Chris said:
I think you got a lemon. Mine has flown (and crashed) very well since the day it came out of the box which was only two days ago. I have slammed it into brick walls, patio furniture, and the ground without a single thing breaking or getting bent. I have simply picked it up, checked it over, dusted it off, and put it back in the air.
I do a preflight before each trip just to be sure all the nuts and screws are tight and so far all has been fine. I have even flown it with the GoPro HERO 3 and even though it handles a bit slower with the added weight (battery bacpac also) it has been nothing but a joy.
I am sure that DJI will take care of you.
My experience is similar to yours, .. cept my last crash I learned that pavement and Phantom don't mix. (8ft fall dented an arm in slightly, just ordered a new shell for $65). and even then, had I not bent the arm, everything else seemed to be running properly afterward.
I think a preflight check it definitely important (especially if you choose not to use loctite or threadlock on your nuts., and you're careful not to over-tighten)
I'd say unfortunately you got a lemon Denodan, which judging from most of the posts here on this forum, isn't very common.
But considering that this is DJI's first foray into a consumer product, you can't quite fault a company for putting together a few duds.
if Possible, perhaps you can have the place you're buying it from do a quick check to make sure you get one that connects properly to a PC and boots up ok.
But even if you can't do that, I'm rather confident DJI will send you a solid unit that will indeed run fine out of the box.
*but whatever you do, if you were planning to get a GoPro Hero3 Black,.. hold off,. I lucked out and got a properly working one.. but if you read the reviews, I really DID luck out,. talk about serious user dissatisfaction, DJI's quality control puts GoPro's to shame.