Phantom 4 Advance Fell Out The Sky.

[TrapGodYuhDig]

I bought the Phantom 4 Advanced just 2 days ago and I sent it up today, it lost GPS signal at 300 feet distance and 80 feet height, and simply fell. The drone is totaled. The gimbal fell off and one of the arms and one propellor are completely destroyed.

If I were to send it to DJI to replace (I don’t have warranty or Care Refresh), how much should I expect to pay to replace?

I also have my Mavic Air 2 which has never given me issues like that and neither did my Mini.

 

[Meta4]

I bought the Phantom 4 Advanced just 2 days ago and I sent it up today, it lost GPS signal at 300 feet distance and 80 feet height, and simply fell. The drone is totaled.

Losing GPS doesn't cause a drone to fall from the sky.
You could continue flying for a whole battery without GPS.
Your flight data will give more information about what actually happened.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.

 

[LarBear360]

You definitely want to take a look at the flight data, but it sounds like a loss of power. I recall reading about batteries coming loose on the P4.

Sounds like you purchased used?

 

[Deleted member 62848]

If you send to dji without care be prepared to pay quite bit of money,,your better to source another cheap or damaged one for parts,,cost of separate parts will add up fast and from experience of a p4 freefall myself there will be internal damage of ecs ribbon cables cause internal boards have rubber and if goes past the point of give they will tear,fact,,,you should upload flight to see what happen for piece of mind but wont solve nothing now its had that happen,,,major bummer,I know how it feels..
Yeh mine had battery error at 400ft on 100% charge,I managed to control the bad wobbles down to 72ft where it shut off completely, smashed the concrete tiles on my house roof,lucky it was almost straight up from me ,no dji care,,drone very dead
Yip p4 got bad clip,really got to make sure it clicks in

 

[MapMaker53]

Sounds like the battery wasn't totally clipped in. Very common in P4's. It takes extra effort to make sure it is secure before launching.

 

[Droning Dave Iorwerth]

I bought the Phantom 4 Advanced just 2 days ago and I sent it up today, it lost GPS signal at 300 feet distance and 80 feet height, and simply fell. The drone is totaled. The gimbal fell off and one of the arms and one propellor are completely destroyed.

If I were to send it to DJI to replace (I don’t have warranty or Care Refresh), how much should I expect to pay to replace?

I also have my Mavic Air 2 which has never given me issues like that and neither did my Mini.

Same thing happened to me; the 'device disconnected' notification appeared on screen and instead of returning to launch point, it dropped 60m to the ground. When I found it the battery was still on! Drone was a complete wreck with a cracked upper and lower body shell, gimbal distorted and hanging loose and both landing gear/antennae shattered.

Sent it back to DJI repair (Germany) and received a 'new' one within about a week, costing me 500 euro's despite DJI's damage report stating "3-in-1 board malfunctioned, which caused device linking and interaction fault"!

This particular drone was in turn one that I had received after I sent my original P4Pro to DJI repair after a bad landing which was my own fault. I did not receive the same drone back despite only light damage to the gear and gimbal. (this repair replacement costing around 200 euro's
The replacement drone had stability issues from the start. It would suddenly brake despite being in open air space, it would drift to port despite no wind. It would circle about in a figure-of-eight pattern after stopping, with no input on the sticks. DJI told me to recalibrate the IMU. No improvement. It was during the post IMU re-calibration test flight that it disconnected and just dropped out of the sky.

Your drone should not have dropped out of the sky merely because of a loss of GPS signal. It appears DJI have a firmware update issue and are not telling us the truth.
If you bought it brand new, it will still be under warranty.

 

[Jerry Jambazian]

If you send to dji without care be prepared to pay quite bit of money,,your better to source another cheap or damaged one for parts,,cost of separate parts will add up fast and from experience of a p4 freefall myself there will be internal damage of ecs ribbon cables cause internal boards have rubber and if goes past the point of give they will tear,fact,,,you should upload flight to see what happen for piece of mind but wont solve nothing now its had that happen,,,major bummer,I know how it feels..
Yeh mine had battery error at 400ft on 100% charge,I managed to control the bad wobbles down to 72ft where it shut off completely, smashed the concrete tiles on my house roof,lucky it was almost straight up from me ,no dji care,,drone very dead
Yip p4 got bad clip,really got to make sure it clicks in

I always worry about the P4 battery being securely in place. I usually insert the battery and take the palm of my hand to force it in until I hear it click. I then pull on it to make sure it will not come out.

 

[TrapGodYuhDig]

How much should I expect to pay

If you send to dji without care be prepared to pay quite bit of money,,your better to source another cheap or damaged one for parts,,cost of separate parts will add up fast and from experience of a p4 freefall myself there will be internal damage of ecs ribbon cables cause internal boards have rubber and if goes past the point of give they will tear,fact,,,you should upload flight to see what happen for piece of mind but wont solve nothing now its had that happen,,,major bummer,I know how it feels..
Yeh mine had battery error at 400ft on 100% charge,I managed to control the bad wobbles down to 72ft where it shut off completely, smashed the concrete tiles on my house roof,lucky it was almost straight up from me ,no dji care,,drone very dead
Yip p4 got bad clip,really got to make sure it clicks in

How much should I expect to pay?

 

[Meta4]

How much should I expect to pay?

That's not possible to guess.
It will depend on what's damaged and how badly.

 

[Andy9]

And depend on what will DJI find as a reason for the crash.
If they find technical error they'll return the new one without charge.
But if you want to know what was the cause of the accident you need to send the log.file.

 

[Meta4]

And depend on what will DJI find as a reason for the crash.
If they find technical error they'll return the new one without charge.
But if you want to know what was the cause of the accident you need to send the log.file.

The OP said his drone is out of warranty.
DJI won't care what the cause was and won't be giving away a free Phantom.
It's just a repair job.

 

[Timothy Smith @ Melbourne]

I bought the Phantom 4 Advanced just 2 days ago and I sent it up today, it lost GPS signal at 300 feet distance and 80 feet height, and simply fell. The drone is totaled. The gimbal fell off and one of the arms and one propellor are completely destroyed.

If I were to send it to DJI to replace (I don’t have warranty or Care Refresh), how much should I expect to pay to replace?

I also have my Mavic Air 2 which has never given me issues like that and neither did my Mini.

I'd be interested in buying the wreckage for parts. How much?

I bought the Phantom 4 Advanced just 2 days ago and I sent it up today, it lost GPS signal at 300 feet distance and 80 feet height, and simply fell. The drone is totaled. The gimbal fell off and one of the arms and one propellor are completely destroyed.

If I were to send it to DJI to replace (I don’t have warranty or Care Refresh), how much should I expect to pay to replace?

I also have my Mavic Air 2 which has never given me issues like that and neither did my Mini.

 

[Timothy Smith @ Melbourne]

I'd be interested in buying the wreckage for parts. How much?

 

[martin b]

Just FYI, You should check on insurance, mine is with State Farm in NC and is $60.00/year. I’ve had one claim with a P4P+ and had a $1500.00 check in the mail in 5 days. They are great, even sent me a Christmas card last year!!