Vulcan-XH558
 lvl.4
Flight distance : 62054 ft
United Kingdom
Offline
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A little history...
Prior to buying my Spark Fly More Combo, my previous experience with RC aircraft was a couple of cheap, fly indoors Helicopters and a Hexacopter. I'd plug these into my laptop and fly them when I wanted a short break from work, however most of the time was spent adjusting the trim in order that I could hover, but no matter what I did, the craft would drift off.
These were also too frail to fly outdoors as the wind would have made flying extremely difficult (an asthmatic mouse coughing in their general direction would have brought them down).
Anyway, whilst browsing YouTube, I came across the Mavic and was amazed that such a beautifully designed, feature packed aircraft was within the reach of Joe Public. After a fair bit of research, I was ready to pull the trigger but figured that a crash of some sort was not just a matter of "if", but "when", so I purchased the Spark instead, this would allow me to learn the operational basics, and if after 6 months or so, the Spark and I came through unscathed, the "training wheels" would come off and an upgrade to the Mavic (or whatever unfolds  ) would be on the cards. I realise now that "training wheels" is a terrible analogy, as the Spark is much much more that that.
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The original setup was: Spark - RC - Samsung S7 Edge (Android V7.0). All firmware updated, latest version of DJI Go 4, WiFi connection only.
Most of the time this worked fine, however my main concern was the length of time taken to establish a connection between all three. The connection between RC & Spark was usually solid, but the S7 took quite a while (sometimes not at all). When it did connect, it flew without a hitch, although video transmission would sometimes drop for a few seconds, which wasn't too much of a concern, as I fly VLOS, and any video would be stored on the SD card (as long as I remmebered to press record that is).
On top of this, the S7 display looked cramped, and the position of the RC grip often made it difficult to cancel a command, or change a setting, so to get around this, I started looking at using a tablet instead. This would also alleviate any concerns about my phone ringing mid-flight etc.
I'm a Samsung/Android/Microsoft Windows type of guy, so my first thought was to go for a Samsung tab, however on reading that the majority of issues (discounting user error) are experienced with Android devices, I started looking at the Ipad Mini 4. This made me feel dirty and ashamed, however given that (in 2015) there are more than 24,000 devices running Android, and a limited number of devices running IOS, it made perfect sense to move over to an OS which is well supported and would be tested more thoroughly. As a result of this, I am now a proud owner of an iPad Mini 4. Setting up the iPad was a breeze, it is an absolute joy to use, and I wish I had gotten one earlier.
Fitting the Mini 4 to the RC takes a bit of effort, however it does fit, and I can access all controls easily, even when I slot it in with the iPad power button on the left hand side.
I would recommend supporting the RC grips while inserting the device to reduce the risk of the grip breaking.
The DJI Go 4, NATS Drone Assist, and Windy app's installed without any issues. I didn't have to amend any settings, as my previous changes were retrieved when I logged in to DJI Go 4. Pairing the Spark/RC/iPad was textbook, in fact it was that easy and straightforward, I thought I may have gotten it wrong.
On hooking everything up, I noticed immediately how quickly everything linked up, so I started messing about with start-up sequence to see if it made any difference, however in my experience it didn't matter what was powered on first/last, it still took around 29 seconds from completely powered off to up and flying. One one occasion it was 25 seconds!
As said, in my experience start-up sequence has no bearing on faster pairing times, however it may be prudent to keep the Spark until last, if nothing else, you may save yourself some precious seconds of airtime.
I thoroughly recommend using an IOS device to hook up to the RC. No mess, no fuss. IT JUST WORKS!!!
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Captain
Second Officer
) would be on the cards. I realise now that "training wheels" is a terrible analogy, as the Spark is much much more that that.
That is so funny, but I know what you mean. 
