Hi everyone,

I am currently in Utah and explore the mountains. Does anyone have any experience on how high the spark can go?
I don't mean the maximum height from takeoff... Enough discussions on that.

I have taken off at about 2400m (almost 8000 feet) and have experienced some very strange flight behavior. It did not seem to be able to controll the height reliably. It would wiggle up and down and be practically uncontrollable.
two minutes later it was just fine...

Did anyone take the spark to altitudes like that?

Could be because the air is really thin at 2400m.  Aircraft have longer takeoff runs at higher altitudes.

spark set altitude to zero relative to take of  point. when on top of the hill its zero

Make sure you complete any calibrations that are required before take off. Was it possible that you were in Atti mode before flying GP. Here is some information on altitude before taking off.

http://www.dji.com/spark/info#specs

I've taken off at 2800 m above sea level without any problems: https://daduke.org/pix/vacation/2017Sep/20170907/

I own mountain property where I've flown, and altitude there is around 9500 feet asl.

As far as impacts of altitude on the spark, the air is thinner, and the spark has to work harder to perform the same functions as it can at sea level.  This shortens the available flight time as extra battery is required.  I've been getting around 10 minutes of flight time at around 6000' asl, and my unscientific observations are that I was getting about 9 and a half minutes flying at my property.

Is ist only with one battery, or the same with another, too?

S-e-ven Posted at 2017-10-5 08:46
Is ist only with one battery, or the same with another, too?

If that question was directed at me, I found this behavior with all three of my batteries.  I consistently get 10ish minutes of flight where I normally fly, and I was getting 9.5ish minutes of flight at my property.  Not battery specific.

This is definitely not an issue with my batteries, and I'm not unhappy with these flight times.  Since I fly at a min altitude of a mile high (Colorado), and since I always use prop guards (adds weight) and since I don't take my battery deep down into discharge (typically landing at 20%), my current flight times are what I expect.

Opsi, sorry?
This question was directed to Ammpexx
I am trying to find out, if I have a bad battery or maybe a bad RC to deal with, which sometimes gets my drone to sound "funny" during full GPS flight.
I hope.that I have 2 Spark with 2 RCs available, next week. Will try to find out, what is going on.
With changing batts between birds and RCs too.
To get behind this.

S-e-ven Posted at 2017-10-5 08:46
Is ist only with one battery, or the same with another, too?

If it was with only one battery, it would be coincidence. I did not keep track of it..

DJI-Mark Posted at 2017-10-5 07:56
Make sure you complete any calibrations that are required before take off. Was it possible that you were in Atti mode before flying GP. Here is some information on altitude before taking off.

http://www.dji.com/spark/info#specs

This happens not (only) directly after takeoff, but also midflight with full GPS signal.

Ammpexx Posted at 2017-10-6 21:56
This happens not (only) directly after takeoff, but also midflight with full GPS signal.

If the issue becomes ongoing, please contact Customer Service to see about having your aircraft evaluated by a technician.

We are heading down to Nevada tomorrow. Much lower altitude. I hope, the Spark will behave normally again.

Okay so I flew again in Vegas (about 600m / 1800 feet high) and in the Hollywood hills (300m / 900 feet high)

=> no problems at all. She was steady as a rock in the air again. So weather it is true or not, I blame the height and am confident, in normal heights I will be able to fly normally again.

Officially, the Spark can be flown at altitudes of up to 4,000M above sea level.

Exactly. And I am not saying, my findings are representative, but I did have very strange behavior between 2.000 and 3.000 m and lower down she did behave normally again. Personal experience.

I tried to fly yesterday at an altitude of 2800m in the french alps at -7c - the spark struggled, the controls were unpredictable, it showed obstacle in front and I had to disable obstacle avoidance to bring it back and just in general it felt super sluggish - it also lost range just a 200m away, way less than usual. I brought I back afte a few minutes in the air.

Probably the -7C contributed the most to those erratic conditions.

MccloudSpark Posted at 1-8 16:05
Probably the -7C contributed the most to those erratic conditions.

Hardly so, I think. With clear weather temperatures below freezing should be no problem. However, when it's foggy in addition, I also did experience carzy behavious due to obstacle avoidance. Again, this doesn't have to be related to the altitude, perse.