Welcome DJI Spark Pilot!
Jump in and join our free Spark community today!
Sign up

Quickest way to return home

mabo

Member
Join
Sep 17, 2018
Messages
8
Age
68
With limited flight time I tried to figure out the quickest way for the spark to return home. I did some experiments and I found interesting results I like to share. Here they are.

First experiment - RTH
Starting point: 70 meters high, 200 meters away. From the home point I flew straight to the starting point. Then I pressed the RTH button on the remote controller.
Total time to get back: 100 seconds.
5s for a 180° U turn​
30s to reach the coordinates right above the home point (while keeping the same altitude, ie 70m)​
14s (!) for another 180° U turn​
51s to land​
Second experiment - SPORT
Starting point: 70 meters high, 200 meters away. From the home point I flew straight to the starting point, then I U-turned the spark 180°.
Total time to get back: 60 seconds.
20s to reach the coordinates right above the home point (while keeping the same altitude, ie 70m)​
40s to land​
 
It's not a secret. Sport mode is there, for flying quickly from one point to another.

In high wind conditions, sport mode is our friend also.

But it disables obstacle avoidance.

We choose the best, according to circumstances.
 
The only thing that concerns me is SPORT may use up electricity faster so you need to make sure your remaining battery level is appropriate for a faster run home. Because of the immediate landing when the battery gets low, nowadays I bring the drone home early as a precaution and just fly around randomly nearby before landing.
 
The only thing that concerns me is SPORT may use up electricity faster so you need to make sure your remaining battery level is appropriate for a faster run home. Because of the immediate landing when the battery gets low, nowadays I bring the drone home early as a precaution and just fly around randomly nearby before landing.

While it is true that power consumption is less efficient in Sport Mode this effect is negated by the much greater distance traveled per unit of time compared to standard mode.

If you ever find yourself flying over water with critically low battery and a long distance to home then switching to Sport Mode may be your only hope. You can cover a remarkable distance in the blink of an eye in Sport and make it home with battery to spare. Regular mode is painfully slow in comparison and still chews through battery quickly (especially when low reserve).

I try to avoid that scenario but Sport Mode has saved me numerous times.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chips
Remember that if spark is flying beyond 100m, if rth is initiated, it returns with 10 m/s, disabling obstacle avoidance.

This speed is lower than max speed in sport mode, but it's quick enough to come back quickly.
 
Chips... I'm thinking it's very rare, if ever, when flying back slower would use less battery.

The only thing that concerns me is SPORT may use up electricity faster so you need to make sure your remaining battery level is appropriate for a faster run home. Because of the immediate landing when the battery gets low, nowadays I bring the drone home early as a precaution and just fly around randomly nearby before landing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chips
While it is true that power consumption is less efficient in Sport Mode this effect is negated by the much greater distance traveled per unit of time compared to standard mode.

If you ever find yourself flying over water with critically low battery and a long distance to home then switching to Sport Mode may be your only hope. You can cover a remarkable distance in the blink of an eye in Sport and make it home with battery to spare. Regular mode is painfully slow in comparison and still chews through battery quickly (especially when low reserve).

I try to avoid that scenario but Sport Mode has saved me numerous times.
Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind and use SPORT more then.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
14,593
Messages
118,799
Members
17,987
Latest member
csdisme