It may sound barmy .... but the more people show their 'backs' to DJI for their ridiculous prices ... by buying 3rd party batterys - the more chance we have of getting DJI to rationalise their pricing.
But if people persist with this paranoid insistence to buy DJI .... DJI will continue to line the bank account via unrealistic pricing.
Many other products we use have had to rationalise due to 3rd party ... time for DJI to join the world ...
Nigel
Sorry Nigel, thats not the way the world works most of the time.
DJI didn't put in battery detection to as a favor to you or me. They did it in a self preservation sense. First in the sense that they need to know if a non-oem battery was in use during a failed flight. For warranty claims most likely. Second, Their corporate greed structure will not make them lower the price to compete with 3rd party batteries, they will simply add more firmware tests and shut the birds down again. Lowering their prices is simply not on their to-do list as #1 manufacturer of drones. They didn't put the battery check in until the market became threatening to their battery sales, and their reaction was not to lower prices, but to lock out the competition.
Apple has exactly the same mentality. When the market began to threaten Apple's sales of secondary chargers, what did they do? Lower their prices? Nope. They put in detection software to shut down use of 3rd party chargers. This is how corporate greed operates in the real world.
And so does Microsoft. Guess what happened to Xboxes when Microsoft found that their market sales was slipping for extra drives? Lower their price? Phsh. No. They rolled out firmware that bricked and locked the xbox if a non-microsoft hard drive was installed.
What did Epson and HP do when their ink sales were threatened on their printers? They chipped the cartridges so that only THEIR ink cartridges would work. It didn't make the printer print any better. All it did was make their market share of supplies better. And if they could figure out how to make you buy only their paper, I 100% guarantee they would make it happen and I guarantee their market campaign would tout they are protecting you and the printer from these 3rd party devils.
And on it goes. The smarter the devices we have get, the more and more companies will lock those down to prevent 3rd party accessories.
Batteries are not DJI's only hold on us. At least those of us with a RAW camera. The 512g SSD drive for the X5R is about the most expensive (per gig) SSD on the planet. Guess why? Because they can. Modified connectors prevent the average Joe from buying and plugging in anything else. And if they managed to get past the connector issue... Custom firmware in the drive prevents using anything else. One of the best SSD drives on the planet costs a mere $170 or so for 512g. The DJI one costs $750 from DJI and $300 from B&H. Same storage size. 2 to 4 times the price. No reason other than greed and because they control the firmware. That simple.
Personally, I disagree with your thought that if enough people stop using DJI batteries they will lower their prices. In my estimation, not happening. If they were far down on the drone totem pole and not the world leader on it, maybe, because they would be hungry for more market share. But they are at the top and they didn't get there by playing nice. My forecast is that if enough people turn to 3rd party batteries, they will fix that via firmware, and now with everyone happily moving to the latest firmwares with require forced upgrades, they gocha by the canastas.
Remember, all these firmware updates are for your protection. Right? No.