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Still worth it?

h2owillie

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Jan 12, 2021
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59
I just recently got a replacement under warranty for a Spark. Still in the box, unopened. I have another spark and other drones. My question is is there still demand for this drone and if so is it a big advantage not to open it? I do have all accessories for it still too. Not sure if it is foolish to keep it closed.
 
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Not sure if it is foolish to keep it closed
The only foolish thing would be letting the batteries die by not maintaining them. The drone itself would be fine though if you decide to keep it boxed away for some years.
 
My question is is there still demand for this drone

Yep. 😊

If interested in selling, I (and others) may be interested.


Your post Sparked my coursity.


.
 
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If there is a brand new battery in the box too, then at least THAT one should be properly hibernated from the factory, and SHOULD be ok when it's brought into use.

As you probably have other batteries, you obviously have to 2nd Spark so any / all batteries could be used for that to keep them in a good state for longevity.

It's a great drone, as you would be aware, so you may wish to keep it for the inevitable day you other gives up, or is lost.

Or, if you have no real need for it and wanted to sell it, I think the battery issue might be the main hurdle . . . if a single battery then the lack of new OEM or decent aftermarket batteries might be a hard concern to overcome.

There's a poster here @cruzroy who can reflash old batteries, and he sometimes has them for sale here, or might be able to restore your batteries one day if needed.

I'm kind of surprised DJI even have Sparks like that at hand for such warranty, or that warranty is still around for the Sparks.
Been quite while since they've been found retail, at least in my region, possibly some stores might still have one or two in stock here and there.
 
If there is a brand new battery in the box too, then at least THAT one should be properly hibernated from the factory, and SHOULD be ok when it's brought into use.
I don't even know that DJI is manufacturer new Sparks. Seems like that couldn't be possible since they haven't sold them for some time. If so, that battery could already be quite old.
 
I don't even know that DJI is manufacturer new Sparks. Seems like that couldn't be possible since they haven't sold them for some time. If so, that battery could already be quite old.

No, I imagine they wouldn't be making them for quite a while, in fact it'd be a certainty I'd say.
They may still have some for warranty, or OP may have got this of warranty some time ago.
Sparks shouldn't be coverable by anything this stage of the product life though.

Apparently the hibernated state from the factory is safe for many many years, unlike the usual discharged 50% or so the batteries drop to after whatever days they are set to do this.
The hibernated state from the factory is generally ok with normal manual procedure to wake it up with the initial charge.

After this and it's been used (or even just a first charge and not used), it's very easy to brick a battery if left for too long.
This varies from what I've read on various forums, usually past 6 months, possibly for up to a year or even longer ?

Hard to tell if the OP has a battery in the new drone box, I'd say so.
It may or may not have a controller, mostly I think after the initial release they did usually sell a complete flight kit.
Initially many purchased the Spark basic kit, without controller, and fly with hand gestures, but a shame as that is nothing more than a selfie drone then.
 
If there is a brand new battery in the box too, then at least THAT one should be properly hibernated from the factory, and SHOULD be ok when it's brought into use.

As you probably have other batteries, you obviously have to 2nd Spark so any / all batteries could be used for that to keep them in a good state for longevity.

It's a great drone, as you would be aware, so you may wish to keep it for the inevitable day you other gives up, or is lost.

Or, if you have no real need for it and wanted to sell it, I think the battery issue might be the main hurdle . . . if a single battery then the lack of new OEM or decent aftermarket batteries might be a hard concern to overcome.

There's a poster here @cruzroy who can reflash old batteries, and he sometimes has them for sale here, or might be able to restore your batteries one day if needed.

I'm kind of surprised DJI even have Sparks like that at hand for such warranty, or that warranty is still around for the Sparks.
Been quite while since they've been found retail, at least in my region, possibly some stores might still have one or two in stock here and there.
 
If there is a brand new battery in the box too, then at least THAT one should be properly hibernated from the factory, and SHOULD be ok when it's brought into use.

As you probably have other batteries, you obviously have to 2nd Spark so any / all batteries could be used for that to keep them in a good state for longevity.

It's a great drone, as you would be aware, so you may wish to keep it for the inevitable day you other gives up, or is lost.

Or, if you have no real need for it and wanted to sell it, I think the battery issue might be the main hurdle . . . if a single battery then the lack of new OEM or decent aftermarket batteries might be a hard concern to overcome.

There's a poster here @cruzroy who can reflash old batteries, and he sometimes has them for sale here, or might be able to restore your batteries one day if needed.

I'm kind of surprised DJI even have Sparks like that at hand for such warranty, or that warranty is still around for the Sparks.
Been quite while since they've been found retail, at least in my region, possibly some stores might still have one or two in stock here and there.
No just the drone. The batteries and others stuff was for original. This was a warranty return. It was having compass error problems. Never crashed but always tried to drift away.
 
If there is a brand new battery in the box too, then at least THAT one should be properly hibernated from the factory, and SHOULD be ok when it's brought into use.

As you probably have other batteries, you obviously have to 2nd Spark so any / all batteries could be used for that to keep them in a good state for longevity.

It's a great drone, as you would be aware, so you may wish to keep it for the inevitable day you other gives up, or is lost.

Or, if you have no real need for it and wanted to sell it, I think the battery issue might be the main hurdle . . . if a single battery then the lack of new OEM or decent aftermarket batteries might be a hard concern to overcome.

There's a poster here @cruzroy who can reflash old batteries, and he sometimes has them for sale here, or might be able to restore your batteries one day if needed.

I'm kind of surprised DJI even have Sparks like that at hand for such warranty, or that warranty is still around for the Sparks.
Been quite while since they've been found retail, at least in my region, possibly some stores might still have one or two in stock here and there.
I wondered the same about availability of Sparks. I still have "refresh" on it as it was replaced under warranty. No battery in it just replacement drone. Probably the same if I used refresh. They must still have them for refresh replacements. The batteries from original are being cared for.
 
No, I imagine they wouldn't be making them for quite a while, in fact it'd be a certainty I'd say.
They may still have some for warranty, or OP may have got this of warranty some time ago.
Sparks shouldn't be coverable by anything this stage of the product life though.

Apparently the hibernated state from the factory is safe for many many years, unlike the usual discharged 50% or so the batteries drop to after whatever days they are set to do this.
The hibernated state from the factory is generally ok with normal manual procedure to wake it up with the initial charge.

After this and it's been used (or even just a first charge and not used), it's very easy to brick a battery if left for too long.
This varies from what I've read on various forums, usually past 6 months, possibly for up to a year or even longer ?

Hard to tell if the OP has a battery in the new drone box, I'd say so.
It may or may not have a controller, mostly I think after the initial release they did usually sell a complete flight kit.
Initially many purchased the Spark basic kit, without controller, and fly with hand gestures, but a shame as that is nothing more than a selfie drone then.
Yes, hand control, phone only or controller. They did market it with just drone and 1 battery. The hand gestures are very limited. I do have DJI goggles for it too. They are fun to fly drone with but don't work with most other DJI drones. Won't work with Mini 2 or Air 2. The Spark is a tank. Just limited by short battery.
 
@h2owillie, if you have no need for the new in-box Spark then you should not open it and sell it. I think there is still a market for it judging by the prices that it seems to fetch on eBay even used. A brand new in-box Spark these days is a rare find especially since its battery would likely be in hibernation mode and would be in excellent working order.

The Spark is unique among DJI drones as you are likely aware and the technology packed into the little thing is amazing even today. It can do more out of the box than the Mini SE can! Go figure!

Chris
 
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I think that all Spark owners should unite and inundate DJI to bring back the Spark or at least start making new and cheaper batteries. This great little drone should have NEVER been discontinued completely by DJI in the first place. Just my opinion.
I just wish that some third party vendor would have made batteries for the Spark like they did for the Phantom 3 and some of the Mavics. I can still get batteries for my Phantom 3 and I still fly it regularly (did a flight yesterday), but once my 3 working batteries for my Spark get to high cycle counts or start to swell, my Spark will then become a paperweight which is just crazy because it is such a great drone.

Chris
 
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I just wish that some third party vendor would have made batteries for the Spark like they did for the Phantom 3 and some of the Mavics. I can still get batteries for my Phantom 3 and I still fly it regularly (did a flight yesterday), but once my 3 working batteries for my Spark get to high cycle counts or start to swell, my Spark will then become a paperweight which is just crazy because it is such a great drone.

Chris
there are a few people making modded spark batteries using mavic air cells, they are getting 20= minute flight
 
@h2owillie, if you have no need for the new in-box Spark then you should not open it and sell it. I think there is still a market for it judging by the prices that it seems to fetch on eBay even used. A brand new in-box Spark these days is a rare find especially since its battery would likely be in hibernation mode and would be in excellent working order.

The Spark is unique among DJI drones as you are likely aware and the technology packed into the little thing is amazing even today. It can do more out of the box than the Mini SE can! Go figure!

Chris
No batteries in box, just replacement drone.
 
I just recently got a replacement under warranty for a Spark. Still in the box, unopened. I have another spark and other drones. My question is is there still demand for this drone and if so is it a big advantage not to open it? I do have all accessories for it still too. Not sure if it is foolish to keep it closed.

This is an old video (2017 - Tom's Tech Time) where Tom tests a Spark, and it gives you an example of how durable the SPARK is. I doubt any other drone would survive this well:


They really are a sturdy little aircraft. I would hold on to it.
 

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