Don't count of Skydio's "crash it and we replace it" guarantee. Yes I followed guidelines.

Skyking · May 20, 2020

Don't count of Skydio's "crash it and we replace it" guarantee. Yes I followed guidelines.

My S2 flew into a tree branch and fell straight down and destroyed gimbal. They refuse to honor the guarantee and want to charge me $350 to $850 to replace/repair it !

I am an experienced professional drone piulot with thousands of accident free drone missions behind me.

2020-05-23 UPDATE

So they sent me a RMA # and label to ship it back to them. I'll see what they quote. I would prefer a full refund inasmuch I purchased the S2 because of the OA and their guaranty. Since I can't rely on the OA or their "no crash guaranty", and inasmuch as my DJI drones have better imagery, I have no need to the S2.

I will, in any even, sue them here in CT for fraud and breach of contract. I'll also consider filing a Complaint with BBB, depending on the outcome.

My point is, you cannot rely on their honoring their "no-crash guaranty". I am very happy to stay with DJI as I have had no issues with it and in fact, consider their features and imagery to be TOP NOTCH in that category of drone.

BTW, my go-to has been Mavic 2 Pro but I just added a Mavic Air 2 (from Advexure in LA www.Advexure.com) and I think that it's inside stability is second-to-none and image quality EXCELLENT. DJI sauys 6 miles distance but I always keep my birds in VLOS. I did see 5 additional usable minutes of flight time in Mavic Air 2 over Mavic 2 Pro. And I can but two of the Mavic Air 2 FLY MORE COMBOS for the price of the Skydio 2.

UAVPilotMRG · May 20, 2020

Skyking said:
Don't count of Skydio's "crash it and we replace it" guarantee. Yes I followed guidelines.

My S2 flew into a tree branch and fell straight down and destroyed gimbal. They refuse to honor the guarantee and want to charge me $350 to $850 to replace/repair it !

I am an experienced professional drone piulot with thousands of accident free drone missions behind me.

So, how did it happen to fly into a tree branch?

Did it do so all by itself?

Skyking · May 20, 2020

UAVPilotMRG said:
So, how did it happen to fly into a tree branch?

Did it do so all by itself?

I always fly manually with the controller. I was flying the S2 down a driveway, in the middle of the driveway, and it hit a branch I did not see. I guess I was 25 feet or so behind the S2.

Skyking · May 20, 2020

Skyking said:
I always fly manually with the controller. I was flying the S2 down a driveway, in the middle of the driveway, and it hit a branch I did not see. I guess I was 25 feet or so behind the S2.

My point is that they (Skydio folks) show the S2 flying through heavily wooded areas AUTONOMOUSLY. I was hardly taking that kind of risk.

UAVPilotMRG · May 20, 2020

Skyking said:
My point is that they (Skydio folks) show the S2 flying through heavily wooded areas AUTONOMOUSLY. I was hardly talking that kind of risk.

I don't have one yet...but, if I had to guess...I'd guess that the random skinny branch is harder for the system to avoid than a bunch of dense branches.

Skyking · May 20, 2020

UAVPilotMRG said:
I don't have one yet...but, if I had to guess...I'd guess that the random skinny branch is harder for the system to avoid than a bunch of dense branches.

Their promo video, through the woods and of tracking things on trails all autonomously includes lots of skinny branches, twigs etc.

UAVPilotMRG · May 20, 2020

Skyking said:
Their promo video, through the woods and of tracking things on trails all autonomously includes lots of skinny branches, twigs etc.

Did they cite specifics as to why they are not going to honor their guarantee/warranty?

Skyking · May 20, 2020

Yes they do. Yet their PROMO videos belie all of that. Can you measure a 1/2" branch while flying? When you see their promo videos, which, amazingly are AUTONOMOUS, you have confidence as long as you don't deliberately try and crash it. Any organization that makes such claims about their produce and then weasels out of honoring the claim is not even aware of how to SPELL "Customer Service". They're a new company and they have to EARN a reputation. From what I've see of their order system, shipping deadlines etc etc and now this, I'm turned off on this Company. I love the product through and I'll never again rely on the OA.

OldBlueHeron · May 21, 2020

Produce. Don’t try to fly this.

Product (Skydio 2). Do fly this.

Vib.ribbon · May 22, 2020

I think they see it as you are taking some of the responsibility away from the drone by using the controller? Even though the OA is probably just as prevalent.

I expect if you were using just your phone and/or the beacon things might be different?

Would be good to see the video before any of us could make any sort of judgement though

skydioconvert · May 22, 2020

Skyking said:
Yes they do. Yet their PROMO videos belie all of that. Can you measure a 1/2" branch while flying? When you see their promo videos, which, amazingly are AUTONOMOUS, you have confidence as long as you don't deliberately try and crash it. Any organization that makes such claims about their produce and then weasels out of honoring the claim is not even aware of how to SPELL "Customer Service". They're a new company and they have to EARN a reputation. From what I've see of their order system, shipping deadlines etc etc and now this, I'm turned off on this Company. I love the product through and I'll never again rely on the OA.

To be fair you really need to better explain why your claim was denied.

Post Skydio's written response ....

Lifeisfun · May 22, 2020

Vib.ribbon said:
I think they see it as you are taking some of the responsibility away from the drone by using the controller? Even though the OA is probably just as prevalent.

I expect if you were using just your phone and/or the beacon things might be different?

Would be good to see the video before any of us could make any sort of judgement though

Generally when the crash happens you never see it it cuts last 15 sec of the video since the batter disconnects.

Vib.ribbon · May 23, 2020

Lifeisfun said:
Generally when the crash happens you never see it it cuts last 15 sec of the video since the batter disconnects.

15 seconds? Oh, right. I didn't think it the skydio had that much of buffer before writing to the memory card? Seems a bit long but the original poster might have the footage?

I saw one example on YouTube when someone flew thier Skydio in-between thin branches and very thin telephone cables. The Skydio hit the cables whilst tracking and fell out of the sky. At first I thought the Skydio got it wrong but the thing was he had someone following the drone filming him being tracked. The camera he was using didn't pick up the cable (it was almost like it popped into view magically like an old 90's racing sim) until a split second before the Skydio hit it - so it showed just how the thin the cables were.

I think some people forget that while the Skydio has impressive OA, it's still using cameras for its OA ......no ultrasonic sensors, no radar, just cameras and lots of things can affect a cameras performance - light level being one of the main external factors.

Not heard many cases of Skydio not honouring thier warranty if/when the drone was indeed at fault. So either Skydio are being dodgy or the user flew it in a way that isn't covered by warranty. I will err on the side with the latter until the user posts some footage or evidence displaying otherwise.

Ridefreak · May 23, 2020

That's only if the battery gets dislodged on the initial impact, otherwise it will still film. I clipped a branch at speed and the drone attempted to flip itself back over but it hit the ground before it was able to complete the maneuver. The battery wasn't dislodged and it filmed right into the ground. The SD2 was fine.

skydioconvert · May 23, 2020

Bottom line:
As long as the S2 remains powered there's no reason not to expect continued filming (and recording) even during a crash...

Lifeisfun · May 23, 2020

skydioconvert said:
Bottom line:
As long as the S2 remains powered there's no reason not to expect continued filming (and recording) even during a crash...

Well obviously, that's what we all said, but even if it disconnects at the very end of the crash you will lose the buffer footage.

Skyking · May 23, 2020

I never use auto-record and rarely shoot video.

Vib.ribbon · May 23, 2020

If it was on your driveway then I assume you can take a picture of the branches it hit?

Vib.ribbon · May 23, 2020

Skyking said:
Since I can't rely on the OA or their "no crash guaranty", and inasmuch as my DJI drones have better imagery, I have no need to the S2.

I am very happy to stay with DJI as I have had no issues with it and in fact, consider their features and imagery to be TOP NOTCH in that category of drone.

You make out the Mavic Pro is far superior, and in your opinion you are correct, but not everyone agrees with you:

Skydio 2 vs. DJI Mavic Camera Quality - Can Skydio compete?

The Skydio 2 camera might just be better than anything DJI has produced. Is that possible from a 1/2.3" sensor. Let's look at NoviCam's testing.

www.google.com

As for thier 'no crash guarantee' - this is a misconception and I have not been able to locate this exact term anywhere on official Skydio guidelines or documentation. Skydio will replace any of thier drones that crashes as long as the user follows their ' Safe flight guidelines' - and in your case this is the part that applies and what Skydio can 'hide' behind:

"Be extra careful when flying in environments that contain thin branches, telephone or power lines, ropes, netting, wires, chainlink fencing, transparent surfaces like windows, or reflective surfaces like mirrors"

The fact you were using the controller means you made the conscious decision to fly too close to a tree where you couldn't see the thin branches resulted in your Skydio drone crashing. I don't mean to sound harsh, but it appears you were not careful, never mind extra careful. Would you have done that with one of your Mavic's? Likely not as the result would have been the same.

I stupidly flew my Mavic Mini in winds gusting at about 21MPH. Now, the mini is rated to be able to handle up to 17.9MPH - and it got swept away and I had to hike up a steep hill to recover it. Did I immediately go on the Mavic boards and slate it? No - it was my error as I put the drone in a situation it was not designed nor capable to handle. Total user error - just like this appears to be.

It's actually quite infuriating that people can afford to drop over 1k on this drone and not even bother finding out what it's capable of doing - Anyone who buys this drone needs to be aware of it's limitations and stick within those set limitations.

This, like any other drone on the market today and for the foreseeable future can crash - this shouldn't be a shock or news to anyone.