Care Refresh for DJI FPV drone: Why it’s so expensive?

By
Stephen Dodds
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Care Refresh for DJI FPV Drone

When you pay close to $1500 for a flying gadget, you should look for some kind of insurance in addition to the basic warranty which covers only manufacturing defects. Care Refresh for DJI FPV drone is available in 1-year and 2-year plans. To be covered for 12 months will cost you $199 and for 24 months $319. Is this price fair? Let’s discover if it’s worth it!

The learning curve of flying FPV drones is similar to learning skateboarding, you fall, you get up, and you try again till you master your skills. Even the most experienced pilots can crash their drones during a risky maneuver. Maybe due to its advanced failsafe features, the DJI’s FPV drone, can’t compare to any other FPV drone, but trust me isn’t bulletproof as well.

As Care Refresh service mostly requires sending back the damaged drone you should fly always in areas where you can recover it. DJI CR offers 2 replacements for the 1-year plan or 3 replacements for the 2-years plan. You can have your DJI FPV drone replaced for a small additional cost if an accident occurs. The replacement units are brand-new or equivalent to brand-new in performance and reliability.

Care Refresh vs Care Refresh Express comparison

You can purchase DJI Refresh plan on any brand-new or un-activated drone. Your quadcopter must have been activated within the last 48 hours otherwise you will need to provide visual proof that the drone is fully operational.

What DJI FPV Drone Care Refresh Will Cover?

  • Operator error, or any mistake that a pilot could make during normal use;
  • Signal interference, Signal loss that caused a crash;
  • Collisions and Accidents;
  • Water Damage.

What DJI FPV Drone Care Refresh Will Not Cover?

  • Lost drone, parts, or accessories;
  • Deliberate loss (they will check flight logs);
  • Stolen, forgotten, or abandoned products;
  • Cosmetic damage (scratches or abrasions that do not affect functionality);
  • Repaired drones in non-official DJI repair services.

Conclusions

In case you will fly only occasionally, once a week and you are an experienced pilot that flies responsibly I don’t know if worth paying $199 insurance for a drone that actually worth $739. Maybe you paid $1299 for the DJI FPV drone combo pack, but most likely you can damage only the aircraft during flights, the rest of the gears (transmitter and goggles) will remain in one piece :)

On the other hand, if you are a newbie pilot or someone how plans to fly a lot, such VIP service is a must-have. It will provide you a replacement unit in no-time.

The 2-years DJI Care Refresh at a glance seems to be more worth ($319 vs $199). Even the covered period is double, you get only 3 replacement units instead of 4. You should also consider that after two years, a second-hand drone not even worth half of its original price.

Besides the DJI Care Refresh subscription, there is a fee for each replacement unit. In the case of the 1-year plan, you need to pay $259 for the first unit and $279 for the second one. Practically you pay 199+259+279=$737 for the replacement units. Doing the math, you pay for one drone and you get two.

73 COMMENTS

  4. Is the extra warranty truly worth it? Says I only have 48 hours to buy it. I’m not worried about crashing it. I’m worried about losing the fu*king quad.

  5. I just learned how to use DJI Care Refresh to replace a damaged FPV drone. It was unexpectedly easy and fast. Best investment ever!

    • I’m afraid that it’s too late. You should open a ticket at DJI at the moment you couldn’t activate the Care Refresh.

  9. Wondering if anyone has sent their drone in for repair latley. Is this worth sending in or would i be better off buying a new unit with care refresh. I have 3 broken arms and dead gimbal…

  10. Happy New Year!

    I didn’t get the DJI Care refresh unfortunately, does anyone know the cost for replacing one arm and camera if I send it to DJI?

  11. I purchades protection plan from Allstate Insurance for $75 for my Dji Fpv drone. My question is should I purchase the DJI Care Refresh plan too?

  13. First crash today. Luckily still under the care refresh program. Has anyone tried the care refresh express? What is the difference between normal and express care refresh?

  16. My dad purchased me this DJI FPV combo. He also purchased the care refresh plan. Is there anything special I need to do to get started or just go fly?
    Thanks

    • If you are a newbie in this hobby, I suggest you practice a few hours with drone simulators. In manual mode many newbies crash their FPV drones.

  17. Just crashed my DJI FPV drone. I hope care refresh is all it’s made out to be. Has anyone used care refresh to replace gimbal camera?

  18. I’m betting that DJI makes more money from the refresh program than it does from actually selling the quad alone for ˜700 USD when all the new pilots involved and crashes add up

  19. I crashed my DJI FPV drone into the ocean, and I just renewed my DJI Care Refresh. I went to claim within the 48-hour window, and DJI built a case and just got back to me now.

  21. I just got a new DJI FPV quad! Any suggestions or “heads up” before I take it out of the box ?? I already the manual and activated Care Refresh.

    • FPV drones are hard to fly and take many, many hours to master. I suggest you practicing first with simulators till you gain some skills.

  22. One broken arm. Two dead motors. I paid $259 and DJI sent me a new FPV drone within two weeks. Care Refresh saved me!

  23. So I crashed my Dji Fpv, and I have the Care refresh, so do I call them cause I can’t find the email anymore.

  26. I just crashed my brand new FPV drone. it was going slow went into a bush… newbie error… now when it tries to take off it goes sideways cause one motor isn’t spinning as fast as the others? Should I send it back with CR or replace the motor by myself?

  28. My DJI FPV flew away for no reason. I’m a pretty experienced flyer, and honestly, it never happened something like this to me.
    I have DJI Care Refresh, but they need the drone to send me a new one…

  30. As per my experience, DJI warranty is first class, so if you are an excellent pilot, you don’t need care refresh.

    • Your thinking about camera drones, not the FPV drone. Even the best pilots will crash it owing to differences in its responsiveness to a “normal”5 inch hobby quad like Iflight or Diatone etc. Its 3 times faster with and additional 2 axis of control thrown in

  31. Can you purchase DJI Refresh After your current refresh expires? I’m thinking of purchasing for one year, and later extend it to another year.

  35. Just don’t crash it! DJI’s “Care Refresh system” isn’t perfect. They have lots of excuses for not getting your FPV drone back to you. Instead, they tell you how important you are as a customer…

  36. I lost my DJI FPV quad flying over a river. The water was flowing very fast, and I had no way of getting it back. Does anyone know if the DJI Care Refresh will cover this since I can’t send it back to them?

  40. Just received my FPV drone from Care Refresh replacement. It looks like a refurbished one, it has scratches on the top and other signs of usage. Anyone else has received used replacement units from DJI?

  42. How long does the care refresh take to replace a crashed drone? I opened the box today and ran it into my house by accident…

  43. Found out today that the DJI FPV drone isn’t great for flying in wet conditions. After 5 minutes of flying through falling snow, it crashed like a stone… Does DJI Care Refresh cover such accidents?

  44. Although I have 2 years of DJI Care Refresh Express, 319 USD for a whole new drone seemed too expensive for just an arm being broken, so I opted in for the slower repair process. I send it to the closest DJI service. I pay 90$ for the repair and 28$ for shipping.

  45. I just crashed my DJI FPV drone into the sand, and now there’s lots of sand in the motors. I have Care Refresh. Should I send it back, or there is a way to clean them up?
    Thanks
    MURENAxFPV

  49. Quick question, if I buy the FPV combo, not from DJI, do I still get an option to buy 2 years care refresh or is it only 1-year option available?

  52. Use the care refresh for crash damage, and the State Farm or similar insurances, for a total loss, with no drone to repair.

  53. My son says DJI FPV is the coolest FPV drone he has flown so far. He has more than 6 years of flying experience. I forgot purchasing care refresh before activating the drone. There is a way t do it after a week of flying?

  55. Despite that dji fpv drone is extremely fragile, they still announced the product, which gives dji the opportunity to sell even more care refresh plans…

  56. I’m a big fan of DJI, but their new FPV drone is a nightmare! One crash and it will be broke and u will not be able to fix it! Without Care Refresh you are screwed-up!

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