Spark range??

[R1Mavic]

Does anyone know the range on the Spark? Wondering if you can fly it as high and far as the Mavic.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Service ceiling is 4000 m, so it will have at least the same altitude restriction of 500 m above the takeoff point if not more severe.

Radio range limits depending on where you are

2.412 - 2.462 GHz (unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 1.2 mi (2 km); CE: 0.3 mi (500 m); SRRC: 0.3 mi (500 m)
5.745 - 5.825 GHz (unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 1.2 mi (2 km); CE: 0.18 mi (300 m); SRRC: 0.7 mi (1.2 km)
​

 

[rockydog]

Something strange regarding the FCC and CE quoted range....on most of their drones the CE range is normally just over half the FCC figure. I wonder if they've got the CE and SRRC (China) figures mixed up.

 

[dirkclod]

Wonder if you can put a itelite panel on this sucker .

 

[AlanTheBeast]

I can see it now "Spark at 2.3 km!"

 

[Biggle]

Not in CE it's not

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Not in CE it's not

It's a reference to the range demons posting high range achievements (note prior poster's ref to antenna mod).

 

[Gh0stxSinghx]

Spark long-range is 500m in UK? not good! if to antenna mod, but small long range in uk?

 

[Biggle]

It's not good at all, because if it's 500 meter according to DJI then that's under ideal conditions.

In the real world you'll be lucky to get half of that, if it's anything like my "500 meter" P3S.

 

[Kestrel]

It's not good at all, because if it's 500 meter according to DJI then that's under ideal conditions.

In the real world you'll be lucky to get half of that, if it's anything like my "500 meter" P3S.

Yep, experienced the same thing, those range extenders might actually be a good idea with the spark though. Without a range extender on my P3 averaged around 600, with a range extender I got around 2000 feet.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

There's no reason for a Spark to have a very long range. It has a target market that is

It's not good at all, because if it's 500 meter according to DJI then that's under ideal conditions.

In the real world you'll be lucky to get half of that, if it's anything like my "500 meter" P3S.

For the market they're seeking it's probably more than adequate.

I can barely see the Mavic Pro at 350m in ideal conditions. And take my eyes off for 10 seconds and reacquiring is all but impossible.

The Spark will be hard to see beyond 200m. In ideal conditions.

 

[Biggle]

Most countries don't demand that you be able to see it, and even fewer people really care.

The issue is range, and the range under CE power (which for some reason is only 18db whereas the CE Mavic is 20?) is about half a kilometer at best, under perfect conditions.

That's just pathetic for most real-world applications, so it really is just a "lob it in the air and catch a (single) selfie vid of a few seconds" thing.

In FCC mode, at 2 kilometers it's fine. That means you could probably use it at a full 500 meters, mostly. But 500 meters max means a real world range of about 100 or maybe 200 meters, which you won't enjoy or relax with as it will be constantly telling you about weak control signals, weak image transmission signal, weak control signal, weak control signal etc etc just come back and land already, been there, done that, can't be bothered to do it again.

It has the same range as the old Phantom 3 Standard but costs more money if you want such luxuries as the controller, has a weaker camera and only 2 axis stabilization.

The 2 things I really didn't like about my P3S were the annoying short range and the bulky size of it. The Spark certainly solves the size thing, but in doing so you have a lower res camera that isn't as stable and half the battery life.

The annoying short range hasn't improved at all.