Have to add to this post regarding the Spark losing GPS and flying away.
About 12 hours ago in daylight, I launched my less than 1 week old Spark with only about 6-8 satellites registering, so it was intermittently going into Atti mode.
Hovering at height of about 3m, 2m away from me and about 30 seconds after takeoff, a bunch of warnings about losing satellite and Atti mode coming in, the RC stick controls began to have trouble controlling the  Spark.
Then it just took off in a straight line forward right into a wall! When it began going forward, I had the right stick 100% towards me i.e. the Spark should reverse but it did not!
The thing is the Spark has collision avoidance in the front but there were no beeps and the thing just went nuts!
The damage - camera gimbal roll 7 points and apparently the Spark does not have gimbal calibration!
So, are we paranoid about this flyaway thing or is this a real problem that happens when GPS data is not enough and the Spark kinda hangs and just flies away?

Ken Mok Posted at 2017-9-13 08:54
Have to add to this post regarding the Spark losing GPS and flying away.
About 12 hours ago in daylight, I launched my less than 1 week old Spark with only about 6-8 satellites registering, so it was intermittently going into Atti mode.
Hovering at height of about 3m, 2m away from me and about 30 seconds after takeoff, a bunch of warnings about losing satellite and Atti mode coming in, the RC stick controls began to have trouble controlling the  Spark.

6 sats is the minimum you need to fly, 12 is a good number, it sounds like you also had Compass problems so maybe picked up some geomagnetic interference on the ground do you have a flight log you can post I will have a look at it for you.
Just click on link and follow instructions.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

If you can see a spark at 800 metres, you must be exceptional

El Diablo Posted at 2017-9-13 23:10
Hi there, how do you get 800m in Netherlands? In EU we are limited to 500m... Are you in the countryside? (no wifi interfeerence). Thanks.

I am in the countryside. In Netherlands we have to fly LOS.... There is (not yet) a maximum distance.

El Diablo Posted at 2017-9-13 23:23
You are describing how the Spark SHOULD behave based on the manual. In my case, instead of going into RTH (or while pressing RTH) sometimes (not everytime) it just flies away or tries to land with no apparent reason, and yes, sometimes it loses gps signal and goes into ATI mode again without any obvious reaso. I always check my IMU and calibrate the compass before I fly, I always check that no weird lights not beeps or screen messages appear before taking off and during the initial hovering. Initially I was blaming it on the wifi interfearances due to the proximiti of other buildings (at 50m or so from the center of the park I use to fly) but while in Madeira for my holidays, I had the same result in the middle of a 9km beach, no buidings nor wifi sources near. It just wouldn't go more than 150m long and 110m high without starting to have connections issues then it tried to land in the sea for no apparent reason (I was flying low but not that low), I really had to fight it with the stick to get it home...

Now, are you a EU resident? I don't want to offend anyone but many folks here have strong opinions about how the Spark should behave and tend to reply that other users don't read the manual. In reality, I read / watched every available document for the Spark before I made the purchase as I was very excited. I owned the original Phantom and a Mavic before that so I am not new to drones. Many users haven't experienced any of these issues as they live in US and some people there have managed 10.000 feet or more with their Sparks. For the rest of us having a 800€ toy drone that cannot go further than 150m is no fun at all...

I am an EU resident, my max distance is 480 metres, you may be making a mistake by calibration before every flight. You are not supposed to calibrate before every flight you should only calibrate when prompted to.
You don't mention whether you are flying in 2.4ghz or 5.8ghz, you might be better uploading your flight log showing what problems you are having. I know there are some having problems with disconnecting from radio, but there are many many more flying quite happily.

You can upload your log to link below just click on link and follow instructions. I will take a look at them for you.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

El Diablo Posted at 2017-9-14 04:45
I am only calibrating my compass when I change the take off location. I do not calibrate the IMU if not prompted. I cannot switch channels as I do not use OTG (you saw in the other post that Dji Elektra confirmed that it will void the warranty?). You get 480m with OTG and 2.4Ghz?

I do get 450 + anytime I fly. you should be able to switch between 2.4 and 5.8ghz, they're is no reason you shouldn't, if you can explain what you are doing I can try give you some advice on how to change. I also don't use OTG I have tried it makes no difference for me.

El Diablo Posted at 2017-9-14 04:45
I am only calibrating my compass when I change the take off location. I do not calibrate the IMU if not prompted. I cannot switch channels as I do not use OTG (you saw in the other post that Dji Elektra confirmed that it will void the warranty?). You get 480m with OTG and 2.4Ghz?

Can you please show me the post where it was explicitly stated that use of OTG will automatically void the warranty? The only statements that I have seen were saying that OTG is not supported. I can agree that it will have an impact on warranty if a damage or malfunction is caused by the OTG, but only then.

Concerning this topic alltogether I wonder for how much longer you and others will keep on whining about something that has been extensively reported here hundreds of times and has been recognised as an issue by DJI. I have these connection losses as well when I fly in CE mode and I trust that DJI will do their utmost to improve the performance in future firmware updates. And if once we reach a point where connections are stable and reliable up to let's say 300 metres we should be happy. Flying further would anyway be against our local regulations as you certainly know because you couldn't see the Spark anymore.

El Diablo Posted at 2017-9-14 05:04
Well I change the frecuency from my app (iPhone 7 Plus) but as i don't use an OTG cable it reverts to 5.8Ghz. If I manually choose a specific channel, it changes intermitently from green to red so not very stable. i guess wifi interference from being in the city (although away from buildings or metal shapes). This intermitent loss of connection is what probably causes the weird behaviour... thanks for the help in any case

When channel you select turns from green to red this won't make any difference as this frequency will continue to Chanel hop as you use it, you just need to select 2.4 select green Chanel with shortest green line and wait for app to disconnect and reconnect you should then be flying in 2.4ghz. I know this can be a pain changing every time you restart but once you get used to doing it, it should become a bit quicker. If you cannot get this to work maybe you can post photos of exactly what your doing.

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-9-14 05:16
Can you please show me the post where it was explicitly stated that use of OTG will automatically void the warranty? The only statements that I have seen were saying that OTG is not supported. I can agree that it will have an impact on warranty if a damage or malfunction is caused by the OTG, but only then.

Concerning this topic alltogether I wonder for how much longer you and others will keep on whining about something that has been extensively reported here hundreds of times and has been recognised as an issue by DJI. I have these connection losses as well when I fly in CE mode and I trust that DJI will do their utmost to improve the performance in future firmware updates. And if once we reach a point where connections are stable and reliable up to let's say 300 metres we should be happy. Flying further would anyway be against our local regulations as you certainly know because you couldn't see the Spark anymore.

Well, it's not want I wanted to hear, but we do have a post from DJI Elektra which clearly states it voids the warranty.

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... =956114&ptid=110403

I don't want it to void the warranty, I don't think it should void the warranty, but that's a completely separate topic for a completely different time.

Charles Adams Posted at 2017-9-14 05:37
Well, it's not want I wanted to hear, but we do have a post from DJI Elektra which clearly states it voids the warranty.

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... =956114&ptid=110403

Dear Charles, thank you very much for this and I agree that is a different topic.

Wachtberger Posted at 2017-9-14 08:05
Dear Charles, thank you very much for this and I agree that is a different topic.

And I started that topic, because it's a subject I care about greatly:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-112946-1-1.html

My Spark is a lucky survivor of drifting  caused by compass  error +exit gps-p ,4 days ago .  during 20 secundes rc was almost futile . https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... =1&extra=#pid957464 http://app.airdata.com/main?shar ... ENERALNotifications
Yesterday i have a more  of command timed out (rth , pano ,tripod timed out)

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 04:22
My Spark is a lucky survivor of drifting  caused by compass  error +exit gps-p ,4 days ago .  during 20 secundes rc was almost futile . https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... =1&extra=#pid957464 http://app.airdata.com/main?shar ... ENERALNotifications
Yesterday i have a more  of command timed out (rth , pano ,tripod timed out)

405 metres on 5.8ghz limit is supposed to be 300 metres, also flying at 190 metres you are in manned aircraft altitude, you need to be careful,

You also tried to enter tripod mode with only 45% battery, it is recommended that you fly tripod mode on 100% battery, I'm not 100% sure if this is why it timed out but there must be some reason for recommendation of 100%.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-15 04:49
405 metres on 5.8ghz limit is supposed to be 300 metres, also flying at 190 metres you are in manned aircraft altitude, you need to be careful,

You also tried to enter tripod mode with only 45% battery, it is recommended that you fly tripod mode on 100% battery, I'm not 100% sure if this is why it timed out but there must be some reason for recommendation of 100%.

do you want to explain compass error ? it was at 84 meters
or "failed to enter tripod mode"  at 128 meters ?

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 04:57
do you want to explain compass error ? it was at 84 meters
or "failed to enter tripod mode"  at 128 meters ?

At what point in the video i.e. How many minutes to where I can see compass problems.

Hello there! I think there is no problem from DJI or the Spark either ... Maybe this  strange behavior is due to the solar storms we have had recently.. You should consult this page before flying =>https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/es/actividad-auroral/el-indice-kp

Or this page toohttp://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index

I verify every time before flight uav forecast.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-15 05:04
At what point in the video i.e. How many minutes to where I can see compass problems.

If you read my post are two different fligts

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 05:35
If you read my post are two different fligts

If your referring to flight log airdata, I see at 5.03 you had yaw error which is in fact caused by compass magnetic interference, usually known as magnetic yaw, you may have been flying close to an area where geomagnetic interference was causing this mag yaw error, or you could have picked it up from the place you took off from. I would be interested to know the location you were flying in and if you calibrated compass and what was the area you launched from.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-15 06:17
If your referring to flight log airdata, I see at 5.03 you had yaw error which is in fact caused by compass magnetic interference, usually known as magnetic yaw, you may have been flying close to an area where geomagnetic interference was causing this mag yaw error, or you could have picked it up from the place you took off from. I would be interested to know the location you were flying in and if you calibrated compass and what was the area you launched from.

in post is link to the thread . And yes all sensor in app were ok before flight  , and flyied many times in area . and i flyed the second battery right after without incident

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 06:37
in post is link to the thread . And yes all sensor in app were ok before flight  , and flyied many times in area . and i flyed the second battery right after without incident

You can check your compass before you fly, an easy way to do this is to check the small red triangle bottom left corner, if it is pointing on the same heading as your spark then your compass is ok, it will not always show in your app before you fly particularly if you take off from an area where geomagnetic is present i.e. Metal objects rebar concrete etc if any of these are present you could occur problems with compass.

i have about 75 flights with spark without problems, i fly fpv rc (not p&p like spark) for 10 years  , i work as computer engineer for 20 years , an yes a read the manual . yes i know how to calibrate it , and yes i did refreshed the fw , and yes i know how to plug -unplug an usb cable.

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 06:55
i have about 75 flights with spark without problems, i fly fpv rc (not p&p like spark) for 10 years  , i work as computer engineer for 20 years , an yes a read the manual . yes i know how to calibrate it , and yes i did refreshed the fw , and yes i know how to plug -unplug an usb cable.

Ok, simple question: Are you flying in CE or in FCC mode? If it is CE mode you clearly went out of range with your Spark at the flight in your screen recording above.

There  more timed out in video at different distances .

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 06:55
i have about 75 flights with spark without problems, i fly fpv rc (not p&p like spark) for 10 years  , i work as computer engineer for 20 years , an yes a read the manual . yes i know how to calibrate it , and yes i did refreshed the fw , and yes i know how to plug -unplug an usb cable.

Well sorry for trying to help you , you obviously have it all sorted.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-15 07:43
Well sorry for trying to help you , you obviously have it all sorted.

Best response possible hallmark007

sorry , but i'm pi**ed of to dji , answered at all question provided all logs and dat  requested and no answer.  

djiuser_xLE6O03 Posted at 2017-9-15 07:48
sorry , but i'm pi**ed of to dji , answered at all question provided all logs and dat  requested and no answer.

Did you open a support case with DJI? I bet you didn't. Did you look at the time? For them it is late at night already. I am sure you will get a response from a DJI moderator here in the forum tomorrow. And that was my very last response on this case.

I m glad is your last response . an you loose the bet . i m new on this forum and don't know where the ignore button is