I’ve been on here for a few months now since buying my spark and stepping back into the world of RC Aircraft and am curious about some things

Aside from a firmware update issue (bricking my Spark which was replaced under warranty), I’ve had no issues with my spark.  No fly always, no crashes, no IMU issues..etc.  I did improve range by using OTG vs wifi, but other than that it’s really been an awesome experience.   The DJI Go 4 app has also had it’s qurks, but again, nothing serious.   I fly using an IOS device (6 Plus)

However I read about so many issues on this forum.   Instability, fly always, crashing, IMU errors, Atti mode...etc.   

Is there something in common ?   Are the problems associated with those who fly Android devices ?  Samsungs ?    I feel that whenever I read about a problem, it’s an Android user.

Is that true or am I imagining it ?

I hope your are right, I use ios, no problems yet.

Listen man I us an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 11.2.1 and it is trash.  The phone does not cope with the phantom at all.  I use my iPad to fly things of.  I highly recommend a bigger screen to fly of.  It is an indescribable experience.  I know of some adapters you can get online or onDJI website that allow a tablet to go into the controller of the spark; that is if you have a spark controller.  Best wishes and happy flying.      

Phantomsahoy Posted at 2018-1-16 13:00
Listen man I us an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 11.2.1 and it is trash.  The phone does not cope with the phantom at all.  I use my iPad to fly things of.  I highly recommend a bigger screen to fly of.  It is an indescribable experience.  I know of some adapters you can get online or onDJI website that allow a tablet to go into the controller of the spark; that is if you have a spark controller.  Best wishes and happy flying.

I have no issues on the 6Plus, but I do want to move up to an iPad mini 3 or 4.   I’ll probably post an add to do a swap as they are similar value.

While I have no issues, I do struggle reading the screen with my eyes these days.

Photographers who are only partially into the RC model flying hobby versus RC model flying enthusiasts.  Like Myagi in the "Karate Kid" said about the chicken being safe on either side of the road but not being between the sides.  I figure people doing their first Spark flight in their living room, initial flights far out over a busy city lake, or are one of those people that always use RTH to land, are chickens walking in the middle of the road.  Not very committed to knowing ins and outs of the quadcopter hobby.

Which is fine but I don't want to hear them squawking that the Spark is defective.  Or is this simply a Chinese government program to test various country's IQ?

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-1-16 13:10
Photographers who are only partially into the RC model flying hobby versus RC model flying enthusiasts.  Like Myagi in the "Karate Kid" said about the chicken being safe on either side of the road but not being between the sides.  I figure people doing their first Spark flight in their living room, initial flights far out over a busy city lake, or are one of those people that always use RTH to land, are chickens walking in the middle of the road.  Not very committed to knowing ins and outs of the quadcopter hobby.

Which is fine but I don't want to hear them squawking that the Spark is defective.  Or is this simply a Chinese government program to test various country's IQ?

There is certainly a percentage of people out there that don't know what they are doing and are the cause of their issues, but I also think think are legitimate issues with the spark.  It doesn't have the redundancy of the mavic and others.  I have had a firmware issue (resulting in a bricked device) and do have minor issues with the app.  

But I've never had the catastrophic error

I just don't think that with the number of issues we read here, that they are ALL user error.

I use Android, and have had no issues. I was using a LG G6 and have now move to a Samsung Tab A 8.0, for the bigger screen.

It is difficult to know, without sales vs reported errors/findings. There are many people that will post over and over about the same issue, which makes the problem seem larger.

In my opinion, of the 'issues' that have been posted here in the last 6ish months, I believe above 90% are user error. This is based on reading log files, looking at locations where the problem has occurred and looking at the weather conditions in the area, at the time.

In saying that, any mass produced device will have a proportion with hardware issues.

90% user error, 10% device issues.  I would say that 10% is in line with all advanced tech.  I've flown on an fruit 6 since day 1 and have never had any issues.  Just research and follow a set of guidelines and you'll be fine.  I think part of this all can be blamed on societies need for instant gratification.

I am on Android and no issues so far. Careful pre-flight checks, reading the manuals, this forum and some common sense as well as always flying in VLOS might help many users who experience problems.

Oracle Miata Posted at 2018-1-16 13:41
90% user error, 10% device issues.  I would say that 10% is in line with all advanced tech.  I've flown on an fruit 6 since day 1 and have never had any issues.  Just research and follow a set of guidelines and you'll be fine.  I think part of this all can be blamed on societies need for instant gratification.

There are those who can admit mistakes and those who refuse to admit they ever made mistakes.

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-16 13:53
There are those who can admit mistakes and those who refuse to admit they ever made mistakes.

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

"There are those who can admit mistakes and those who refuse to admit they ever made mistakes."

That should be the motto for this forum

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-16 13:53
There are those who can admit mistakes and those who refuse to admit they ever made mistakes.

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery... today is a gift"

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-1-16 13:53
There are those who can admit mistakes and those who refuse to admit they ever made mistakes.

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery... today is a gift"

Sweet double post for dramatics

I think often is the case this forum has two types of people. First one is regulars who post to engage with a drone community and the other group is people who need to vent their frustrations about something broken/ or has broken their drone.

Sometimes they are both!

Oracle Miata Posted at 2018-1-16 14:00
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery... today is a gift"

Sweet double post for dramatics

You gotcha...Oracle!

Is there a way to use an otg with an iOS device?

Thing is , majority of people here just come firs time they break they're Spark . All the 90% happy consumers won't come here ,so in every business , every makers forum looks like that . You won't see people (majority) coming here just to say hi and us, all is great and extra fun.

Iv'e wondered since i signed up and joined these forums how people were having so many issues, i flew for a month before i read one forum post and i saw the split in users, ios and android.
I strongly believe it is not the os, but the phone or tablet being, for lack of a better word "gunked up" with every ap under the sun and using up the cpu in said device...i DON'T mean to butt-hurt alot of people but... does everyone shut down other running aps, close background processes or anything before starting the dji go4 ap?
I happen to have a galaxy S5 from 2 phones ago that i stripped down to bare bones, only using the oem settings and solely using it for the dji go4 ap (ver4.1.15/otg cable), and i have never had any issues.

Just wondering if anyone else has done this/use a dedicated device just for their drone and if it gives any issues or not.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-1-16 13:52
I am on Android and no issues so far. Careful pre-flight checks, reading the manuals, this forum and some common sense as well as always flying in VLOS might help many users who experience problems.

VLOS ?   Still new to some of the acronyms.

SOUNDWAVE439 Posted at 2018-1-16 15:35
Is there a way to use an otg with an iOS device?

Yes.  That’s how I fly.  I am on 4.18 (i think).  I think the later versions might disable it.  

I am very stable at the moment with 800 firmware and my currently go4 app version so I’m not changing anything until I hear things have stabilised.  I have seen a lot more errors pop up since 900 was released

Far_North Posted at 2018-1-16 15:57
VLOS ?   Still new to some of the acronyms.

LOS = line of sight
VLOS = vision line of sight
BVLOS = beyond vision line of sight

Far_North Posted at 2018-1-16 15:57
VLOS ?   Still new to some of the acronyms.

Visual Line of Sight.

By most laws you can only fly line of site, not using goggles, not using binoculars, not using the tablet/smartphone display.

I have flown out of VSOL many times, but that is taking a risk.  The spark is so small, you don’t get very far without being outside of VSOL

warubikku Posted at 2018-1-16 15:49
Iv'e wondered since i signed up and joined these forums how people were having so many issues, i flew for a month before i read one forum post and i saw the split in users, ios and android.
I strongly believe it is not the os, but the phone or tablet being, for lack of a better word "gunked up" with every ap under the sun and using up the cpu in said device...i DON'T mean to butt-hurt alot of people but... does everyone shut down other running aps, close background processes or anything before starting the dji go4 ap?
I happen to have a galaxy S5 from 2 phones ago that i stripped down to bare bones, only using the oem settings and solely using it for the dji go4 ap (ver4.1.15/otg cable), and i have never had any issues.

I have never shut down apps running in the background of my iPhone 6.  The only problems I have had, that I don't see as problems, is the video disconnecting when I lifted up the remote to block the sun on my phone's screen and pointed the antennas at myself.

Then I looked up to find the drone in the sky 300 feet out, only to have the video come back on.  Then I lifted the the remote to get a better look at what the video was showing, antennas pointed at me, and lost the video again.  Sport mode, full speed back to me before I totally lost connection.

Intermittent video that was a background app problem????

Far_North Posted at 2018-1-16 15:57
VLOS ?   Still new to some of the acronyms.

Visual Line Of Sight, meaning you always see your aircraft with your eyes and thus have also visual control on what it is doing and where it is (legal requirement in most countries I believe). It also allows you to always point the remote control towards the aircraft and this way avoid connection loss.

Cookster670 Posted at 2018-1-16 13:29
There is certainly a percentage of people out there that don't know what they are doing and are the cause of their issues, but I also think think are legitimate issues with the spark.  It doesn't have the redundancy of the mavic and others.  I have had a firmware issue (resulting in a bricked device) and do have minor issues with the app.  

But I've never had the catastrophic error

Nope it doesn't have a the redundancy of the Mavic or Phantoms.  Not a legitimate issue so much as limits of the design.  Like finding out your chevy econobox has a four cylinder while the Mavic---- Corvette has a V8.  Chevy doesn't make a big deal about the smaller engine and instead advertises its ability to obey gestures.

Plenty of Mavics have been lost along with those owners claiming legitimate issues with the Mavic.

A fool and his money----drone are soon parted.

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-1-16 16:05
I have never shut down apps running in the background of my iPhone 6.  The only problems I have had, that I don't see as problems, is the video disconnecting when I lifted up the remote to block the sun on my phone's screen and pointed the antennas at myself.

Then I looked up to find the drone in the sky 300 feet out, only to have the video come back on.  Then I lifted the the remote to get a better look at what the video was showing, antennas pointed at me, and lost the video again.  Sport mode, full speed back to me before I totally lost connection.

I tried a 6S also from a friend of mine, but since cannot downgrade the ap to 4.1.15 had to use4.1.22 and wifi on it, still did not have any issues other than laggy screen....just throwing out the idea here that some people may not be as savvy as others about things that may slow or crash the djigo4 ap >

warubikku Posted at 2018-1-16 16:13
I tried a 6S also from a friend of mine, but since cannot downgrade the ap to 4.1.15 had to use4.1.22 and wifi on it, still did not have any issues other than laggy screen....just throwing out the idea here that some people may not be as savvy as others about things that may slow or crash the djigo4 ap >

No, no, I think you are right that shutting down background apps is a good thing to do.  It just didn't cause me any problems.

It seems a combination of device,and app that can caused problems.
If I used my samsung A5(2017) phone, I had problems with 4.1.18 /4.1.22 android and firmware 0.900, But when I used same Spark on my old asus tab K007(android 5.01)all went smooth  4.1.18/22 even Litchi .
I own a mavic too, There I had problems with Firmware 0200. Downgrade Firmware to 1.04.100.

As usual, people WITH problems are going to try to get rid of 'em, people without problems often aren't interested in forums at all.
So my assumption, even if having 2 Sparks, one with, one without problems (till now, knocking on wood;-), there are more %tage of the people with problems showing up, as people without.
Just my2c

Pilot error in the main, occasionally defective units through no fault of the pilot (happens with all tech) and device issues. Android seems to have far more issues than IOS with DJI but there are some Android users without issues and IOS users with etc. The important thing to know is that what you see on here is a small % of total users - people always prefer to complain than compliment. I am yet to crash any DJI drone I've owned and never experienced a fly away and I don't believe in luck!

SOUNDWAVE439 Posted at 2018-1-16 15:35
Is there a way to use an otg with an iOS device?

Yes,, I use OTG and an Apple iPad Air. No issues with average distance of 600 mtrs.

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-1-16 23:41
As usual, people WITH problems are going to try to get rid of 'em, people without problems often aren't interested in forums at all.
So my assumption, even if having 2 Sparks, one with, one without problems (till now, knocking on wood;-), there are more %tage of the people with problems showing up, as people without.
Just my2c

I totally agree to this.

Also when you sell many products the "risk" of having devices with failures is higher.

xfirf_ Posted at 2018-1-17 00:44
I totally agree to this.

Also when you sell many products the "risk" of having devices with failures is higher.

In special with the 'changing' policy (care refresh), DJI is offering!
Putting a crashed bird in a new 'middle frame' without evaluting the real reason for the chrash (pilot error is easy enough!), reboxing  it, is the same chance, like with amazon warehousedeals after a product is some month on the market: In the first month, many warehousedeals are "unpacking you tube video" devices. After 6 month it can be a "mine needed battery change" reason.
just my2c

Phantomsahoy Posted at 2018-1-16 13:00
Listen man I us an iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 11.2.1 and it is trash.  The phone does not cope with the phantom at all.  I use my iPad to fly things of.  I highly recommend a bigger screen to fly of.  It is an indescribable experience.  I know of some adapters you can get online or onDJI website that allow a tablet to go into the controller of the spark; that is if you have a spark controller.  Best wishes and happy flying.

Sir, I would recommend you clean up the cache files. Or you can try to save all the files of your app and try to reinstall it. Thanks for your support.

Android user. I run into little quirks here and there but no major problems and never had a major crash with the Spark. I think the hardware is stellar and the software is good. I started off with an older Blu phone and had no problems until DJI pushed an app update and then after it didn't work great. However, I identified this and quickly moved to a Moto G4 and experienced very few problems. I upgraded that to a Moto G5+ this fall and besides the app crashing once in a while I don't have problems. However, sometimes I fly in a new area and my video is laggy and the connection disconnects. I simply shut it all down and move to a different spot and 95% of the time that's all it takes to fix it.
So to sum up the problems I've had: 1. using an older phone 2. laggy video and bad connection in CERTAIN areas 3. sometimes the app crashes and restarts
To me these problems seem trivial because I know how to react to them and fix the problem, but to a Newbie any one of these problems could lead to a fly-away or a crashed Spark. I think you just have to keep a cool/calm mind when these problems arise and trouble shoot quickly without freaking out.

DJI Elektra Posted at 2018-1-21 22:31
Sir, I would recommend you clean up the cache files. Or you can try to save all the files of your app and try to reinstall it. Thanks for your support.

Will try that mate thanks

Phantomsahoy Posted at 2018-1-24 11:15
Will try that mate thanks

You are welcome. Please inform us if you still need help.

nottuppaware Posted at 2018-1-16 14:58
I think often is the case this forum has two types of people. First one is regulars who post to engage with a drone community and the other group is people who need to vent their frustrations about something broken/ or has broken their drone.

Sometimes they are both!

Actually there are 10 types of people - those that understand binary arithmetic and those that don't.