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UK Owners

Lastrexking

Well-Known Member
Join
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
681
Age
50
Loc
Yorkshire
Does anyone in the U.K. actually have a Spark yet? DJI messed my preorder up for a Flymore pack, and they said I'd have to place a new order with an eta of August.
I've tried all the small DJI distributors and none of them have stock in yet, and don't know when their first batches will arrive. One of them can add me to their preorder list for the stand alone unit, but they said their Flymore packs won't be in until august either.

None of the big stores (Amazon, Maplins, Currys) have stock either.

DJI seem to have left us out.
 
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luckily i ordered and paid through paypal however based on the dates i ordered and their times I should be getting it around the 30th however support tells it wont be untill 17th july for shipping...

Funnily, as im typing this im in chat with DJI CS Junrey and have just been told estimated shipping is now 30th june with 3-5 days for delivery. Which is kinda what I was expecting anyway.

It might be worth preordering it from one of the big players, jessops, wexphotographic etc. They are taking pre-orders and i would bet they already placed a massive pre-order with DJI ready for shipping on the 30th.
 
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I went with Buzzflyer in the end. They hadn't sold their initial allocation and it's due within the next week.

Amazon said they're not expecting them until late July. Although, their customer service said it wasn't due for release anywhere until August- so, not much faith in them.
 
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Dealers won't have combos until July, August. DJI chat knows nothing; I ordered on release day, and chat told me July. And of course the combo arrived on June 15, as expected.
 
I'm still waiting for my order, placed on July 18th, eta for delivery is 9th august, fingers crossed! And that's with drones direct
 
Slightly off topic but what distance are you getting with a CE spark? It's such a shame the RF limits have been crippled by CE. I reckon about 400m is max range in the uk using the RC, this is what I'm experiencing. Is it a hardware change or could RC power be increased with a firmware change / hack?
 
I still can't fathom why people want to take the spark off to crazy distances, for one it's dangerous, to people and property, and not really what it was meant for, I'm quite happy keeping close and LOS
 
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Mate anything out past 150m and you will be hard pressed seeing it. If it has a failure out past that over people or someone's house/car and causes damage I wouldn't expect to find your drone in one piece by the time you get there. Don't ever rely on the drone software being flawless.... think of it like this. Would you grab your home computer and hook it up to your car and expect it to drive your family around safely after the countless blue screen of deaths, spyware and malware found on 99.9% of computers? I've only once done a distance fly, deserted beach (national park with 4wd only access) and as it was I was still nervous as hell. Only ever fly it where if it does fail you can reach within 20 seconds.
 
I live in rural north Wales and mainly use the drone for landscape shooting, being able to go further than a few hundred meters would be very useful. It's such a shame the spark is fully capable of this but crippled by CE. IMO having some extra range would make flying the spark safer since RF connectivity would not suddenly drop off which seems to happen all the time over about 200m away.

Here's a recent video I shot last week. I always fly away from people and property, the car in the video is mine and I accept the risk of flying overhead :)


My question was purely technical, I was just wondering if others in the UK have also experienced this limited range. I love it, but I was expecting slightly more range from the Spark + RC.
 
With iPad min 4, windsurfers reflectors, no OTG, CE mode, not BT, I had got 1500m, both with 2.4G and 5. 8G. But at same location, it could be also 500m and it start to lag.
 
That's interesting. What are windsurf reflectors?
It is a parabolic reflector placed behind the antennas like THIS ONE, the one I purchased is no more on ebay, but this one looks the same. There are many like that and the one for the Mavic should also work for the Spark RC.
At least it require no modification on the RC and it makes the RC becoming more directional. The best is to found one that is made for the Spark so the operation for 5G8 is also possible but it is more, buy one and check if you are happy with it. If the disturbance source is in the same direction as your Spark, it will be helpless. You need to take all other measure (no BT arround, no Wifi) if you want they are effective.
 
With iPad min 4, windsurfers reflectors, no OTG, CE mode, not BT, I had got 1500m, both with 2.4G and 5. 8G. But at same location, it could be also 500m and it start to lag.
****, I'm struggling to get video reception much further than 100m :(
 
That's fairly typical for the UK.. You'll need to switch to 2.4ghz or install the fcc APK (which will invalidate your warranty in the event of a crash) and try some parabolic reflectors, which definitely help imo.

All of the above is available via the search button.
 
I know the CE state is what us eu users have to endure, to be honest it's not that much of a problem for me and I'm not a true range junkie, but will it adjust when the gps picks up when I'm in turkey in a fortnight and lift the restrictions?
 
Yes, if Turkey is under FCC and not EU from DJI point of view.
 

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