I am a (Noob) Let me reiterate that by saying VERY NOOB. I have yet to fly my Spark as I am reading up on all the advice in these forums as well as the instruction manual. My question is this - Should I wait till I get well acquainted with my drone before I attempt palm take off’s and landing’s? I am a little nervous to try this. I am putting on the blade guards before I even attempt to fly this drone. Sure looks like fun, but I want it to be a fun safe experience as well.

Congrats, you bought a great quad.  I only wish more people did the research before throwing the bird up in the air.  Make sure you've watched plenty of Youtube, read the online manual; and you should be good to go.  Be aware of the rules of the hobby and you're bound to have a fantastic time.

hi Kirker!

don't be afraid of that my suggestion is to have the RC connected to the Spark when gesture controlling it. It's safer. In case anything happens, you can take the control back.
And please, don't do that indoor! Try an outside open space. As open as it can be. There should be enough light and would be best to wear something colorful.
Please read the Gesture Control part in the manual couple of times before trying it out.

i hope it helps!

Hand gestures, it’s fine to try them you don’t need a lot of experience they can be a little tricky and it can be frustrating at first , keep at it and you will get the knack.
As regards flying it’s not as difficult as you might think, just remember preparation and environment are your best friends here, you should take is slowly at first you will find it easy to control and very responsive, but only you will know how comfortable you are flying.
Good luck and enjoy.

Oracle Miata Posted at 2018-1-6 06:01
Congrats, you bought a great quad.  I only wish more people did the research before throwing the bird up in the air.  Make sure you've watched plenty of Youtube, read the online manual; and you should be good to go.  Be aware of the rules of the hobby and you're bound to have a fantastic time.

Thanks!! Yeah I spent to much money to just throw this up and hope it goes.

dj_dread Posted at 2018-1-6 06:09
hi Kirker!

don't be afraid of that  my suggestion is to have the RC connected to the Spark when gesture controlling it. It's safer. In case anything happens, you can take the control back.

Thanks Dj.  Great advice having teh RC hooked up. I have seen a couple of posts here that state when they did the palm release there drones went crazy.

I'm still very much a noob and am loving my Spark.  The weather has been alternately great and miserable here for flying it. LOL!
My first flight was simply a ground based take off, rise up, hover, and land again.
Then I tried the various hand gestures which are a lot of fun to use.  Make sure you have plenty of clear space to try these out.  I also had my iPad Air 2 connected, just in case I needed to gain control (which I didn't need to do.)
I've been gaining more experience every time I get a chance to fly.  While I'm probably more cautious than many, I'm comfortable taking my baby steps in learning to fly this awesome drone.
Also, I've been reading a lot on this forum and watching tons of youtube videos to see what and how others fly, video, and photograph with their Spark.

Having plenty of open space is key.  My first attempt was under a tree and you can guess how that ended.

Save the palm take off for when you have some experience with the Spark.  Get used to how it behaves by taking off from a clear open area on the ground.  The best part of the ground is you can't fall off of it.  Plus you can be well out of the way so you don't bolt when the drone drifts or acts unpredictably.

An empty parking lot by a Starbucks would be ideal.  I can't fly without a refreshing beverage nearby.

I have years of experience with RC airplanes and helicopters and I still flew the Spark for a few days before I started trying the palm take off and landings.  Gotta get a feel for a new model before you start close quarters maneuvering of crazy fast spinning blades by your hand.

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-1-6 11:25
Save the palm take off for when you have some experience with the Spark.  Get used to how it behaves by taking off from a clear open area on the ground.  The best part of the ground is you can't fall off of it.  Plus you can be well out of the way so you don't bolt when the drone drifts or acts unpredictably.

An empty parking lot by a Starbucks would be ideal.  I can't fly without a refreshing beverage nearby.

Gunship is right! Try and get familiar with your drone before doing anything new!
Every RC model is different and it acts differently, that's why a simulator is always good before getting the AC outside.
Gesture Control is something new to me. And it took me some time to get familiar with and i am not still confident i can do that, that's why i always have the remote controller connected to the aircraft while i am exercising the gesture control.
First day i received my Spark, i was so anxious about doing the gesture control and i take of from the palm, inside, indoor. It was ok. But the aircraft was in ATTI mode and it started to drift away. And i was not able to take control back as the remote was not connected. And it was starting to ascend as the vision system was active. Each time i was trying to raise my hand and catch it it was going up. Until it reached the ceiling and started to scratch the ceiling with the props. I was in panic mode and jumped up with my hand to catch it from beneath. Guess what..two fingers cut off, pretty bad, blood all over. I was able catching the drone and stop it by turning it upside down (props facing floor). At that point i powered up my laptop and searched all over youtube and dji for tutorials
I can say Spark Hand gesture features are working well for me. It took some time to understand that the "selfie" mode is only active in "folow mode" (when the drone is up - after waiving the hand like a "bye bye").
So, again, please try that outside. And have the remote controller connected

Let us know how it was

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I did get my first little flight in yesterday. 2 minutes and counting. It was fun and I must say I love the fact that once you are off the controls it Hoover’s nicely. I am off on Tuesday and I will have both batteries charged. The nice thing is I can walk out my door and I am surrounded by 2000 acres of nothing, The only tree’s are the ones on my property (please dont Charlie Brown). I wil be sure to get some video.

I would describe myself as cautious, but adventurous. I've had my drone for three weeks and I attempted and completed all gestures for the first time just today.

When I got my drone I started in beginner mode to ensure that I had a very good command of the flight controls. For me, about 6 batteries worth of flying. Then I moved into Intelligent Flight Modes. Then came Sport Mode. I kept distance and height restrictions at first but then removed them after only a few batteries of flying. I'm still not an expert in Sport Mode and don't expect to be anytime soon, though I can fly fast and low and make some very accurate turns at speed.

I went ahead and moved on to Gesture Control today. I had a wide open space and access to a chase vehicle if it was needed. Though I experienced no issues it was a very unnerving experience. I couldn't imagine how I would have felt having my $600 ac flying autonomously if I were still new to flying. Note: for some reason I wasn't able to enter into Gesture Control with the RC connected. But I will try again later today.

Happy flying.

Congrats! Small steps, big gains. You're on the right path taking it all seriously, reading the manual and asking the questions. Palm land/launch is weird at first but do it when you feel ready and put the prop guards on for added safety the first few times. Do it in open areas but not on windy days.

Download the manual, read the manual back to front, explore the Go App and find out what everything does, download an app that shows where you can and can't fly - UAV Forcast is my app of choice, get to know the rules for flying drones, get to know local restrictions for parks etc - some countries/cities are very strict when it comes to drones, take little steps first before banging it in sport mode and crashing. The best item I can offer apart from doing what I have listed is to use common sense and think of safety for everyone. Enjoy and let's not see a post titled - I crashed my drone.....Welcome..

Which brings the question of, is the Spark a good beginner drone?  I found an old video of me flying my Blade cx2 back in 2004.  It was just me hovering the coaxial helicopter nearby and slowly maneuvering.  Learning to hover in one spot was a big part of learning since it wasn't GPS-P stabilized.  I forgot how hard it was for me to learn to control an RC model.

The Spark bypasses learning to fly and does it for you.  At least until it loses GPS lock and reverts to ATTI mode.  "My drone flew away!"

CoreyB10 Posted at 2018-1-7 07:18
Download the manual, read the manual back to front, explore the Go App and find out what everything does, download an app that shows where you can and can't fly - UAV Forcast is my app of choice, get to know the rules for flying drones, get to know local restrictions for parks etc - some countries/cities are very strict when it comes to drones, take little steps first before banging it in sport mode and crashing. The best item I can offer apart from doing what I have listed is to use common sense and think of safety for everyone. Enjoy and let's not see a post titled - I crashed my drone.....Welcome..

Going through it a third time with the remote and app open. Looking forward to Tuesday! Hoping I can get a short video and post it. Best part is I have tons of open space around me. Thanks again everyone.

Kirker Posted at 2018-1-8 03:50
Going through it a third time with the remote and app open. Looking forward to Tuesday! Hoping I can get a short video and post it. Best part is I have tons of open space around me. Thanks again everyone.

We are the same round us, it's great. Enjoy and don't crash your pride and joy.