Somethings I noticed.
I like how fast the bird can ascend and descend alot. It actually seems safer, since you can get up to altitude, and down from it much faster. There has been many times I needed to descend faster than DJI would let me.
The higher top end speed is cool, but came at a cost. I got insane amounts of warnings about yaw, speed and compass errors. It kicked me out of gps mode when I had 22 satellite's (cool that you get so many, but if it doesnt help you stay in gps mode whats the point ?) my signal strength was also at 55% when this happened. It acted pretty weird due to all these warnings. I kept getting proximity warnings as well, that led to the bird being reluctant to move or come down.
Then when I used the nld app on my android (in airplane mode) it was worse. At first the video feed latency appeared better than what I was getting with dji, but the it really degraded, lots of the same problems as I was having on the first flight, but at some point the app just froze up. Wouldnt let me do a rth, had no gps function (atti mode) but I did somehow have a patchy video feed, heinous latency but at least something to help me get my bearings. I was able to at least fly it towards my location enough to be able to spot it and bring it down safe.
Its possible that I did something wrong with the mods, perhaps my droid phone isnt up to the task of running the dji (or hacked) app. I originally switched from that droid to the iphone, because ios seemed to work much better.
Personally I thought these flights were kind of sketchy, and dont know if I will continue to fly the bird all modded up like this. It works really well stock, but I really want the ability to ascend and descend quickly as well as the no height limit. I know its illegal and dangerous, I try to use my head when flying high, although I have only been up to around 1200 feet from takeoff point. Its easier to do that safely here in the mountains. I am surrounded by peaks that are 5000 feet higher than the valley floor. Planes would certainly need to be higher than those peaks, the highest ive seen someone take their spark is around 4000 feet above launch point.
I am interested in hearing about other peoples experience using the NLD software mods
I've been using NLD with my Spark for about 2 years now. It requires a lot of time to figure out the best drone firmware, parameter setting, and apk version to find a combination that fits your needs best.
Generally, I don't have any issues with GPS, that would be no go as I've already lost my first Spark with original software within the first month of owning it.
What I like best about is the removal of no-fly zones. I've completed a European tour in 2019 and I was able to get footage at locations (London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, etc.) that would normally be impossible (and afraid to post it publicly). BTW, I was not able to import my drone for a small side trip to Marocco as it's prohibited there.
Another improvement is the ability to modify flight parameters and significantly increase the agility of my drone. As you have mentioned ascend/descend speed is very impressive.
I just wish forward speed in normal flight mode could be better as the Spark is generally slow as molasses.
Negatives I've noticed are issues with automatic modes like locking on and following the subject, which I don't use these days anyway as I'm skilled enough already to replicate flight patterns and get similar shots manually.
Since upgrading my phone to Android 10, NLD apk gives me some issues (there are currently 2 versions available), and sometimes video downlink disconnects with a lower version of firmware that has no height ceiling restriction.
Unlimited height is a feature I don't have much use of anyway, because no matter where I fly, I don't need to ascend much because the video looks like from an airplane, everything looking too small. Also, quite often I enter clouds anyway if I am too high. Having a starting point high on the mountain allows me to descend down to the valley no matter how high the height limit is set anyway (I've got very nice footage descending down from Guaita Tower in San Marino deep down into the valley below and then ascend very fast - great with NLD mod).
