awesome. just hate the company.
The only time that Refresh is worth it is with water damage or major catastrophic damage. The most common damage being just a motor or arm is WAY cheaper to just have it repaired.
shoot good thing you mentioned the prop braces. i am new to flying (probably should have bought something more robust) so anything that will help my drone is probably a good idea. do they make carbon fiber versions though?...
I'm still fascinated in which seemingly easy crashes that drone breaks arms - when in other hard wall hits it barely bends a prop. This construction seems to have some really weak angles where the impact resistance of those arms is practically non-existant. I mean.. it fell in soft branches and on the grass.... wtf. Every other 5 inch would have needed some props-rebend and you'd be good to go. Good point about RTH though. That still is a massive weak spot of our DIY FPV Quads and Betaflight's RTH outright sucks. I usually just recover mine by switching to angle mode + mid-throttle and hope it will reconnect video once it passes the tree shadows ;D
Bro here in Puerto Rico I got my right back arm replaced plus a new motor for $75 with the same store i bought it in. Regardless you can take your drone for repairs there even if you didn't buy it with them. Dr. Tech is the name.
I broke mine 3 times. Two first ones were 87$ and 89$, the third one was a pretty solid crash I broke all 4 legs and it was 270$ to repair all without using DJI Care
DJi don’t fix things, we’re still waiting for them to fix the Slow SD no recording bug on the DJI FPV Air Units almost two years after it was first discovered. ….and you call that a crash? That’s not a crash lol.
Yeah i totally agree! DJI make a system but they leave it half finished as fucking morons. My bet that they just give a fu.k! I mean in human perspective and rights China isn't the best country to make business with is my conclusion and therefore i went back to my analog system ,Fixed a new O4x googles and i am happy to say i don't miss DJI at all!
Your better off buying a new dc5 6s every time it crashes at that price. Tho my dc5 had been bashed for 2 years and only one arm broke it’s a beast for the money
I tried to search whole internet to see if one of you guys who are experienced in building drones ever tried customizing the arms somehow. If I knew how to, I would just forget about the original arms and rebuild the frame....
i bought one and totalled up the cost for care or to bu a new one if i break it. i rather just buy a new one. i said if i crash this i will get the air unit and i already have the goggles. also the dji footage look way better than the gopro. im watching it on the new mac air m1, not sure how you think the gopro looks better. it definitely doesn't on my screen.
Sorry about your crash, I hope you able to get it repaired. And good information on the Care Refresh program that DJI offers for the FPV drone. And the GoPro video from the FPV drone did look pretty awesome.
wow dude sorry. I feel bad for anyone who buys this thing, i mean, you can't put a price on FPV, its a lifestyle, when are people going to realize this? You can't just have a product that does FPV for the masses, it has so many complexities that aren't visible. Building, testing, adjusting, upgrading, breaking, simulating, recharging, discharging, storage, tuning, tweaking, soldering, editing footage, finding bandos, legal issues, finding free time to do this while balancing wife/gf/job/family and subbing to all the FPV guys on youtube, listening, reading, researching and staying on top of the tech, being an early adopter, being a tinkerer/hacker, staying sane.
How fragile is this thing? I've seen head on crashes that were WAY worse with 5" quads that just have prop damages. This thing gets sneezed on and its FATAL. Its enough to keep me away from getting one of these. Maybe just stick to regular quads.
I have the smallriig aero kit and the gps signal it blocked when GoPro 9 attached : ( so I fly it with a insta 360 go2. It ain't 4k 1440 will do and the horizon lock is great with a good cross wind. Do you not get any signal loss with a GoPro attached? 👁❤️🦅 long distance!
I’m new to FPV and had just learn power loops, I angled the camera up slightly for a better view, didn’t account for the new camera angle and sent the quad straight into the ground 😅 Both front arms snapped completely, and there was decent crack in the internal fame. Sent it off for repair, I was quoted £170… I thought I would have to buy a new drone. It resulted in DJI sending me a new drone as I presume they couldn’t fix it… so yeah, you are right. Care refresh is no good for this drone. Thanks for the vid, check out my beginner series if you get a chance 💪🏼
Even without care refresh they sent you a brand new quad. I think that is more than decent customer service. What more can we ask from a company. Free replacement?
@@7423Sin well tbh, I think the only reason why they replaced it is because they said that they could fix it, but then it turned out that they could, so they were obliged to send me a replacement. I would have rather it been fix as it’s a waste, however I’m not complaining. I thought it was a complete write off and I got a new drone from it… minus the battery that I couldn’t find after the crash 🤣
Yeah I been skipped that refresh. First crash was 200 in repairs and I think they sent me a completely new drone. Everything was new... Even things that wasn't broken🤷🏿♂️🤣🤣 second time was less than 200. Wasn't a new drone. Time for some other FPV drones, time for a fleet cause I can't keep crashing the DJI FPV and waiting.
Here is what DJI can do for the FPV community. They can make an Air Unit that is 4k-60. Ocusync signal and a stabilization software on par with GoPro. I would easily pay $350 for that! I am sick of all of these knockoff naked GoPro and Insta 360 cameras etc.... They can keep their ripoff FPV delicate drones. I am not interested. I have 3 Mavics that have been mostly sitting all year since I started FPV. I have a long history with DJI and I could write a book about my complaints with their customer service, but they still have the best Camera drones for the price. If not DJI somebody needs to get this done. RunCam is not Cutting it.
but didnt you save money by using care refresh? if you had to buy a whole new drone 3 times wouldnt that just be way more expensive than sending it in with the care refresh package? ill admit their drone isnt really user friendly when it comes to trying to repair it yourself but still I am glad I got the care refresh cuz i crashed mine in like a week of having it. spending $400 for replacement drone is waaayyyyy better than buying a whole new drone for $750
It is not about $$%$$% I purchased two fpv drones Care refresh on both Arm braces on both I have about 300 home built kwads Converted anout 15 to dji Then this came out I'm done with homebuilt If I crash I will have replacement in a week That's all I care about This thing is worth every penny. Periode. Rth no more lost failsafes Smart lipo Adjustable camera gimbal in flight New prop mounts are awesome I enjoy this more and more A definite winner Forget the $$$$%
@@OriginaldoBo wow you are one aggressive freak You think your constant profanity is cool ? Grow up Shadow ban ?? Go for it If the DJI is so bad why is it your everyday kwad ? Three crashes ?? You are a real pro. Stop reviewing the DJI ..
I have said it before but I will never buy a quad with acro mode unless all the parts are available. I am amazed anyone would buy the dji fpv drone. They could have easily made it user repairable. It was designed to be a money maker obviously.
For noobs it's fine. You hear about it being a glass canon and fly slower/more cautiously. Or destroy it quickly and quit the hobby. Not everyone is gonna fly circles around the park or urbex. A noob will try long range city flying and some other reckless/forbidden flying. Imagine that with a carbon easy to fix frame. IMO, this and the repair price is a nice filter, making being reckless a bit harder
Totally agree with your math here, for me, the DJI FPV is just a supercharged Mavic and it does this job very well, but just like the Mavic, they do not crash ;) but I do hesitate more often than not, flying it because I always have the $1000 cloud in my mind. as for the comparison, the DJI footage is way better, as the GoPro Stabilisation characteristics are very clearly visible, don't get me wrong, it looks great, I just find it always funny when peoples claim to be pro, and then the initial correction at the start of the sequence makes a major correction, making it clear that 50% or more of the smoothness is done by Software and not by the skill of flying. not sure why I was not subbed to you, as I've seen like 100 videos already ... done now ;)
Crazy that an arm broke just by crashing into tree branches! Do you have any GPS problems while a GoPro is mounted? The other day, Kelly mounted a camera on his DJI FPV quad and that messed up his satellite reception.
I understand you purchased it for the longer distance and that makes sense to me but I don't understand why you wouldn't use your FPV drones for what you were filming when you crashed it. I know it CAN do acro but it seems it does so at a much higher risk to reward ratio in terms of cost.
Carefresh is only great for total loss where you don't recover the drone or if for say you smash it total that everything is damaged and repair cost more than deductable
@@OriginaldoBo “As the rule is currently written, either the FPV remote pilot or a visual observer must have line of sight with the drone at all times, so a solo FPV remote pilot, such as a person wearing goggles and flying without a visual observer, could not legally comply with the rules.” Just lookin out for a fellow pilot, my dude. FAA fines hurt.
@@CaribbeanZapatta yeah I didn't get care refresh, totalled the drone, sent it in and they charged me half price for a new drone. So I actually saved money not getting the care refresh
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I was thinking that someone should develop a carbon frame platform that is made to receive and mount DJI FPV drone internals. This would result in a drone that has the DJI FPV drone features but with a higher crashworthiness, plus the damaged quad can be reused for likely less than what DJI does for a full refresh
I Think you're spot on Ken. I have a really good relationship with my DJI dealer and when I bought the FPV drone he advised me as a friend not to waste money on the care and refresh option. Here in Australia by the time you pay for repair and refresh and your first instance you have shelled out almost $700 ... as he said to me, you can almost build a new drone for that. For perspective a single arm (part not labour) you pay about $80 here
the arm bracers do help, I crashed my dji fpv 12 times, and every single time, it keeps breaking at the same spot , where the arm attach to the frame, I just stuck it back in and applied some gorilla glue and im up in the air again. I cant afford that refresh care, plus I live in a 3rd world country and they aint even going down that road.
Where do you live paaji
Best GoPro HERO10 Black settings IMO…
4K 4:3, 60fps, 1/120, ISO 100-400, ND16 lens filter.
Footage with those settings looks WAYYY better than the DJI FPV camera. I cant see a huge difference in quality from the comparison in this video… but I know i see a huge difference with my own footage.
I never soldered before. Front arm broke and I just bought some new arms on aliexpress. There is plenty of videos on youtube that will show you how to do it. It's overly complicated compared to a normal drone, but as long as you make sure to label the screws when removing them you'll be fine.
This has to be up their with DJI’s most profitable product / service this year 😂
You think SERVICE is profitable ? You realize there is a Care Refresh plan for almost every item DJI sells ? I think it might be a part of their goal to SELL more items if buyers know there is a reliable organized repair plan. Just my opinion ...
@@CaribbeanZapatta Lol absolutely, If you fly there other consumer drones, you’d know it’s nearly impossible to crash them.
But they know 99% of people who buy the FPV will need / want the refresh because of the nature of FPV. So they bump up the price of care refresh because they know the demand will be there for it.
Supply & Demand = Higher Cost = More Profits 🤷♂️
@@SLMediaie Why don't people Realize it is Not an Acro drone...
I had a similar experience broke an arm and cracked the interior shell that holds the arm. It was about $210. I disassemble it so see if I can fix it but it was to much and DJI didn't say anything had a drone back in 1 weeks of sending it in
If you really want to justify the cost of DJI refresh you can just run it over with your car and just send them a box crush pieces
HaHaHaHaHaHa!!!
Dude I totally skipped care fresh. But I did buy the braces😆
I been learning lately on how right you really are here. Unless you dump it into the water and it is lost forever, screw DJI care refresh! Finding out, just get an assessment of the cost of the parts, pay DJI to cost of the labor and it has been much lower than buying Care Refresh. Another RUclipsr did it that way to repair it and they charged him the costs of repair and instead of actually repairing the unit, they just sent him a new one. Do not pay more for replacement and just have them charge you for repairs seems so much cheaper.
Have you noticed this with your experience, Ken Dobo? Thanks for your video!
I'd still recommend it to new FPV flyers..
You can buy the Care Refresh and still decide when to utilize it, kinda like electing to file Insurance claim or out of pocket. Small crashes you can have them repaired & pay... you still gain priority service as a Care Refresh Member . Hold the Care Refresh replacements for the "smashers" learning aerobatic. If you have 1 Replacement left prior to Refresh expiring, fly it into the ground and get a new FPV.
You're seeing it as a experienced FPV Flyer... someone new to FPV may have more crashes of the severe degree.... like nose diving into a parking lot.
I broke a right front arm on mine as well. Finding the arm was not a problem, but finding the what they call a "DJI FPV Image Transmission SDR Landing Gear Antenna Feeder" for that right front landing leg is harder than I thought. It seems like a very simple UFL connector? But I am very new to the FPV thing (hint's me buying this drone) Really wish I could find it because its the only thing stopping me from putting this back together.
I had a bad crash, I had to replace even the middle frame, the problem was that I had to send to DJI because one of the PCB board was affected (the one with sdcard ) it was bended. They asked me to pay 580Euro because they can not replace only the part I asked for! Now they are sending me a new unit and keep the one I have sent with replaced parts by me.
You can get parts for cheap prices but if the main PCB boards (except to esc board ) are affected, you can not find a replacement for that.
( I have a video with the repair on my yt profile )
Fantastic, thank you very much for this video!
Perfect. Unfortunately, I got the rip-off, and I may use it only in case of water and loss as a backup.....
I wonder if you could fix it on your own and then send it back on a significant event ....?
Had my second crash today flying my dji fpv, came in hot landing with obstacle avoidance disabled, destroyed a second pair of Master Air Screw Props, but it was a bad crash and damage could've been much worse, I got lucky.. Afterwards, I started to debate on whether or not to buy arm braces in case I'm not so lucky next time ... This video was serendipitous for sure! Order Placed! ... Also, Normal mode(OA enabled) from now on when coming in to land..
I've never bought refresh on any of my DJI products, and I have a lot of them. On my Mavic One, I repaired it three different times myself, and its still going strong to date. Thanks Ken.
This is my first FPV drone and I have arm braces since day one (not flown in M mode yet). But! I have put 40hrs in velocidrone and tomorrow will be my first flight in Manual 🤞 Wich me luck!
Just did my First flight in M mode and it was successful!! Was able to do flips and rolls and split S. This is crazy!!🙌
Good luck. I was able to fly manual after only 10 hours in sim. Just get high up in the air and you will be fine :)
Thank you! Wait! 10hrs in the sim to fly the DJI FPV!? I wanted to invest the most time posible in the sim cause I need only one little mistake to crash this baby into pieces 😅
Yes I agree. I send in for repair twice , $165 and $196 US dollars , I have send to Us from Canada because DJI in Canada don’t have any parts at all . And they send me what they have already repaired in the shop . Which is not the original one from me. ( I think that why they can send it back to me in a few days ) . Also they always find out more on the expensive parts to fix , such as Esc board and vision sensor module . Last time I test the ESC and it works fine before I send to them . I put the testing on video as my record . They charged $ 64.00 for repair service. Without all the experience parts , it’s not too bad to send in for repair 😂.
Has nobody built a frame for this quad yet? ⚠️😯😊
Seems like a good opportunity for someone to make a more robust, resilient and easily fixed frame, to transfer all the electronics and running gear over to.👍😎
Seems like there is a weak point in the DJI FPV arms/ frame?🤔
Im sure its coming, but you could already build a very similar one with carbon fiber and a dji air unit.
@@andrewut7ya511 I just think there are some very talented FPV frame designers/builders who could create a much better, more robust frame than DJI have done because there are obviously serious flaws and an inherent weakness in the original frame design if braces need to be added or the arms just snap off etc
@@pdtech4524
This discussion is OLD ...
PEOPLE WHO BUY AND ENJOY THE DJI FPV DRONE DONT CARE
I have not flown my DJI dyi drones since the fpv came out
@@CaribbeanZapatta No need for the capitals!! 😯⚠️🤔😁
and no need to take it so personally either......
DJI probably designed that 'weakness' into it so they make a load of £$ on care refresh repairs and then bring you the next 'version 2' with stronger frame, more powerful motors, lighter, better flight time, 3 axis gimbal, no props in shot etc etc
The DJI FPV 2 will be out before the end of the year and will address some of the originals short comings.....so no need to get your knickers in a twist about it. ⚠️😁
Since I bought my from Best Buy, I just bought the warranty through them. It’s 300 for 3 years. Just bring back broken drone and replaced no question asked and right away. Now you will have to buy a new warranty on new drone but then your in 600 for another 3 years. It’s a little better imo then through Dji and I don’t have to mail crap off and wait.
I've seen a lot of DJI FPV crashes but none with arm braces. That would very valuable!
Companies don't sell products that cost them money. If they are selling a warranty it's usually not good for you.
I won't only Skip DJI Care Refresh for this drone, I will SKIP this Drone entirely! Thanks Ken! haha (going with a tougher real FPV drone ;) )
Here in New Zealand it's $339 dollars for a dji refresh on a mavic air 2. I think that's steep even converting it. Its usd $237.35
and it takes weeks as the agents here can't approve a replacement.
Yes its Pathetic way they can't make a call on full replacement instantly Ferntech were shockers at try repair Dji lot is we got send it to China Omg what a joke
I snapped an arm clean off at the base, glued it back on with 2 part expoy and honestly its solid and isnt glinf anywhere any time soon.
Skip care refresh and fix it yourself :) Did a full tear down on mine and I'm not great at the stuff....a few hours later - one body shell, one arm, motor etc and it was better than ever!
cost me about 50 bucks or less.
I broke the front 2 arms, 2 ufl cables, bottom plate and chassis. Repaired it myself for around 100. Took about 8 hours interrupted.
State Farm - $75, no deductible. Already used it once. Not really meant for drones but they are covered. Broke it on a Sunday. Monday morning by 9am, I had $1500 debited by State Farm.
Was this under personal item insurance?
@@cedantarmalabori861 yep, personal property insurance. I was actually told I had a $100 deductible when I purchased the policy but when I went to use it I was told there was none. I sent the claims person pictures of my destroyed drone and that was that. I still actually have it and might replace the arms myself.
Nicked the ground pulling up on a dive first night flying, and now front right arm is little-cracked, its under&rear LED’s offline and LEDcover blown out.
Still within 48hrs. Might return/exch. for 15%restocking. And I can’t seem to find LED’s for the arm online, only the frame.
Tips on best way to proceed?
Wow. DJI is charging $100-150 CAD for an arm replacement. Thats 5x the price it is to replace an arm on a Nazgul, and it will probably take at least 5 days to get it back, while on the Nazgul the arm can easily be replaced within 5 minutes!
The arm bracers saved me in my crash 80 mph no issues just busted props
Expedited shipping? When I sent mine in, I waited over 9 days for them to do anything at all due to some Chinese holiday that I wasn’t informed of, nor was it posted on their site. I waited over 5 weeks to get my DJI mini 2 back and missed out on multiple trips and travels with the drone.
If you’re a total tech member Best Buy will give you the geek squad drone warranty which only has $100 deductible if you total only 60 if it just has to be repaired and no limit on how many you can replace within the two years if you’re not a total tech member it’s $300
Oh and there’s no waiting for shipping obviously you just go in your local Best Buy store as long as they have one in stock that is give you a new one just just like to go pros if other fpv’s pilots know what I’m talking about
Same! I was tripping when I crashed because I didn’t have it and they fixed it for under 200$
Only good if your flying over water being sketchy or in a situation where u can’t recover the drone
I watched this because I am on the fence with buying for a new mini pro 3. Just to be clear - those extra "whoopsy" fees are applied because the drone incurred damage while paired with a non-DJI accessory? I cannot find specific mention in the care refresh docs where it covers these incident fees. Thanks!
How did it play out after all this time fam? I just got one but did Best Buy total tech 199.99 per yr (x2 years) then $7 monthly after the two years. $79 incidents (2 per yr). They say after like 5 years if I continue with the protection plan I would keep getting replacements or if it’s no longer made/ can be repaired Best Buy would give store credit of the initial value. Seems worth it. Cost is like 1/2 or more after 3 years but I’m not afraid to crash it now
The arm bracers are 100% worth it, I have had two crashes and 0 broken arms so far.
I will get them for sure after reading these comments
The dji bracers? Or some custom
@@Nutle159 The normal DJI bracers ;)
So can you buy the parts and fix everything on this drone if you were an experience builder? Are all of the parts like the air frame and arms, motors, ESC's even accessible? Thanks DoBo!
I got a drone replacement for Mini 2 and didnt expect Care Refresh would actually be worth it
So, is it worth it?
I broke an arm, and repair cost was similar ( ~100 euros) , Ive since added the arm bracers, and think they will help with smaller screw ups.
agreed, the care refresh is too expensive, I think the only time it pays off, is if you have a huge crash (which feels unlikely) , as I have seen some pretty big quotes - but they are the exception...so while for some it may pay-off, for most it wont.
Also using non official accessories on dji drone's may affect your ability to claim under refresh care.
They don’t give a shit when it comes to repairs
Dang sorry to hear about your crash! I'm currently working a very similar video using the SmallRig Gopro Mount! Once again, keep up the good work and good luck dealing with DJI Refresh!
Man, I had no idea DJI Care Refresh worked that way. Yeah, definitely makes sense to skip it if you're going to fly freestyle. Great video as always, Ken! 👍
I did read there terms but I was new to the quad copter world and I wanted protection in case I damage it. I also agree with you about the freestyle subject. The DJI fpv only can be found on ebay under $300
PS the trick with these is taking a picture of every single thing you take out - label the screws...etc....the DJI is the macbooks of drones...close to impossible to fix so you better get that refresh/apple care.
Hi, I’m new to dji fpv drone; how much cost you to send it for repairs (shipping)?
At the end of the day obviously nobody can top dji as far as camera quality and me being a newb to fpv am totally blown away by this smh....I melted my brain for several months doing research on fpv before pulling the trigger on a quad and til this day I'm still amazed by how many options there are as far as quads/gogs/radios ect ect....why hasn't anyone else come out with hd???? I know there is shark bite or whatever but I feel like dji is monopolizing the market....but hey that's my opinion....just like it's my opinion that this drone is way overpriced and seeing how much it costs to get it fixed could buy a few really great quads lol I have owned dji drones before and got rid of them because I wanted to become a better pilot lol dji owners will know what I mean 😁👍great vid and info man✌
I tried to send in one of my crashed drones to dji repair and he said (after several weeks waiting) no way. It had similar damaged, the airframe. The airframe is basically the whole body of the drone, not particularly expensive part, but everything is attached to it so everything must come off of it. I suspect, even though care refresh is more money, its , at least in my case, the only way to get it fixed. On top of this, when the still damaged drone was sent back, it got stolen in the mail and I never received it, I was hoping for the spare parts but I guess fait thought otherwise.
I thought that the frame was able to be purchased also. It certainly is a pain in the ass to replace arms and what not. They don't make it easy. However I'd much rather do that and have it back up and flying in a couple hours for WAY less cost and much less time on the ground.
One video I saw that was pretty cool, a guy fiberglassed around the broken arm. Yes it adds a little bit of extra weight with the epoxy, but he said he didn't notice any difference in flight characteristics or flight time. It didn't look particularly great but I know for certain that the arms won't ever break in that spot again.
Did they repair it, if they did how much was it ?
Any update
I actually think the DJI footage is a bit better than the Go Pro. 😅 Looks like this was filmed somewhere in central FL.
I crash my dji fpv everything works just has gps module not working and sensor errors so where is a good place to send for repair be side dji ?
Seems DJI electronics should work on any frame right? Moving it to carbon frame would still provide same functionality. Am I wrong?
You will have to wait and see
@@OriginaldoBo Something tells me you are already on it 😊
Skip the drone unless your time poor, or have lots of coin to pay for repairs. The task to pull the front arms off is a nightmare. We've tried one for filming, but it's too fragile and the onboard stabilization isn't a scratch on a Hero9 or RSGO.
Yeah, this is enough for me to take a pass in the DHI FPV drone. If I break an arm on my drone it’s $8 and a couple of screw for a new one. Worst case I have to drop another $20 on a new motor and I’m back in the air.
Yup care refresh only pays if the thing is totally smashed, repair costs from DJI are pretty good, my arm and body repair was $170 which to me was super cheap.
I have $500 custom "Real FPV" drones that flew once...
I have $350 custom real drones that never flew. not worth trying to get it fixed...
My only issue was the No real Disarm, which I think they sort of fixed.
for $700 it's a pretty amazing thing. But plan on $200 repair every time it touches something.
which is Fine. I have other drones for proximity.
For the right person, it makes sense.
Love !!! Occusync3 it's really amazing, the Return Home H... mindblowing.
Pause... awesome.
just hate the company.
The only time that Refresh is worth it is with water damage or major catastrophic damage. The most common damage being just a motor or arm is WAY cheaper to just have it repaired.
shoot good thing you mentioned the prop braces. i am new to flying (probably should have bought something more robust) so anything that will help my drone is probably a good idea. do they make carbon fiber versions though?...
I'm still fascinated in which seemingly easy crashes that drone breaks arms - when in other hard wall hits it barely bends a prop. This construction seems to have some really weak angles where the impact resistance of those arms is practically non-existant. I mean.. it fell in soft branches and on the grass.... wtf. Every other 5 inch would have needed some props-rebend and you'd be good to go.
Good point about RTH though. That still is a massive weak spot of our DIY FPV Quads and Betaflight's RTH outright sucks. I usually just recover mine by switching to angle mode + mid-throttle and hope it will reconnect video once it passes the tree shadows ;D
I did 2 years protected plan with Geek squad, because I bought the drone on Best Buy, is that a good plan? With Geek squad? Thank you bro ✌️💪🏻
Bro here in Puerto Rico I got my right back arm replaced plus a new motor for $75 with the same store i bought it in. Regardless you can take your drone for repairs there even if you didn't buy it with them. Dr. Tech is the name.
what mic are you using for your indoor set?? sounds terrific!
Senheiser MKE600
I broke mine 3 times. Two first ones were 87$ and 89$, the third one was a pretty solid crash I broke all 4 legs and it was 270$ to repair all without using DJI Care
Yeah it’s just cheaper than refresh
DJi don’t fix things, we’re still waiting for them to fix the Slow SD no recording bug on the DJI FPV Air Units almost two years after it was first discovered.
….and you call that a crash? That’s not a crash lol.
Yeah i totally agree! DJI make a system but they leave it half finished as fucking morons. My bet that they just give a fu.k! I mean in human perspective and rights China isn't the best country to make business with is my conclusion and therefore i went back to my analog system ,Fixed a new O4x googles and i am happy to say i don't miss DJI at all!
Better off getting into actual fpv drones , and paying someone to set everything up ,
No just learn to set it up yourself, then you're able to fix it as well.. But yeah real fpv drones don't break an arm with a split-s into a tree lol
I crashed today brotha right rear arm and main frame what should I do ? Please help I live in California
Your better off buying a new dc5 6s every time it crashes at that price. Tho my dc5 had been bashed for 2 years and only one arm broke it’s a beast for the money
I tried to search whole internet to see if one of you guys who are experienced in building drones ever tried customizing the arms somehow. If I knew how to, I would just forget about the original arms and rebuild the frame....
Come on what range you can build a 5 inch with all the same return to home features and fly way better and farther.
The fact you like your own comments is ironic… holla at me when you can afford something
@@OriginaldoBo the fact that you keep buying junk is impressive just keep buying them so dji will make more of that junk
i bought one and totalled up the cost for care or to bu a new one if i break it. i rather just buy a new one. i said if i crash this i will get the air unit and i already have the goggles. also the dji footage look way better than the gopro. im watching it on the new mac air m1, not sure how you think the gopro looks better. it definitely doesn't on my screen.
Because dudes hawk go pro like they are gonna get a sponsorship.
Gopros have been trash(for the price) for awhile now
Sorry about your crash, I hope you able to get it repaired. And good information on the Care Refresh program that DJI offers for the FPV drone. And the GoPro video from the FPV drone did look pretty awesome.
wow dude sorry. I feel bad for anyone who buys this thing, i mean, you can't put a price on FPV, its a lifestyle, when are people going to realize this? You can't just have a product that does FPV for the masses, it has so many complexities that aren't visible. Building, testing, adjusting, upgrading, breaking, simulating, recharging, discharging, storage, tuning, tweaking, soldering, editing footage, finding bandos, legal issues, finding free time to do this while balancing wife/gf/job/family and subbing to all the FPV guys on youtube, listening, reading, researching and staying on top of the tech, being an early adopter, being a tinkerer/hacker, staying sane.
How fragile is this thing? I've seen head on crashes that were WAY worse with 5" quads that just have prop damages. This thing gets sneezed on and its FATAL. Its enough to keep me away from getting one of these. Maybe just stick to regular quads.
Would you say Care refresh with the Avata or not?
yes
I have the smallriig aero kit and the gps signal it blocked when GoPro 9 attached : ( so I fly it with a insta 360 go2. It ain't 4k 1440 will do and the horizon lock is great with a good cross wind. Do you not get any signal loss with a GoPro attached? 👁❤️🦅 long distance!
Nope because we made ours correctly unlike small rig
I’m new to FPV and had just learn power loops, I angled the camera up slightly for a better view, didn’t account for the new camera angle and sent the quad straight into the ground 😅 Both front arms snapped completely, and there was decent crack in the internal fame. Sent it off for repair, I was quoted £170… I thought I would have to buy a new drone. It resulted in DJI sending me a new drone as I presume they couldn’t fix it… so yeah, you are right. Care refresh is no good for this drone. Thanks for the vid, check out my beginner series if you get a chance 💪🏼
How is care refresh not good for this drone if yiu got a brand new one for that little cash?
@@7423Sin because I didn’t get it through care refresh. I sent it off to be fixed without care refresh and it cost me £170
Even without care refresh they sent you a brand new quad. I think that is more than decent customer service. What more can we ask from a company. Free replacement?
@@7423Sin well tbh, I think the only reason why they replaced it is because they said that they could fix it, but then it turned out that they could, so they were obliged to send me a replacement. I would have rather it been fix as it’s a waste, however I’m not complaining. I thought it was a complete write off and I got a new drone from it… minus the battery that I couldn’t find after the crash 🤣
So at the end of the day, are the arm bracers worth it if you fly aggressive?
Just buy a proper fpv drone if you want to fly aggressively
Yeah I been skipped that refresh. First crash was 200 in repairs and I think they sent me a completely new drone. Everything was new... Even things that wasn't broken🤷🏿♂️🤣🤣 second time was less than 200. Wasn't a new drone. Time for some other FPV drones, time for a fleet cause I can't keep crashing the DJI FPV and waiting.
Is their a possibility where you can salvage the internals and make your own? Just a thought.
You’ll have to wait and see
Don't bother with manual if you're gonna crash
Here is what DJI can do for the FPV community. They can make an Air Unit that is 4k-60. Ocusync signal and a stabilization software on par with GoPro. I would easily pay $350 for that! I am sick of all of these knockoff naked GoPro and Insta 360 cameras etc.... They can keep their ripoff FPV delicate drones. I am not interested. I have 3 Mavics that have been mostly sitting all year since I started FPV. I have a long history with DJI and I could write a book about my complaints with their customer service, but they still have the best Camera drones for the price.
If not DJI somebody needs to get this done. RunCam is not Cutting it.
That sucks I always skip offered warranties because it always such a Hassle to deal with them.
but didnt you save money by using care refresh? if you had to buy a whole new drone 3 times wouldnt that just be way more expensive than sending it in with the care refresh package? ill admit their drone isnt really user friendly when it comes to trying to repair it yourself but still I am glad I got the care refresh cuz i crashed mine in like a week of having it. spending $400 for replacement drone is waaayyyyy better than buying a whole new drone for $750
Luckily I have not had to replace fully
It is not about $$%$$%
I purchased two fpv drones
Care refresh on both
Arm braces on both
I have about 300 home built kwads
Converted anout 15 to dji
Then this came out
I'm done with homebuilt
If I crash I will have replacement in a week
That's all I care about
This thing is worth every penny. Periode.
Rth no more lost failsafes
Smart lipo
Adjustable camera gimbal in flight
New prop mounts are awesome
I enjoy this more and more
A definite winner
Forget the $$$$%
The FPV drone is a fragile and side note if you ever format a comment like this on my channel again... I will shadow ban your ass into oblivion!
@@OriginaldoBo wow you are one aggressive freak
You think your constant profanity is cool ? Grow up
Shadow ban ?? Go for it
If the DJI is so bad why is it your everyday kwad ? Three crashes ?? You are a real pro. Stop reviewing the DJI ..
Excellent analysis Ken. That's great info for potential DJI FPV purchasers.
I have said it before but I will never buy a quad with acro mode unless all the parts are available. I am amazed anyone would buy the dji fpv drone. They could have easily made it user repairable. It was designed to be a money maker obviously.
For noobs it's fine. You hear about it being a glass canon and fly slower/more cautiously. Or destroy it quickly and quit the hobby. Not everyone is gonna fly circles around the park or urbex. A noob will try long range city flying and some other reckless/forbidden flying. Imagine that with a carbon easy to fix frame. IMO, this and the repair price is a nice filter, making being reckless a bit harder
Totally agree with your math here, for me, the DJI FPV is just a supercharged Mavic and it does this job very well, but just like the Mavic, they do not crash ;)
but I do hesitate more often than not, flying it because I always have the $1000 cloud in my mind.
as for the comparison, the DJI footage is way better, as the GoPro Stabilisation characteristics are very clearly visible, don't get me wrong, it looks great, I just find it always funny when peoples claim to be pro, and then the initial correction at the start of the sequence makes a major correction, making it clear that 50% or more of the smoothness is done by Software and not by the skill of flying. not sure why I was not subbed to you, as I've seen like 100 videos already ... done now ;)
Crazy that an arm broke just by crashing into tree branches!
Do you have any GPS problems while a GoPro is mounted? The other day, Kelly mounted a camera on his DJI FPV quad and that messed up his satellite reception.
I haven’t seen one person who crashed with the arm bracers and damaged the arms. Is there a reason as to why people don’t use the arm bracers?
Weight but that is negated with a GoPro on it
I understand you purchased it for the longer distance and that makes sense to me but I don't understand why you wouldn't use your FPV drones for what you were filming when you crashed it. I know it CAN do acro but it seems it does so at a much higher risk to reward ratio in terms of cost.
I was filming a comparison so why would I use my built rigs? I prefer to not fly like a little bitch. It’s either full throttle or nothing
I forgot you need to fly acro to do a proper comparison and you need to fly acro full throttle to prove your not a bitch, got it.
@@jgreg95 lol
…….. “zac let me borrow one for Rhode Island” lol
🤣🤣🍻
Carefresh is only great for total loss where you don't recover the drone or if for say you smash it total that everything is damaged and repair cost more than deductable
I lost my FPV drone and they wouldn't cover it.
So, what did it cost to repair?
And yes, just got the bracers...I WILL NOT BE TESTING THEM🤣🤣🤣
I have a good idea. Don't waste your money. Thing is not built to hold up for the type of flying it advertises.
Not bein accusatory or however you spell it, but were you flyin without a VO?
You the VO police? I was flying at a church. God was my VO
@@OriginaldoBo “As the rule is currently written, either the FPV remote pilot or a visual observer must have line of sight with the drone at all times, so a solo FPV remote pilot, such as a person wearing goggles and flying without a visual observer, could not legally comply with the rules.”
Just lookin out for a fellow pilot, my dude. FAA fines hurt.
I've skipped DJI care twice already. I agree
not worth it, when the drone is only 700 for the quad. also 3d printing will make new arms and bodys in the future
You can literally buy a second hand drone on its own now for £200
If you don't have care refresh and need a replacement it comes out to... around 389 I think?
What. ??
@@CaribbeanZapatta yeah I didn't get care refresh, totalled the drone, sent it in and they charged me half price for a new drone. So I actually saved money not getting the care refresh
So without refresh that is what it cost the prior times?