Currently, I own the Mavic Pro (Fly More), The Spark (Fly More), Goggles & Osmo Mobil.  I have purchased the DJI Care on both the Mavic and the Spark.
Prior to leaving on vacation, I upgraded the fw to version .600.    I had interference issues with the drone when using my iPhone, I have to turn off Bluetooth before every flight.... really, no big deal, pain... but I can live with it.  All was working great.... Until FW .600.   AS USERS WE ARE FORCED!! To upgrade to the newest version of the FW.. or else we are unable to fly, per DJI.
Knowing that I was not going to be near any cell service or wifi on my vacation, I upgraded the firmware per REQUIRED by DJI.   Note: all operations other than interference with Bluetooth, were working fine.   
I had one, maybe 2 successful flights with .600.   Thought all was ok.

Took the Spark out to shoot some killer rock formations in the wide open desert.   Checked the battery indicator on the back of one of the updated batteries, showed full power on the battery.    Sent the Spark up...  WIDE OPEN DESERT, no power lines... no buildings... NO INTERFERENCE AT ALL, no wind....  Sent it to a rock formation, line of sight.   Odd... before it even made it to the rock formation, it gave me a low battery warning and auto-return to home engaged.  Odd I thought... showed full battery... its returning home.... CRAWLING... gets to about 419ft (according to the flight logs) and it just DROPPED!.  A green Spark on a green desert floor.   I looked for 3 hours, could not find it at all.   Find my Drone was of no help at all.... nothing in the logs.  

Reported to DJI on the SPOT of the loss.  They ensured me that they would be able to replace the unit.   I drove away, leaving my favorite camera in the desert.

Weeks later, DJI looks at the flight logs & are now refusing any sort of support.

I am not a newbie, I know what I am doing.   I spend THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of dollars on this hobby.  I know a firmware issue when I see it & DJI is NOT owning up to this issue.  

I am grounding all my use of DJI flight products till this issue is sorted out... YOU SHOULD TOO!!!   Watch this space.  If DJI is not owning up to this fw issue, I will be selling all my DJI products.

DJI needs to own up to issues with the Spark.  I do NOT recommend purchasing a Spark.  The Mavic is a far better device.

Unfortunately their warranty their rules, without lot errors it's difficult they will back up anything, if you have the video from your phone screen it can be used as proof.

I am assuming you checked the indicator on the battery as you hadn't recently charged them even though you were going out to fly?  I keep hearing that you must always charge a battery to 100% before flying.  I guess the logs showed the battery not full?
Edit:  Forgot to say, really sorry for your loss

Ricardo Alba Posted at 2017-9-13 13:26
Unfortunately their warranty their rules, without lot errors it's difficult they will back up anything, if you have the video from your phone screen it can be used as proof.

You got that right!!!  
Only a matter of time before people stop buying their hardware due to lack of support, then the decline of business will occur.    They can't sustain an income if they can't keep customers coming back.   I for one will no longer support a company that puts REQUIREMENTS to upgrade users & when something goes wrong, they claim not their issue.   

HomePoint Posted at 2017-9-13 13:28
I am assuming you checked the indicator on the battery as you hadn't recently charged them even though you were going out to fly?  I keep hearing that you must always charge a battery to 100% before flying.  I guess the logs showed the battery not full?
Edit:  Forgot to say, really sorry for your loss

Yes, I had 4 batteries.   This one showed FULL.  ALL batteries were fully upgraded with the new FW as well.
If DJI doesn't assist here, I will be selling 3 batteries, DJI 3 slot charger, remote, a third party 4-port battery charger and all the Fly more parts.  As well as any and all other parts for the Spark.
Considering leaving this hobby altogether.... sell Mavic and Goggles.    Simply too damn expensive to throw a camera in the sky and HOPE you get it back.   It's a damn fool idea to begin with!

I think you should put up flight log so we can get a better understanding of what happened. Just click on link and follow instructions.

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

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-13 13:40
Yes, I had 4 batteries.   This one showed FULL.  ALL batteries were fully upgraded with the new FW as well.
If DJI doesn't assist here, I will be selling 3 batteries, DJI 3 slot charger, remote, a third party 4-port battery charger and all the Fly more parts.  As well as any and all other parts for the Spark.
Considering leaving this hobby altogether.... sell Mavic and Goggles.    Simply too damn expensive to throw a camera in the sky and HOPE you get it back.   It's a damn fool idea to begin with!

Third party charger, you do know that it tells you in your manual that the use of third party chargers could result in your warranty being voided.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-13 13:47
I think you should put up flight log so we can get a better understanding of what happened. Just click on link and follow instructions.

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

DJI has the flight records and is claiming no responsibility.    The issue I have with their findings is that the unit SHOULD NOT HAVE TRAVELLED AS FAR AS IT DID, IF IT COULDN'T MAKE IT HOME.  SEE NO WIND!  I am standing firm that the battery is not giving the right info feed to the Spark to calculate the RTH.   

Maybe the third party charger screwed up your battery as they aren’t supported and showed different info that what it actually held and as so produced an error code that was because of an incorrect charger being used?

Ethan-brown19 Posted at 2017-9-13 13:57
Maybe the third party charger screwed up your battery as they aren’t supported and showed different info that what it actually held and as so produced an error code that was because of an incorrect charger being used?

Brilliant!  Deduction!  If that would have been the case,  The 4 -port charger wasn't even used yet!   It was purchased for use on my vacation, but never used it.

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-13 13:53
DJI has the flight records and is claiming no responsibility.    The issue I have with their findings is that the unit SHOULD NOT HAVE TRAVELLED AS FAR AS IT DID, IF IT COULDN'T MAKE IT HOME.  SEE NO WIND!  I am standing firm that the battery is not giving the right info feed to the Spark to calculate the RTH.

Maybe you should have read the manual, there is no smart RTH on your spark it is up to you as pilot to calculate battery time to insure you have enough power to RTH .

This is wholly pilot responsibility.

You would also have a copy of your flight record in your app.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-9-13 14:12
Maybe you should have read the manual, there is no smart RTH on your spark it is up to you as pilot to calculate battery time to insure you have enough power to RTH .

This is wholly pilot responsibility.

So what your telling me is that all these flights I have had up till now are pure luck it came back to where it was suppose to?   Impossible.

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-13 14:22
So what your telling me is that all these flights I have had up till now are pure luck it came back to where it was suppose to?   Impossible.

There is no smart RTH on spark as a result of battery time left, yes on a P4Pro but not spark this is down to pilot, it's up to you to set low battery RTH and to make sure that you have enough to get home.
And yes if you didn't realise this then you were lucky it didn't happen before.
I don't like having to tell you this but it's the way it is. Maybe your log will show something else but you need to put it up.

You offered this post as a warning to others, let us hope that the warning is heeded in some way by others, but I expect that it will not be as you intended.  I don't believe you need a bashing from everyone on this, so maybe it should rest as a decision has already been made?

If DJI doesn't support users that contribute to their business... That is totally their choice.  As it is my choice to not use their products anymore.

As a measure of extra peace of mind, I have my Spark insured with my contents policy with my home goods, and if I holiday overseas and take it with me, it's covered under my travel insurance. Care refresh is good if you can recover the drone, if I cant that's when personal insurances come in.

If you've got the flight log available feel free to upload it

Super cat Posted at 2017-9-13 15:40
As a measure of extra peace of mind, I have my Spark insured with my contents policy with my home goods, and if I holiday overseas and take it with me, it's covered under my travel insurance. Care refresh is good if you can recover the drone, if I cant that's when personal insurances come in.

If you've got the flight log available feel free to upload it

I had not thought of that!!!!   GREAT advice!!  I am going to check into this!  THANKS!

$1000 deductible....  FML

As others have said, post your log please. Would like to look at it.

".... its returning home.... CRAWLING... gets to about 419ft (according to the flight logs) and it just DROPPED...."

Question: Did you set 420ft RTH altitude?
A setting from before the desert, maybe?
Or from the update process?
Because this will need minimum around 90 seconds to get to and from that height, in auto mode, RTH.
PLUS the time to travel the distance at that altitude, in between.
Which was a little, taking in account you haven't seen the touch down point and didn't find it, in 3h search in a desert.
And I am a bit uncertain that DJI Go4 is calculating the RTH altitude correct into the "only enough batterie for return home" warning.
I thought about that when flying around in 5m height on a football (soccer for you US-guys ;-) field, 50-100m distance from HP, in the last percentages of my battery time to find out about how long the battery last.
And the App wanted to RTH b/c of batt. life

Only getting into a square backflight, from that mentioned distance on 5m flight height up to my at that time set 90m RTH altitude, would have needed minimum 75 -90 secs, about.
And having often the feeling even in sport mode it is not climbing 3m/s, it could need maybe even longer.
Of course I stopped this battery RTH and flew it back the direct way.
I actually always stop battery RTH's and remain control and choose the quickest way home.

But this did let me rethink the real NEEDED RTH altitude almost before every start, now.
In case of lost connections but full GPS, I have the idea that we can/could see a spark disapear into the sky and fall out of it, b/c batterie life is wrongly calculated.

Just saying.
I can't really find a safe way to check on this, so it is theory only.
Setting RTH on 500m altitude should get a timeline from 6+ minutes needed battery time only for the ascent/descent.
Plus a travel distance from some 100m should trigger an batterie RTH at least on 7-8 minutes battery time left.
Only if I am right, loosing the connection with this settings can easily cost me my Spark.

First off, I'm very sorry to hear of your experience.  I had a fly-away situation a while back and for the few seconds, it was a helpless feeling.  I however got my Spark back.  Losing it would really suck, so sorry about that!

From my perspective, I am always interested in learning more.  I know you are upset with DJI, but maybe you can help the rest of us learn based on your experience...

When was the last time you charged the battery that was used on this flight?  I have read (no personal experience) other people report that when a battery hasn't been charged for a lengthy period of time, pressing the battery button will show 4 lights, but when they go to use it, the Spark actually shows a much lower battery percentage than 100%.  When you started your flight, what percent battery was being reported in the DJI Go 4 app?

Also, as many have requested, please upload your flight log to the PhantomHelp website, so we can learn from your experience.  This would be extremely helpful!

Thanks,
D

The battery was indeed showing 100% when pressing the physical button.  Batteries were sitting for about 2 weeks before use.  I have absolutely no issue posting my flight log, but I would rather leave this between DJI and myself.   Reason is simple.  I have friends that live near the area & have asked them to look for it.   If I release the flight logs to the public, and log and lat are on there.  Someone else is likely to find it and not my friends.

" If I release the flight logs to the public, and log and lat are on there.  Someone else is likely to find it and not my friends." For that matter, I don't know if DJI have something in place, but would be very nice if they have an option that we can report a lost SPARK (noc noc wood), and if someone try to fly the bird the DJI GO 4 will just block the bird to fly, and maybe even log the GPS position and report to DJI (I know privacy concerns , etc). For the GPS position, would be a matter maybe, a dialog box, "yes, I authorize DJI to report my GPS position, in case the bird is reported lost".

Ok ... so sorry for your lost. By default that I have seen in most new battery. The battery itself will start auto discharge after 10 days if not being used unless setting to other value. So two weeks, I think it had start discharging. Anyway the percentage shown in Go app will tell you exactly how much left. The 4 LEDs gives you roughly estimation. I would recommend everybody to start flying back at 50% battery level if you are in a fly-far mission to prevent force RTH, especially critical RTH because in most fly-far case it cannot make itself home and lands somewhere innthe path.

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-13 18:23
The battery was indeed showing 100% when pressing the physical button.  Batteries were sitting for about 2 weeks before use.  I have absolutely no issue posting my flight log, but I would rather leave this between DJI and myself.   Reason is simple.  I have friends that live near the area & have asked them to look for it.   If I release the flight logs to the public, and log and lat are on there.  Someone else is likely to find it and not my friends.

Really feel sad about your experience.
Please provide me the case number so I can help you contact the support and learn about the case. Thanks for your support.

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-13 18:23
The battery was indeed showing 100% when pressing the physical button.  Batteries were sitting for about 2 weeks before use.  I have absolutely no issue posting my flight log, but I would rather leave this between DJI and myself.   Reason is simple.  I have friends that live near the area & have asked them to look for it.   If I release the flight logs to the public, and log and lat are on there.  Someone else is likely to find it and not my friends.

I can respect the location issue.  I'm a private person, I don't like giving out my location as well.  I wish PhantomHelp had an option to suppress the location in the logs.

I'm just really curious about what the battery was showing in the logs in the beginning and what rate it declined.  Maybe you could upload the log file and just tell us what values it was reporting without sharing the actual log with us?  Or even better, export it to a CSV, strip out the location details and share it here?

Sorry, I'm just a geek always trying tolearn and  understand how things work and why.

Thanks,
D

The battery was indeed showing 100% when pressing the physical button.  Batteries were sitting for about 2 weeks before use.

The battery was default set to have auto discharge to about 60% after 10 days no use. Its was quit not possible to have a 100% charged battery after 2 weeks no use.

S-e-ven Posted at 2017-9-13 17:39
".... its returning home.... CRAWLING... gets to about 419ft (according to the flight logs) and it just DROPPED...."

Question: Did you set 420ft RTH altitude?

If the aircraft doesn't have enough power to fly home it will just land, there is a failsafe for it to land with plenty of power, the likelihood of it draining its power is not very high.

LOKY Posted at 2017-9-13 18:59
" If I release the flight logs to the public, and log and lat are on there.  Someone else is likely to find it and not my friends." For that matter, I don't know if DJI have something in place, but would be very nice if they have an option that we can report a lost SPARK (noc noc wood), and if someone try to fly the bird the DJI GO 4 will just block the bird to fly, and maybe even log the GPS position and report to DJI (I know privacy concerns , etc). For the GPS position, would be a matter maybe, a dialog box, "yes, I authorize DJI to report my GPS position, in case the bird is reported lost".

If you go to your last known coordinates and it's not there, then the likelihood of someone else finding it at that location is very slim.
Many many more have been found at last known long/lat than stolen, in fact I haven't heard of a single one being stolen, because logs have been entered here.

Kloo Gee Posted at 2017-9-13 19:25
I can respect the location issue.  I'm a private person, I don't like giving out my location as well.  I wish PhantomHelp had an option to suppress the location in the logs.

I'm just really curious about what the battery was showing in the logs in the beginning and what rate it declined.  Maybe you could upload the log file and just tell us what values it was reporting without sharing the actual log with us?  Or even better, export it to a CSV, strip out the location details and share it here?

You can use PH privately, you don't need PH to know your last coordinates there in you app. I don't think they're are many people snooping around here to see where we are flying, there are also many users using videos and photos to show off their work and where they are flying.
Reason for showing PH log is to give all a better understanding of what can happen.
Remember you always get the first look at your coordinates so if you can't find it then it's highly unlikely some snoop around here just happens to live in the area will find it and steal it.

hallmark007,My reasons for not liking to give out my locations is different than the OP.  I'm just a private person that likes to think he has a small bit of anonymity even though I put out videos showing my face and locations visually.  Someone locally can very easily figure out where I'm at.  However, I prefer not to announce it to the whole of the internet.  I admit, I'm an odd fella!  

Yes, I understand you can use PH privately, but then the rest of us wouldn't get to see them to learn from them.  This is also why I had suggested to upload them and tell us the battery values or export the CSV and strip out the location before sharing the file with us.  However, I think the better solution would be for PH to just allow an option to suppress the location.  That would work out well for us privacy fans, but also allow everybody to be able to learn from the logs being shared.

Kloo Gee Posted at 2017-9-14 03:48
hallmark007,My reasons for not liking to give out my locations is different than the OP.  I'm just a private person that likes to think he has a small bit of anonymity even though I put out videos showing my face and locations visually.  Someone locally can very easily figure out where I'm at.  However, I prefer not to announce it to the whole of the internet.  I admit, I'm an odd fella!  

Yes, I understand you can use PH privately, but then the rest of us wouldn't get to see them to learn from them.  This is also why I had suggested to upload them and tell us the battery values or export the CSV and strip out the location before sharing the file with us.  However, I think the better solution would be for PH to just allow an option to suppress the location.  That would work out well for us privacy fans, but also allow everybody to be able to learn from the logs being shared.

Everybody is entitled to their privacy, I don't have any problems with that.

However diluting information in the logs will only result in giving half the answers and more speculation, if we know the area where flight is taking place then we can find the wind and wind direction at the time of flight, with this we can make a much more precise and educated guess as to what might have happened, particularly where battery power and consumption are concerned. But everyone has the choice to put the log up or not I understand this.

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-13 13:40
Yes, I had 4 batteries.   This one showed FULL.  ALL batteries were fully upgraded with the new FW as well.
If DJI doesn't assist here, I will be selling 3 batteries, DJI 3 slot charger, remote, a third party 4-port battery charger and all the Fly more parts.  As well as any and all other parts for the Spark.
Considering leaving this hobby altogether.... sell Mavic and Goggles.    Simply too damn expensive to throw a camera in the sky and HOPE you get it back.   It's a damn fool idea to begin with!

If you decide to sell your batteries and accessories PM me as I'm interested.

Sorry for the loss of your spark .. so far I'm happy with mine.

I was very happy with the Spark... until.  .600.   I will contact you once my case is closed with DJI.  I have a LOT of Spark stuff to sell so, you’ll hear from me.

I am actually happier with .600.  It's stabilized everything so far.  I just got back from flying for 7 days in Utah's desert, and the Spark and my Mavic were flawless.  You really have to take a lot of precautions with this hobby.  If you not willing, it becomes expensive.  I am sorry for your loss though, as it just continues to tarnish what I consider to be a awesome quad's reputation.

If you paid with credit card...check with your cardholder. Most have some type of insurance.

My Chase Visa had insurance that protected me from loss for up to 120 days after purchase. Might be a way to recover some of your loss.

A similar thing happened to me. Had to swallow the $500 loss after owning it for 2 days.

Done.   Not purchasing ANYTHING from DJI again.   What a damn insult!   15% off a replacement.   I will be selling all my DJI crap.  I'm done with this company.  PM me for prices and information.

@NerdyGuy - I’m sorry for your loss and the results of your experience with DJI.  I’m not looking to buy any of your stuff, just sorry it ended this way.  Good Luck

NerdyGuy Posted at 2017-9-14 16:18
Done.   Not purchasing ANYTHING from DJI again.   What a damn insult!   15% off a replacement.   I will be selling all my DJI crap.  I'm done with this company.  PM me for prices and information.

here is the issue, i agree, Dji should work with you 100%! to start out with. but you have to read the manuals on this, and dji isn't without fault on this either.. but this is why you had a failure most likely

the batteries sitting about 2 weeks you said..  the default on the smart batteries self discharge cycle begins at about 10 days.  it then slowly discharging itself via a built in circuit.  its goal is to discharge the battery to around 50-54% charge remaining it can take days or weeks to get there but it may have already killed 20-30% battery without telling you.   the issue is the batteries tend to give false readings! not all batteries that going into storage mode and self discharge mode will tell lies, but alot do!.  dji needs to find a way to correct this in app/etc.   but you should always  fly with what i call fresh batteries..  they can be be a day or two old..  but if its like going on a shelf for a a week or so, i recommend  plugging them in before flying even if they indicate full..  if they turn on and start blinking that means the battery is charging or rebalancing, let it do its thing..if its been sitting 10 day or more then run the battery down by at least 10%  then plug it in before you fly it for real..

this is kind of a grey area of fault.. because dji definitely does clearly mention that this is how the batteries act after 10 days.. but dji needs to also remember that the spark is designed for the everybody so they need to come up with a software or firmware solution to fix it or give better more accurate reading. and while working on that they should definitely replace your unit. if the failure was legit a sudden unknown drop off or battery values looked weak or something..