Any DJI drone experts?

longwalks1

Am considering a DJI Spark drone to get some good video of holidays and wondered if anyone here is very knowledgable on them?

and if theres a preferred, or better forum dedicated to drones (and in particular, beginners)

System

I know a couple who bought them, used them a few times then the novelty wore off.

Whilst getting some good video of holidays sounds like a great idea I think that you'll find rules on where you can fly them will scupper the best times to be doing it. Its basically got to the point in the UK where if there are random members of the public around you can't fly it, if its a privately owned location such as a hotel or swimming pool, resort or thing like a wildlife sanctuary etc you can't without their permission which they won't give.

That's not to say you can't find somewhere but it'll be probably limited to things like empty beaches or out in the middle of the countryside type shots.

Tigsteroonie

May I add, there really is nothing more boring than being a drone widow on holiday with your kids. The drone seems to take forever to set up at the start and dismantle at the end, you end up either stood around like a lemon or deciding to take the kids and go off and do your own thing. Which annoys the drone operator who is relying on you to watch where it goes just in case something goes wrong. Plus it's another huge rucksack to take on holiday, taking up space in the car with no useful purpose ... I holiday with two drone geeks (DH & BIL)

Johnmcl7

I'd recommend Sparkpilots for discussion on the Spark:

https://sparkpilots.zone

I bought the Mavic around this time last year as my first drone and it's been superb, it's extremely easy to fly as the drone does most of the work for you making it a lot of fun to fly.

A lot of crashes and losses are down to pilot error and it's worth spending some time reading through the forums and understand common errors, DJI have a video on them here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_PxMm9uR0A

The Combination Stick Command (CSC) mid-air doesn't apply to the Mavic/Spark as it's disabled mid air by default and also they don't have a selectable ATTI mode either. Particularly when starting up it's important to choose an area that's wide open, free of trees and water so there's nothing for the drone to crash into and don't fly it indoors or in a back garden. Also keep the drone in in visual range and don't rely on its avoidance and RTH features as they're far from foolproof.

Labsuper

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

May I add, there really is nothing more boring than being a drone widow on holiday with your kids. The drone seems to take forever to set up at the start and dismantle at the end, you end up either stood around like a lemon or deciding to take the kids and go off and do your own thing. Which annoys the drone operator who is relying on you to watch where it goes just in case something goes wrong. Plus it's another huge rucksack to take on holiday, taking up space in the car with no useful purpose ... I holiday with two drone geeks (DH & BIL)

Put an extra clause in your pre-nup. limiting the time he can use it.:D

Johnmcl7

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

May I add, there really is nothing more boring than being a drone widow on holiday with your kids. The drone seems to take forever to set up at the start and dismantle at the end, you end up either stood around like a lemon or deciding to take the kids and go off and do your own thing. Which annoys the drone operator who is relying on you to watch where it goes just in case something goes wrong. Plus it's another huge rucksack to take on holiday, taking up space in the car with no useful purpose ... I holiday with two drone geeks (DH & BIL)

None of this applies to newer and compact drones like the Spark, it's extremely small so there's no huge backpack. There's almost no setup or dismantle time either, the drone simply needs powered on, get a GPS lock and it can take off from a handheld position, doesn't even need a separate controller and it can be handcaught as well to land it then powered off. It has a range of automated modes so once it's up, it can take video sequences on its own just through a gesture control and it can automatically track chosen people as well.

dipsomaniac

my drone has been in the loft for the last 3 years as i lost interest. when i did get it down the battery was dead and a replacement is £50. the manufacture also did not update the software on my original ardrone when they brought out the ardrone2. don't know if the same today but that was just a couple of the pitfalls i wasn't expecting.