Hello there
I’ve been a dji happy customer from some time since phantom 2 vision+, phantom 3 standard, phantom 4, and now the spark. Some said i did in reality a downgrade, but for portability, discretion and fun, it’s the drone i’ve benn waiting for except for... the intelligent flight modes.
I was really disappointed to find that all the modes available to the rest of the dji family were removed or absent from the spark. Why is this? Don’t get me wrong, i love dronie, rocket, circle... but, point of interest, home lock, course lock are essencial for serious work... and the spark is very capable of serious work.

My intuition - marketing... differentiation to give another advantage to the more expensive drones.
I don't think there's anything technical preventing the Spark from having these modes, and they are enabled in 3rd party software (as well as in... let's call them "unofficial versions" of GO 4).
So the ability is there. It's just not enabled in the firmware, that's all.

I think the focus/USP of the Spark is advanced gesture controls to built up interest in the drone to new flyers. Adding shallow focus, pano’s and quick shots plus tap fly co-ordinate added further unique flight modes. That said, I think DJI will probably add some of the other flight modes like course and hone lock though ‘circle’ is similar to POI and I doubt they’ll include waypoints given the shorter flight time.

djiuser_Kf4iPA3 Posted at 2017-10-6 09:09
My intuition - marketing... differentiation to give another advantage to the more expensive drones.
I don't think there's anything technical preventing the Spark from having these modes, and they are enabled in 3rd party software (as well as in... let's call them "unofficial versions" of GO 4).
So the ability is there. It's just not enabled in the firmware, that's all.

Hi there

Hi agree, seems to be marketing, making it a simpler machine for simpler use. But it’s a shame, it’s capable of so much more. Perhaps they will consider it.

Thank you

What version of the firmware do you have?

What modes are you missing? If you go to the manual page 16, it refers to what intelligent flight modes are available for the Spark: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... ser+Manual+V1.4.pdf

DJI-Mark Posted at 2017-10-6 09:19
What modes are you missing? If you go to the manual page 16, it refers to what intelligent flight modes are available for the Spark: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Spark/20170928/Spark+User+Manual+V1.4.pdf

I was refering to the modes present on the other aircraft like Home Lock, Course Lock and Point of Interest, with the option to control the speed, like on the MavicPro. We feel those modes should be transversal to all DJI drone family. They are in fact a trademark... something that makes a DJI drone, a DJI drone. Having just dronie, rocket and circle criples the Spark and it’s potencial.

Thank you

DJI-Mark Posted at 2017-10-6 09:19
What modes are you missing? If you go to the manual page 16, it refers to what intelligent flight modes are available for the Spark: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Spark/20170928/Spark+User+Manual+V1.4.pdf

I believe he refers to the modes available for other drones, such as POI, Waypoints, course lock, etc.

There has to be a reason to upgrade to a more expensive toy.
So leave some features out that most novice users don't need...
Most tech companies work like this.

Yes, that's what I think too. But obviously they are mistaken in this approach... all they achieve is pushing people to use 3rd party software, or even hacked versions of GO4 itself.
I, for one, don't want to use hacked versions if I can avoid it. But they do teach us that the capabilities are there. I'd much rather have them on the official version.