Has anyone tested how the spark does in high wind conditions? i know it says 31 m/h on the spec sheet but how does it actually do?

I don't think it will even hover in a Beaufort Force 6 wind.

Maxi3D Posted at 2017-6-16 07:28
I don't think it will even hover in a Beaufort Force 6 wind.

it says on the website that it would but did you actually try it?

I don't think I will try it even if I have it with me. I know how strong a 31 mph wind is. I wouldn't even try it with my P4P.

Maxi3D Posted at 2017-6-16 07:36
I don't think I will try it even if I have it with me. I know how strong a 31 mph wind is. I wouldn't even try it with my P4P.

that's normal wind conditions for where i live so maybe the spark was a poor choice

31 mph is the top speed of the Spark, reading the manual, it says not to use in winds above 10 m/s, which I believe is 22ish miles per hour.  

Maxi3D Posted at 2017-6-16 07:36
I don't think I will try it even if I have it with me. I know how strong a 31 mph wind is. I wouldn't even try it with my P4P.

Come now, the P4P can handle that....we did a quick mapping mission last week in 25mph sustained, 33mph gusts...Was impressive how steady it was...one leg was very slow, the other was very fast!

I had some fairly strong winds last weekend and it came up with a warning but still handled it well. Could tell in the video that it was windy so not as stable as the MP which is expected.

If you bought the spark without the remote then I wouldn't fly in the wind, if you've got the remote then Yule have sport mode and it will handle the wind just fine.

On my first flight yesterday I had 10 to 15 MPH winds and it did pretty good. At times it was swaying but it held its position really well. Im pretty sure it drained the battery a lot faster do to the wind but all in all it performed just fine.

Does very well in wind conditions.  Less area for the wind to push the drone around when compared to a larger one like the P4.  However, you should expect the drone to sway a bit in gusty conditions.

I had 12-15 MPH winds on my first three flights, it got blown about a bit, but handled it pretty well. I wouldn't go above that speed tho,

Ask and you shall receive.  I put together a video over the weekend with some high wind testing of the Spark compared to the Mavic, side by side:

dcrainmaker Posted at 2017-6-19 00:53
Ask and you shall receive.  I put together a video over the weekend with some high wind testing of the Spark compared to the Mavic, side by side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCnJCMMk54Q

Thanks!! It didn't do too bad actually!

I flew my Spark yesterday in 15-20mph winds and it flew well with RC.  It did struggle a bit when flying against the wind on its way back to the home point.

aviscomi Posted at 2017-6-19 02:51
I flew my Spark yesterday in 15-20mph winds and it flew well with RC.  It did struggle a bit when flying against the wind on its way back to the home point.

was it in sport mode?

Thor1 Posted at 2017-6-19 02:55
was it in sport mode?

Nah, it was in P-mode.  I am aware that Sport mode would have give me more power, but I was just testing it in all scenarios.

aviscomi Posted at 2017-6-19 03:01
Nah, it was in P-mode.  I am aware that Sport mode would have give me more power, but I was just testing it in all scenarios.

thanks! that's why i wanted to know, if it struggled in s mode in that little amount of wind i was going to say ill probably send it back since the average wind speed here in June is about 20kph but its all good.

Flew mine today in 30mph gusts. No problems. Footage was outstanding!

shawn_ Posted at 2017-6-16 10:19
Come now, the P4P can handle that....we did a quick mapping mission last week in 25mph sustained, 33mph gusts...Was impressive how steady it was...one leg was very slow, the other was very fast!

yep 25 knots here in the usvi kinda scary but so far no problems i must need to grow a set of ba**S

I would be afraid to put this up on a windy day since it is so small and light.

I ve flown it quite a bit in 15/20kts and it's fine even near cliffs or in the turbulence of small hills.   I think the max speed you see either in standard or sports mode are software speed because either way I don't see any difference in displayed speed going up wind or downwind.  I ve looked at the data after flights and don't see any differences up or downwind.  Seems like the software regulates the ground speed not the airspeed

i have tried it two times.. there was a warning on my screen "High Wind Velocity, Fly with caution" but spark nailed it.. it drifted few inches away but i got back to old position.

moh_rafiudeen Posted at 2017-8-1 23:22
i have tried it two times.. there was a warning on my screen "High Wind Velocity, Fly with caution" but spark nailed it.. it drifted few inches away but i got back to old position.

this is a good indication of how good the spark is in the wind. or maybe i'm naive

The spark won't last long in the high wind unless u take manual control of it, I just lost mine because of the rth button don't go home towards me but go back much further from me

The spark won't last long in the high wind unless u take manual control of it, I just lost mine because of the rth button don't go home towards me but go back much further from me

Thor1 Posted at 2017-8-2 01:30
this is a good indication of how good the spark is in the wind. or maybe i'm naive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VooA0i622JM

Holy cow! The flight systems on these drones never cease to amaze me. I am honestly genuinely impressed at how well the Spark handled that leave blower.

I personally don't recommend to fly the Spark in gusty winds even tho it can handle pretty good, especially because you put the motors to alot of stress and the behavior can be very unpredicted, the worst scenario could be in sport mode if you have full speed and let go of the throtle then the Spark use to get a very dangerous angle in he air, so if you get a strong wind in that moment the drone could flip over and crash... I have flown in high wind and that is ok up to a certain point, but gusty winds can be dangerous for your drone.

Mine crashed from 16 meters heigh with wind speeds around 20m/h. I was just hovering it at that height. It just turned upside down and crashed.

Ok so I was flying today about 20 mile an hour winds.... it was fine for the most part with the controller and took nice footage. Wouldn’t suggest using hand gesture mode without controller in anything above because It sways back and forth and it’s hsrd to command and it blows back a lot.... I hit a small tree, no damage to spark. But my propeller guards are toast!

It is not good at high altitudes. Mine almost lot control on the way down

I fly at the beach a lot and have been amazed at how well it holds up in high winds. This video was pretty convincing for me - this guy is putting out 230 mph winds!

I fly a lot at the beach and have been amazed at how well it handles high winds. Even when it is thrown around a little, the video remains pretty steady. This video was pretty influential for me - he's using 230mph winds!   

I've used it in 15-20 mph wind mostly gusts and it's held up fine from my experience. I wouldn't recommend anything over 20mph though. like 25+ consistent wind and gusts get pretty rough on it.  It held up decently but too often it was really taking the spark all over the place usually at random too.

It seems to do incredibly well for it's size provided you have full control of the Spark.  If you go into Atti in high wind, you could be in real trouble.

I did a sample video of how it hovered in the wind.  You can see how much the trees are swaying yet the Spark stayed in position.

I'm the unlikely event that anyone on this thread would like to avoid a "fly away", they could do worse than to consider the plight of thee salmon when returning upstream at the end of its life. The balance is fine. Slightly more current and many will not make it.

I am very impressed with the performance in the wind.  Not just that you don't loose it, but the video quality too.  I don't fly if the gusts get above 20 mph, so I stay way below the rating.  I have no hesitation flying in those winds.  It does great.  I don't do long downwind casts; not sure how it does at figuring how much it needs to get back.  It would probably be fine, just to cheap to try it.

Maintains its position well up to 20 odd MPH in my experience

Guys,

A CW is right. While Spark can fly in Sports mode up to 50 km/hour, it may not hold against the wind of this magnitude. Even though I would not do high wind experiments on my own (I just treasure my Spark and do not want it to fly away because of my ill-founded curiosity), I saw enough logs of fly away Sparks on this forum (carried by the wind) to conclude that while Spark can hold its a position in wind with speed X - once it starts RTH sequence it may be blown away by the wind of the same speed X. So - do not push it. 30 km/hour (perhaps few klicks more) - as A CW says may be OK. More - you are asking for trouble and DJI may hold it against you if Spark flies away, The best course of action is to just heed DJI recommendations.

In addition, gusts of winds may be stronger higher up. You may see Spark holding at 2 metres and be blown away at 50.  

Dave Kane Posted at 2018-1-26 20:43
I fly at the beach a lot and have been amazed at how well it holds up in high winds. This video was pretty convincing for me - this guy is putting out 230 mph winds!

Dave,

You say: "This video was pretty convincing for me - this guy is putting out 230 mph winds!".

Wow! Hurricanes Category 5 which topple trees, destroy homes and can put a big truck or sail boat in the air, blow at over 160 mph. Little Spark holds 230 mph winds???

It is like saying that 2 plus 2 equals 3 billion :-)