whoever thought selling the spark without its controller is a good idea for DJI should be fired, people dropping their drones like birds and the connection is no where near as advertised, the spark was above me 10m in an urban public guarden giving me bad signal warning, the video feed dropped, i never flew after that with confidence, and the RC? no where in sight, its sold out everywhere or on pre-order
why pile up so many drones without buidling enough quantities for the accesorries?

really burned by this drone, accessory availablilty and its standalone price so far (Middle East)

I hear you loud and clear. I think it's a great idea in theory but their exection fell short. Hopefully one major firmware update will fix these issues. I guess we'll have to see what DJI says, but I feel something needs to be done soon.

I agree, I think dji may have thought that most would be attracted by the blurb about this being a selfie drone, but people will soon get bored with that, as soon as they realise spark is a much more capable drone with a RC, from what must have seemed like a good marketing ploy, may just backfire. When you advertise 100 meters it should be able to go 100 meters without any problems.

Controller or not. The range is almost the same.  Max 100 meters and signal is lost.

jangermann Posted at 2017-7-14 03:57
Controller or not. The range is almost the same.  Max 100 meters and signal is lost.

i would  take 100m any day over the insanely bad 10m instability with the phone

DJI had a reputation, why produce a drone with wifi signal like Parrots is beyond me...

Agree with everything you say!

I've been flying DJI products for multiple years now and I am an advanced user. I've had partial success with the Spark and especially the palm-launch / gesture control mode, it was working once and then at one time it just went really high in the air and stayed there until the battery ran out. Luckily for me I was in a field and it just landed on the grass.

I wasn't so lucky 3 days later, when I tried this mode by a lake. Spark took off my hand and then started flying away from me. Within 10 seconds it was hovering over the lake, and then just dove in it and disappeared.

I didn't have my phone connected to the drone at the time, so couldn't provide any logs for support, the biggest problem is that DJI won't admit that they have issues with this mode and won't take responsibility. $500 down the drain a week after I got it. I would not recommend buying Spark or using the palm launch mode.

Hopefully someone reads this before throwing away money on a faulty product.

Shame on you DJI!

It is a bad move for DJI specially for novice pilots.  It is a good selling point, but a bad choice.

It is a big difference of control distance between phone control and RC control.
But weak signal warning sometimes related to the flight environment. And we also got some troubleshootings for you.  
1. May I know what mobile device are you using?
2. Did you shut down the Bluetooth function of your device (on your phone or intelligent watch etc.)?
3. Try 5.8GHz transmission work frequency if your phone supports.
Or if it still stays a weak image transmission signal, could you please upload a video about this case for us for a further analysis?

sagigeva Posted at 2017-7-14 17:57
Agree with everything you say!

I've been flying DJI products for multiple years now and I am an advanced user. I've had partial success with the Spark and especially the palm-launch / gesture control mode, it was working once and then at one time it just went really high in the air and stayed there until the battery ran out. Luckily for me I was in a field and it just landed on the grass.

It has its requirements to use the palm launch function: do not stand on the side or behind the drone or it could not launch. If you had flight log or record of this accident, we will help to make data analysis, if it's malfunction, we will compensate your drone according to After-Sales Policy. But if there is no data provided, there will be very little we can do for you.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-16 19:31
It is a big difference of control distance between phone control and RC control.
But weak signal warning sometimes related to the flight environment. And we also got some troubleshootings for you.  
1. May I know what mobile device are you using?

I honestly can't be bothered, the drone is parked in its foam box ever since, i don't even like taking it out until i get the RC i guess

1- HTC U11 or Samsung Galaxy S8
2- no bluetooth
3- i can try but isn't 5.8ghz a shorter range signal? (i am guessing you are suggesting i move away from the congest 2.4ghz signal)

like i said, i never flew it again after this, i refuse to use it without the RC, but if you like me to upload the preview footage where the live feed clearly drops to hell, let me know

DJI please stop asking people to do homework and provide you with data, when you clearly have enough of it and enough complaints already

also to save this drone from total flop: offer the flyaway combo items as a standalone pack for people like me who stupidly bought the drone with it's stuff

Thank you

sorry i mean for people who ordered the drone without its stuff