so this is kind of embarrassing but figured id post it incase it helps someone else not do what i did. was flying out over a reservoir near my house, beautiful morning, totally calm. had the drone maybe 40 meters out over the water doing a slow pull back shot and i just... wasnt paying attention to the battery level. got the low battery warning and panicked a little, tried to bring it back manually instead of just letting RTH do its thing, and in the process i somehow switched the gimbal control to something wrong and was looking at the screen confused for too long

drone dropped into the water about 25 meters from shore. i waded in and got it out within maybe 90 seconds but it was fully submerged. put it in rice (i know i know, people say this doesnt work but it was all i had), left it three days, tried to power it on - nothing. took it apart as much as i dared and there was corrosion already starting on the board near the battery connector

moral of the story i guess is just let RTH do its job when youre panicking and also maybe dont fly over water without thinking about what youre going to do if something goes wrong. the drone is probably toast. looking at whether DJI care refresh covers this, anyone know if water damage is included

oof sorry to hear that. DJI Care Refresh does cover water damage, thats one of the things that makes it worth it imo. you get two replacements per year i think and water damage is explicitly listed. if you bought it recently and have care refresh activated just go through the DJI app and start a claim, they'll walk you through sending it in. you might have to pay a replacement fee depending on your plan tier but its way cheaper than buying a whole new drone

also for future reference - rice doesnt do much for electronics, the corrosion starts within minutes of saltwater exposure and honestly pretty fast with fresh water too. the thing to do is rinse with distilled water immediately to displace the minerals, then isopropyl alcohol, then let it dry fully before even trying to power it. not that it always works but gives it a better shot than rice does

this is exactly why i wont fly over water without care refresh active, full stop. had a close call myself last summer, different situation but same gut-drop feeling. hope the claim goes smoothly for you, DJI's support has actually been decent in my experience when it comes to refresh claims