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- Oct 30, 2015
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I agree. But what can be defined as "normal operation" for a consumer, non-professional drone that can operate as a professional one or even beyond that? Without even touching the subject of such advanced, sensitive and capable aircraft flying time and again without needing specific or regular maintenance, the fact of the matter is that conditions of flight, operation and maintenance vary way too much. We´re not talking about a TV or a PC. IMHO it is important to realize both sides of the issue as well as the others. Besides, pilots are being compensated as far as I´m aware.
I understand and sympathize with pilots suffering cracks or battery problems early on. It is disheartening and frustratingm and DJI is not helping much (yet they´re learning, see the review of warranty terms). But how many are in this situation? Mine has been under "normal operation" and even situations that cannot be objectively defined as "normal" (hard landings, continuous/sequential flights, a small crash against a wall, etc.) for months without a single issue. So has the P3s of many users. I´d be mad pissed if mine failed, even more so early on or time and again (though as a hobbyist I´d prolly fix it up and move on to keep flying somehow).
DJI raised the bar on expectations with the P3 by both creating a mostly trouble-and-maintenance free, long-term use and (mostly) realiable, easy and safe-to-fly aircraft for a resonable price - for the masses. Untill recently, that was high-end hobby camp only, you had a learning curve to climb on many areas that no one has to even touch or deal with when it comes to the P3. They also got it wrong by not defining an expected lifetime for some high-wear components, most notably the shell and engine. It is clear and obvious that both take some serious stress, without a precise maintenance schedule and under operation of pilots situated at extremes of familiarity and hability, and all in between. So everyone is expecting it to last forever and fly trouble-free all the time, but that´s not realistic.
Advanced/sophisticated/sensitive device + variability of conditions and levels of operation/users = problems will occur at some level. I´m a hobbyist/RC operator for over 30 years, and before taking on the Phantom I expected it to need a motor, battery, prop or shell replacement every 10 hours of flight AT MOST. That is A LOT of flying time by existing standards, or any standard in fact. I´ve got already twice that on my P3P and it´s amazingly stable and operating as new. That´s unheard of in hobby/RC and even with drones, at least as far as I´m concerned. The Inspire cost 3X and flies for less than 15 minutes on a charge.
I´m not defending DJI or anyone, I´ve paid full price for my P3 and all the accessories and gizmos like everyone else. I´m just trying to see the facts and the bigger picture. We should demand more from DJI and they must get it right, or else. I just don´t know enough about percentages of failure to point the problems to bad design, at least not when so many are out there flying 100% fine for some time now. A QC issue maybe, but that´s no reason for hysteria ot taking things out of proportion.
IMHO. And sorry for the long post.
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