DJI Care Refresh provides additional drone protection coverage — for an extra fee

DJI Care Refresh is DJI’s extended warranty plan – and it could come in handy if you accidentally drop your drone or crash it into a pool. For an extra cost, you can get additional protection beyond the standard warranty.

The cost of coverage varies per DJI product, so a more expensive piece of gear, say, an Inspire drone, will cost a lot more to get DJI Care Refresh coverage for than an Osmo Pocket.

To get Care Refresh coverage, you must purchase it within 48 hours of the product being activated (and the product must be brand new and cannot have been previously activated). You can purchase coverage for either one or two years.

The difference between DJI warranty and DJI Care Refresh

DJI’s product warranty guarantees repair service will be provided when your DJI product is malfunctioning due to non-user error, and the item broke within the covered warranty period. With DJI Care Refresh, you’re entitled to replacement service if damage occurs to the product during normal use or accidents that — at least in some capacity – was your fault (or at least wasn’t DJI’s fault), such as water damage, collisions, and dropping.

In most cases, if your drone or other DJI breaks — say, you accidentally fly it into a pool — you can return it to DJI if you also purchased DJI Care Refresh. The catch? You’ll still owe a fee to get a replacement, and there are caps on how many replacements you can get. So don’t try to think you can perform dangerous drone stunts and get away with free replacements.

Holding DJI Care Refresh’s 2-Year Plan also extends the official warranty period by two years.

What’s covered under DJI Care Refresh?

DJI Care Refresh can get you coverage for accidental damage, as well as normal wear and tear.

Covered situation include:

• Collisions
• Water damage
• Normal wear and tear

Coverage for the DJI Mini 2 and Mavic Air 2 is even more extensive, as you’ll be covered for flyaways (though the cost of a replacement in the event of a flyaway is higher than most other situations).

The best way to save money on DJI Care Refresh

Is DJI Care Refresh worth it? It’s hard to say. Given the upfront fee on top of the additional cost of a replacement, in many cases it can be worth it to buy a new drone altogether.

But for drone power users, DJI Care Refresh is likely a good way to buy some piece of mine, and get a massive discount on a replacement drone when the (hopefully not inevitable) time comes.

The best way to get a DJI Care Refresh discount is by also participating in another membership program: DJI Select. DJI Select is an annual, renewable membership program that offers benefits like coupons, prioritized shipping for new products, a birthday surprise, 30-day returns and replacements, faster repair service, and more.

The best part: DJI Select is just $49 a year, and for DJI power users – especially those who want DJI Care Refresh — it easily pays for itself thanks to a 50% discount of DJI Care Refresh and OSMO Shield for most DJI products.  For example, the Mavic Pro Platinum’s Care Refresh plan is $129, so a 50% discount would mean $64.50 — making the $49 DJI Select worth it right there. 

Just keep in mind that the DJI Select discount does not apply to every product eligible for DJI Care Refresh.

A history of DJI Care Refresh

DJI Care Refresh was first launched in 2016 alongside the introduction of DJI’s Mavic Pro. At that time, DJI was offering DJI Care Refresh for the Mavic Pro for $99.

• Buy Mavic Pro from B&H Photo for $999
• Buy Mavic Pro from DJI for $999
• Buy Mavic Pro from Amazon for $999

At the time of launch, DJI Care Refresh covered accidental damage to the Mavic Pro’s aircraft, gimbal or camera during normal use for up to 12 months. As is still the case now, you had to pay an additional fee to get a new drone (which is new or equivalent to new). At the time, the first replacement cost $79 and the second cost $129.

One big complaint with DJI Care Refresh at rollout was that it did not cover water damage or flyaways (presumably so DJI can profit off of the parts that still work, and so users couldn’t say they “lost” it and get a second drone for $99).

What other types of extended warranty coverage does DJI offer?

If you’re a drone power-user (as in, you fly drones pretty much all day, every day, rely on them as your primary source of income, etc.), DJI offers a few other extended warranty or service programs that provide additional protection and customer support than what you’ll get from DJI Care Refresh.

DJI Circle: The DJI Circle program provides broad coverage over a twelve-month period for up to five DJI products, including the Inspire, M600, Mavic Pro and Phantom drone series, and the Ronin and Osmo series of handheld stabilizers. But this isn’t for your average consumer. Be prepared to pony up at least $4,699 per 12-month period.

Among the benefits of DJI Circle membership: a personal DJI concierge who can help manage a battery rental service and repairs; coverage for accidental damage to DJI products (up to $15,000 annually), and temporary replacement devices to use until the repair is complete. 

DJI Enterprise Shield: DJI Enterprise Shield is similar to Care Refresh, but is geared toward enterprise-level (i.e. more expensive) products. While you can’t buy Enterprise Shield for a DJI Spark, you can buy Care Refresh. Likewise there’s no Care Refresh for the Mavic 2 Enterprise Series of drones, but there is Enterprise Shield.

Like Care Refresh, DJI Enterprise Shield provides broad accident coverage, repair and replacement services, free shipping and free delivery. But there’s one big difference, with DJI Enterprise Shield, there’s no deductible.

Have you purchased Care Refresh? Was it a good investment, or more trouble than it’s worth? Leave a comment below!

Purchase DJI Care Refresh here.