Hi, Billy. Thanks for sharing your experience with our service. As always, should you need to contact us for any reason, please know that we're always here to help.
@@CarlosMafla your care refresh is for whatever country you first registered and flew your drone in. Dji are pretty good with repair or replace without care refresh if it was a mechanical issue and not pilot error. Worth contacting them and seeing what you can do
@@broadwayphotovideo Thanks for the feedback. As always, should you need to contact us for any reason, please know that we are always here to help. Thank you for choosing DJI.
That’s been my experience getting drones repaired by DJI. every time has been really fast with great communication and really well priced repairs. Care refresh is great as well. I usually have the replacement drone within 5-7 days from the time I ship mine out.
Good to see that DJI took care of you Billy. Gotta give DJI's marketing department credit here. They are on their game. One question. Do you have hawks or any other large predatory birds in your airspace? Did the flight logs detail why the esc failed or registered an error in the app? (woops that's two questions). If the motors were stopped abruptly, by a bird that grabbed them, that could explain the esc error and the drone coming down. After repairing their products for almost 6 years now, I cannot believe that the gimbal itself did not incur any damage. Usually you will see "Gimbal Motor Overload" or "Gimbal Stuck", due to the Pitch, Roll or Yaw motor, burning itself up, trying to stay level with the horizon during a crash. Gotta give DJI's marketing department credit on this one. Lowest repair bill ever! Good marketing DJI!
I stop using DJI products because when I sent mine for repair they didnt calibrate and contact them they wouldn't help me instill now I till have it like new but no operational
Gosh, where do I start? I mean, drone drooping down like a dead bird from the sky is my worst nightmare! How common is this issue? The closest experience to this I had, the drone landing by itself at the alps due to a faulty battery that drooped from 100% fully charged to 0% in less than 60 seconds. But I manage to catch it undamaged, it did not fall. Both you and DJI are also lucky it didn't drop into somebody's property or even worse, on somebody's head. But that seem to be pure luck. When you say be careful when you fly, how would exactly do that, if this is a system error? Fly on the deserts, away from civilizations? And what happened to dual IMU redundancy which is meant to prevent this kind of thing? I am glad you were able to get a replacement that cheap but we should not fool ourselves into thinking DJI would do the same for every random TH-cam'r (our fault or not) They look at the level of influence and make decision. Anyway, good video as usual, even though not my favorite topic.
THANK YOU for not being a schill for DJI by insisting that the most expensive drone is the only way to go. I've been considering purchasing a Mavic 3 Pro, but you have made me feel justified in staying with my Mini 3 Pro based on the type of drone photography I do. Your advice and thoughts are invaluable and rare on TH-cam; please continue.
Well now... that stinks. Seems uncommon to lose an ESC but to your point, anytime your drone is airborne, things can fail and result in a crash. Thanks for sharing this Billy! It's a good reminder to all of us to fly with care and be mindful that things can and do go wrong. Sorry for your loss.
@@billykyle yeah when my drone slipped off the bag and landed into black Icelandic sand that took my mavic 3 out of contention for the rest of my time in iceland. Always have a redundant drone! Mini 3 Pro save my day
I own mavic 3 classic just a month and esc error comes out. no crash. still under warranty so I get the new unit for free. I own phantom 4 pro, air2s, mini 3 pro for a long time but no such thing happen to me.
Sorry to hear about your crash, especially your Mavic 3 Pro I'm glad no one was hurt and no property was damaged. And that it only costs you $68 for the repair. And I guess an ESC can go bad at any time, so thanks for reminding us to be careful at all times with the drone in the air. Great video, thanks for sharing.
More fail safe and redundancy is what Dji has to provide to the consumer drones. Ex. a 2nd ESC or 8 motors and 8 props. All redundant. Yes , too expensive but it value the cost for the peace of mind. Excelent Vid Billy!
Wow Billy that's unlucky, glad you got it sorted so easily with DJI. Was it foggy that day? I lost my Phantom 3 Pro years ago due to flying through fog, also ESC failure. Fog is your enemy, much denser than rain and gets in into electronics, but the Phantom 3 Pro's electronics was a lot more exposed
Two questions come to mind: 1) What caused the ESC error? and 2) How can it be prevent this from happening? The issue is not how quickly or inexpensive the drone can be repaired, but what can be done to avoid it. Otherwise every time we fly a drone we will be thinking that it can fall from the sky at any minute and, needless to say, the potential liability that can result from the mishap. What is DJI's position in this regard, what do they have to say on this issue? Thanks for sharing your story but it raises many concerns that need to be addressed.
So what actually made the ESC fail??? Holy crap I've never had that happen and I fly a lot!! I've been subscribed for years Billy and enjoy your videos and delivery. Thanks from the suburbs of Philadelphia.
@@glennalan hard to say.. could be a manufacturer fault. If your motors are stuck... and you keep raising trottle then its a pilots fault... but then you are allready in a tree or something... but this esc should not overheat or have more stress then it can handle.. dji picked it.. its not a diy drone that someone build and put more stress on it or bad soldering...
What I do when I’m not using or flying my drones is to remove them from the case, open the arms so to relieve the stress ( motors and props)on them just sitting in the case
I have the mini 2 for three years now and didn't get the Care Refresh and bought the mini 3 non pro refurbished and got the Care Refresh with it and I'm glad I did because the GPS module was not working right. I sent it back to DJI and got a brand new one and it works great. Got it back within 10 days. So happy for the service from DJI.
Hi Billy, great video. Could you make a follow up video which discusses what is the ESC error exactly, what caused it to make your drone crash, and how can we minimize the possibility of us getting this error on our DJI drones. You said another drone just fell out of the sky. Is this something that happens a a lot? I think a lot of viewers would watch a video on this topic. Thx.
I have had a motor fail in flight many years ago on a phantom 2, though it didn't fail permanently and managed to repair it and use it before replacing it, but never had an esc fail. It was a big wakeup call for me to take more care in after flight checks and before flight checks. Looking at getting a Mavic 3 pro cine, and a mini pro 4, since I want to get back into filming with drones. Just getting all my certificates so I can use them, and researching the 2 drones I am interested in. Only problem is the regulations so trying to figure out if the mavic 3 will be worth it for me since I am in europe.
$68 dollars isn't bad at all for a new drone. But did you ever found out why the ESC go bad? Like we know what happened, but was it weather you think? or maybe a loose wire? How would something like an ESC go bad. It's great that you got your drone back and in less than a month. Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍
Thanks, Billy. I felt your pain when you described that helpless feeling with the drone just falling out of the sky. It happened to me with a Yuneec Typhoon H hexacopter from about 60 feet over second base at a park baseball field during a test flight after some controller adjustments. Controls were crossed unbeknownst to me and holding the throttle up and to the right long enough eventually resulted in a motor stop command. That was back when Yuneec Customer Service was way better (reportedly) than DJI's. They repaired it in warranty. Have good, careful fun with the new one!
I’ve crashed my Mavic Pro and broke a arm. Was able to order an arm with motor for $50 and repair it myself, just three wires to solder. My remote control main board fried on my Mavic Pro. I was able to order a new main board and replace the main board with ease. No soldering, just plugging in some wires and mating a couple boards together. I will say DJI drones are very easy to work on yourself, if you know what you’re doing. I got into drones by building and flying FPV drones/ quadcopters that I built myself. Back In 2014 when FPV became popular, you couldn’t but a full FPV drone, you had to build one. It’s very useful to learn to repair your drones by yourself if you don’t have a ton of money and just being able to complete easy repairs yourself. But if you have the DJI refresh/ repair service that you bought with your drone, use that since it’s free!
Billy, you did not make it sound as if it hurted. You explained that incident with a lot of calmness, for a drone that literally fell out of the sky. Glad no one came to work or got hurt that day. I had my first drone crase with the first generation mavic. It taught me a lesson that when I eventually purchased the Mavic 3 Cine, I got the insurance on it. Your best tip is actually one that I already practice, I use the drone which paycheck is yielding thee most money. I also have the Mavic 2, and I love the Mavic 3 Cine. Take care of yourself.
Great video. I’m interested in what other issues you were noticing with your drone prior to the crash. Could be something for us with only one drone to be on the lookout
New fear unlocked for mini 2, falling out of sky😫. Though the repair is inexpensive comparatively, what if it falls on the road or in water where I can’t get it, that’s concerning.
@@billykyle Yes indeed, but I hope mine doesn’t fail on me because I have almost 500 miles and 990 flights on my mini 2, glad you got your drone back and things turned out ok.👍
Billy, do you know the MTBF for the mavic 3 series. I've been flying mine constantly for about 18 months and I am constantly thinking about it falling out of the sky. Thx...
Taking your advice to “be careful”, how much more “careful” could you have been to prevent the loss of the M3P? If ESC failures can occur at any time, I don’t know what else can be done other than be fully insured, or don’t fly at all. How common are ESC failures? Are they a function of time or just random? How many hours had you logged on the M3P?
I to crashed my Mavic 3 pro into a tree, totally my fault, and had the same type of experience with DJI Support. My damage was much more substantial then what you showed. I required a replacement, therefore I paid more. Because of DJI care Refresh I only paid $159 and the turn around was excellent in my opinion. I file claim on 01/02/2024, DJI received broken drone on 01/05/2024 and shipped replacement on 01/08/2024.
I actually bought a mini 2 three years ago as a backup drone (2 is 1, and 1 is none!), bought the Care Refresh plan for 2 years, and NEVER took it out of the box. My original Mini 2 is a trooper and never quit! I decided to donate the new drone in the box to my Civil Air Patrol unit and went to test it before giving it to them in December of 2023. The left rear motor would not fire up. I called DJI and explained it to them and I recognized that the Care Refresh package had expired in December of 2022! They said to send it in and they would look at it. I sent it (at their expense, which I thought was pretty nice) and two days after they got it, they called me. I paid to have it shipped back and they sent me a brand new unit! Turned out the frame itself had been defective and was preventing the motor from spinning. I can't ask for any better service than that!
Billy, yes that repair cost was very inexpensive. You did mention that the ESC failed, I’m curious as to why they didn’t charge you for replacing that? I would think if an ESC fails wants, it should be replaced. Interested in your thoughts.
Thanks for the video! Did they change out the serial numbers as well, or did you have to re-register on Drone Zone? It's inexpensive enough, just curious.
@@billykyle What do you mean with basically? Any reason why an ESC error should not be covered by the normal warrenty without an existing DJI care Plan?
@@gadgetguy9984 my thoughts exactly, i mean if it was Billy's fault then yeah $68 would be fantastic, but given their ESC failed under warranty they should be fixing it for free, as far as i'm concerned ! if it was billy's fault i doubt the cost would only be $68. it would be did you get the care refresh pack ? no oh well your SOL ! cheaper for a new drone would be my guess !
Why did you get an "ESC" error? Be helpful for many to understand the why to help prevent this happening and causing damage and or injury! Have anything to do with a construction site? I've had drones go bonkers over construction sites before due to the heavy metal in the ground. Thanks!
To add to a good video, this is why it's important to have reliable & reputable UAV insurance. If the drone falls on a person or personal property, you want to make sure you're covered for that because they will come after you.
nice video billy like always.i have a mavic 3 pro,and i was wondering how can you do stockpile measurements with the m3pro?...can you please share the steps thank you!
@DJISupportGlobal Thank you for responding to Billy’s video. I’d like to ask 2 questions: 1. I have 2 Mavic-3 drones that are operating perfectly but now have expired Care Refresh subscriptions. Is there any way to purchase an extra 2 years for these drones? And… 2. Is there any possibility of using the RC-PLUS remote controller with the Mavic-3 or Mavic-3-Pro? I am currently consulting for smaller, lower budget volunteer Fire Departments and Fire-Rescue groups and many are choosing the Mavic-3 nowadays. Many are also purchasing the M30. The ability to use the RC-PLUS would be a great option over the RC-PRO or RC. Thank you!
I don’t think the propeller was ejected by the crash. Based on the messages in the flight logs, I think it departed the aircraft in flight when the locking tabs on the prop sheared off. The motor idle message was the motor being unloaded after the prop was ejected. If it went in with it, you would have found it close by. That being said, I can’t say enough about DJI Care Refresh. I used it to replace a Mavic 3 that was being a problem child. It had the horizon tilt issue that many of the early Mavic 3’s had, and I had timed out of the initial warranty period. They sent me a new one right away.
Hey Billy... Now my very question is, how were you able to take accurately the pictures at the construction site for stockpiles measurements. Having in mind that the Mavic 3 Pro is not a drone supported by Drone deploy, What method do you use to make sure you won't have huge gaps between your photos during post-processing ?
That's awesome to know. Heard you said you didn't use your care refresh right and that was 68 bucks.. Nice. Yes, the DJI guys are pro at such stuff. They are pro in what they do. I have an Air 3 and loving it more, coming from Mini 3 through Mini 4. So what's the difference between destroyed, almost destroyed and completely destroyed ?
Can you tell if you already had this DJI Care Refresh service bought before crashing or the repairs done without it? Because even in case of DJI Care Refresh service, the replacement cost in way high than $65
When DJI send to you a new or refurbished drone after a crash, it will have a different serial number, so depending on what country you are operating in, you will have to contact the regulatory authorities where you normally register your drone and provide to them the new serial number.
I've always had great experiences with the DJI repair process. I purchased the care refresh once but don't anymore. Usually takes about 2 weeks from the day I send it to return.
A very important video - thank you for stressing a very important message. Glad it all worked out - gotta say, I am pretty steadily nervous of potential in-flight failures. It is just a machine at the end of the day. I think I may see a parachute system in my future ...
Sorry for the lost. May I know which Mavic 3 firmware/ DJI Fly app you updated before getting ESC error and crashing your Mavic 3 Pro? Firmware/app bug?
I had a Mavic Pro's gimbal shake itself to death. I travel by motorcycle and the Mavic's gimbal clamp would just fall off letting the gimbal bounce around. I was in Colorado, 1500 miles from home when it went south. DJI fixed it for around $125, IIRC. I now have a Mavic 2 Pro and they significantly improved the gimbal clamp design. No more issues.
Hey, great video as usual. Just adding my experience with DJI. Lost my Mavic 3 Cine drone in November over the Banda Sea during a 3 week scuba diving adventure. No way to recover. I didn't return until December to an area where I had ability to report and make a claim with DJI. After downloading my flight data from the RC Pro controller and sending to DJI, it turned around the replacement in 10 days from report to replacement. DJI did not use my Care Refreash coverage, rather, made it a warranty claim because it too just fell out of the sky as I framed a shot. A motor error/failure. Very weird watching your drone spiral into the ocean from several hundred feet and having no control. DJI's response and treatment of my experience was 1st Class. Shit happens. Be sure to back up after every flight if you can. (my biggest regret) Always carry a backup drone if you can. (my smartest move) DJI certainly stood up and took care of me. I vouch for your experience!
Sorry about your crash. Billy, I have crashed a total of 19 times so far. I have lost three drones that I have never recovered. Two are still on top of a mountain, and the third one is somewhere in the desert. I have a lot of flight hours, therefore it happens. Thanks for sharing your video.
Hey dude I really like your videos. Always informative and fun to watch. I had a question if you don’t mind? I really really Want the 3 pro.. I love taking Pictures and videos. However I’d also like to get into some Mapping and modeling. I can’t get a straight answer anywhere so I respect your opinion so Figured I’d ask. Can the 3 pro be used to map and model?? I mean it has a great camera I’d think it would. Anyway thanks man
always nice haivng a streamlined repair process! hats off to this division of DJI; gotta say getting a rig repaired with them 8-10yr ago was an entirely different (and horrible) experience, so glad they've put some attention into repairs to make the overall flying experience far better than it used to be. 👌
I crashed my Mavic 2 Saturday at the beach into the water. I watched the flight recorder and it was something I understand what happened but does not make sense still. Mine went down like a 737 Max.
ROI is so important. It’s why I haven’t justified buying an Inspire 3 even though it’s something I have really wanted; my ROI for what I do is simply too steep. In my opinion if you can recoup your entire drone cost in less than 5 jobs, then absolutely buy that platform. It’s why I encourage drones like the Mavic 3 over platforms like the Air platform. It’s important to be producing the absolute best content that you can make, but at the same time you don’t want to be backwards into your investment for very long. I talk about this a lot over on my channel. The take home message is try and recoup your investment in fewer than 5 jobs. Also as a side rant, I wish DJI made a dual camera for specifically commercial pilots. Again in my opinion, I’d much rather half their micro 4/3 with a second camera that is super high MP and detail then something with differing focal lengths because I’d love to take stills for clients and swap over to video inside of the same flight. I always see the clients reactions when they see the photos and the first thing they do is pinch and zoom in on the photos, even if a crop is not required. It would be nice to have something that is 48mp at least so they can pinch and zoom in and still see crispness more than a 20MP can currently produce. I envision a 48mp camera with no binning and a second micro 4/3 for video; anywhere from 16-24mp; I think the 16mp would make for some incredible natural low-light possibilities rather than the onboard denoising software - make it natural. Anyways good topic and unfortunate outcome on your drone. I’ve been doing this 11 years and I’ve had only 1 event with a Phantom 4 Pro. Sudden power loss from ESC failure and DJI replaced it. Outside of that I have been very lucky.
@@memcrew1 this is not about satisfaction. This is about pushing the cutting edge of what is possible. With no competition, DJI doesn’t have to - because it’s lonely at the top.
Thankfully it wasn’t over water - unretrievable. Then you are out a lot more than 68 bucks. I fly over ocean 90% of the time. So seeing this freaks me out now thinking about getting a Mp3
hi i have question i have mavic2 with freshcare 2 years warrant my question if my drone lost or fly away of course dj will give me replacement what happened if some one find my drone he can use .it
I have the regular mavic 3 and it's in new condition, but it's out of warranty. Do you think I can still put care refresh on this drone? It's been discontinued I think, but I constantly fly my mini 4 pro because I'm always scared to fly this expensive drone without care refresh.
Here's the thing I'd say, sometimes it can be previous habits or how you treat your drones that can cause issues. I've seen guys fly a drone in light rain and everything is okay but a month later they have a failure and can't understand what happened. They throw them in backpacks or bags. They get slammed around in the back of a car/truck... Maybe, they've dropped the case/bag a few times. I even know a guy that carries his Mavic 3 Pro in a bucket... Hahaha! Also, these drones are pretty maintenance free but that doesn't mean zero maintenance. Inspect your props, check your motors to see if they spin freely, etc. When you first launch your drone, hover it and check the controls for a few seconds to make sure everything is working correctly. There are too many guys that launch and take off right away. Spend a few seconds... I mean, you're not flying a donor heart to the damn hospital, right?
Good points! I wish they would implement their health management system in the consumer drones so that we could check on the components prior to taking off. Also, long live the bucket
So to clarify. It seems like you got this repair so cheap, without having DJI Care, was that it was an equipment malfunction, not a typical crash. Would be curious to know how much if would have cost if it was a crash instead! You got a heck of a deal on that repair :)
Wow. Sorry for the crash but only $73 with FAA re-register, it’s a great deal…For a repair without DJI care refresh? but actually a replacement! Awesome. Making me reconsider extending my DJ care, refresh, …risk versus value.
My experience with DJI repair was similar but with the Osmo Pocket. I send it, they received, quoted, paid and next day they shipped a refurbished one. Paid for the motherboard and manpower around 50 Usd. Awsome.
Hello Billy, Thank you for your detailed repair experience in using DJI Care Refresh. I have to say, the actual return time was very impressive. So, the outcome was a very good experience. Take Care!
Great information as always Billy. I was super nervous watching you taking your first flight in the frigid cold with the new drone over the river. Had me clinching for a moment. 😳
I live in the Philippines. I've had my mavic 3 pro repaired twice. Once it hit a radio antenna guy wire in Thailand when it was flying at 160 feet. One arm was broke. The repair costs $65. $50 labor. The other time the drone got hit by something, maybe a bird. This time they only charged me $15, because it was under warranty. I send it to China, even though there is a repair center in the Philippines. Wonder why they didn't charge you for the missing propeller? ESC is Electronic stability control. You should tell people that. I'm sure it's very rare. I've never gotten that error. Sorry about the Eagles!
I have State Farm Drone Insurance: I guess everyone has at on time backed into a tree or crashed OR the event is waiting to happen. I was flying my DJI Mavic 2 Zoom in a vacant parking lot running the battery down. I happened to look up and it looked like I hit a big bird which I really it a small wire going from one parking light to another. I picked up the pieces and my next stop was at the Stare Farm Insurance Claim office. The lady saw the damage and started a claim. I got on DJI's site and answered all the questions telling them I did not have the DJI Care insurance. I sent it back to them in Fort Worth, Texas for what I thought would be a repair. They kept in touch with me and after a few days they told me it would cost $230 to have it fixed. I sent them the money and a couple days later I received what I thought was my Mavic 2 Zoom in the mail. I opened it up and it was a brand new Mavic 2 Zoom. I gave State Farm the repair bill and they sent me a check. I believe I pay $75 a year for drone insurance from State Farm. I don't know how much DJI would charge me per year.
That's interesting. I once repaired my DJI Mini 2 myself after an encounter with a tree. It cost me about that (in Canadian dollars) just for the parts alone. The drone is still working well.
great to hear they have such a quick turnaround. I agree, it is an exchange with a refurb unit more often than not, which is totally acceptable, they will salvage what they can from the one you sent in, and shipt it back out to the next poor soul who needs repair.
Thanx for the video. I just wish you would have explained more about WHY the drone fell out of the sky. I'm not sure what ESC means. Now I'm afraid because these drones can just fail for no reason
DJI repair is terrible. Worst experience i'v ever had with a product. I crashed my PERFECT DJI Air 3 and sent it out for repair. Paid for the repair instead of using DJI care refresh and got a replacement. Not sure if replacements are new but mine came in a bag. Not in the box like you did. My camera quality wasn't the same, it wasn't as vibrant, sharp smooth as before. The way i would describe it is as if all my footage looked like it had iPhone night shift on with no HDR (yes i checked all settings and even factory defaults). The gimbal stuttered a lot, GPS connection and distance wasn't the same, the motors were louder. I sent it back to them and they keep telling me nothing is wrong with my drone and refuse to replace it.
Hi, Billy. Thanks for sharing your experience with our service. As always, should you need to contact us for any reason, please know that we're always here to help.
🙌🏼🙌🏼
Is this service available in Colombia? or just US and Canada?
@@CarlosMafla your care refresh is for whatever country you first registered and flew your drone in. Dji are pretty good with repair or replace without care refresh if it was a mechanical issue and not pilot error. Worth contacting them and seeing what you can do
Your customer service is excellent even with flyaways with the protection plan.
@@broadwayphotovideo Thanks for the feedback. As always, should you need to contact us for any reason, please know that we are always here to help. Thank you for choosing DJI.
That’s been my experience getting drones repaired by DJI. every time has been really fast with great communication and really well priced repairs. Care refresh is great as well. I usually have the replacement drone within 5-7 days from the time I ship mine out.
Yeah they are great. Top notch service
Too bad the other drone company doesn’t follow DJI’s repair track record.
Good to see that DJI took care of you Billy.
Gotta give DJI's marketing department credit here.
They are on their game.
One question.
Do you have hawks or any other large predatory birds in your airspace?
Did the flight logs detail why the esc failed or registered an error in the app? (woops that's two questions).
If the motors were stopped abruptly, by a bird that grabbed them, that could explain the esc error and the drone coming down.
After repairing their products for almost 6 years now, I cannot believe that the gimbal itself did not incur any damage.
Usually you will see "Gimbal Motor Overload" or "Gimbal Stuck", due to the Pitch, Roll or Yaw motor, burning itself up, trying to stay level with the horizon during a crash.
Gotta give DJI's marketing department credit on this one.
Lowest repair bill ever!
Good marketing DJI!
I stop using DJI products because when I sent mine for repair they didnt calibrate and contact them they wouldn't help me instill now I till have it like new but no operational
Gosh, where do I start? I mean, drone drooping down like a dead bird from the sky is my worst nightmare! How common is this issue? The closest experience to this I had, the drone landing by itself at the alps due to a faulty battery that drooped from 100% fully charged to 0% in less than 60 seconds. But I manage to catch it undamaged, it did not fall. Both you and DJI are also lucky it didn't drop into somebody's property or even worse, on somebody's head. But that seem to be pure luck. When you say be careful when you fly, how would exactly do that, if this is a system error? Fly on the deserts, away from civilizations? And what happened to dual IMU redundancy which is meant to prevent this kind of thing? I am glad you were able to get a replacement that cheap but we should not fool ourselves into thinking DJI would do the same for every random TH-cam'r (our fault or not) They look at the level of influence and make decision. Anyway, good video as usual, even though not my favorite topic.
THANK YOU for not being a schill for DJI by insisting that the most expensive drone is the only way to go. I've been considering purchasing a Mavic 3 Pro, but you have made me feel justified in staying with my Mini 3 Pro based on the type of drone photography I do. Your advice and thoughts are invaluable and rare on TH-cam; please continue.
Great information... thanks! Did you ever find out more as to why the 'ESC' error?
Well now... that stinks. Seems uncommon to lose an ESC but to your point, anytime your drone is airborne, things can fail and result in a crash. Thanks for sharing this Billy! It's a good reminder to all of us to fly with care and be mindful that things can and do go wrong. Sorry for your loss.
Very uncommon, but when it happens, it sure does suck
@@billykyle yeah when my drone slipped off the bag and landed into black Icelandic sand that took my mavic 3 out of contention for the rest of my time in iceland. Always have a redundant drone! Mini 3 Pro save my day
I own mavic 3 classic just a month and esc error comes out. no crash. still under warranty so I get the new unit for free. I own phantom 4 pro, air2s, mini 3 pro for a long time but no such thing happen to me.
Question,you said you got an ESC warning.what exactly malfunctioned on it? I would like to know .I have the same drone and am concerned😧
“I have a question. You stopped at a stop sign. What exactly did you do at the stop sign? I am concerned”.
It really can happen at any time!
Sorry to hear about your crash, especially your Mavic 3 Pro I'm glad no one was hurt and no property was damaged. And that it only costs you $68 for the repair. And I guess an ESC can go bad at any time, so thanks for reminding us to be careful at all times with the drone in the air. Great video, thanks for sharing.
So it's not completely destroyed. I like the fact that they sent out a basically new unit. Thank you for sharing this.
Yeah that was nice
More fail safe and redundancy is what Dji has to provide to the consumer drones. Ex. a 2nd ESC or 8 motors and 8 props. All redundant. Yes , too expensive but it value the cost for the peace of mind. Excelent Vid Billy!
I'd pay for it
Hope it gets sorted. Here’s my five years in with my Mavic 2 Pro still. Still flying faultlessly and never had any technical issues.
Wow Billy that's unlucky, glad you got it sorted so easily with DJI.
Was it foggy that day? I lost my Phantom 3 Pro years ago due to flying through fog, also ESC failure. Fog is your enemy, much denser than rain and gets in into electronics, but the Phantom 3 Pro's electronics was a lot more exposed
Always so painful to see a drone go down. Any clues as to why the ECS error occurred? Any lessons learned on how, why, prevention?
Thanks,
Matt
Why do I pay for DJI Care Refresh every purchase when I see these videos of guys getting them replaced for $68? 😂
Fly Away and total loss is why I purchase DJI Care Refresh. Out of warranty repairs or if it's not DJI's "fault". Peace of mind...
In this case, the crash wasn’t my fault at all. That’s why it was so inexpensive.
Get full coverage through state farm for $60
@@Jacob.Wi503 Not every state or every person can get State Farm PPI coverage.
@@Jacob.Wi503 Jake from State Farm?
Surely a ESC error should qualify for a free repair ?
It absolutely should
Agreed. Especially given the price of the repair was actually 3 dollars in gear. They charged 65 to repair something that failed on their end.
I'd love more inspire 3 content!! Do you own a unit or did DJI just send it to you to test?
I’ll have to do that
Two questions come to mind: 1) What caused the ESC error? and 2) How can it be prevent this from happening? The issue is not how quickly or inexpensive the drone can be repaired, but what can be done to avoid it. Otherwise every time we fly a drone we will be thinking that it can fall from the sky at any minute and, needless to say, the potential liability that can result from the mishap. What is DJI's position in this regard, what do they have to say on this issue? Thanks for sharing your story but it raises many concerns that need to be addressed.
ESC is an electronics circuit board, it can fail anytime. Nothing you can to prevent it.
@@rubengarciajr7560 Thank you!
Billy.
I would have liked you to tell us more about the causes of the crash,what ECS ERROR is etc.
Tank you.
☮️
The ESC is the electronic speed controller. It failed which sent my drone straight down to the ground
its the board that steers your motors.... so in this case.. nothing that the pilot did wrong.
So what actually made the ESC fail??? Holy crap I've never had that happen and I fly a lot!! I've been subscribed for years Billy and enjoy your videos and delivery. Thanks from the suburbs of Philadelphia.
@@glennalan hard to say.. could be a manufacturer fault. If your motors are stuck... and you keep raising trottle then its a pilots fault... but then you are allready in a tree or something... but this esc should not overheat or have more stress then it can handle.. dji picked it.. its not a diy drone that someone build and put more stress on it or bad soldering...
What I do when I’m not using or flying my drones is to remove them from the case, open the arms so to relieve the stress ( motors and props)on them just sitting in the case
I have the mini 2 for three years now and didn't get the Care Refresh and bought the mini 3 non pro refurbished and got the Care Refresh with it and I'm glad I did because the GPS module was not working right. I sent it back to DJI and got a brand new one and it works great. Got it back within 10 days. So happy for the service from DJI.
DJI service is sooo good
Hi Billy, great video. Could you make a follow up video which discusses what is the ESC error exactly, what caused it to make your drone crash, and how can we minimize the possibility of us getting this error on our DJI drones. You said another drone just fell out of the sky. Is this something that happens a a lot? I think a lot of viewers would watch a video on this topic. Thx.
What is there to discuss, it’s an electronic part that can fail, just like a computer motherboard, ram or something. 😅
So if it’s a different drone, does it have a different serial number and consequently impact your FAA registration information?
Its a different serial number and due diligence is required.
Yup need to re-register
I have had a motor fail in flight many years ago on a phantom 2, though it didn't fail permanently and managed to repair it and use it before replacing it, but never had an esc fail. It was a big wakeup call for me to take more care in after flight checks and before flight checks. Looking at getting a Mavic 3 pro cine, and a mini pro 4, since I want to get back into filming with drones. Just getting all my certificates so I can use them, and researching the 2 drones I am interested in. Only problem is the regulations so trying to figure out if the mavic 3 will be worth it for me since I am in europe.
$68 dollars isn't bad at all for a new drone. But did you ever found out why the ESC go bad? Like we know what happened, but was it weather you think? or maybe a loose wire? How would something like an ESC go bad.
It's great that you got your drone back and in less than a month. Thanks for sharing 👍👍👍
Thanks, Billy. I felt your pain when you described that helpless feeling with the drone just falling out of the sky. It happened to me with a Yuneec Typhoon H hexacopter from about 60 feet over second base at a park baseball field during a test flight after some controller adjustments. Controls were crossed unbeknownst to me and holding the throttle up and to the right long enough eventually resulted in a motor stop command. That was back when Yuneec Customer Service was way better (reportedly) than DJI's. They repaired it in warranty. Have good, careful fun with the new one!
Another good idea is to listen to your drone before you take off. Make sure there are no unusual noises.
I’ve crashed my Mavic Pro and broke a arm. Was able to order an arm with motor for $50 and repair it myself, just three wires to solder.
My remote control main board fried on my Mavic Pro. I was able to order a new main board and replace the main board with ease. No soldering, just plugging in some wires and mating a couple boards together.
I will say DJI drones are very easy to work on yourself, if you know what you’re doing.
I got into drones by building and flying FPV drones/ quadcopters that I built myself. Back In 2014 when FPV became popular, you couldn’t but a full FPV drone, you had to build one.
It’s very useful to learn to repair your drones by yourself if you don’t have a ton of money and just being able to complete easy repairs yourself.
But if you have the DJI refresh/ repair service that you bought with your drone, use that since it’s free!
Billy, you did not make it sound as if it hurted. You explained that incident with a lot of calmness, for a drone that literally fell out of the sky. Glad no one came to work or got hurt that day. I had my first drone crase with the first generation mavic. It taught me a lesson that when I eventually purchased the Mavic 3 Cine, I got the insurance on it. Your best tip is actually one that I already practice, I use the drone which paycheck is yielding thee most money. I also have the Mavic 2, and I love the Mavic 3 Cine. Take care of yourself.
Great video man! why did it drop out from the sky? I miss that.
Great video. I’m interested in what other issues you were noticing with your drone prior to the crash. Could be something for us with only one drone to be on the lookout
Good video Billy. A bit of bad luck with the crash and well done DJI on the repair.
They make it easy 😎
New fear unlocked for mini 2, falling out of sky😫. Though the repair is inexpensive comparatively, what if it falls on the road or in water where I can’t get it, that’s concerning.
Exactly. Can be scary. They are very reliable drones, though
Yeah, Till they're not.@@billykyle
@@billykyle Yes indeed, but I hope mine doesn’t fail on me because I have almost 500 miles and 990 flights on my mini 2, glad you got your drone back and things turned out ok.👍
Billy, do you know the MTBF for the mavic 3 series. I've been flying mine constantly for about 18 months and I am constantly thinking about it falling out of the sky. Thx...
Taking your advice to “be careful”, how much more “careful” could you have been to prevent the loss of the M3P? If ESC failures can occur at any time, I don’t know what else can be done other than be fully insured, or don’t fly at all. How common are ESC failures? Are they a function of time or just random? How many hours had you logged on the M3P?
I to crashed my Mavic 3 pro into a tree, totally my fault, and had the same type of experience with DJI Support. My damage was much more substantial then what you showed. I required a replacement, therefore I paid more. Because of DJI care Refresh I only paid $159 and the turn around was excellent in my opinion. I file claim on 01/02/2024, DJI received broken drone on 01/05/2024 and shipped replacement on 01/08/2024.
I actually bought a mini 2 three years ago as a backup drone (2 is 1, and 1 is none!), bought the Care Refresh plan for 2 years, and NEVER took it out of the box. My original Mini 2 is a trooper and never quit! I decided to donate the new drone in the box to my Civil Air Patrol unit and went to test it before giving it to them in December of 2023. The left rear motor would not fire up. I called DJI and explained it to them and I recognized that the Care Refresh package had expired in December of 2022! They said to send it in and they would look at it. I sent it (at their expense, which I thought was pretty nice) and two days after they got it, they called me. I paid to have it shipped back and they sent me a brand new unit! Turned out the frame itself had been defective and was preventing the motor from spinning. I can't ask for any better service than that!
Great service. I agree. 2 is 1 and 1 is none is a great quote!
Why would it cost anything if it was a failure on the drones part?
Exactly! Warranty replacement is supposed to be FREE!
Billy, yes that repair cost was very inexpensive. You did mention that the ESC failed, I’m curious as to why they didn’t charge you for replacing that? I would think if an ESC fails wants, it should be replaced. Interested in your thoughts.
Hello?
Thanks for the video! Did they change out the serial numbers as well, or did you have to re-register on Drone Zone? It's inexpensive enough, just curious.
The drone will be new and have its own serial number
DJI Care is only necessary in case of operators fault. In your case of an ESC error it should be 100% covered by warranty, correct?
Basically
@@billykyle What do you mean with basically? Any reason why an ESC error should not be covered by the normal warrenty without an existing DJI care Plan?
@@billykyleThen why did you have to pay ANYTHING? Should have been FREE! Why did you not dispute the invoice?
@@gadgetguy9984 my thoughts exactly, i mean if it was Billy's fault then yeah $68 would be fantastic, but given their ESC failed under warranty they should be fixing it for free, as far as i'm concerned ! if it was billy's fault i doubt the cost would only be $68. it would be did you get the care refresh pack ? no oh well your SOL ! cheaper for a new drone would be my guess !
Why did you get an "ESC" error? Be helpful for many to understand the why to help prevent this happening and causing damage and or injury! Have anything to do with a construction site? I've had drones go bonkers over construction sites before due to the heavy metal in the ground. Thanks!
To add to a good video, this is why it's important to have reliable & reputable UAV insurance. If the drone falls on a person or personal property, you want to make sure you're covered for that because they will come after you.
Totally! Great point, thanks for adding.
nice video billy like always.i have a mavic 3 pro,and i was wondering how can you do stockpile measurements with the m3pro?...can you please share the steps thank you!
I assume that means you need to update and re register it through drone zone.
@DJISupportGlobal Thank you for responding to Billy’s video.
I’d like to ask 2 questions:
1. I have 2 Mavic-3 drones that are operating perfectly but now have expired Care Refresh subscriptions.
Is there any way to purchase an extra 2 years for these drones?
And…
2. Is there any possibility of using the RC-PLUS remote controller with the Mavic-3 or Mavic-3-Pro?
I am currently consulting for smaller, lower budget volunteer Fire Departments and Fire-Rescue groups and many are choosing the Mavic-3 nowadays. Many are also purchasing the M30. The ability to use the RC-PLUS would be a great option over the RC-PRO or RC.
Thank you!
I don’t think the propeller was ejected by the crash. Based on the messages in the flight logs, I think it departed the aircraft in flight when the locking tabs on the prop sheared off. The motor idle message was the motor being unloaded after the prop was ejected. If it went in with it, you would have found it close by. That being said, I can’t say enough about DJI Care Refresh. I used it to replace a Mavic 3 that was being a problem child. It had the horizon tilt issue that many of the early Mavic 3’s had, and I had timed out of the initial warranty period. They sent me a new one right away.
Hey Billy... Now my very question is, how were you able to take accurately the pictures at the construction site for stockpiles measurements. Having in mind that the Mavic 3 Pro is not a drone supported by Drone deploy, What method do you use to make sure you won't have huge gaps between your photos during post-processing ?
That's awesome to know. Heard you said you didn't use your care refresh right and that was 68 bucks.. Nice. Yes, the DJI guys are pro at such stuff. They are pro in what they do. I have an Air 3 and loving it more, coming from Mini 3 through Mini 4. So what's the difference between destroyed, almost destroyed and completely destroyed ?
It’s interesting that one of the props is missing. You will get an ESC error when you lose a prop and the motor spins out of control.
Can you tell if you already had this DJI Care Refresh service bought before crashing or the repairs done without it? Because even in case of DJI Care Refresh service, the replacement cost in way high than $65
When DJI send to you a new or refurbished drone after a crash, it will have a different serial number, so depending on what country you are operating in, you will have to contact the regulatory authorities where you normally register your drone and provide to them the new serial number.
I've always had great experiences with the DJI repair process. I purchased the care refresh once but don't anymore. Usually takes about 2 weeks from the day I send it to return.
A very important video - thank you for stressing a very important message. Glad it all worked out - gotta say, I am pretty steadily nervous of potential in-flight failures. It is just a machine at the end of the day. I think I may see a parachute system in my future ...
Parachute systems would be great
Billy, have you any experience dealing with Autel repair service?
I have.... they are there... but they arent great.
I did get a new drone for a discount
@@Matanumi Ah, that’s the game they’re playing at Autel.🤔
Sorry for the lost. May I know which Mavic 3 firmware/ DJI Fly app you updated before getting ESC error and crashing your Mavic 3 Pro? Firmware/app bug?
How is the image quality compared to the M3E? I just purchased it for cell tower inspections.
I had a Mavic Pro's gimbal shake itself to death. I travel by motorcycle and the Mavic's gimbal clamp would just fall off letting the gimbal bounce around. I was in Colorado, 1500 miles from home when it went south. DJI fixed it for around $125, IIRC. I now have a Mavic 2 Pro and they significantly improved the gimbal clamp design. No more issues.
Hey, great video as usual. Just adding my experience with DJI. Lost my Mavic 3 Cine drone in November over the Banda Sea during a 3 week scuba diving adventure. No way to recover. I didn't return until December to an area where I had ability to report and make a claim with DJI. After downloading my flight data from the RC Pro controller and sending to DJI, it turned around the replacement in 10 days from report to replacement. DJI did not use my Care Refreash coverage, rather, made it a warranty claim because it too just fell out of the sky as I framed a shot. A motor error/failure. Very weird watching your drone spiral into the ocean from several hundred feet and having no control. DJI's response and treatment of my experience was 1st Class. Shit happens. Be sure to back up after every flight if you can. (my biggest regret) Always carry a backup drone if you can. (my smartest move) DJI certainly stood up and took care of me. I vouch for your experience!
Sorry about your crash. Billy, I have crashed a total of 19 times so far. I have lost three drones that I have never recovered. Two are still on top of a mountain, and the third one is somewhere in the desert. I have a lot of flight hours, therefore it happens. Thanks for sharing your video.
How did you crash sir?
Hey dude I really like your videos. Always informative and fun to watch. I had a question if you don’t mind? I really really
Want the 3 pro.. I love taking
Pictures and videos. However I’d also like to get into some
Mapping and modeling. I can’t get a straight answer anywhere so I respect your opinion so
Figured I’d ask. Can the 3 pro be used to map and model?? I mean it has a great camera I’d think it would. Anyway thanks man
So should we be concerned with DJI drones just falling suddenly. That can be very dangerous
Great advice, Billy. A shop teacher back in high school put it best: if it's mechanical, it can and will fail. It's just a matter of when.
So what caused the ESC error?? A motor died? Thats concerning.
Cool video, thanks for sharing Billy!
Thanks for watching!
I’m confused. Why did you have to pay for the repair? Surely the logs would confirm there was a fault with the drone and not user error
That's bad, what configuration do you use in hyperlaps?
great video man it shows that we can send our drones to DJI with no problem to get fix .... how is that Tesla holding up in cols weather???
always nice haivng a streamlined repair process! hats off to this division of DJI; gotta say getting a rig repaired with them 8-10yr ago was an entirely different (and horrible) experience, so glad they've put some attention into repairs to make the overall flying experience far better than it used to be. 👌
I crashed my Mavic 2 Saturday at the beach into the water. I watched the flight recorder and it was something I understand what happened but does not make sense still. Mine went down like a 737 Max.
ROI is so important. It’s why I haven’t justified buying an Inspire 3 even though it’s something I have really wanted; my ROI for what I do is simply too steep. In my opinion if you can recoup your entire drone cost in less than 5 jobs, then absolutely buy that platform. It’s why I encourage drones like the Mavic 3 over platforms like the Air platform. It’s important to be producing the absolute best content that you can make, but at the same time you don’t want to be backwards into your investment for very long. I talk about this a lot over on my channel. The take home message is try and recoup your investment in fewer than 5 jobs. Also as a side rant, I wish DJI made a dual camera for specifically commercial pilots. Again in my opinion, I’d much rather half their micro 4/3 with a second camera that is super high MP and detail then something with differing focal lengths because I’d love to take stills for clients and swap over to video inside of the same flight. I always see the clients reactions when they see the photos and the first thing they do is pinch and zoom in on the photos, even if a crop is not required. It would be nice to have something that is 48mp at least so they can pinch and zoom in and still see crispness more than a 20MP can currently produce. I envision a 48mp camera with no binning and a second micro 4/3 for video; anywhere from 16-24mp; I think the 16mp would make for some incredible natural low-light possibilities rather than the onboard denoising software - make it natural. Anyways good topic and unfortunate outcome on your drone. I’ve been doing this 11 years and I’ve had only 1 event with a Phantom 4 Pro. Sudden power loss from ESC failure and DJI replaced it. Outside of that I have been very lucky.
That 20mp camera makes some crispy photos, even zoomed in.
@@memcrew1 not like a 40+.
@@CaliforniaPhantom do what works for you. I’m very satisfied with what 20mp brings and that’s coming from a GFX, Hasselblad 100mp owner.
@@memcrew1 this is not about satisfaction. This is about pushing the cutting edge of what is possible. With no competition, DJI doesn’t have to - because it’s lonely at the top.
Thankfully it wasn’t over water - unretrievable. Then you are out a lot more than 68 bucks. I fly over ocean 90% of the time. So seeing this freaks me out now thinking about getting a Mp3
BIG topic man.. good stuff..
It does depend on how bad damage is if they replace or repair it. Urs was waisted lol they replaced it. I had a cpl repaird tho
hi i have question i have mavic2 with freshcare 2 years warrant my question if my drone lost or fly away of course dj will give me replacement what happened if some one find my drone he can use .it
Randomly falling out of the sky is what scares me the most everytime I go up
Same 🫣
I have the regular mavic 3 and it's in new condition, but it's out of warranty. Do you think I can still put care refresh on this drone? It's been discontinued I think, but I constantly fly my mini 4 pro because I'm always scared to fly this expensive drone without care refresh.
Here's the thing I'd say, sometimes it can be previous habits or how you treat your drones that can cause issues. I've seen guys fly a drone in light rain and everything is okay but a month later they have a failure and can't understand what happened. They throw them in backpacks or bags. They get slammed around in the back of a car/truck... Maybe, they've dropped the case/bag a few times. I even know a guy that carries his Mavic 3 Pro in a bucket... Hahaha!
Also, these drones are pretty maintenance free but that doesn't mean zero maintenance. Inspect your props, check your motors to see if they spin freely, etc. When you first launch your drone, hover it and check the controls for a few seconds to make sure everything is working correctly. There are too many guys that launch and take off right away. Spend a few seconds... I mean, you're not flying a donor heart to the damn hospital, right?
Good points! I wish they would implement their health management system in the consumer drones so that we could check on the components prior to taking off.
Also, long live the bucket
Whoa! Sorry to hear it, Bill! You have made some great points here.
I’ll survive 😅 thanks Marcus
Stockpile measurements? With or without GCPs?
I’m curious if you cleared the drone from the mud before sending it back. Or better to leave it as is? 😅
So to clarify. It seems like you got this repair so cheap, without having DJI Care, was that it was an equipment malfunction, not a typical crash. Would be curious to know how much if would have cost if it was a crash instead! You got a heck of a deal on that repair :)
Yeah I’m not sure what it would have been if it was my fault.
Wow. Sorry for the crash but only $73 with FAA re-register, it’s a great deal…For a repair without DJI care refresh? but actually a replacement! Awesome. Making me reconsider extending my DJ care, refresh, …risk versus value.
My experience with DJI repair was similar but with the Osmo Pocket.
I send it, they received, quoted, paid and next day they shipped a refurbished one.
Paid for the motherboard and manpower around 50 Usd. Awsome.
Why there is no warranty? It was new and fell from the sky on it's own and DJI charges you 68 bucks. CRAZY!
How difficult to get FAA authorization to fly where you do. I assume Philadelphia has a complex air space requirements. Thanks
Nice video again Billy! Thanks for sharing. Kudos to you & DJI!
Thanks 😎 they have great service
Esc error, would say a motor failed mid air bringing the esc error up. Not great having that happen in mid air.
Hello Billy, Thank you for your detailed repair experience in using DJI Care Refresh. I have to say, the actual return time was very impressive. So, the outcome was a very good experience. Take Care!
Great information as always Billy. I was super nervous watching you taking your first flight in the frigid cold with the new drone over the river. Had me clinching for a moment. 😳
So what actually caused the crash? Sorry if I missed it
Just a component failure.
@@billykyle ok, just curious. I haven't flown my Mavic 3 lately. Mostly fly my Air 3
ESC is a electronic circuit board that powers each motor
I live in the Philippines. I've had my mavic 3 pro repaired twice. Once it hit a radio antenna guy wire in Thailand when it was flying at 160 feet. One arm was broke. The repair costs $65. $50 labor. The other time the drone got hit by something, maybe a bird. This time they only charged me $15, because it was under warranty. I send it to China, even though there is a repair center in the Philippines. Wonder why they didn't charge you for the missing propeller?
ESC is Electronic stability control. You should tell people that. I'm sure it's very rare. I've never gotten that error. Sorry about the Eagles!
I have State Farm Drone Insurance:
I guess everyone has at on time backed into a tree or crashed OR the event is waiting to happen.
I was flying my DJI Mavic 2 Zoom in a vacant parking lot running the battery down. I happened to look up and it looked like
I hit a big bird which I really it a small wire going from one parking light to another.
I picked up the pieces and my next stop was at the Stare Farm Insurance Claim office. The lady saw the damage and started a claim.
I got on DJI's site and answered all the questions telling them I did not have the DJI Care insurance. I sent it back to them in Fort Worth, Texas for what I thought would be a repair. They kept in touch with me and after a few days they told me it would cost $230 to have it fixed.
I sent them the money and a couple days later I received what I thought was my Mavic 2 Zoom in the mail.
I opened it up and it was a brand new Mavic 2 Zoom.
I gave State Farm the repair bill and they sent me a check.
I believe I pay $75 a year for drone insurance from State Farm.
I don't know how much DJI would charge me per year.
I was charged $50 to repair a busted arm on my Mini 2SE just a couple weeks ago. Seems to me you got an extremely good deal by comparison.
sounds like you took your eyes off the drone when you were looking at plans??
That's interesting. I once repaired my DJI Mini 2 myself after an encounter with a tree. It cost me about that (in Canadian dollars) just for the parts alone. The drone is still working well.
great to hear they have such a quick turnaround. I agree, it is an exchange with a refurb unit more often than not, which is totally acceptable, they will salvage what they can from the one you sent in, and shipt it back out to the next poor soul who needs repair.
Thanx for the video. I just wish you would have explained more about WHY the drone fell out of the sky. I'm not sure what ESC means. Now I'm afraid because these drones can just fail for no reason
DJI repair is terrible. Worst experience i'v ever had with a product. I crashed my PERFECT DJI Air 3 and sent it out for repair. Paid for the repair instead of using DJI care refresh and got a replacement. Not sure if replacements are new but mine came in a bag. Not in the box like you did. My camera quality wasn't the same, it wasn't as vibrant, sharp smooth as before. The way i would describe it is as if all my footage looked like it had iPhone night shift on with no HDR (yes i checked all settings and even factory defaults). The gimbal stuttered a lot, GPS connection and distance wasn't the same, the motors were louder.
I sent it back to them and they keep telling me nothing is wrong with my drone and refuse to replace it.
P4 would be a better option for these jobs?