this isnt designed to scare aware potential new spark users, but i am posting this for a realistic view and review of sorts.
if you are on the fence about buying a spark, i reccomend holding out a while longer.  i cant say how much longer, i dont think DJI will be ignoring the spark users here.  so hopefully within a month or so...

things i noticed since joining this community and since flying my lil sparky(for the short life it has lived, RIP)..   the DJI spark is drowning in issues, yes, there are people that seem to have better luck and gotten a golden example of a Spark, im happy for them however, dont count on your spark being a golden eaxample..

there is alot of repeat issues, including but not limited to:

Spark randomly having power cut off by the battery and falling at random, usually ending its short life. this is less common, but it seems to be increasingly common issue, becareful.

the spark almost has a fetish for disconnecting and disobeying the user commands, this includes my case which is with a controller and OTG cable, it just decides it has better things to do like climbing trees and running into things at full speed even if last command you gave it was to do nothing, and ignroing pause button or RTH button is another problem...mostly related to connection issues

flyaways, basically drone decides it wants to go sight seeing without you reguardless what you hve to say about this, usually ends well if you can reload the connection/link, but if you cant and its gone sight seeing without you, it can fly into unknown forever....be very careful.

return to home getting reset during connection and channel hopping, haappened to me a few times.. i was getting daring wiht my drone, took it out over quarter mile it reconnected and decided new home location was where it current was, which lcukily you can change in app to where you are standing, doesnt mean it will obey you.  however im not sure how often it happens to others, i seen it a few other threads, i experianced it, nothing cant correct in menus, just prey it accepts it.

large driftings, this mostly issue for people hovering over moving water and lower distances off the surface but it can happen to anyone, specially issue at lower light when the vision system i guess gets confused more easily, not huge issue but its potentially a hazard as it can fly into people and vehcials while drifting sideways..

battery life, ok, this is subjective, but battery life is too shortfor me, 16 minutes rated runtime... realistically between 12-14 minutes...you will be surprised how fast you eat that all up.. definatly could benefit from a better/extended battery
"
range, mostly down to poor use of wifi signals 2.4 and 5ghz bands.. but the spark loves to channel hope and band hop, this cn cause disconnections, lag, interuptions and just straight up loss of range.    as my drunken GF best put it: "how far would you fly your wifi router out?"   when you think of it like that you realize the limitations....and the curious way a drunken mind works problems out...

this isnt a final list of problems..this doesnt mean you will experiance all of them or any of them... but do take note and take care..   the DJI spark is defintly not a polished finished product in its current state, alot of things can be fixed with firmware updated and software updates...  



as for people comparing maic pro to spark, dont, its not even in same catagory.. mavic has its share of early issues to that turned me off, until i could afford drones again.

Mavic is for serious Prosumers.  the Spark is more for entry market..  that being said, Spark should have had Occusync option for the flymore combo. maybe Spark 2 will feture it..

Well, I second this. However, my tolerance is a bit higher, so I think I can accept the list of errors. But, what I demand from DJI is their honesty. If they believe the product got mistake, they have to say so and advise customers. Their silence annoys me the most.

Thanks for the feedback, our engineers were aware of the issue about that a few people had experienced the Spark's fallen from the sky, and we had asked them for data analysis, our engineers are also working on it.
As for gesture mode, we would suggest that users following the instruction to use this mode, or if it could not follow your command, please provide the whole controlling procedure video for a better confirmation if it is possible.
We always recommend connecting DJI GO 4 app when flying with Spark because that can reserve the flight records during flight. If any accidents or unexpected things happened, flight records will help to make a data analysis.
If the drone drifts, please try to calibrate the IMU of the drone, it has 6 directions to calibrate in total, please do it according to the app's reminders.
Spark owns a small size design. The battery capacity may not have the same as Phantom or other series. Fly time will also reduce because of the controlling of the sticks. We test it in a certain environment and condition about 16 minutes flying time and it is for a reference.
We will keep moving to provide more products with good quality and more professional customer service. Should you have any questions or advice, please feel free to contact us. We'd glad to help.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 00:30
Thanks for the feedback, our engineers were aware of the issue about that a few people had experienced the Spark's fallen from the sky, and we had asked them for data analysis, our engineers are also working on it.
As for gesture mode, we would suggest that users following the instruction to use this mode, or if it could not follow your command, please provide the whole controlling procedure video for a better confirmation if it is possible.
We always recommend connecting DJI GO 4 app when flying with Spark because that can reserve the flight records during flight. If any accidents or unexpected things happened, flight records will help to make a data analysis.

Dear Mr. DJI Thor,
I understood your engineer is working on the falling issue. DJI Natalia also has been answered that. So, can I conclude that DJI currently also do not know what happen with your product? Or, at least,, please confirm should we continue flying our Spark or wait for your fix.
I think it is not fair to us (your customers) that you keep being silent about the issue, then, what if some of us got the falling error in the middle of nowhere and cannot retrieve Spark...First to mention the safety matter, second that we lost our $500. Will you be able to compensate for that. Sorry that I have to mention money matter here, because that is the money we worked hard to pay for your product...
Thanks

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 00:30
Thanks for the feedback, our engineers were aware of the issue about that a few people had experienced the Spark's fallen from the sky, and we had asked them for data analysis, our engineers are also working on it.
As for gesture mode, we would suggest that users following the instruction to use this mode, or if it could not follow your command, please provide the whole controlling procedure video for a better confirmation if it is possible.
We always recommend connecting DJI GO 4 app when flying with Spark because that can reserve the flight records during flight. If any accidents or unexpected things happened, flight records will help to make a data analysis.

"we had asked them for data analysis, our engineers are also working on it." This means the customers who's Sparks fell out of the sky are asked to help DJI working on their problems, as beta testers, despite they have paid the full price. As reward (in many cases, as was to read here) they are then offered to get a replacement for the defective Spark and they only have to pay ANOTHER 70% of the full price for it. This is not what I call good customer service ..... but that's just me.

Phuong Do Posted at 2017-7-25 00:40
Dear Mr. DJI Thor,
I understood your engineer is working on the falling issue. DJI Natalia also has been answered that. So, can I conclude that DJI currently also do not know what happen with your product? Or, at least,, please confirm should we continue flying our Spark or wait for your fix.
I think it is not fair to us (your customers) that you keep being silent about the issue, then, what if some of us got the falling error in the middle of nowhere and cannot retrieve Spark...First to mention the safety matter, second that we lost our $500. Will you be able to compensate for that. Sorry that I have to mention money matter here, because that is the money we worked hard to pay for your product...

If any accidents had happened, we would feel really sorry about the case and hope users can contact our support to start a ticket, we will help to make data analysis, if it's malfunction, we will compensate your drone or repair it without charging if it is under warranty according to After-Sales Policy.

fans7666527f Posted at 2017-7-25 01:40
"we had asked them for data analysis, our engineers are also working on it." This means the customers who's Sparks fell out of the sky are asked to help DJI working on their problems, as beta testers, despite they have paid the full price. As reward (in many cases, as was to read here) they are then offered to get a replacement for the defective Spark and they only have to pay ANOTHER 70% of the full price for it. This is not what I call good customer service ..... but that's just me.

If the accident caused by malfunction, we will compensate the drone or repair it without charging if it is under warranty according to After-Sales Policy. And we are aware that we have many shortcomings at the moment and care much about customer's satisfaction, therefore we never stop to keep improving our products and service.  Should you meet any situations, please feel free to contact us, and we will help to work things out.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 02:10
If the accident caused by malfunction, we will compensate the drone or repair it without charging if it is under warranty according to After-Sales Policy. And we are aware that we have many shortcomings at the moment and care much about customer's satisfaction, therefore we never stop to keep improving our products and service.  Should you meet any situations, please feel free to contact us, and we will help to work things out.

Sorry, but NO! "If the accident caused by malfunction, we will compensate the drone or repair it without charging if it is under warranty" The big problem, and unacceptable DJI's customer treatment, is that DJI puts the burden of proof on your CUSTOMER! Since the log file stops abruptly when another Spark fall out of the sky for no reason, DJI make it VERY EASY for themselves and say since the log file stopped before the crash, the Customer cannot prove that the Spark malfunctioned and therefore DJI will not repair or compensate. This is wrong: If another Spark falls out of the sky, it should be DJI to either prove that it was Customer error or otherwise compensate it, if the log file has stopped abruptly. Why would the log file otherwise stop abruptly, unless there was a technical error? And also especially since this seems to happen to many customers.

I was one of the fence sitters... I was all ready to buy a Spark, credit card in hand, but this is not a $49.00 drone... This is a $500.00 drone, this is out of the "toy" category.
I have been following the Spark forums for months, & I have just seen too many incidents for it not be a firmware / hardware issue or a combination of both.
I could understand a few pilot errors, but every day there seems to be another Spark crashing, flying away, or falling out of the sky...
I also follow the Mavic forums, & I don't see these same issues?
I see DJI Admins asking for flight logs and such to determine the problem, But I never see an admittance of fault or an answer posted as to why this problem occurred?
Sorry DJI, for now my credit card stays in my wallet; As much as I wanted a Spark, I can't spend $500.00 to beta test software, & risk having my drone crash or fly away.

Hollywood7 Posted at 2017-7-25 06:19
I was one of the fence sitters... I was all ready to buy a Spark, credit card in hand, but this is not a $49.00 drone... This is a $500.00 drone, this is out of the "toy" category.
I have been following the Spark forums for months, & I have just seen too many incidents for it not be a firmware / hardware issue or a combination of both.
I could understand a few pilot errors, but every day there seems to be another Spark crashing, flying away, or falling out of the sky...

I've had mine (fly more) for less than a week. it has (so far) been flawless. I have, however, kept it VERY close to me and not up very high in the air at all. I'm also hoping that some magical firmware update will fix all the problems. My question is; how will we know when this thing is safe to fly like my other drones?

I've seen reports where people have had over 40 flights with no problem and then, suddenly, the AC fell out of the sky. This scares the crap out of me. As you've said, this is not a 'throw away' priced product.  I do understand that the product is incredibly complex. There is a lot going on and, in the case of the Spark, in a very small package. I expect there to be some bugs and even some growing pains in the beginning. However, this has become a matter of public safety.  If this thing hurts someone, that person isn't going to care that DJI hasn't worked out the bugs yet. They are going to come after the pilot (even if it got a mind of its own and just flew away). The owner is responsible.
If you think DJI is quiet now, just wait until something like that happens!

I think you're wise to wait.  I just don't know when anyone will be able to tell you that the time is right and that it's safe to make the purchase.  I hope we do, but it's not looking good.

i would also recommend to wait since i already lost one due to the fly away.

What kind of an idiot buys a drone with 16 minutes battery life and then posts that 16 minutes battery life is not long enough. And Spark should have had Occusync for flymore Combo. So you think that combo buyers spark should be working on a different system than all other sparks. I really think if you put as much time into researching the spark as you have writing this garbage, you might have saved a few quid.

i think DJI should have retailers pull the spark on short term basis, like a sales suspension.  and DJI should issue an update suggesting not to fly the spark, officially.   i normally dont care for "health and safety" factors, but with sparks falling from the spark, getting easily confused with vision system, flying away ,complete disobedience.  these  are serious hazards that have already resulted in problems...

and im not buying the whole user error thing... most of the problems occurred while using it as instructed... i know i did to best of my abilities, always recalibrated both IMU and compass before take off, and make sure i had multi GPS lock and set my home point before going out on a cruise.. avoiding getting to close to power lines, houses, just flying it away from general doom.. yet even so, it had a tendency to do its own thing.

they should include app updates that give this warning.  they dont have to force existing sparks to be grounded but issue a warning in app about current state of the spark and to accept the increased risks until problems are found and ironed out.  

the spark is drowning in problems, that's just a thing we have to be very mindful of.

also been thinking how many fly aways i had....   about 60% of my flights had some form of flyaways.. usually minor and easily recovered upon relinking..still scary and still a hazard!   i would say 10 of my flights however featured a major flyway that only lady luck saved me from total loss either thanks to a tree stopping it from going into the road or a building saving it from heading into a pond or a last second reconnect and regained control. before flew over heavily fenced off field that is massively overgrown.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 00:30
Thanks for the feedback, our engineers were aware of the issue about that a few people had experienced the Spark's fallen from the sky, and we had asked them for data analysis, our engineers are also working on it.
As for gesture mode, we would suggest that users following the instruction to use this mode, or if it could not follow your command, please provide the whole controlling procedure video for a better confirmation if it is possible.
We always recommend connecting DJI GO 4 app when flying with Spark because that can reserve the flight records during flight. If any accidents or unexpected things happened, flight records will help to make a data analysis.

So far I did not have any "drop from the sky", but, lets define the meaning of word "few". I agree the % is low if compared with the number of units out there. But, one thing is having an issue on design of a phone antenna , another is to have a piece of hardware that can drop from the sky and hit someone. I am puzzled yet that any "major" site review didn't post any article about this. If that happens , we know the consequences, "Drone Allowed, but SPARK" sign is in the near future. As a QA  Engineer of one of the largest US companines, this issue is taking too long to be fixed, and I really don't know why DJI QA didn't get this issue on their lab, just my 2c.

Wednesday Posted at 2017-7-25 07:52
So far I did not have any "drop from the sky", but, lets define the meaning of word "few". I agree the % is low if compared with the number of units out there. But, one thing is having an issue on design of a phone antenna , another is to have a piece of hardware that can drop from the sky and hit someone. I am puzzled yet that any "major" site review didn't post any article about this. If that happens , we know the consequences, "Drone Allowed, but SPARK" sign is in the near future. As a QA  Engineer of one of the largest US companines, this issue is taking too long to be fixed, and I really don't know why DJI QA didn't get this issue on their lab, just my 2c.

See link below:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/ ... aints-flight-issues

Just a heads up, articles are starting to appear about this issue. Lets hope DJI remedies this soon and fixes the issue with those who have lost their drones to waters.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/ ... aints-flight-issues

https://qz.com/1037497/people-ar ... ing-out-of-the-sky/

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-7-25 07:44
i think DJI should have retailers pull the spark on short term basis, like a sales suspension.  and DJI should issue an update suggesting not to fly the spark, officially.   i normally dont care for "health and safety" factors, but with sparks falling from the spark, getting easily confused with vision system, flying away ,complete disobedience.  these  are serious hazards that have already resulted in problems...

and im not buying the whole user error thing... most of the problems occurred while using it as instructed... i know i did to best of my abilities, always recalibrated both IMU and compass before take off, and make sure i had multi GPS lock and set my home point before going out on a cruise.. avoiding getting to close to power lines, houses, just flying it away from general doom.. yet even so, it had a tendency to do its own thing.

So you calibrate your compass and Imu before every flight and you have problems 60% of the time. Well your answer is right there.

First read the manual, particularly the bit where it tells you not to calibrate unless prompted, maybe in most cases it might not be user error, but I have a feeling in your case you might be just bucking the trend.

RTFM....

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-25 08:00
So you calibrate your compass and Imu before every flight and you have problems 60% of the time. Well your answer is right there.

First read the manual, particularly the bit where it tells you not to calibrate unless prompted, maybe in most cases it might not be user error, but I have a feeling in your case you might be just bucking the trend.

So you calibrate your compass and Imu before every flight and you have problems 60% of the time. Well your answer is right there.

I was just typing the same thing...

Tviscomi Posted at 2017-7-25 08:11
So you calibrate your compass and Imu before every flight and you have problems 60% of the time. Well your answer is right there.

I was just typing the same thing...

Some of the genuine problems around here get lost with the crazy stuff going on.

Tviscomi Posted at 2017-7-25 07:58
See link below:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/25/16025426/dji-spark-drone-customer-complaints-flight-issues

Thanks for sharing. The article mention 2 possible issues, resellers batteries (what can be an issue, since they are smart batteries), and temperature. I had opportunities to do some small trips with high temperatures here on VA (90F), and no issues. Looks like so far, that maybe the issue is not SPARK itself and the smart battery temperature sensor/firmware, that is making the battery shutdown during the fly. I am going to check the battery temperature next time on the GO4 application. If the issue is with the battery, great, fix the firmware, high temperature , go to land mode, as the same as low battery mode. Again, that is not that hard to verify on DJI lab, I can do at home, with hair dryer , flying SPARK at 1 meter and emulate a high temperature (funny but can actually works).

To be honest, the only two strange things that happened to me in the more than the 3h I had the Spark flying was a wrong position on the map (like 200 meters shift to the west), so I stopped, relocated and restarted and a 2.4 -> 5GHz  switch in the middle of the flight. Controller disconnects are normal considering the places I fly the drone. I didn't even get the android app crashes in mid-flight.

Zirconn Posted at 2017-7-25 08:37
To be honest, the only two strange things that happened to me in the more than the 3h I had the Spark flying was a wrong position on the map (like 200 meters shift to the west), so I stopped, relocated and restarted and a 2.4 -> 5GHz  switch in the middle of the flight. Controller disconnects are normal considering the places I fly the drone. I didn't even get the android app crashes in mid-flight.

you are super lucky..  i wish my spark gave me a chance to prove i loved it.    but every chance it had, it used to try to off itself.. or go on a little adventure without me.. crash my app and flew away.  


;(  must be what it feels like to have a kid that seems to hate you and does spiteful things  the more you love it..    effing spark!

Tviscomi Posted at 2017-7-25 08:11
So you calibrate your compass and Imu before every flight and you have problems 60% of the time. Well your answer is right there.

I was just typing the same thing...

first of all, that is just weird that you shouldn't zero equipment before each new use in a different area.  i for one disbeleive this, since most precision equiptment demands it.

second of all my spark early on wanted calibration, it wasn't happy with my area i guess and it wanted compass calibrations every few flights.   i think mineral rich soil and the super old buried infrastructure was why it kept shouting compass errors.  so i started to calibrate every flight instead of only when it told me to.

finally it made zero difference, it was just as erratic before as it was after calibrations.   sure, maybe my OCD nature was a bit much, but it shouldn't cause more problems, it should zero out and calibrate for the erroneous interference and magnetic fields.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-25 07:29
What kind of an idiot buys a drone with 16 minutes battery life and then posts that 16 minutes battery life is not long enough. And Spark should have had Occusync for flymore Combo. So you think that combo buyers spark should be working on a different system than all other sparks. I really think if you put as much time into researching the spark as you have writing this garbage, you might have saved a few quid.

no need to call anyone an idiot..   thats looks very poorly from community aspect to newcomers like myself...

16 minutes is SUBJECTIVELY too short.. i didn't say objectively, subjectively means that its opinionated.. yea 16 minutes for me is slightly shy of optimal run time...only slightly shy given Spark's possibilities.

second of all, only reason i suggest spark fly more should have occusync is because it includes the controller, its priced stiffly outside of users that want it for gestures and using onscreen controls.  at $700 its not unreasonable if DJI did segment it. or added occusync + 2.4Ghz wifi option to all...

finally, sure $700 is a lot to swallow, but im getting a full refund, i feel extremely bad for the increasing number of people having to deal with spark's falling out of the sky and smashing to bits without repair or refund, or losing it in the water because of same issue or other failures..   people that had fly away's and will never see their spark again or there $500 -$700 they put into it...   it is unacceptable... period.

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-7-25 16:00
first of all, that is just weird that you shouldn't zero equipment before each new use in a different area.  i for one disbeleive this, since most precision equiptment demands it.

second of all my spark early on wanted calibration, it wasn't happy with my area i guess and it wanted compass calibrations every few flights.   i think mineral rich soil and the super old buried infrastructure was why it kept shouting compass errors.  so i started to calibrate every flight instead of only when it told me to.

Let me tell you a story that... well I really can't prove.  When I  got my first drone (p34k) it would NOT start up. Kept asking for an IMU cal.  I had no idea what an IMU was, but I got it sorted out soon enough.
I started doing "research" and 'learned' (wrongly) that I should cal the compass when I move locations more than 50 miles. I should have just read the manual, but being a guy.... well, you know how that goes.

What I started to notice was that my UAV was taking longer and longer to warm up before each flight. I live in a HOT area, so I was confused, but OK, that's what it needs.  Then, I had a crash. It was only 10 feet off the ground, but it hit concrete, upside down and it was damaged.  The props were broken and it was screaming for a compass cal.  All in all, I replaced the main mother board, the compass, all 4 motors and the battery compartment (which holds the main board). In the mean time I learned (correctly) to only cal the compass when the AC asks for it. Now that same drone has gps lock and is ready to go before the camera has even fully focused.  I would say from that that you can indeed do damage doing too many compass calibrations. Perhaps not, but that's my belief.

I now have the P4P and the spark and have never calibrated the compass in either one of them. The P4P has been flawless and, so has the spark - I just haven't trusted it enough to really put it through its paces.

I guess the motto - read the manual for the REAL information.

Flying Wolf_NOL Posted at 2017-7-25 18:52
Let me tell you a story that... well I really can't prove.  When I  got my first drone (p34k) it would NOT start up. Kept asking for an IMU cal.  I had no idea what an IMU was, but I got it sorted out soon enough.
I started doing "research" and 'learned' (wrongly) that I should cal the compass when I move locations more than 50 miles. I should have just read the manual, but being a guy.... well, you know how that goes.

i agree, i did read the manual, somewhat.   however, it was almost every other flight basically it wanted a calibration to the compass....i gave up decided ok, every time i will recalibrate it.  to be honest, no difference in its behavior.. only difference i noticed mostly down to it throwing up compass errors in flight more often..

my guess is being i live in mountainous area with very mineral rich soil and old aging infrastructure... its probably wasn't happy with it, or... maybe i legit had a defective compass/unit.  

moral of the story is... every spark has its own personality... ?   i dont know...

My experience so far:

Total flight time -- 6 hours 25 minutes
Total distance.   -- 64,494 feet
Total flights.       -- 55
Total failures      -- 0

I've been very happy with my Spark.

NewGramps Posted at 2017-7-25 19:19
My experience so far:

Total flight time -- 6 hours 25 minutes

awesome!   im glad not all sparks are problematic...  gives us some hope and it also leaves some questions unanswered.

fans7666527f Posted at 2017-7-25 04:34
Sorry, but NO! "If the accident caused by malfunction, we will compensate the drone or repair it without charging if it is under warranty" The big problem, and unacceptable DJI's customer treatment, is that DJI puts the burden of proof on your CUSTOMER! Since the log file stops abruptly when another Spark fall out of the sky for no reason, DJI make it VERY EASY for themselves and say since the log file stopped before the crash, the Customer cannot prove that the Spark malfunctioned and therefore DJI will not repair or compensate. This is wrong: If another Spark falls out of the sky, it should be DJI to either prove that it was Customer error or otherwise compensate it, if the log file has stopped abruptly. Why would the log file otherwise stop abruptly, unless there was a technical error? And also especially since this seems to happen to many customers.

If the flight record ended without any sign of abnormality, we're not able to verify what happened afterwards. Engineers will also analyse the flight environment if an accident happened. But if everything is well-controlled before the data stopped, considering this special situation, we provided users with the best offer based on after-sales policy, hope your kindly understanding!

Wednesday Posted at 2017-7-25 07:52
So far I did not have any "drop from the sky", but, lets define the meaning of word "few". I agree the % is low if compared with the number of units out there. But, one thing is having an issue on design of a phone antenna , another is to have a piece of hardware that can drop from the sky and hit someone. I am puzzled yet that any "major" site review didn't post any article about this. If that happens , we know the consequences, "Drone Allowed, but SPARK" sign is in the near future. As a QA  Engineer of one of the largest US companines, this issue is taking too long to be fixed, and I really don't know why DJI QA didn't get this issue on their lab, just my 2c.

The drone had passed QA before it came for selling, that's for sure.But if someone has the unexpected case happened, we would really hope that he/she can contact us and start a data analysis. We hope we can found a certain reason for a certain case. We will keep moving to provide more products with good quality. Thank you for the support.

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-7-25 19:14
i agree, i did read the manual, somewhat.   however, it was almost every other flight basically it wanted a calibration to the compass....i gave up decided ok, every time i will recalibrate it.  to be honest, no difference in its behavior.. only difference i noticed mostly down to it throwing up compass errors in flight more often..

my guess is being i live in mountainous area with very mineral rich soil and old aging infrastructure... its probably wasn't happy with it, or... maybe i legit had a defective compass/unit.  

Yeah, that's very possible. It's so hard to say. With so many different issues, taking the environment into consideration is something usually overlooked.  

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 19:59
If the flight record ended without any sign of abnormality, we're not able to verify what happened afterwards. Engineers will also analyse the flight environment if an accident happened. But if everything is well-controlled before the data stopped, considering this special situation, we provided users with the best offer based on after-sales policy, hope your kindly understanding!

"If the flight record ended without any sign of abnormality, we're not able to verify what happened afterwards." Can you tell me what else can result in the flight record stop abruptly in the middle of a flight other than the Spark shut down?

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 22:43
The drone had passed QA before it came for selling, that's for sure.But if someone has the unexpected case happened, we would really hope that he/she can contact us and start a data analysis. We hope we can found a certain reason for a certain case. We will keep moving to provide more products with good quality. Thank you for the support.

Of course passed the QA, the point is since is more than a few that are having the "drop sky", not sure why that condition was not catch on any DJI test cases. I hope the new firmware that was released today put some light on the issue.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-25 19:59
If the flight record ended without any sign of abnormality, we're not able to verify what happened afterwards. Engineers will also analyse the flight environment if an accident happened. But if everything is well-controlled before the data stopped, considering this special situation, we provided users with the best offer based on after-sales policy, hope your kindly understanding!

Yeah. Not good enough. The mantra for good customer service ought to be "trust your customer unless you have evidence that they are lying to you."

Of course the logs end without any sign of abnormality. The power was cut. How could they be expected to end any other way? If you get a log that shows the AC in the air right before the log ends, and you have a customer saying that the AC shut off at that point, seems to me that the logs are supporting their story rather than contradicting it.

This is why your company has such a terrible reputation for poor customer service. Until you learn to put the customer first, you are going to have a lot of disgruntled customers and a lot of negative press. You guys are so paranoid that a dishonest customer will rip you off that you alienate even the honest ones. I strongly believe that this will cost you more in future revenue than you are saving by being so paranoid.

PaTaRnAk Posted at 2017-7-26 06:17
"If the flight record ended without any sign of abnormality, we're not able to verify what happened afterwards." Can you tell me what else can result in the flight record stop abruptly in the middle of a flight other than the Spark shut down?

Like APP disconnected, transmission disconnected and RC signal disconnected etc. will cause the flight record stops abruptly. But certain case and certain reason, so if an accident happened, I would recommend contacting us for a data analysis.

LOKY Posted at 2017-7-26 07:27
Of course passed the QA, the point is since is more than a few that are having the "drop sky", not sure why that condition was not catch on any DJI test cases. I hope the new firmware that was released today put some light on the issue.

We had released the new firmware on Wednesday and we're looking to implement additional safeguards. We recommend all customers connect to the internet and update their aircraft’s firmware to ensure a safe flight when flying their Spark. And please contact us if you found any abnormal things of the drone.

I should edit my initial post, I may do that later.   However I will make a few points here:

I have owned two Sparks, first one was horrible and scary experiance, second one was actually quiet plesant!  


The spark is unfinished product as a whole compared to other options offered by DJi for not much more.  So I'll wrap this up I think with my "final" review of the current Spark..


I don't think the issued with drones falling out of the sky is limited to the spark in the slighest, other products have experiance this however ri beleive the spark is more suseptible to these freaks issues because the hardware is more cutdown and the platform is less mature.


My two biggest gripes about the spark will remain, battery life and range.  While 16 minutes is usable and getting 2500+ feet of range is livable, it really falls short and has little "buffer zone" in less than ideal conditions.. like fighting head winds on low battery, or flying around neighborhood and backwoods wifi quickly begins to struggle.  

The camera software needs a rework, but if your willing to use filters and tinker around the spark camera isn't impossible.

The gesture modes I never had much luck with, but I do hope DJI figures them out better.. part of the issue maybe the narrow range that obstrical aviodance has and the less than steller auto camera software spark has playing a role in hit/miss gesture modes.   

The spark also needs more fail-safes and more "common sense" features like disabling home point and RTH if it's active tracking/gesture mode.. instead should request a custom retrunign/landing event.. such as if active tracking a boat in lake, no sense of it flying back to where you launched it, better off it is caught up to you and tried to land on the boat of request palm landing..   

My final point I want to make is also pote tially a suggestion for future updates and APIs for the spark and maybe other drones.. but the spark really needs differant tethers not just phone/table and/or RC.. but also smaller devices and intellegently track them and provide feedback to and from..  like smart watches and standalong little pocket sides devices.. some wireless leash that it tracks the signal and based on direction and strength it follows it at varying speeds and can utilize that device to pick you out of a crowd.  My GF came up with this idea, she feels like big thing missing from the spark is something to wirelessly teather or leash it to you so no hassle and active track and follow mode is a bit smarter and doesn't easily loose subject.. and at same time you can command things like orbit and stuff from it..   she loves exersizing and running, and biking and she wishes a drone wouldn't need RC or phone controller everywhere but instead could be more set it and forget it.. she can do her laps around the block or watever and the spark follows her without needing to worry about apps or RC or homepoints.. she is always the homepoints and wifi emitted off the little device she can carry on her is the teather leashing drone to her..

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-29 22:46
I should edit my initial post, I may do that later.   However I will make a few points here:

I have owned two Sparks, first one was horrible and scary experiance, second one was actually quiet plesant!  

Thanks for your update!