Hey all, I have been doing some tests using just gesture mode with tracking and recording video.
First off, it would appear that in gesture mode the spark is limited to about 25m from palm launch point and it captures the palm launch as the home point.
Secondly, when it hits that 25m distance from home it freezes in the air. The green lights shows its tracking and if you step out of view it flashes yellow to show it lost you.
Now for the bad news!
Once it freezes at the perimeter and has frozen, it stays there, you cant gesture to track, if its high up you cant use palm control, you cant use the bekon command. Even with backwards tracking enabled it wont back up. The only way to get it back is use either the phone or controller to connect to it and fly it backwards about 1m. Then you can bring it down or continue using gesture controls but only inside that perimeter. If you leave it hanging too long there it initiates a RTH and flies up to about 10-15m and flies back to home. My RTH was set to RTH at current alt or 50m. Neither of which it followed.
All of this fits in the beginner mode restrictions. 30m height, 50m distance (if you work it in diameter = 25m from home point to outside edge of perimeter)
This makes it almost of no use because if i wanted to capture a shot of us walking along a path it only captures for a few seconds before it hits its distance limit. Sure its ok for someone who is not really moving about and might want to use the spark instead of a camera person to do a bit of video.
The restrictions could do with having some element of owners input. Sure, in gesture mode, set the spark to default to beginner mode out of the box. But allow users to make changes in the app to get out of beginners mode. Keep a 30m height restriction but allow me to choose a tracking distance of up to 200m.
If the spark hits the max distance then instead of freezing up at least allow for it to rotate during tracking to follow you back inside its zone or even allow the bekon command once its hit that limit.
My hints for you all are:
Make sure you have paired you phone or controller before you fly in gesture mode. Even if you have them turned off, when you turn them on they should reconnect to your spark so you can take control.
Be aware of the distance limit for tracking and be aware of the RTH just in case you have walked under cover (trees etc)
First off, it would appear that in gesture mode the spark is limited to about 25m from palm launch point and it captures the palm launch as the home point.
Secondly, when it hits that 25m distance from home it freezes in the air. The green lights shows its tracking and if you step out of view it flashes yellow to show it lost you.
Now for the bad news!
Once it freezes at the perimeter and has frozen, it stays there, you cant gesture to track, if its high up you cant use palm control, you cant use the bekon command. Even with backwards tracking enabled it wont back up. The only way to get it back is use either the phone or controller to connect to it and fly it backwards about 1m. Then you can bring it down or continue using gesture controls but only inside that perimeter. If you leave it hanging too long there it initiates a RTH and flies up to about 10-15m and flies back to home. My RTH was set to RTH at current alt or 50m. Neither of which it followed.
All of this fits in the beginner mode restrictions. 30m height, 50m distance (if you work it in diameter = 25m from home point to outside edge of perimeter)
This makes it almost of no use because if i wanted to capture a shot of us walking along a path it only captures for a few seconds before it hits its distance limit. Sure its ok for someone who is not really moving about and might want to use the spark instead of a camera person to do a bit of video.
The restrictions could do with having some element of owners input. Sure, in gesture mode, set the spark to default to beginner mode out of the box. But allow users to make changes in the app to get out of beginners mode. Keep a 30m height restriction but allow me to choose a tracking distance of up to 200m.
If the spark hits the max distance then instead of freezing up at least allow for it to rotate during tracking to follow you back inside its zone or even allow the bekon command once its hit that limit.
My hints for you all are:
Make sure you have paired you phone or controller before you fly in gesture mode. Even if you have them turned off, when you turn them on they should reconnect to your spark so you can take control.
Be aware of the distance limit for tracking and be aware of the RTH just in case you have walked under cover (trees etc)