Parrot AR Drone 2.0 critical issue, $70 pinion gear!!

Описание: This pinion gear easily falls off and can cost up to $70 to replace!!

The original AR Drone had a nice hard wearing, pretty firmly fitted brass pinion gears on the motor and there are almost no issues reported regarding this. However in there infinate wisdom, Parrot decided to replace this pinion with a plastic gear.
Firslty, every time you use the Drone, you'll notice a layer of dust around the gear, which is actually from the plastic pinion quickly wearing away. But that's not the worst of it. As you can see in the video, these pinions are VERY loosely fitted to the motor shaft. You can easily pull them off with your fingers. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but in the event of a crash, the thing which usually breaks first is the propeller shaft (which is made extremely weak). Once this breaks and the propeller gear comes off, the pinion gear often flies off too. There are several reports in forums saying this has happened. It's very unlikely you'll find this tiny pinion once it falls off as it's so small.
Now, you'd expect a part such as this to be readily available for replacement wouldn't you? Not so, firstly the pinion itself is very unusual having 8 teeth, 5mm with 1mm shaft. You'll not find an equivalent part anywhere. No problem, just order it from Parrot right? Ha, no chance, you actually have to buy the entire motor unit and control circuit board for around $50 plus $20 delivery!! So I ask you, why did Parrot replace a perfectly good brass pinion with a plastic one which wears quickly and easily falls off? I'll let you decide!
Just to rub salt in the wound, when the prop shaft breaks (or bends which they often do), you'll not be able to purchase a single replacement shaft, no, you'll have to buy 4 shafts and 4 gears for around $20+ postage). One small crash could easily cost $100 to fix 2 minor parts, which are actually worth less than 50 cents. That's quite a money spinner.