Current State of the Spark (updated - bought one)

[Skeeter]

I live and bought the spark in Australia im on holiday atm

bennie

All Sparks are the same. Wether you get CE or FCC power depends on where you physically are in the world at that time. If you have gone on holiday to an FCC country you'll be getting FCC power (your drone will have prompted you that the WiFi settings had changed when you turned it on and then rebooted to alter them).

 

[bennie]

No haven't seen any message like that but have been having a lot of issues and had it in shop multiple times so maybe it happened then i don't know

bennie

 

[nhoover]

FCC version went about 1300m using Wifi. Haven't done a distance flight with OTG but flew up a mountain 500m vertically from launch with OTG and no issues at all.

 

[Lastrexking]

Thanks for all of your replies. I picked up a red fly more pack today. Took a while to update everything, and still one battery to go.

Quite windy here today, but that gives me time to read the manual.

 

[KNAVE]

Great little UAV for traveling. No issues at all.
Gesture modes, tracking and quick shots all a waste of time and a gimmick as I can fly all the maneuvers more reliably and more stable manually myself.
Palm launch and land is great for dusty/difficult environments.
No problems to date.

Gesture mode: no faster way of taking a selfie and with the added benefit of not having a big controller or even phone in your hands for the picture
Tracking: there are certain activities that you simply cannot record yourself doing while also using the controller (example: riding a motorcycle/driving car)
Quickshots: I would love to see anyone pull off a perfect helix

I understand that these features may not apply to you personally and that is fine but to claim they are a waste of [anyone's] time or a gimmick is not fair to the spark.

 

[The Editor]

Mine is a CE version and after many problems i am now getting great distance furthest is 600m atm and height has been 250 meters

bennie

There is no such thing as a 'CE' version - they are all the same.

 

[The Editor]

Gesture mode: no faster way of taking a selfie and with the added benefit of not having a big controller or even phone in your hands for the picture
Tracking: there are certain activities that you simply cannot record yourself doing while also using the controller (example: riding a motorcycle/driving car)
Quickshots: I would love to see anyone pull off a perfect helix

I understand that these features may not apply to you personally and that is fine but to claim they are a waste of [anyone's] time or a gimmick is not fair to the spark.

I operate commercially with a fleet of different UAV's so am not interested in 'Dronies' and Selfie Sticks or tracking myself.
For me, the Spark is a nice little toy to throw in the bag on trips/vacations and take some nice B-roll footage.
It's portability is simply fantastic.
The auto modes are too jerky to use with any real purpose or seriously, but hey, some people are happy to watch a two hour feature film on a phone!
Yes, I can fly a helix manually it really isn't that difficult - but then my deciplines come from 3D collective pitch helicopters so a helix is pretty simple if you are used to going inverted nose in.

 

[nhoover]

ActiveTrack is lacking compared to the Mavic - the Spark is missing Spotlight mode. With the Mavic this turned out to be great for shooting MTB rides in close quarters - don't have to worry about obstacles since it doesn't move. Why can't the Spark do this given that it has Trace and Profile modes which are more complicated?

 

[His415]

Have you gotten to fly it yet?

 

[Lastrexking]

Have you gotten to fly it yet?

Yep. Quite a few times. Can't believe how much the tech has come on since my first Phantom.

 

[Hickeroar]

Got mine last week and it's been running perfectly. Not a single issue.

Sent from my ASUS_Z01HD using SparkPilots Spark Forum mobile app

 

[uasav8r]

Forums attract people with problems. People without issues are probably happily getting on with playing with their Sparks. I suspect that overall the product has matured enough in recent weeks to be trusted. Some people, including me, have specific issues but we do not represent the majority

Have not had problems that I can blame on DJI. Mostly self-induced for failure to thoroughly RTFM!

 

[uasav8r]

+1

Its just the way it is; Vocal minority, Silent Majority. Not many people are going to come on here and post that everything is great no problem. Then we as humans are always looking for the negative in anything and focus on that.

I'm not saying the Spark didn't have any issues when first released. That would be a first for any complex system, but I believe the problems experienced weren't as widespread as one would believe based on postings. My Spark has not had any serious issues since I purchased it. Gesture mode was spotty; it didn't follow me very well... But no issues with connectivity. I used to use the OTG cable all the time, not so much anymore. It flies and responds just fine without it. I'm thinking "possibly" those with the OTG issue are using Android-based devices...

"Then we as humans are always looking for the negative in anything and focus on that.". "Always"? Really? Most of the "humans" I deal with are trying to resolve problems are are truly positive in life. Maybe a change of scenery is in order!

 

[Sparkbart]

Awesome that you have rose-colored glasses! Okay maybe I overstated "always". How about in "general"? All one has to do is look at the news. Why are Page 1 stories always negative? Where are leading broadcast stories Negative?

Personally, my scenery is just fine, better than fine. I have both eyes open. If all I ever saw were totally positive people, I'd wonder if I was fooling myself and turning a blind eye to the other half....

"Then we as humans are always looking for the negative in anything and focus on that.". "Always"? Really? Most of the "humans" I deal with are trying to resolve problems are are truly positive in life. Maybe a change of scenery is in order!

 

[uasav8r]

Awesome that you have rose-colored glasses! Okay maybe I overstated "always". How about in "general"? All one has to do is look at the news. Why are Page 1 stories always negative? Where are leading broadcast stories Negative?

Personally, my scenery is just fine, better than fine. I have both eyes open. If all I ever saw were totally positive people, I'd wonder if I was fooling myself and turning a blind eye to the other half....

I guess you missed my point "most of the people I deal with". However, my assessment of people is not from reading the "fake" news

 

[MeLee]

Hi so I'm taking a little vacation and I didn't realize that there we're 3 air spaces around my motel. I flew every day for three days and realized that as soon as I got in the air a helicopter would show up and fly real low, then I found out I was playing in a no fly zone. So need less to say I've changed motels to about 4 main lights away from the other motel and haven't flown around here since the last helicopter incident. This helicopter seems as though it is watching me. Just got complimentary breakfast and when I got back to my room the helicopter (Blue and Silver)is circling pretty low around my room I circles. What's going on??

 

[The Editor]

Hi so I'm taking a little vacation and I didn't realize that there we're 3 air spaces around my motel. I flew every day for three days and realized that as soon as I got in the air a helicopter would show up and fly real low, then I found out I was playing in a no fly zone. So need less to say I've changed motels to about 4 main lights away from the other motel and haven't flown around here since the last helicopter incident. This helicopter seems as though it is watching me. Just got complimentary breakfast and when I got back to my room the helicopter (Blue and Silver)is circling pretty low around my room I circles. What's going on??

Since you give no indication where in the world you are flying - a little difficult to determine.
Enjoy your breakfast.