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Dropped EVO, Gimbal Broken...

davemgood

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I just bought the EVO and took it out for its maiden flight. I have a Mavic 2 Pro and enjoy flying and gathering video. However, the EVO didn't have that pesky NFZ warning.

So, I took the EVO out of the Rugged box, spread out the legs and removed the gimbal guard. At that moment, the EVO slipped out of my grip and fell on rocky ground on the gimbal/camera. I turned the power on the EVO. The gimbal would continually go through the gimbal setup. It only stopped once I turned it off. I looked for a stuck stone or stick, but there was nothing.

I am so crestfallen. I just spent $1400 for the Rugged Bundle plus several other accessories. I'm bummed! ?
 
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Welcome to the forums and I'm sorry to what happened. All I can suggest is you call Autel and send your bird in. I believe the repair is either $140 or $240. The reason your gimbal gets stuck in the boot sequence, is because either one of the motors is damaged and can't finish the sequence or a cable within the shell snapped, not giving the completed sequence signal to the main board.

I never said this, but if there is no external damage, take it to the store and exchange it?
 
Used the search function of the forum and found 2 cases where people sent their Evo for gimbal replacement.

One from Europe was asked $324 for repair and shipping it back.

The second one was from the US. He saod he had to pay shy of $300.
 
Used the search function of the forum and found 2 cases where people sent their Evo for gimbal replacement.

One from Europe was asked $324 for repair and shipping it back.

The second one was from the US. He saod he had to pay shy of $300.
That's encouraging!
 
Our member @butch had the exact same problem you did with the gimbal. Autel was able to repair it for $100. Hopefully that is your case as well.
10-4 Ansia, A gimgal motor was broken but the camera was good. Price included shipping both ways.......
Sorry about you trouble davemgood. I always leave the gimbal cover on until I set the drone down, evern when changing or removing battery.
 
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I just bought the EVO and took it out for its maiden flight. I have a Mavic 2 Pro and enjoy flying and gathering video. However, the EVO didn't have that pesky NFZ warning.

So, I took the EVO out of the Rugged box, spread out the legs and removed the gimbal guard. At that moment, the EVO slipped out of my grip and fell on rocky ground on the gimbal/camera. I turned the power on the EVO. The gimbal would continually go through the gimbal setup. It only stopped once I turned it off. I looked for a stuck stone or stick, but there was nothing.

I am so crestfallen. I just spent $1400 for the Rugged Bundle plus several other accessories. I'm bummed! ?
Go figures, your story just made stomach flip and made the loudest gurgle.... It was purely a accident.. we have them to one degree or another....you will make out ok and chock it up as it could of been worse.... I hope you get it fixed soon and get it up in the air. And welcome to the forum.
 
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Just take it back if its new they will replace it and send it back and Autel will fix and resell it no big deal we get stuff back like that all the time at Home Depot...RTV it.......
 
Just take it back if its new they will replace it and send it back and Autel will fix and resell it no big deal we get stuff back like that all the time at Home Depot...RTV it.......
Thanks, appreciate it. I bought it on Amazon. A buddy of mine e bought his on Amazon - and I bought many things there, but I never had to return anything. Any advice? Anyone?

Dave :)
 
I returned a few things you should be able to go online in your account and it will tell you how to return it they even pay for postage back at least they did for me.....Good luck
 
This thread is from last year, but the same thing happened to me. My drone fell from roughly a foot high but landed on the gimbal. Now it's stuck in that looping check mode. It's 1:00 am now and I've already left support a message. If it's only $100, then that's great! $300 will make me puke.
 
This thread is from last year, but the same thing happened to me. My drone fell from roughly a foot high but landed on the gimbal. Now it's stuck in that looping check mode. It's 1:00 am now and I've already left support a message. If it's only $100, then that's great! $300 will make me puke.
I unfortunately have done the same except for it's landed straight on its back, and blew open the battery out if the 3 I have, I've ended up resealing it and everything seems to be functioning perfectly fine but what has happened with the bird is not so good... Now Everytime I turn it on it goes through the start up just fine but the gimbal makes a terrible screeching effect that seems to cause no issues because I can get it to stop with a flick of the gimbal in the axis calibration mode, so if you go into the axis calibration, you can hold your finger on either the left or right of the screen and the gimbal will flick itself and that seems to fix it... Except for any time I restart or perform a gimbal calibration it starts all over again. I don't know if I can live with it because I thought it was all dandy except for I see sometimes in my video that the gimbal looks as if it's cold and shivering until it feels like being a good boy again lol but it's only a fraction of the time and usually the video is fine... I don't know what to do but I guess will just stick with it until it becomes either completely broken or just unbearable. I wish you luck on your journey! Oh and I did end up letting my brother fly my bird and he of course busted its rear left control arm and motor clean off, I was able to find a lucky unicorn in the wild off eBay for 30 bucks!! Shipping included and I just tore the entire bird apart, replaced the control arm and soldered up the new motor and all has been well. So if you absolutely need to fix it now and not wanna send it in and have the technical know how then I would fix it on my own.. but that's just my opinion lol or if you would like help I can see what I can get parts for or something of that nature and fix it for you and I'll do it for 50% less of whatever Autel asks for lol. Good luck brotha!
 
I unfortunately have done the same except for it's landed straight on its back, and blew open the battery out if the 3 I have, I've ended up resealing it and everything seems to be functioning perfectly fine but what has happened with the bird is not so good... Now Everytime I turn it on it goes through the start up just fine but the gimbal makes a terrible screeching effect that seems to cause no issues because I can get it to stop with a flick of the gimbal in the axis calibration mode, so if you go into the axis calibration, you can hold your finger on either the left or right of the screen and the gimbal will flick itself and that seems to fix it... Except for any time I restart or perform a gimbal calibration it starts all over again. I don't know if I can live with it because I thought it was all dandy except for I see sometimes in my video that the gimbal looks as if it's cold and shivering until it feels like being a good boy again lol but it's only a fraction of the time and usually the video is fine... I don't know what to do but I guess will just stick with it until it becomes either completely broken or just unbearable. I wish you luck on your journey! Oh and I did end up letting my brother fly my bird and he of course busted its rear left control arm and motor clean off, I was able to find a lucky unicorn in the wild off eBay for 30 bucks!! Shipping included and I just tore the entire bird apart, replaced the control arm and soldered up the new motor and all has been well. So if you absolutely need to fix it now and not wanna send it in and have the technical know how then I would fix it on my own.. but that's just my opinion lol or if you would like help I can see what I can get parts for or something of that nature and fix it for you and I'll do it for 50% less of whatever Autel asks for lol. Good luck brotha!

That's one of the first things I did, but no luck. Here's a clip of what it does. I'm sending it back to them. I hate sending back stuff. Can't play with them.lol

 
Last edited:
That's one of the first things I did, but no luck. Here's a clip of what it does. I'm sending it back to them. I hate sending back stuff. Can't play with them.lol

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That thing needs an exorcism!
 
Just an update. I couldn't find my receipt, and Bestbuy wouldn't give me the receipt since it was purchased in cash. I'll need to eat the repair from Autel! Before doing that, I sent it to my local drone repair shop. He thinks it's just the ribbon snapping off. Will find out more tomorrow and post what was wrong exactly so some of you may benefit from this.
 
I ordered my Evo 1 on Saturday night and it arrived yesterday, Tuesday.

I left work early today so I could try it out with my son before dark.

1/2 way through the second battery, I clipped a small branch and it fell 2-3 metres, right - on - the - gimbal!
When I restarted it, the gimbal was continually going through the startup process. Nothing like the epileptic fit the one above was having tho’.

I looked up Autel Australia’s phone number - but it’s now after hours.

So I started Glumly looking at YouTube videos of similar ‘incidents’ (to get an idea of how much this was going to cost me) and noticed that their gimbals left to right movements were much greater than what mine was doing. Mine was barely moving left to right at all.

When I took a closer look, the part of the gimbal just above the opening that allows it to move left to right was bent inwards, restricting the movement.
I got a small screwdriver under it and very gently lifted it up and straightened it out.

Great news - we’re back in business. No official repair needed.

Phew!!!

Lesson learned!
 
I ordered my Evo 1 on Saturday night and it arrived yesterday, Tuesday.

I left work early today so I could try it out with my son before dark.

1/2 way through the second battery, I clipped a small branch and it fell 2-3 metres, right - on - the - gimbal!
When I restarted it, the gimbal was continually going through the startup process. Nothing like the epileptic fit the one above was having tho’.

I looked up Autel Australia’s phone number - but it’s now after hours.

So I started Glumly looking at YouTube videos of similar ‘incidents’ (to get an idea of how much this was going to cost me) and noticed that their gimbals left to right movements were much greater than what mine was doing. Mine was barely moving left to right at all.

When I took a closer look, the part of the gimbal just above the opening that allows it to move left to right was bent inwards, restricting the movement.
I got a small screwdriver under it and very gently lifted it up and straightened it out.

Great news - we’re back in business. No official repair needed.

Phew!!!

Lesson learned!

Always nerve racking when crashing a drone at any height! You're very lucky. Have fun flying! I'm looking forward to getting off the ground again in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm looking into getting a Parrot Bebop 2 again. I can crash that and not worry about any gimbal.lol Fun to fly as well.
 
So this is what the 2ft drop cost me:

I wish I could just buy those parts, but they won't sell it to me. Hopefully 3rd party sellers will start coming in soon. I've changed my mind on getting a Mavic 3 when it comes out. The EVO I is more than enough for what I need. And perhaps later on I'll get the EVO II when all the bugs have been corrected.

Overall, I was expecting a lot worse than this.

1588721719056.png
 
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So this is what the 2ft drop cost me:

I wish I could just buy those parts, but they won't sell it to me. Hopefully 3rd party sellers will start coming in soon. I've changed my mind on getting a Mavic 3 when it comes out. The EVO I is more than enough for what I need. And perhaps later on I'll get the EVO II when all the bugs have been corrected.

Overall, I was expecting a lot worse than this.

View attachment 6855
Glad it didn't make a hole in your savings. You should consider stop dropping your Evo. It will save you money in the long run. ?
 
Glad it didn't make a hole in your savings. You should consider stop dropping your Evo. It will save you money in the long run. ?

It was a 2ft crash! lol But yeah... no more flying inside the house. I'm getting a toy drone to play with just in case I get the itch to go flying around inside the house again. ??
 
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