Please select Into the mobile phone version | Continue to access the computer ver.
My first drone ever!
1270 23 2018-9-10
Uploading and Loding Picture ...(0/1)
o(^-^)o
charbel1011
lvl.4
United States
Offline

Hello guys, So iv been waiting a while since i am new to the forum to get some points so i can post my first thread and get some awesome advice which i know you gonna give. So i never touched a drone in my life and i am looking to buy my first drone. I picked dji for the picture quality and control. obviously i cannot afford it to pay cash so i am gonna finance it. Now i have few concerns. Should i go with the mavic air or dji spark? my main concern is the flyaways like iv been hearing a lot of flyaways issues like losing gps and the drone goes to ATTI mode and then it flies away and you can't control it. I mean something that expensive you don't wanna lose like that. i appreciate everyone's advice.

2018-9-10
Use props
eYeSkYeYe
Captain

Croatia
Offline

You don't want to go with something like 500+ US$ as beginners drone especially if you are unable to cash it but use financing.
As for the flyaways, both MA and Spark are not the best choices as WiFi is not as good as Ocusync communication link.
If I were you, I would go for cheap 30-40$ toy grade drone to learn the basics first and once you comfortably control that one switch to something more expensive.
2018-9-10
Use props
Fatboy Mac
First Officer
Flight distance : 794311 ft
Australia
Offline

All I would suggest is get a cheap drone to practice with. Once you learn how to fly unassisted without gps etc & learn to compensate for wind direction then any DJI drone will make the next step easier.
2018-9-10
Use props
charbel1011
lvl.4
United States
Offline

eYeSkYeYe Posted at 2018-9-10 04:08
You don't want to go with something like 500+ US$ as beginners drone especially if you are unable to cash it but use financing.
As for the flyaways, both MA and Spark are not the best choices as WiFi is not as good as Ocusync communication link.
If I were you, I would go for cheap 30-40$ toy grade drone to learn the basics first and once you comfortably control that one switch to something more expensive.

Not all the drones have the level of stability that dji offers. not all the drones can hover in the air. not all the drone can get you nice pictures in the air. So practicing with 30$ drone is not gonna teach me anything but wasting a 30$
2018-9-10
Use props
DJI Gamora
Administrator

Offline

Hi, thanks for reaching and welcome to DJI Forum. We do appreciate bringing this query to us. If I were to be asked and since it is going to be my first drone. I would go for the spark first. Well, you mentioned you are concerned about losing GPS and drone goes to ATTI mode and flies away, just make sure to follow all the app prompts for you to avoid flyaways. If you have some concerns, please reach us again. Thank you.
2018-9-10
Use props
charbel1011
lvl.4
United States
Offline

DJI Gamora Posted at 2018-9-10 04:59
Hi, thanks for reaching and welcome to DJI Forum. We do appreciate bringing this query to us. If I were to be asked and since it is going to be my first drone. I would go for the spark first. Well, you mentioned you are concerned about losing GPS and drone goes to ATTI mode and flies away, just make sure to follow all the app prompts for you to avoid flyaways. If you have some concerns, please reach us again. Thank you.

Like usually before the flyaway occur it gives you a warning?
2018-9-10
Use props
DJI Gamora
Administrator

Offline

charbel1011 Posted at 2018-9-10 05:25
Like usually before the flyaway occur it gives you a warning?

Hi, yes it will give some error prompts on the app if it needs to calibrate, GPS is weak, no signal, etc. Just follow the prompts on the app before flying. Thank you.
2018-9-10
Use props
charbel1011
lvl.4
United States
Offline

DJI Gamora Posted at 2018-9-10 05:31
Hi, yes it will give some error prompts on the app if it needs to calibrate, GPS is weak, no signal, etc. Just follow the prompts on the app before flying. Thank you.

What about when like i see people posting like they start their flight with no problem and then they lose gps signal mid air and they get bunch of errors mid air. that's what im worried from.
2018-9-10
Use props
Alex B.
Captain
Flight distance : 21105262 ft

Spain
Offline

Buy a secondary independent gps tracker. It’s very useful in case of a flyaway and remote disconnection, in which case the find my drone feature becomes useless!
I bought one after I lost my first spark and I couldn’t be Happier! it works 100% of the time.
It was only 20 euros on amazon, and the only monthly cost is 5 euros for the SIM card.
I wish you many great and safe flights ahead! On whichever drone that you choose in the end ;)

Fly safely
Alex
2018-9-10
Use props
Rustic17
Captain
Flight distance : 2716936 ft
United States
Offline

There is a simulator mode which I have found to be quite useful.  You take the props off (just in case you do something dumb) and turn on the Spark and go to simulator mode in the DJI Go 4 app.  After several hours of practice, control inputs become second nature.  Flying towards you and making yaw inputs is much more difficult than you think.
2018-9-10
Use props
AC5FF
Second Officer
Flight distance : 65194 ft
United States
Offline

charbel1011 Posted at 2018-9-10 04:13
Not all the drones have the level of stability that dji offers. not all the drones can hover in the air. not all the drone can get you nice pictures in the air. So practicing with 30$ drone is not gonna teach me anything but wasting a 30$

I've got to disagree with you here.  While you are correct that not all of the drones will give you the same level of stability/hover or photos, that's not the point of the $30 drone.

Learning to fly a drone for $30 is the point.  If you can control one of these, recognize orientations, bring it home safely and in one piece than it is not a wasted $30.   I would much rather risk that amount than risk the cost of a Spark or MA.

Yes, the DJI products are SO much easier to fly.  I continue to be impressed each time I do fly.  But, having the experience with the cheaper 'toy' drones made all the difference in the world.
2018-9-10
Use props
Rustic17
Captain
Flight distance : 2716936 ft
United States
Offline

In simulator mode, you can not only practice basic flying control but also advanced stuff, too.  Other than Gesture mode, which obviously doesn't work, you can practice all the different takeoff and landing techniques.  You can practice RTH from different distances...I can't tell you the number of forum members that have screwed RTH up and crashed their drones as a result.  You can practice cancelling modes by tapping the red X or better sliding your left thumb off the toggle to the Pause button.  A number of crashes have been from pilots not seeing the icons to tap on a dim screen in bright sunlight and forgetting they can stop the drone in mid maneuver by just relaxing the toggles and tapping the Pause button. You can set your buttons in the settings and see how they affect your flight.  I wish the LED and position lights worked but they don't on my iPhone 6S.
2018-9-10
Use props
Gunship9
Captain
United States
Offline

charbel1011 Posted at 2018-9-10 05:51
What about when like i see people posting like they start their flight with no problem and then they lose gps signal mid air and they get bunch of errors mid air. that's what im worried from.

Having experience as an RC pilot is essential to safe flying of a photography drone.  You need experience with the pitfalls of flying by radio control, with or without GPS stabilization, before you launch expensive photography drones into the air.

Never fly what you can't afford to lose.

The DJI drones are easy to fly when the autopilot is flying it for you.  But when you run into signal interference, GPS errors, compass errors, battery exhaustion, winds, obstacles, video lag, and video loss, you need to be able to pilot as well as any other RC model flyer.  The autopilot isn't always there for you due to environmental factors and how dumb it can be in some situations.

Learn to fly and discover hidden dangers on a $50 Blade inductrix ready to fly micro drone and save yourself lots of pain/crashes.  Another forum had someone post that you had to be an expert to crash a DJI drone since they are so fool proof.  That person is an idiot that never read all the crashed DJI drone posts on these forums.  All it takes to crash is a newbie or enough flights (odds catch up to experienced pilots, also).


2018-9-10
Use props
Datree
lvl.1
Flight distance : 21371 ft
United States
Offline

Hi Charbel1011,
I was in the same boat as you. I flew some hubsan drones and other unknown drone models and none of those feel like the DJI drone. Spark with the remote controller makes you feel very in control of the drone whether it is in atti more or not the drone is stable. With that said though with anything NEW you should always get a feel for it in a safe place before you start getting fancy. I am lucky that where i live we have a RC flying area which is usually empty. I had my first experience with a flyaway and how to control the drone in case of situations like this. One thing i learned from flyaway is that you should ALWAYS check your sensor status before flight and make sure your RC/drone are in a clear wifi channel. Also always try to manually take off and manually land. I feel like it is more effective and teaches you how to control your drone in different scenarios. i guess my point is Practice practice practice and any drone you get either spark - mavic 2 will be a more pleasant experience. The obvious here is spark and air flight times are short and as other said distance is not horrible but it is not rated as long as the mavic2. I would really get a SPARK first and learn on that, Image quality is great and easy to fly.
2018-9-10
Use props
Flighty
Captain
Flight distance : 1977175 ft
Croatia
Offline

Get yourself a cheap drone,, learn to fly, then up grade. Losing an expense DJi Drone due to inability to control in Atti Mode is a very expense learning curve,, (Maybe a Tello??)
2018-9-10
Use props
N2QLT
Captain
Flight distance : 29229 ft
United States
Offline

Flighty Posted at 2018-9-10 10:30
Get yourself a cheap drone,, learn to fly, then up grade. Losing an expense DJi Drone due to inability to control in Atti Mode is a very expense learning curve,, (Maybe a Tello??)

Good advice. It's too bad they don't have a way to manually put Spark into ATTI mode so that users could practice in a somewhat controlled environment, like an open field for instance.
2018-9-10
Use props
H. Arif - 6IX
First Officer
Flight distance : 430364 ft
Canada
Offline

charbel1011 Posted at 2018-9-10 04:13
Not all the drones have the level of stability that dji offers. not all the drones can hover in the air. not all the drone can get you nice pictures in the air. So practicing with 30$ drone is not gonna teach me anything but wasting a 30$

Trust me, it will teach you a lot.I recently bought a spark, and once it does encounter Atti mode, you will need skills, skills that are only available to cheaper drones without GPS. AS you said, you haven't touched a drone, ever, I suggest you buy a cheap one to practice, learn some skills, and then buy a more expensive drone by DJI. This way, you don't lose your money, and you can take better shots. I hope it helps and I really do hope you consider what I'm saying
2018-9-10
Use props
jacksonnai
Captain
Offline

charbel1011 Posted at 2018-9-10 04:13
Not all the drones have the level of stability that dji offers. not all the drones can hover in the air. not all the drone can get you nice pictures in the air. So practicing with 30$ drone is not gonna teach me anything but wasting a 30$

Why don't you out Tello first 99$, then you can get the Spark/MA
2018-9-10
Use props
eYeSkYeYe
Captain

Croatia
Offline

charbel1011 Posted at 2018-9-10 04:13
Not all the drones have the level of stability that dji offers. not all the drones can hover in the air. not all the drone can get you nice pictures in the air. So practicing with 30$ drone is not gonna teach me anything but wasting a 30$

As you probably figured out already it's not a question if but when your expensive, almost self flying drone will convert into 30$ toy grade one under certain circumstances. Since you will not know anything about throttle management, orientation and generally anything about true flying, crash or drift away will be more than certain.

And, despite your strong opinion I assure you every drone, even 10$ micro one can hover in the air. This is one of their basic features. The question is only if you are piloting it and keeping in place or electronics does it for you. Now, the problem is if you don't know how to fly it but let electronics do it for you, once this electronics fails, your bird is pretty much screwed.
2018-9-11
Use props
Zeflex514
lvl.3
Flight distance : 222743 ft
Canada
Offline

Agree with everybody. Dry first with a cheap drone to learn first then go big.
2018-9-12
Use props
Steven Hawthorne
lvl.4
Offline

I was you about 6months ago.....

Did all the research...made no conclusions.

THEN, I got the Spark...it's great...it's intelligent, and trust me, does a lot of the work for you.

That said, deciding what to shoot...setting up for the right lighting conditions and the movement of the shots is all down to you....and with some work...you'll be very happy with what the Spark can do.

HOWEVER, if you really get into piloting a drone, the Spark will reach it's limits pretty quick..and you'll want the Air or Mavic...or Mavic 2 if you have the funds..

My suggestion, get a used Spark with Controller on craigslist...practice...then decide on needing to upgrade or not.
2018-9-12
Use props
Zeflex514
lvl.3
Flight distance : 222743 ft
Canada
Offline

I will recommend you to start ; I will not give the name ; but we find it on google through the appelation "Mavick has a baby".

At least you will learn first it's not easy to dry a cheap drone, then once you will feel comfortable go big.

Don't drive a ferrari first, start with a normal car , a cheaper one
2018-9-12
Use props
davidmartingraf
Captain
Flight distance : 84805085 ft
  • >>>
Offline

I haven't experienced any flyaway incidents with my Mavic Pro or Spark. I've taken both of them to the distance where the RTH feature was activated and the drone automated its own landing. I can say you can use either drones, fly to a distance, and then press the RTH button (as long as you have the proper altitude) watching either drone fly back itself and land on the exact same point from where it departed. If you don't take care of your drones, then malfunction is possible and that's why being delicate with your drone extends its performance.
2018-9-12
Use props
Wolferl
Captain
Flight distance : 23793 ft
Austria
Offline

Hi,

As others already wrote: Do yourself and your money purse a favour and buy an el cheapo drone to get a liitle experience. Trust me, on your first flight you'll be very nervous, you'll make way too much controller stick input, so you'll crash several times. It's not avoidable.
If you know somebody who is actively drone or model flying, talk to him before your first flights, he/she can give you valuable tips.
After you are comfortable (feeling safe when flying) with the cheap drone, you'll also have a better feeling if you should upgrade to Spark, one of the Mavic, or even something bigger!
In the end, you'll be /saving/ money by doing so!

Cheers,
Wolferl

PS: In my very personal opinion, financing a drone is a bad idea.
2018-9-13
Use props
Advanced
You need to log in before you can reply Login | Register now

Credit Rules