Up until today I really didn't see any real benefit to sport mode for me. To me it was just a fun mode with no real useful value. I take mostly photos with my Spark and don't use the Intelligent flight modes - haven't even tried any of them but eventually will. I had tried sport mode just briefly before but just for a brief time.
Today, it was a beautiful sunny day for a change, but it was windy with wind gusts and I usually would not fly on a day like today - I usually fly my Spark on days with light wind or no wind. I launched my Spark in P mode and flew it around nearby and not too high so that I could get a feel for the conditions. It handled fine but it was being bumped around by the wind gusts and would loose or gain altitude every time a strong gust hit it - not ideal conditions for taking sharp photos. After changing
batteries I launched and tried Sport mode. Wow! What a difference in the wind it makes! Like I expected, it was more responsive but what I didn't expect was how much more stable it was in the wind gusts and it seemed to be able to hover better. I even felt confident enough to take it up a bit higher where it would have been even more windy and it performed great.
The Spark in sport mode seems to be more stable than my Phantom 3 Standard, which does not have sport mode, in strong wind gusts. This was a surprise to me given how much larger and heavier the P3S is.
So, now I am thinking that I will be able to use sport mode on gusty days (within reason) to get out to where I want to take my photos and then use it to get back, whereas with the normal P mode the Spark might struggle more. We are planning a trip out to British Columbia in the summer and will be travelling along the coast where it will likely be windy most days. I am planning on taking the Spark and sport mode seems like it will give me more opportunities to get some good shots in less than ideal conditions.