First P3 Advanced crash ... fixable?

DroneDestination · Feb 9, 2016

If you already bought a new one, i would try to either
a) buy a new/used gimbal & camera or send to DJI
b) sell the working, cameraless aircraft (I've seen a few people who need a new Phantom but still have a working gimbal)
c) use old one for mods - i.e. try to make it into a faster, more agile quad or test range mods on broken one

X5GEE · Feb 9, 2016

DroneDestination said:
If you already bought a new one, i would try to either
a) buy a new/used gimbal & camera or send to DJI
b) sell the working, cameraless aircraft (I've seen a few people who need a new Phantom but still have a working gimbal)
c) use old one for mods - i.e. try to make it into a faster, more agile quad or test range mods on broken one

A) my camera looks like it may still work? Just need a gimbal and some other parts it seems.
B) That could be a possibility too. What could that sell for? My shell has nice ding in it.
C) Long range tests would be fun too.

dirtybum · Feb 9, 2016

Sell it on e-bay & start over. Just kiddin, kind of, anything can be fixed!

DroneDestination · Feb 9, 2016

X5GEE said:
Just need a gimbal and some other parts it seems.

Might be hard to find just a gimbal... I know DJI only sells them as a set. Check the classifieds.

adfischer · Feb 9, 2016

If you bought it on a credit card, check your cardmember benefits. My AMEX covers accidental breakage during the first 90 days. I recently used it to replace my son's PlayStation Portable that he dropped and broke. They covered the full cost of replacement.

X5GEE · Feb 9, 2016

adfischer said:
If you bought it on a credit card, check your cardmember benefits. My AMEX covers accidental breakage during the first 90 days. I recently used it to replace my son's PlayStation Portable that he dropped and broke. They covered the full cost of replacement.

Yeah I did buy it on a credit card. My wife figured out that we can get up to $500 back for accidental damage; maybe more. Working on the claim now.

DroneDestination · Feb 9, 2016

X5GEE said:
$500 back for accidental damage

Should be enough or almost enough for new gimbal, or just pro-rate your recent P3A purchase, so you basically got 1.5 Phantoms for the price of 1

adfischer · Feb 9, 2016

X5GEE said:
Yeah I did buy it on a credit card. My wife figured out that we can get up to $500 back for accidental damage; maybe more. Working on the claim now.

Well, thats at least something. Please post an update and let us know what happens with the claim. Im sure others would be interested.

DroneDestination · Feb 9, 2016

A new gimbal for the P3A is $409. You need a new vibration absorbing board as well ($9), and a new shell (59). Your $500 should be just enough for all the required repairs

X5GEE · Feb 9, 2016

adfischer said:
Well, thats at least something. Please post an update and let us know what happens with the claim. Im sure others would be interested.

I definitely will

X5GEE · Feb 9, 2016

DroneDestination said:
A new gimbal for the P3A is $409. You need a new vibration absorbing board as well ($9), and a new shell (59). Your $500 should be just enough for all the required repairs

Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the helpful info.

NoOne · Feb 9, 2016

I'm pretty sure that anything that flies is excluded from accident protection. Credit card companies weren't born yesterday.

adfischer · Feb 10, 2016

NoOne said:
I'm pretty sure that anything that flies is excluded from accident protection. Credit card companies weren't born yesterday.

Not so. Search the boards and DJI Forums and you will find success stories with credit card companies. They definitely exclude actual vehicles like planes and cars, but most will consider "RC Planes" as "toys."

NoOne · Feb 10, 2016

Thanks for the info. I'll keep this in mind in case I wreck it within the next 60 days.

Chicago1 · Feb 13, 2016

John Locke said:
That's looks like about $400 to repair that, assuming the gimbal isn't too bad and the motherboard isn't broke. Call Mike Holt, he repaired mine in a week, it looked similar to yours. I'll pm you.

Mine cost $306 to repair, similar shape, but what saved my gimbal was the $50 gimbal guard and the$20 carbon fiber camera guard. I highly recommend those accessories because someday you're going to crash.

MI
Mike Holt is THE BEST (and honest) Phantom repair guy out there.

Chicago1 · Feb 13, 2016

X5GEE said:
Update 2/9/16 : Since the crash, I decided to try and fly my crashed P3A today (check photos on 1st post). Well it actually starts up and fly's around like it did before it crashed. I did a bunch of pans, yaws, up/down ... etc. Seems to respond like it did prior. It also holds position too. So it looks like its fixable? Just need the camera and gimbal attached again. Should I still send it to DJI? I already bought another P3A. So a long waiting period isn't a big deal.

DO NOT send it to DJI - call Mike Holt first 530-277-5366

dec · Feb 13, 2016

X5GEE said:
Update 2/9/16 : Since the crash, I decided to try and fly my crashed P3A today (check photos on 1st post). Well it actually starts up and fly's around like it did before it crashed. I did a bunch of pans, yaws, up/down ... etc. Seems to respond like it did prior. It also holds position too. So it looks like its fixable? Just need the camera and gimbal attached again. Should I still send it to DJI? I already bought another P3A. So a long waiting period isn't a big deal.

I used DRONEFLY to repair P2 and was very happy with their service ... It was (not sure if same) $99 basically to diagnose and labor + required replacement parts

hometheaterman · Feb 13, 2016

The thing is, you can buy a new Advance for $799 (maybe cheaper if you look on SD for a while). You can then sell the controller for around $200. So for an extra $100, you have an extra battery, and extra charger, and a brand new drone instead of a repaired one. Or you could sell the battery and charger and have have a new drone for the same amount as repairing that one. That's assuming nothing else is wrong internally there. If it is, it would be way cheaper to get a new one.

I recently went through the same thing and had one of the main shops mentioned on this forum repair my drone. We are still dealing with issues resulting from the crash and honestly, I'm already not that much cheaper than what I could have bought a new one for and sold the accessories, I still have a drone that's been repaired, and I'm still dealing with down time of not being able to fly. I wouldn't go down this path again, and really wish I'd just bought a new one.