Such a frustrating hobby (sort of)

[Pe11e]

Nope, I'm not going to whine about how frustrating was for me to connect RC to the Spark after firmware update, took me 2 days to find the solution.

I'm talking about weather and free time conjunction.

When it's not raining, it's windy.
When it's not raining and windy, it's freaking cold.
When it's not raining, windy and freaking cold, then air moisture is off the charts.
When it's not raining, windy, freaking cold, and air moisture is low, then KP is like 5 or 6.
When it's not raining, windy, freaking cold, high air moisture, and KP is like 5 or 6, then it's overcast with 50 or more precipitation probability (smell like rain).
When it's clear, freaking nice day, nothing from above on sight, then I'm not able to go outside and fly.
And when I finally go out to fly, perfect weather, I have bad connection and image quality (far from any house). (5 out of 10 flights).

But in the end, when EVERY puzzle piece is on it's place during flight, IT IS SO SATISFYING! Especially when you start to feel comfortable and confident flying the Spark, and you start focusing more and more on cinematography or some other cool ideas with it, it is a whole new perspective.

Just sharing my 5 cents of looking on both side of the coin.

Cheers

 

[MannyCAM2001]

Agreed. Nothing like feeling relaxed an confident in your handling of the lil girl. That’s certainly when the magic begins.
Let’s face it, it’s about capturing life around you. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Enjoy it while you can. 10 years ago, who would have dreamed of capturing family videos at 400 feet.

 

[John Harvey]

Know the feeling,,,,, I had to send my Spark to DJi for repairs and for 3 weeks could only sit and read the Forum or watch You Tube on Drones.. Thank goodness my Spark is now back and I am out flying and enjoying the little machine,,

 

[Ron_Dog]

I just received my Spark (used fly more package) and have a total of 2 flights on it. It has rained ever since! The wind dosen't bother me too much, unless it's really strong, the cold sucks but can be worked around for a short flight! Cloudy dosen't bother me at all, most of my video's and pictures suck anyway!For the really bad weather I have 2 tiny whoops that I fly around the house with FPV. My friends and I actually fly our Mavic Pro's from inside our trucks in cold weather. I dosen't effect the range of the MP at all? But that might be due to the operating frequency? So bad weather is a excuse to "buy" more RC gear, if you think about it, if every day was perfect, you would only need one Drone,Nah!

 

[Stevan]

Ha I'm sure everyone can relate to the weather problems, especially in the UK. My main limiting factor is always free time. Think I've wracked up the majority of my flight time around the house!

 

[Playthru]

Don’t forget being stuck in a NFZ and having to drive miles to fly and hoping the place you found that it’s alright to fly there.

 

[Pe11e]

Well I can add another frustrating situation from today. Connected my OTG cable and connection was VERY unstable. Disconnected maybe 5 times during one flight, and every time I touched the cable it connects again. It seems that my OTG cable is not the best quality. But that is not my concern. My concern is that when I flew with Wi-Fi only after that next two flights, I had crystal clear and very stable connection, much much better than with OTG (when it worked). With OTG I had compression artefacts, delay, and some sort of image interference.
I think I will stick to Wi-Fi only for now, but max distance even with range extenders is around 750m, which is exactly 50% less than with OTG without range extenders (around 1500m).
MAkes me thing why OTG is not good in my case. Using Xiaomi (Android), 4.1.14 and .900.

 

[Jangles]

Don't feel bad, the other day I spent all day and part of the next morning on and off the phone with 4 or 5 people from tech support in china, what a nightmare!
I had a connection but no video so after a very frustrating day the last guy told me to let the spark rest and try again the next day, after doing all sorts of things the next morning the tech told me I would have to send it in for repair, I was not happy, finally I took the drone outside where the sun was shining turns out it was a simple camera setting that was goofed up. BTW that was the second time they told me to send it in when it wasn't necessary for some reason. Turned out there was not enough light in the house where I was working to see anything on the screen.

 

[Hddeuce03]

Well I can add another frustrating situation from today. Connected my OTG cable and connection was VERY unstable. Disconnected maybe 5 times during one flight, and every time I touched the cable it connects again. It seems that my OTG cable is not the best quality. But that is not my concern. My concern is that when I flew with Wi-Fi only after that next two flights, I had crystal clear and very stable connection, much much better than with OTG (when it worked). With OTG I had compression artefacts, delay, and some sort of image interference.
I think I will stick to Wi-Fi only for now, but max distance even with range extenders is around 750m, which is exactly 50% less than with OTG without range extenders (around 1500m).
MAkes me thing why OTG is not good in my case. Using Xiaomi (Android), 4.1.14 and .900.

This makes no sense. The OTG cable has nothing to do with range. It only connects the phone to the controller. But the issues you are experiencing do suggest a bad OTG cable.

 

[Pe11e]

I know it makes no sense, just my experience. Always better distance with OTG, unless it is a coincidence.

 

[John MacAulay]

I'm with you there. Here in Nova Scotia for the past few months it's been basically raining, snowing, minus 10c or blowing like hell. However, yesterday and today... 2 goods days to fly. Excellent!

 

[Skynet HK Aerial]

We all agree lol. When everything is just right... nirvana.

 

[SIDEHACK]

Don’t forget being stuck in a NFZ and having to drive miles to fly and hoping the place you found that it’s alright to fly there.

Amen........

 

[Syphen]

All these problems translate to real aircraft too (pretty much). The number of days where I've been stoked to go out and just blast around low & slow around the lakes to find overcast/wind/rain/something wrong. It can be depressing.

 

[Radio flier]

I might look like I’m listening to you but in my head I’m flying my drone.

 

[Richard Ruckert]

Regarding connection issues, forget android. Buy an old iphone 6...it's flawless, and you can get a new battery put in for $29 to $45 bucks (Apple dealer, not Apple dealer). It's soooooo worth it. I made the switch. Use the phone as wifi only without a cellular plan. Download DJI Go 4 app via wifi. Because the SD card is in the Spark there's no challenge getting the video out of the phone, which is a PITA. It's sooooo worth it.

 

[s2 Web Parrot]

Nope, I'm not going to whine about how frustrating was for me to connect RC to the Spark after firmware update, took me 2 days to find the solution.

I'm talking about weather and free time conjunction.

When it's not raining, it's windy.
When it's not raining and windy, it's freaking cold.
When it's not raining, windy and freaking cold, then air moisture is off the charts.
When it's not raining, windy, freaking cold, and air moisture is low, then KP is like 5 or 6.
When it's not raining, windy, freaking cold, high air moisture, and KP is like 5 or 6, then it's overcast with 50 or more precipitation probability (smell like rain).
When it's clear, freaking nice day, nothing from above on sight, then I'm not able to go outside and fly.
And when I finally go out to fly, perfect weather, I have bad connection and image quality (far from any house). (5 out of 10 flights).

But in the end, when EVERY puzzle piece is on it's place during flight, IT IS SO SATISFYING! Especially when you start to feel comfortable and confident flying the Spark, and you start focusing more and more on cinematography or some other cool ideas with it, it is a whole new perspective.

Just sharing my 5 cents of looking on both side of the coin.

Cheers

Wow! For a minute I thought your were describing GOLF! I never thought THIS hobby was anywhere near the frustrations of golfing! Now I can yell "FORE" right before hitting a tree

 

[JoostGT3]

I had a new frustration yesterday; found a location that looked really interesting and away from people on google maps. Drove over there to check it out and fly abit. Upon arrival, I discovered that the local gang of troubled potsmoker also liked the location and were using it as a hangout... turned straight around and looked for another spot :-/

 

[Spark 317]

Upon arrival, I discovered that the local gang of troubled potsmoker also liked the location and were using it as a hangout...

They were flying high too, only they didn't have the Spark.

They just "Sparked one up".



Available at Ready Set Drone, USA.

 

[Hddeuce03]

I had a new frustration yesterday; found a location that looked really interesting and away from people on google maps. Drove over there to check it out and fly abit. Upon arrival, I discovered that the local gang of troubled potsmoker also liked the location and were using it as a hangout... turned straight around and looked for another spot :-/

And that made you leave? They most likely wouldn't have bothered you at all...if it's a nice spot, just go fly and enjoy yourself!