Hi there guys new spark owner here. I've had my spark for the last couple of days and, I love this thing! Had no idea it was so easy to use and to fly. For the most part everything so far has worked fine. I plan on eventually taking some video from my kayak and plan to palm launch and land so I have been practicing today. I used the auto launch feature and was able to accomplish that pretty easily. I repeatedly launched and landed until I noticed that the spark would unexpectedly drop after going forward a few feet. I thought that was strange ...so I continued, then the next launch after lifting off and going forward a few feet it dropped bounced off the ground then came back up a few feet. Needless to say if this happens on the water it would be game over instantly. I did try several more times afterwards and it continued to drop, but did not bounce off the ground like it did before. So, is this just a quirk of the auto takeoff? Has anybody else had something like this happen?
Also...while I was practicing flying around, just to see what the spark would do in sport mode, I switched it on and flew it around a bit. Definitely scary fast! After having enough of sport mode...I switched off s-mode and landed. The next takeoff the spark was flying super fast like it was still in sport mode but it wasn't in sport mode. I flew it back toward the back wall of my yard and it was flying so fast it didn't brake and slammed into the wall, luckily I had my prop guards on. I looked down at my controller and confirmed it was not in sport mode. I know obstacle avoidance is disabled in sport mode so since it was not in s-mode I was really surprised it did not brake automatically. Every other time I have got near that wall, not only was never going that fast it always stopped itself.

I'll keep practicing...

I did have 4.2.4 and have since upgraded to 4.2.5.  

Welcome!  

The Spark is a cool little drone. I own one (along with a couple of others). When you palm launch what are you using to control it? Your hand (gesture mode) or your phone?
If you look around on this discussion board, you'll see that 'most' people who have issues with the Spark are using those modes of control.

I haven't taken mine out over water at all. I send my other drones out over water ALL the time, but not the Spark. I'm too worried. Some have fallen into water and, as they couldn't be returned, there was no warranty - even though it was clear that it wasn't user error. However, People who had a craft to return did get a new one under warranty (In most cases at least - I haven't keep records on every single issue that I've read about, but that seems to be the case).

I used the gesture, palm launch once just to see what it was like. IMO, the tech is just not there yet. It's a nice parlor trick, but I'd much rather use the RC and have control over the AC.
I put mine in sport mode once and when I switched it off, it was still flying way too fast. I landed and restarted everything and it 'fixed' itself. That seems to be an issue. I avoid sport more for the most part.

Good luck and have fun, just be careful.

BTW, I can't say why your spark is dropping on take off, perhaps someone else who uses those methods will have more information.

Someone on Amazon sells a pretty cool looking float kit, don’t know how well it works, but if you are launching and landing from a kayak, it might be worth a look.

Congrats and welcome!

Flying Wolf_NOLA Posted at 2018-1-31 12:06
Welcome!  

The Spark is a cool little drone. I own one (along with a couple of others). When you palm launch what are you using to control it? Your hand (gesture mode) or your phone?

When I do the palm launch I'm using the R/C controller and the auto launch on the phone. Oddly when I manually lift off, as in using the stick launch method it hasn't dropped on me...at least not yet. Ok, so you have had the s-mode issue as well...I guess I will have to be careful about using s-mode in the future. As far as gesture mode goes...I haven't even played with that yet....I don't really plan on using it though.

When the spark is close to the ground (like when first launched )  it uses its downward ultrasonic sensors to find its height above the ground.  If you take off from your palm but don't use the palm launch mode by double clicking the power button.. spark thinks it is taking off from a fixed surface.. you move your hand out from under it and suddenly it thinks it is higher up because the ground is farther away from it than your hand was.. so it drops down.. if it does this quickly enough it will slam into the ground....    Just take off from your palm and fly upward a bit before moving your hand from under it and it should be fine.

I gesture launch and land in my hand.  Some launches have had it hover off to the side as it left my hand.  It has never sunk to the ground.  Are you letting it fly up off your hand or pulling your hand away?  

My kayaking has something about equipment needing to be attached to the kayak, being able to float, or being cheap to replace.  Meet any one of the conditions and it can kayak with me.  Of course, Sparks are cheap-ish.  I did see a cool video of a Hobie Pro Angler tipping over in the ocean and the GoPro capturing $400 worth of off shore rod and reel sinking into the depths.  

LouisP Posted at 2018-1-31 13:53
When the spark is close to the ground (like when first launched )  it uses its downward ultrasonic sensors to find its height above the ground.  If you take off from your palm but don't use the palm launch mode by double clicking the power button.. spark thinks it is taking off from a fixed surface.. you move your hand out from under it and suddenly it thinks it is higher up because the ground is farther away from it than your hand was.. so it drops down.. if it does this quickly enough it will slam into the ground....    Just take off from your palm and fly upward a bit before moving your hand from under it and it should be fine.

Ok, so if it's a normal behavior then it's all good. It's good to find this stuff out now rather to find out the hard way with a brand new lost spark. Now the S-mode not switching off when turned off...is worth some further testing.

Welcome to the club! The Spark is amazing. I thought it would be a toy but man was I wrong. It’s my first drone that didn’t come from a store like Target or Walmart so I had no idea what to expect. I already want the Mavic Air now! Spark will stay with me though, it’s too cool a drone to part with.

fulrac Posted at 2018-1-31 16:00
Ok, so if it's a normal behavior then it's all good. It's good to find this stuff out now rather to find out the hard way with a brand new lost spark. Now the S-mode not switching off when turned off...is worth some further testing.

Fulrac, please ensure that there is no wind around the environment. If the speed of your spark can not slow down, please provide us the screenshot of the image screen. Thanks for your support.

Just a question, did you calibrate your IMU and compass before first flight.? Many suggested this on the web... Not sure if this might solve your issue but worth a try

There's no sensor at the back of Spark, if you fly backwards it will crashed into the wall.

Only the latest Mavic Air has a back sensor. Next they will put sensors at both sides and at the top, they will market it as '6-Axis' sensors - only then will the drone be completely foolproof and uncrashable.

djiuser_UQkc040grCAc Posted at 2018-1-31 20:24
Just a question, did you calibrate your IMU and compass before first flight.? Many suggested this on the web... Not sure if this might solve your issue but worth a try

Yes everything was calibrated (IMU & COMPASS) and updated with the latest firmware. Nothing is fool proof so I will be ready on the sticks when of if it ever happens again. I did try to get spark to drop off since it originally did...so far it has behaved as expected.

I even have tried switching back and forth between s-mode and p-mode, that too is working as expected. Hopefully these things are due to my inexperience, and not other problems.

In the mean time I will keep testing and having fun with this thing.  Thanks for your suggestions and help.

Flying Wolf_NOLA Posted at 2018-1-31 12:06
Welcome!  

The Spark is a cool little drone. I own one (along with a couple of others). When you palm launch what are you using to control it? Your hand (gesture mode) or your phone?

Your very welcome. Fly safe.

Welcome. Hope to see some (safe) flights soon here