I live in the Northern Hemisphere.  Its still Summer around here. BUT I can start seeing snow in September. Just  a couple short months away...

I've not seen any info on how the Spark handles cold weather.  I've got other DJI drones that have gone through at least one winter, so I know what to expect in battery life, warnings, and behavior...  

But what about the Spark?  Any Southern Hemisphere, Spark flyers have any info to share?

I do not know exactly how it handles in cold weather from experience. but DJI states it is good for temperatures between 0-40 degrees Celsius(32-104F).

You must live on Mount Washington in the weather center?  I live in Maine...snow possible end of November, early December.  I'll be using the Spark when snow comes to track my snowmobile...keep the batteries warm on your body, in a pocket of your bibs, etc.  We won't know until we get there...so enjoy the summer and fall now and don't fret.  

Hi, I live in southern Chile. First when flying in cold weather (below -3 degrees celsius) I made a few mistakes:

- No pre warming the batteries (like in your pockets)
- Using sports mode

Doing that my Spark fell off from the sky after less than 2 minutes.

Now I don´t use sports mode and put the batteries in my pocket. Yesterday I reached 500 m  altitude, with -3 degrees celsius reading in my garden´s thermometer without problems.
Hope that helps...

Thanks for the post, you beat me to it .. LOL

I live in Canada and snow and cold weather is to come

So things to consider:

• Keep batteries warm
• don't fly in Sport Mode
• don't crash in snow
• don't fly below 0 degrees C
  

Anything else I should consider.

And make sure your spark does not take too big temperature changes for condensation risk (mostly coming from cold to warm, but the effect is not good for your device)
I like to keep my camera in my bag for a good while to let it get used to the new temperature.

Hi, I think (despite what the manual says), that you actually can fly in temperatures below zero, starting with fully charged and prewarmed batteries in no sports mode. Sometimes I got the warning that the battery should be above 15 degrees so it is impossible to take off, and in fact the temperature of the battery was 17 degrees, but with a low battery level. In other cases, I started flying with a battery temperature of 8 degrees, but with newly charged batteries and there was no warning and I could take off without trouble.
Yesterday I could reach 500 m altitude without problems like I mentioned, but I experienced troubles descending when the drone reached the mist level! The sensors did not allow me to descend, stating that there where obstacles on his way (that makes sense because the sensors look down). I did not want to put the sports mode on (and disabling the sensors) because of my past experience in cold weather, and after a few minutes I could pass through the clouds but with a battery level so low, that the engines stopped turning (for protecting the battery) and the drone fell off from the sky from around 30 m high, luckily I live in a farm with tall grass everywhere ;)
I have landed over snow without problems, but crashing over snow is (still) a mistery to me
I think next time if I experience the clouds/mist sensors problem, I will switch to sports mode, but only  for descending!
Fly safe and let us all know, greetings from Patagonia!

Andesclimb Posted at 2017-9-5 09:57
Hi, I think (despite what the manual says), that you actually can fly in temperatures below zero, starting with fully charged and prewarmed batteries in no sports mode. Sometimes I got the warning that the battery should be above 15 degrees so it is impossible to take off, and in fact the temperature of the battery was 17 degrees, but with a low battery level. In other cases, I started flying with a battery temperature of 8 degrees, but with newly charged batteries and there was no warning and I could take off without trouble.
Yesterday I could reach 500 m altitude without problems like I mentioned, but I experienced troubles descending when the drone reached the mist level! The sensors did not allow me to descend, stating that there where obstacles on his way (that makes sense because the sensors look down). I did not want to put the sports mode on (and disabling the sensors) because of my past experience in cold weather, and after a few minutes I could pass through the clouds but with a battery level so low, that the engines stopped turning (for protecting the battery) and the drone fell off from the sky from around 30 m high, luckily I live in a farm with tall grass everywhere ;)
I have landed over snow without problems, but crashing over snow is (still) a mistery to me

Sorry for your sad experience. But I would not recommend you fly the drone during snowy day.

Why not sports mode?

heliman Posted at 2017-9-8 06:03
Why not sports mode?

because of the cold air.  When you fly at a fast speed, your spark and battery would get colder faster and this could cause your spark to shut off mid flight.  Fly with caution in cold weather and don't fly too quickly.

Andesclimb Posted at 2017-9-5 09:57
Hi, I think (despite what the manual says), that you actually can fly in temperatures below zero, starting with fully charged and prewarmed batteries in no sports mode. Sometimes I got the warning that the battery should be above 15 degrees so it is impossible to take off, and in fact the temperature of the battery was 17 degrees, but with a low battery level. In other cases, I started flying with a battery temperature of 8 degrees, but with newly charged batteries and there was no warning and I could take off without trouble.
Yesterday I could reach 500 m altitude without problems like I mentioned, but I experienced troubles descending when the drone reached the mist level! The sensors did not allow me to descend, stating that there where obstacles on his way (that makes sense because the sensors look down). I did not want to put the sports mode on (and disabling the sensors) because of my past experience in cold weather, and after a few minutes I could pass through the clouds but with a battery level so low, that the engines stopped turning (for protecting the battery) and the drone fell off from the sky from around 30 m high, luckily I live in a farm with tall grass everywhere ;)
I have landed over snow without problems, but crashing over snow is (still) a mistery to me

Thanks for sharing your experience.  

didn't realise that about the sports mode. Interesting.

Hi all. Yesterday it was snowing here in London, UK and I wanted to take some shots with Spark. It didn't even take off as a warning message came on screen saying that temperature was too low. I wouldn't fly in those conditions anymore. Too risky. Pity though

I was flying a bit today in about -2C and light snow. Drone handled as expected. The video quality on my phone was definitely degraded. Not sure if it was freezing or if it was due to transmission difficulty. Still... was able to fly and do what I needed to do.
Edit: I had my 3 batteries in an inside jacket pocket so didn't run into battery temp warnings.

I recently flew in sub 0-C temps to get pictures of the snow at my house. My estimate is probably a loss of about 25% duration of flight time. I did NOT try to fly in sport mode and it flew very well other than the slight loss of flight time. The batteries came straight off the charger inside the house and I went outside and immediately began the flight. I did not get any warning on the first battery at  ten minutes but the second battery was warning me to land roughly at the ten minute mark.

So how long should one prewarm the batteries or keep them in pockets? Do you have to start the motor without taking off and let it sit first?

I started flying asap after taking the batteries out of my pocket so that they would still be warm (as long as possible).

Same for me. ASAP. I got it in the air quickly while the battery was as warm as possible.

Sparky_17 Posted at 2017-9-8 06:32
because of the cold air.  When you fly at a fast speed, your spark and battery would get colder faster and this could cause your spark to shut off mid flight.  Fly with caution in cold weather and don't fly too quickly.

I fly in sport mode only. In cold too (-5°C). With no problem.
Battery its warm. Flight time approx 13min

Photo maked after flight in cold weather
.

I made a mistake flying my Spark in 0 celcius. The drone was fine but my phone battery plummeted from 63% to 0 in 30 mins as I'd been camping and the phone was very cold. Being a beginner I panicked as it hovered 2.5m,  just out of reach and out of phone power. I pressed the RTH on the controller and it rose 15m, just clipped a outlying tree branch and flipped on its back and it came to rest in the palm like twigs of the branch. This was all next to a small sandstone cliff about 3m high. When i climbed the crag the spark was still 11m away and overhanging a path!!
I wound up buying 2 5m extension poles and taping them together with duct tape and then adding 2 meter of bamboo cane expecting to flip the spark to its death on the rocks below or if really lucky maybe into the bushes. BY sheer luck the drone flipped out of the branches, landed onto the poles and slid down to me at high speed with a thump but otherwise undamaged. This was after 3 hrs sitting in a light drizzle. Boy this drone is tough.

Heading to Utah ski resort for holidays. Forecast is for 0 - 20 F for the whole week.
Is that too cold or will I be OK with keeping batteries warm before flying?
Guess I'm reading to fly slow and take it easy at best.

temperature -6 ,  some strong wind , flying over an hour , 4 battery swaps. no errors or accidents

all ok

Jezmo Posted at 2017-12-11 17:48
I recently flew in sub 0-C temps to get pictures of the snow at my house. My estimate is probably a loss of about 25% duration of flight time. I did NOT try to fly in sport mode and it flew very well other than the slight loss of flight time. The batteries came straight off the charger inside the house and I went outside and immediately began the flight. I did not get any warning on the first battery at  ten minutes but the second battery was warning me to land roughly at the ten minute mark.

I agree with your 25% estimate of loss of flight time. Temp was in the teens the other day and I was getting about 8-9 minutes flight from each battery.

I was just flying mine in -10.  Had issues with my phone (S8) getting too cold and shutting down.  So I plugged the S8 into a power supply in my pocket.  Got some good flights that way.  However, the plastic becomes much more brittle in the cold.  Nicked a branch while flying (very light contact) and it broke the plastic gimbal mount.  Always get the insurance with crash protection!

Andesclimb Posted at 2017-9-5 09:14
Hi, I live in southern Chile. First when flying in cold weather (below -3 degrees celsius) I made a few mistakes:

- No pre warming the batteries (like in your pockets)

When I got my drone I went to Vermont for a week. The temperature was below 0*F. My drone flew perfectly fine and it was snowing. I would say to turn off your sensors when descending and grab the drone from the air so it does not have to touch the snow. I would also say don't fly the drone to far because it may lose connection from the falling snow. I have flown my drone tons of times in the cold. After each flight warm up the drone so nothing gets damaged.

I live in North America and today was the perfect extreme weather situation for me to test. Spark did well - Here is the sneak peak of the flight if interested.

fans205b06e5 Posted at 2018-1-6 12:58
I live in North America and today was the perfect extreme weather situation for me to test. Spark did well - Here is the sneak peak of the flight if interested. https://youtu.be/hRJTF1w_lh0

The lowest temperature i flew my Spark was +2 degrees Celsius. After an hour walking to the designated spot, with batteries in the Spark shoulder bag. I mounted the battery, started up the spark, on the DJI4 app the display said the battery does not have the correct temrepature (or something like that). So i switched to the Battery view in the app and it showed like 12 degrees Celsius. I had the Spark hovering for like two minutes while the battery reached the 25 degrees Celsius. Then i sent it away and took the shots.

My point, the app noticed me about the battery temp and told me i should not do anything until the temperature goes to 25 degrees Celsius.

I concur with the guys replying before, if the batteries are kept in the pocket their temperature may be higher, thus no notification from the app.

What i would recommend is before flying in cold weather try to have the Spark hovering for 1-2 minutes. If nothing happens then is most likely to be ok.

Take care!

dj_dread Posted at 2018-1-6 13:07
The lowest temperature i flew my Spark was +2 degrees Celsius. After an hour walking to the designated spot, with batteries in the Spark shoulder bag. I mounted the battery, started up the spark, on the DJI4 app the display said the battery does not have the correct temrepature (or something like that). So i switched to the Battery view in the app and it showed like 12 degrees Celsius. I had the Spark hovering for like two minutes while the battery reached the 25 degrees Celsius. Then i sent it away and took the shots.

My point, the app noticed me about the battery temp and told me i should not do anything until the temperature goes to 25 degrees Celsius.

I shot this in -6 Celsius, with wind chill to -12 whilst in Iceland - I kept the batteries and Spark in a warm car, then the batteries in my pocket while setting up and doing pre-flight checks.  No issues.  Well there was an issue - how cold my hands got during the flight as I had to take my thick gloves off to control the RC correctly!!

I am in Utah (Albeit we are having a really warm winter) I fly in 1-4c weather and get about 12 minutes of flight time, keep the spare batteries inside your thermals and don't fly fast. The denser air in the winter should help negate some battery loss, although I have no real evidence supporting it aside from humble observation.

Andesclimb Posted at 2017-9-5 09:14
Hi, I live in southern Chile. First when flying in cold weather (below -3 degrees celsius) I made a few mistakes:

- No pre warming the batteries (like in your pockets)

Well you know the temperature becomes much colder as you gain altitude right? On your Go 4 app there is a reading for battery temperature. What was your battery temperature when you reached high altitude? And why don't you fly in sport mode when it's cold?

If I had white Spark I would change the skin to a nice red or bright orange,, otherwise reading all the above it seems feasible to fly in cold conditions over snow,,

The coldest I have flown is 36C.  The spark seemed to perform fine, but battery life/flight time was reduced, for sure.

fans98344e99 Posted at 2017-12-26 08:54
I was just flying mine in -10.  Had issues with my phone (S8) getting too cold and shutting down.  So I plugged the S8 into a power supply in my pocket.  Got some good flights that way.  However, the plastic becomes much more brittle in the cold.  Nicked a branch while flying (very light contact) and it broke the plastic gimbal mount.  Always get the insurance with crash protection!

Finally I found a practical tip what to do with the phone in the cold! Thank you!
That was a real problem, I had to land my spark being "blind" (I mean, having no idea where it was or what it was "seeing" without the app) so many times in winter. Once I even had to organise a rescue expedition to the middle of half-frozen river to find where the drone landed...

Interesting...but the dji spark intelligent batterie...what i think it will act different as in flight time cuz its cold...so i would try to see if it handles in cold weather.