The Most Unwieldy System I've Ever Seen

[Kevin Sebesky]

I received my Spark yesterday and I thought it was going to be a turn-key OOBE. Man, was I ever wrong.

In the end it required two separate devices (a tablet and a phone), using two very different operating systems just to get the craft updated with the firmware REQUIRED BY THE MANUFACTURER to fly!

Beyond that, setting up an NFZ was more difficult to discern than string theory. Don't ask me how I did it (I should've left a trail of breadcrumbs). I'm just glad I made it out in one piece.

My wife and my dogs may never look at me the same way after that whole experience (I expressed a fair amount of frustration in the process) but, hey, I'm alive, the sun is shining, and it's a beautiful day.

I think I'll go fly my Mavic.

 

[suprPHREAK]

I agree. The requirement to use wifi seems to be at the root of this, as in order to activate and update you must be connected to the spark, which disconnects your internet on a tablet. And depending on how your phone handles wifi, it may not connect to mobile data to activate (and if it does, it gobbles data).

DJI really could have created a smoother implementation.

 

[Buddy411]

Maybe I was lucky, but setting up my Spark was pretty painless and straightforward. I use both an Android and iPhone for a monitor, but that was by choice. I had no problem setting everything up on the iPhone first.

So did you get it set up? It's a lot of fun to fly!

 

[Pappy]

Am I missing something here? The OP complains about all of the hoops he had to do in order to initially fly the Spark and yet he says he has a Mavic. Had more research into the product been done he would have found out the Spark is just a smaller drone with less features than the Mavic. Both drones use the same app and require similar HW and SW updates to fly.There are countless videos on YouTube on setting up and reviewing the Spark.

This is my first advanced drone (GPS, compass, etc), the first being a Syma X8C. The only issue I had with FW/SW updates was I got ahead of myself after viewing videos about using OTG instead of WiFi between phone and RC. The updates for the Spark went OK, but not for the RC. I switched to a WiFi connection and the update went without a hitch. Lesson learned, do all updates via WiFi connection between RC and phone. BTW all updates were done under one phone (no tablet) OS, Android 7.0.

 

[Zoran]

I agree the OTG cable "hack" did confuse the issue of updates for me as well, the only thing to remember is if your updating anything forget about the OTG cable and just use wifi..

 

[Buddy411]

I've said this before, the only thing I think they could have done better is to make the Spark controller just like the Mavic's. Mavic is just a much cleaner and easier setup.