Inaugural video flight of Spark the flying camera - Gilroy, CA - 12/26/17.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.vanwyk...0805306037114/
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Inaugural video flight of Spark the flying camera - Gilroy, CA - 12/26/17.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.vanwyk...0805306037114/
I watched the Spark demo at Oshkosh. It has auto land to the exact launch spot.
My gift was a $25 mini-quad copter. No auto pilot, so it takes some practice. Hovering isn't hard.
But flying around with it coming back toward me seemed impossible. But now, a day later, I think I have it figured out.
I saw an ad for that the other day. That's the first drone that has really tempted me to buy one. Some really, really cool technology in that one. I just wonder how well it does in gusty winds... if you can't fly when it's windy, you don't fly much around here. It will be a tough choice whether to get one of those this coming year, or a GoPro for the cockpit.
I think of DJI Spark as a smart phone (camera, GPS, wifi connectivity, USB port, MEMS chips, mini SD card, etc), with propellers, except you can't make phone calls with it. Early adopters reported of glitches such as uncontrolled fly-aways and "dropping out of the sky" incidents, but I have not experienced that, nor have any of the other two Spark owners I know experienced it. Maybe these were fixed with "firmware" updates. One reason for the low cost is that it does not come with a controller. That's extra (about $125). But, you can control it, as I do, with iPhone or iPad app connected via wifi. Just much more limited in range than with a controller.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaleB
With a full charge, you get about 12 minutes of battery time. Plan your photos/videos accordingly. You can buy extra rechargeable battery packs. You store the images on an on-board Micro SD card, which is removable. Or, you can just plug the aircraft into your computer via a USB cable, and it becomes an extra "drive".
The user manual says don't fly in wind exceeding "10 M/S" whatever that means. Could be a typo. The thing is made in China. Do you supposed they mean "10 MPH"? Probably. Based on my experience, I would not exceed that. It's got a brain (microcontrollers, MEMs sensors, etc.) so it can probably compensate somewhat for wind and hold position, but only to a point.
Read more, and watch the tutorial videos, here:
https://www.dji.com/spark/info
Like the GoPro, this is a toy that is fun at first, but then probably the novelty wears off.
The high-resolution camera on this kind of makes it more than a toy.
BTW, I am noticing more and more where drones are being used a lot on TV shows. Documentarys. News shows, etc. You very often see "establishing overhead shots", sometimes stationary, sometimes moving, that are obviously taken with a drone. As you can see from my very crude, first-timer video, you can get some fairly impressive results with this beginner-level drone.
One last bit of advice -- practice in an open field, and maybe use the "Simulation Mode" first, or you could experience a crash or crashes. I did. I thought I had trashed it, in fact, but it survived.
P.S.
In my third paragraph above, I did not know what the manufacturer meant by not exceeding wind conditions of "10 M/S", but course, that means 10 meters per second. If you convert to miles per hour, that comes to 22.4. So there's your answer. The manual says don't exceed 10 M/S which equals 22.4 MPH.