This is just a quick vent about new spark/drone owners.  
I see a lot of people here purchase a spark and being their first UAV.  That alone is scary! I see a lot of complain that my spark don't do this and that, thinking that the drone will do "everything for them" and it should not be problem free.  To the new owner's, first learn the basic of flying a quadcopter without all the electronics and gadgets just in case you have a fly away you'll know how to manuever it back to safety and if you don't have the basic RC experience learn before you put the spark up in the air.  For a novice quadcopter the spark could be very dangerous to you  and your surroundings.  

First drone for me, and i agree... you need to learn and practice... everyday... thats what i am doing.

I think DJI is partially to blame. All of their Spark advertising makes it sound super easy and gives first time drone users the idea that they can do all sorts of amazing things without putting any effort into it.

Yes!!! Thanks for this post op. I try to help the new guys but sometimes it's hard. Sometimes they want to be spoon-fed they have to learn with experience!

I don't disagree. But this is available at Best Buy, and other non hobby shops. Most of the people buying drones have zero interest in RC. What do you expect?

Yeah when you see a video on the spark FB page of some guy testing sport mode for the first time, he's about 12 foot from a climbing frame with kids on it and nearly hits it and himself.

im half and half on this issue..   spark was my first decent quadcopter.   however the issues i experienced was likely from faulty hardware...  i did all my checks and played it safe to best of my ability and even so i had issues.    yes im sure if i had greater experience my issues would been more limited range because some of it was idiot mistakes.. most of it was completely beyond my control..

i think another lesson to learn about the spark.. that is that it is brand new.. essentially..  only been proven under DJi's testing conditions. only been in the real world for going on 3 months now.   and the real world with real people can present endless and countless variables that a test site will never have imagined or dreamed up..  could be anything, literally..   doesn't matter how good DJi's testing maybe.. how good there test site is.. the real world with real people is always going to be different.   even the Mavic Pro early on ...sucked..  period....  now the Mavic Pro is a very solid platform that is fairly idiot friendly..  now its the spark's turn to mature into something great.

FatherXmas Posted at 2017-7-30 13:26
I think DJI is partially to blame. All of their Spark advertising makes it sound super easy and gives first time drone users the idea that they can do all sorts of amazing things without putting any effort into it.

I second this.  Flawless and easy to use is what they advertise.  A flying selfie camera.

As a newbie, while I understand the need to familiarize yourself with the stuff you are flying in order to avoid being a danger to yourself and other people, I don't get this you should fly "without all the electronics and gadgets  just in case you have a fly away" blah-blah. Let me tell you this: here, in EU, if the Spark decides to flyaway despite my precautions (no flight with compass warnings, enough GPS sats, heading checking etc) , it will be out of control range fast. Really-really fast. Spark isn't Mavic, which has some headroom, despite faster speed.

Anytime you start dropping prices on a premium piece, with advanced tech, your going to get a new clientele that may not do their homework.  These issues were bound to happen.  Especially when it's marketed twords beginners.

Oracle Miata Posted at 2017-7-30 14:24
Anytime you start dropping prices on a premium piece, with advanced tech, your going to get a new clientele that may not do their homework.  These issues were bound to happen.  Especially when it's marketed twords beginners.

I highly agree.  But this is no beginner drone It might be an entry level for DJI quadcopters, but certainly not a novice drone.

I agree, if only DJI  would have done their homework...

Quite agree. I had a total nightmare on Friday. Ol' Sparky got stuck in a tree, 50 feet up principally down to user error. I tried to spot it but had to leave the area as had a work thing to attend to. Went back later not knowing whether it was still in the tree or had fell and now been whipped away. I put some posters up, but that turned out to be a bad idea as some kids ended up climbing the tree to try and find it. Now I didnt know whether they had found it, or it had fell out or what. Anyway, I was really upset as I'd been totally stoaked with my little Spark - which was a big deal as we have two babies on the way and money needed for other things. I couldnt let it just go so I went back to the spot multiple times on the Friday and the Saturday including a night trip with torches etc. After, pretty much admitting defeat on the Sunday, I was on the way back from taking my wife for an anniversary lunch. I said ' how do you fancy taking a look at where I've been spending all my time these last few days'? She agreed to take a look, so there I was again, in the familiar spot, peering up at the branches not seeing anything. My wife was also having a look, to see if she could spot anything. Anyway, as I look around again for the hundredth time, what should I see, laying there on it's back?? Yes, 60 hours later, my little Sparky!!!! To say I was happy is an understatement!! It had rained heavily for two days solid. The drone had fallen + 50 feet and, unbelievably it was totally unaffected for the experience - with a new battery it flew like it was straight out of the box!! Wow, what build quality?? Moral of the story, don't get too cocky if you're a novice and if you do lose your drone, don't give up!!!

Great story glad u found it and not those little kids!

russham1 Posted at 2017-7-30 14:32
Quite agree. I had a total nightmare on Friday. Ol' Sparky got stuck in a tree, 50 feet up principally down to user error. I tried to spot it but had to leave the area as had a work thing to attend to. Went back later not knowing whether it was still in the tree or had fell and now been whipped away. I put some posters up, but that turned out to be a bad idea as some kids ended up climbing the tree to try and find it. Now I didnt know whether they had found it, or it had fell out or what. Anyway, I was really upset as I'd been totally stoaked with my little Spark - which was a big deal as we have two babies on the way and money needed for other things. I couldnt let it just go so I went back to the spot multiple times on the Friday and the Saturday including a night trip with torches etc. After, pretty much admitting defeat on the Sunday, I was on the way back from taking my wife for an anniversary lunch. I said ' how do you fancy taking a look at where I've been spending all my time these last few days'? She agreed to take a look, so there I was again, in the familiar spot, peering up at the branches not seeing anything. My wife was also having a look, to see if she could spot anything. Anyway, as I look around again for the hundredth time, what should I see, laying there on it's back?? Yes, 60 hours later, my little Sparky!!!! To say I was happy is an understatement!! It had rained heavily for two days solid. The drone had fallen + 50 feet and, unbelievably it was totally unaffected for the experience - with a new battery it flew like it was straight out of the box!! Wow, what build quality?? Moral of the story, don't get too cocky if you're a novice and if you do lose your drone, don't give up!!!

Night trip with torches? at least it was a happy ending.  Good luck with the babies coming.

Cheers!

It's true, many new owners just jumped right in not knowing what they were doing or what they were dealing with. When I got the Spark, I had previously watched a handful of videos already. I then proceeded to read the manuel to understand the ins and outs. And the first few times flying I took it real slow, practiced the flight checks and flew it within 20m distance. Gradually I've flown further and further always considering my surroundings. I have yet to try gestures or any other intelligent flight modes, I'm flying manually all the time. I now feel that I understand the AC and what it can do, I am aware and in control.

If I bought a brand new motorcycle that could drive itself, you better believe I'd learn to drive it first before turning on auto-pilot, lest I loose control and crash my investment or even worse kill someone because I didn't know what I was doing.

Right so the engine cutting off mid flight is the new owners fault

HamdiR Posted at 2017-7-30 14:58
Right so the engine cutting off mid flight is the new owners fault

That's not the point of this thread.

I wonder how many folks that experience issues read the manual? Or did they take the Spark out of the box, charge it up and put it in the sky without ever reading a single page.

$gambino$ Posted at 2017-7-30 14:39
Great story glad u found it and not those little kids!

Thanks bro, yeah too right. I thought that they had found it so I even checked the local second-hand shop!

Lucas775 Posted at 2017-7-30 14:40
Night trip with torches? at least it was a happy ending.  Good luck with the babies coming.

Cheers!

Ah, thanks pal. It was a bit scary but I was so determined to find it I wasn't going to give up!!

Surface2Air Posted at 2017-7-30 15:01
That's not the point of this thread.

There are bound to be some technical issues with a new piece of kit like this but I'd say 99% of Spark based calamity is down to, like my experience, user error/inexperience

Totally agree!

this is my first decent drone. my actual first drone was the SKRC D20W. after learning how to fly this thing is when i bought the spark. i still consider the spark my first drone because of how S***y that one was. there was no such thing as hovering in place unassisted.

For those new flyers, this tech can take a lot of getting used to read the manual update app update firmware check the compass check the Imu etc etc.

At first they only want to fly as they have seen in the advertising, this can be a mistake, but to them this is the first thing they want to do, we are all guilty of taking tech products trying to get them going and then as a last resort read the manual, it may be a failing but it's one we all fail on. Difference with a drone is it can be up 100 m and away 500 m and pilot is not sure what to do ,

when something goes wrong with something that costs a lot of money, disappointment is huge and it's difficult to admit to yourself you could have got it so wrong €500 down the drain , you then revert back to your childhood when you were 3 years old you were running showing off you trip and fall, what's the first thing you do, cry scream and kick Daddy for letting you fall.

Those who buy drones as a strict hobby are more likely to take it in baby steps do the suggested things and will be around flying a lot longer, those who rush and have accidents and can realise it's something they did will also learn from mistakes and continue to enjoy this hobby.

But hey it's all human nature and we all have our own way of coping with things, but all have the right to be heard.

FatherXmas Posted at 2017-7-30 15:26
I wonder how many folks that experience issues read the manual? Or did they take the Spark out of the box, charge it up and put it in the sky without ever reading a single page.

Funny. Before picking up my first motorcycle I went through the user manual 3 times. While riding it for the first time I was unable to remember how to turn off the damn blinkers, so I eventually switched on the warning and kept going

Reading helps but beginner will always make mistakes and it's normal.
To date, the only mistake a made with my Spark is getting too close to a tree and hitting some leaves and very small branches. I was going fast in sport mode.

Zirconn Posted at 2017-7-31 03:06
Funny. Before picking up my first motorcycle I went through the user manual 3 times. While riding it for the first time I was unable to remember how to turn off the damn blinkers, so I eventually switched on the warning and kept going

Reading helps but beginner will always make mistakes and it's normal.

I agree, it is OK to make mistake. However, know the limit. Same to your example about motorcycle, one should never red-line on the first ride lol

Zirconn Posted at 2017-7-31 03:06
Funny. Before picking up my first motorcycle I went through the user manual 3 times. While riding it for the first time I was unable to remember how to turn off the damn blinkers, so I eventually switched on the warning and kept going

Reading helps but beginner will always make mistakes and it's normal.

I agree, it is OK to make mistake. However, know the limit. Same to your example about motorcycle, one should never red-line on the first ride lol

In today's world there are obviously cases where the product or someone else is at fault, but way too often it ain't so. We see this in all walks of life.

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”
—Theodore Roosevelt

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-7-30 13:59
im half and half on this issue..   spark was my first decent quadcopter.   however the issues i experienced was likely from faulty hardware...  i did all my checks and played it safe to best of my ability and even so i had issues.    yes im sure if i had greater experience my issues would been more limited range because some of it was idiot mistakes.. most of it was completely beyond my control..

i think another lesson to learn about the spark.. that is that it is brand new.. essentially..  only been proven under DJi's testing conditions. only been in the real world for going on 3 months now.   and the real world with real people can present endless and countless variables that a test site will never have imagined or dreamed up..  could be anything, literally..   doesn't matter how good DJi's testing maybe.. how good there test site is.. the real world with real people is always going to be different.   even the Mavic Pro early on ...sucked..  period....  now the Mavic Pro is a very solid platform that is fairly idiot friendly..  now its the spark's turn to mature into something great.

I completely agree with you statement.  I for one have had little issues with my Spark; yes the gesture mode is a little unstable with face/hand recognition.  But I know this is new technology and will to wait for DJI to iron out the bugs.  I have notices an improvement in the firmware update 4.1.4 (haven't tested 4.1.5 yet).

Surface2Air Posted at 2017-7-31 04:11
In today's world there are obviously cases where the product or someone else is at fault, but way too often it ain't so. We see this in all walks of life.

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”

I LOVE THIS QUOTE

russham1 Posted at 2017-7-31 02:29
There are bound to be some technical issues with a new piece of kit like this but I'd say 99% of Spark based calamity is down to, like my experience, user error/inexperience

not at all...  i dont know the ratio of good to bad sparks in the world, but lets just say the ratio of bad spark is fairly high.....  

i had first hand experience with a rogue spark running amuck...  

i can tell you first hand my spark was about as dumb as a loaf of bread..straight up ignore me, it was worse than one of those $20 drones at the store when it ran amuck because at least those $20 drones i could land or stop...  it would reset its GPS mid flight, change its own home points.    i enabled obstacle avoidance and disabled sport mode last 5 flights i did just because i was tired of my spark beating itself up during flyaways or getting confused during inflight compass errors. my spark loved eating leaves and dirt, leaves and bricks..figured with avoidance on and reduced speed set it should not be able to hurt itself too bad, i was wrong.    and it still during a random flyaway would throw itself into a tree or a wall at full speed,  that would be hard for sensors to have missed, not like the 2 trees on my property at small.. not like i flew anywhere near them.      mine spark had a mind of its own.... it once did stop for a tree 5 feet away, avoidance during a fly away worked!  climbed up to go over it maybe?     my app was connected said green GPS ok..  but i have zero control, sticks did nothing, pause did nothing, it flew 80 feet up chewed a branch and nose dived into the dirt...   massive inpact..


i would fully admit if i had even partial control over my ex-spark, i would lean more to agreeing on it being user error...  but not even pause button or pulling the stick down to ground it would work...just entered its own world sometimes.. nothing i could personally have done.. i wish we could enter Atti or VPS mode manually allocating it to a button..  i would put Atti or VPS (vision positioning system) to my FN or C1 button in a heartbeat it it means i could stop my future spark from trying to destroy itself when it gets confused..

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-7-31 09:46
not at all...  i dont know the ratio of good to bad sparks in the world, but lets just say the ratio of bad spark is fairly high.....  

i had first hand experience with a rogue spark running amuck...  

i agree with russham1 on this. most of the sparks worked fine. there's not a whole lot that failed!

keep in mind that i agree that there should be no problems but i don't think its possible.

Thor1 Posted at 2017-7-31 09:52
i agree with russham1 on this. most of the sparks worked fine. there's not a whole lot that failed!

keep in mind that i agree that there should be no problems but i don't think its possible.

no way that only a 1% rate of failure no way... this forums alone which will always be the least popular method of exploring options socially, averages 1 unexplained flyaway per day, and at least 1 other unexplained issue per day.    thats extremely high rate for the least popular way to communicate an issue.  

Dji right now are essentially saying not there fault if the log is incomplete... its up to the user.   which means they are FALSELY deflating their failure rate numbers..    im sure if you count all the people in and outside of this forum that had incomplete logs after spark runs amuck, probably be a very staggering failure rate..   

again, i had a spark that did its own thing, completely ignored me, connected or not... no one in this world would be able to convince me mine was user error, i'm sure a lot of sparks fallen from the sky,  owners would refuse to allow you to say was user error as well...  if DJi demanded i pay them, i would file fraud dispute with my bank, get my money back, and claim under personal property insurance another quadcopter.... because no DJi....  

i agree with you that is way too high. i may have misinterpreted your post but i thought you meant that the fail rate was higher than the success rate. that is false.

Thor1 Posted at 2017-7-31 10:16
i agree with you that is way too high. i may have misinterpreted your post but i thought you meant that the fail rate was higher than the success rate. that is false.

ah!  i see.  

ya....im willing to try once more with the spark.. i decided   seeing as i had a bad example..  hopeful that my next spark will be good

I am a drone newb (trying to be a very careful pilot).  I believe some issues (hopefully a minority) are hardware/software related malfunctions.  I suspect that most issues are a combination of unexpected craft behavior compounded by poor user reactions.  The bulk of my personal practice is for the purpose of knowing how the craft might behave (or even misbehave), so that I can react with confidence, and not over-react or compound the problem.

One newb and unsolicited piece of advice I would offer:  Don't jump into sport mode without extensive practice and experience.

fans053efd4d Posted at 2017-7-31 10:59
I am a drone newb (trying to be a very careful pilot).  I believe some issues (hopefully a minority) are hardware/software related malfunctions.  I suspect that most issues are a combination of unexpected craft behavior compounded by poor user reactions.  The bulk of my personal practice is for the purpose of knowing how the craft might behave (or even misbehave), so that I can react with confidence, and not over-react or compound the problem.

One newb and unsolicited piece of advice I would offer:  Don't jump into sport mode without extensive practice and experience.

sport mode is fun but only do that if you have a large open area, and your phone/tablet is connected via OTG to the RC and phone/tablet has wifi disabled.  


once your are comfortable with sport mode you can use it more in less open areas. obviously not around people or trees or anything but like flying over things and around things at distance..

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-7-31 10:02
no way that only a 1% rate of failure no way... this forums alone which will always be the least popular method of exploring options socially, averages 1 unexplained flyaway per day, and at least 1 other unexplained issue per day.    thats extremely high rate for the least popular way to communicate an issue.  

Dji right now are essentially saying not there fault if the log is incomplete... its up to the user.   which means they are FALSELY deflating their failure rate numbers..    im sure if you count all the people in and outside of this forum that had incomplete logs after spark runs amuck, probably be a very staggering failure rate..   

We have no way of knowing what the actual failure rate is. DJI isn't saying and I doubt they ever will. We also don't know what DJI considers to be 'in tolerance' for this product (as far as the number of failures).

What we do know is that the data log of the sparks that fell from the sky would show user error - if there were any. The only way to make a UAV fall like a rock is to use a CSC command on the sticks - this would show on the logs. If the logs just stop, that indicates a power failure. No way that is user error.

I'm very concerned about the way those who have had this happen and can not return the drone are being treated. Being offered a 30% discount on a product that failed due to the manufacturer is nonsense. It damages the reputation of DJI greatly. Those people will tell their story to others... and they will repeat the story to even more people.  If, there is a true reason that DJI believes themselves to not be at fault - say it.  The silence screams guilty to me.

I totally agree with you, before i bought my spark long before it even existed. I knew i was in the market for a DJI product i did a lot of research trying my best to educate myself on to fly, the orientation of the joy sticks on the RC remote which one makes it turn left right etc, learning how prevent flyaway, how land, how to stop and start the motors manually, how to use the DJI GO4 app, what to check for before flying etc. I wanted to be prepared in the best way possible. I have owned my spark for a month now and it as been a great little bird so far. The only issue i had was with the reception but cured that with the OTG cable, with the new update i haven't been using the cable so far flew up to a mile away with no transmission issue. last week was the first time that i was finally comfortable flying in sport mode and it was a blast. now i am not saying there isn't a few defective DJI spark that came of the assembly line and thats always going to be a given. But i also think that a lot of first time drone owners who bought the spark didn't properly prepare them self on what it really takes to operate a drone especially being it is there first time like myself. I know DJI drones or pretty sophisticated machines with the ability to launch by itself, RTH by itself etc. But i still wanted to know to manually do all that my self, and i spent a great deal of time learning how to do that and its paying of.