Dronie, Rocket, Helix Quickshot's ALL DON'T WORK!

[Az Flyer]

Before everyone freaks out. So far I love the spark! I dont have any experience with recent DJI products, but I have been flying drones for over 4 years. This post is meant to help me learn if I'm doing something wrong, or if others are experiencing the same thing. BTW I've already posted this in another dji forum but thought i would post here as well (sorry to duplicate)....

All the Quickshot modes I have tried dont work... (I Haven't tried circle yet.)

Dronie: I have tried dronie multiple times. Each time it stays flat, not gaining any altitude, but reversing like normal.
video:

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flight log photo: https://goo.gl/photos/3iH87UwkbqDYb3wq6

Rocket: Tried rocket yesterday in a medium wind (5-10mph). Spark immediatly started drifting in the direction of the wind and continued climbing while clearly not tracking the subject. While not using quickshots, Spark can hover perfectly still and even climb without drifting at all.
video:

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flight log photo: https://goo.gl/photos/5vwGasYw4QSqrtUT6

Helix: Tried it on top of a hill with light wind (5-10mph). Spark tracked me while starting manuver (gained altitude and started first turn) Once it started its first turn it lost track of subject, was still trying to finish manuver, until wifi cut out and initiated return-to-home. Once RTH was initiated (due to lost wifi signal) the helix video recording automatically stopped and i couldnt recconnect to "spark wifi" for about 1 min later (SCARY) until it was directly above me while auto-landing.
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flight log photo: https://goo.gl/photos/7gJExg2GVcSP6wAU9


Can someone tell me if there is a way while flying the Spark in quickshot mode using DJI Go 4 if the subject tracking has been lost?

Either way, I have a feeling other people are experiencing the same issuesk. If so, do you think its software related, and can be fixed with firmware updates?

I personally picked the Spark over the Mavic SPECIFICALLY for the Quickshots, so I can record these shots and still be in the them with my family.

Has anyone had success with these modes?

 

[briri]

I have "successfully" tested all 4 modes using RC. I have not tried using iPhone/iPad without RC.

Dronie: my 3 attempts were similar to yours in that horizontal distance was much greater than vertical increase. This needs to be corrected otherwise this feature is ALMOST unusable.

Rocket: used successfully multiple times with no issues, specifically, no drift as you described.

Helix: 2 aborted attempts. Both attempts began successfully but had to abort each as the field I was in had trees that were too close. Would be nice if vertical increase was greater than horizontal, much like the dronie issue.

Circle: worked fine in limited testing

As an early adopter I expected lots of little issues. Hopefully DJI will tweak these otherwise neat features to make them more practical and usable.

 

[WillSparky]

How far back does yours go for a Dronie and did it come back once finished?

I have interrupted all my tests as it just kept on going and going the farthest it went during that mode is 120 meters.

I noticed that the ascent rate varies depending on what the target to be tracked is.

 

[briri]

How far back does yours go for a Dronie and did it come back once finished?

I have interrupted all my tests as it just kept on going and going the farthest it went during that mode is 120 meters.

I noticed that the ascent rate varies depending on what the target to be tracked is.

My dronie tests went 250ft away while rising only 7ft. It would then stop and return to me. I would prefer to be able to set those values myself. I would like for it elevate at least 1ft for every 2-3ft farther away that it gets.

 

[JMR]

@Az Flyer
I am still waiting for my Spark delivery and searching for some solutions in advance.
In the Quick Shot Mode/Rocket,..isn't it possible to choose Altitude speed via the Main Controller Settings/Advanced/Sensitivity?
Those settings are available on the DJi Go 4 app for My Phantom 4 anyway, just wondering.

 

[Az Flyer]

@Az Flyer
I am still waiting for my Spark delivery and searching for some solutions in advance.
In the Quick Shot Mode/Rocket,..isn't it possible to choose Altitude speed via the Main Controller Settings/Advanced/Sensitivity?
Those settings are available on the DJi Go 4 app for My Phantom 4 anyway, just wondering.

Thanks for the question! Unfortunately, All of the quick shot functions preset distances cannot be changed.

 

[WPS]

Dronie works the same way for me, very little vertical gain. From reading other forums it appears DJI knows about this and some issue with Helix. I haven't tried helix due to reported issues. Rocket and circle work fine for me. I am using the RC.

Best,
WPS

 

[CaptainDrone]

I tried the quickshots out when I first received the Spark on Monday. I did notice that when you select the shot you wish & if you tap the shot a second time you can then select the range. All shots required that I select myself on the screen, this way it knows exactly what is to remain in the picture. I also noticed that it does not matter if you are recording video before you select Quickshots, because the video stops, then only records your quickshot. Obviously designed so that you can email the shots to someone. One other thing... I was using the remote control.

Rocket worked as advertized. Spark flew up to the height I set and recorded the video going up. Then stopped the video and came back to me.
Dronie. Spark flew out to the distance I set & recorded the video, then stopped the video and returned to me. I watched on my phone display to see if it was increasing in height. It does increase in height, but only 10 or 20 meters. This should be much higher.
Circle. It started the video, flew one full rotation, then stopped the video and waited for me to take control.
Helix. It doesn't really do a circle but more of a letter "C". It created a short video but it stopped it as soon as I hit "Pause". It was flying much too far away. It rises as fast as it does in Dronie which is much too slow. There needs to be an option to set the radius to keep the circle tight as it rises.

I'm guessing a future firmware update will resolve these issues.

One final note: The very first battery I flew testing out the features eventually ran low. So low in fact that the Spark went into return to home mode. I'm used to the Mavic & Phantom that the flight time caught me off guard. I let it do it's return to home thing. Let me just say that the Spark takes awhile to fly up to your set return to home height (mine was set to 50 meters) burning away precious battery power. So it flew up to that height on the low battery, then gave me the warning that it did not have enough power to return to home (it was only about 100 meters in distance away from me). So it began to fly in my direction at 50 meters in height and then gave me the warning that it was landing due to critically low battery, so it never made the 100 meter trek back to me, but rather 70 meters. It still came down nicely and landed in the open field I was in. Something to watch for with this tiny drone is the battery power... when it gets low, there may not be enough power to get home.

 

[Zezrum]

Something to watch for with this tiny drone is the battery power... when it gets low, there may not be enough power to get home.

I had a similar experience, and was a bit worried at first, but I quickly canceled the RTH, popped it in sport mode, and got it home faster and still had a sliver of battery left. It was also beginning to rain so I was motivated!

 

[Kentech5]

I had a similar experience, and was a bit worried at first, but I quickly canceled the RTH, popped it in sport mode, and got it home faster and still had a sliver of battery left. It was also beginning to rain so I was motivated!

I definitely prefer to fly back in sport mode over manual RTH if I have the Spark any real distance away.

 

[Az Flyer]

I tried the quickshots out when I first received the Spark on Monday. I did notice that when you select the shot you wish & if you tap the shot a second time you can then select the range. All shots required that I select myself on the screen, this way it knows exactly what is to remain in the picture. I also noticed that it does not matter if you are recording video before you select Quickshots, because the video stops, then only records your quickshot. Obviously designed so that you can email the shots to someone. One other thing... I was using the remote control.

Rocket worked as advertized. Spark flew up to the height I set and recorded the video going up. Then stopped the video and came back to me.
Dronie. Spark flew out to the distance I set & recorded the video, then stopped the video and returned to me. I watched on my phone display to see if it was increasing in height. It does increase in height, but only 10 or 20 meters. This should be much higher.
Circle. It started the video, flew one full rotation, then stopped the video and waited for me to take control.
Helix. It doesn't really do a circle but more of a letter "C". It created a short video but it stopped it as soon as I hit "Pause". It was flying much too far away. It rises as fast as it does in Dronie which is much too slow. There needs to be an option to set the radius to keep the circle tight as it rises.

I'm guessing a future firmware update will resolve these issues.

One final note: The very first battery I flew testing out the features eventually ran low. So low in fact that the Spark went into return to home mode. I'm used to the Mavic & Phantom that the flight time caught me off guard. I let it do it's return to home thing. Let me just say that the Spark takes awhile to fly up to your set return to home height (mine was set to 50 meters) burning away precious battery power. So it flew up to that height on the low battery, then gave me the warning that it did not have enough power to return to home (it was only about 100 meters in distance away from me). So it began to fly in my direction at 50 meters in height and then gave me the warning that it was landing due to critically low battery, so it never made the 100 meter trek back to me, but rather 70 meters. It still came down nicely and landed in the open field I was in. Something to watch for with this tiny drone is the battery power... when it gets low, there may not be enough power to get home.

Thank you sooooo much!

UPDATE!!!!! I just tried pressing the quickshot button twice to bring up the distance setting on my fly less and there are distance settings for each quickshot except circle (which you set by the distance away when pressing go) I have attached the dronie "2nd press" to bring up the slider for distance going backwards. I can't thank you enough and I can't believe something like that wouldn't have made it into the manual.

 

[Romy Mutuc]

I thought the batteries were supposed to know how much juice it will take to get back. I guess they are not "smart" batteries???

 

[Harley]

How are you pressing the Quickshot button TWICE? If I press on it, the button disappears immediately and it just goes into the quick shot screen.

 

[Romy Mutuc]

I think someone else mentioned "long" press. Hold it down for 2 or 3 seconds.

 

[Harley]

Has anyone else been able to get this to work? For whatever reason, I am unable to get the distance slider to show up...

 

[Zezrum]

Has anyone else been able to get this to work? For whatever reason, I am unable to get the distance slider to show up...

Yes. Click on Quickshot, select your subject, click on Dronie, then Click on Dronie a second time and the slider shows up at the bottom, adjust the slider, click the green checkmark to accept, then click on the subject "Go" to execute.

 

[CaptainDrone]

I thought the batteries were supposed to know how much juice it will take to get back. I guess they are not "smart" batteries???

They do but when you add in the time and power it takes for the Spark to rise to the RTH height, it eats up juice. I've since lower my RTH height to 35 meters from 50.

 

[Harley]

Yes. Click on Quickshot, select your subject, click on Dronie, then Click on Dronie a second time and the slider shows up at the bottom, adjust the slider, click the green checkmark to accept, then click on the subject "Go" to execute.

Ok... thank you.. I managed to get to the point where I can see the slider for distance.... but I am now unable to get the slider to move.
It comes up, defaulted to 40 meters and I cannot get the slider to move.. Obviously I am doing something wrong, but I have no idea what
it might be. Color me clueless....

 

[redrydermedia]

Great new info, but for me it still didn't work. I was able to select the controller icon, select quick shot, select the subject, then press dronie, then re select dronie, then move the slider to the minimum distance....10 meters (about 30ft), then select the green check mark (the first time I forgot this step), then hit go. But Spark just flew backwards over 100ft, did not increase altitude at all, and I aborted. Only did it once because it was starting to get dark and I wasn't in a large enough area to be testing functions I don't understand or aren't working correctly. Sample size of one.....

 

[Harley]

Since it is not in the manual (at least yet), perhaps the slider is actually non functional at this point?
Are you pressing and holding on the slider to get it to move? (even though the actual setting does not seem to do anything yet?)

I sure wish someone from DJI would come in and comment on this....