Value prop of the DJI Spark

[adiru]

So when it was still during rumor mill phases, lots of folks were almost certain that the Spark contained a 4k camera, or at the very least a 2.7k-ish camera. No one seriously thought that it would end up being only a 1080p and only at 30fps at that.

In fact during the speculation stage, the stage were people voiced their ideal expectations, the YouTube video of that "Billy here..." guy he speculated that although it appeared to be a two axis gimbal that in fact it very well could end up being a true 3 axis gimbal with the third axis actually housed inside of it all.

Turns out that wasn't true and didn't pan out either, Spark is only a two axis gimbal, a 1080p 30fps 2-axis gimbal at that.

Here is the problem though, by default it doesn't come with the remote controller. Without the remote controller, the range is effectively just only about 100m, or about the length of a football field. So remember those videos of Copter dude chasing cruise ships out in the open seas? Well that ain't gonna happen with the Spark, esp given that the Allure and Harmony of the Seas themselves are many many times longer than Spark's max range. In fact Spark could barely fly the length of one end of even a Boeing 777X to the other end without hitting that max. How did we go from 4.7 miles in the Mavic to less than the Wright brothers 12 seconds at the Kitty Hawk?

Seriously though unless you are planning on ONLY using it as a basic selfie-drone, the Spark without a controller is all but useless. The average consumer on the lookout for a selfie drone is not gonna spend $500+ when they could spend far less and get a 4k selfie drone these days, that isn't GEO locked.

The controller itself is gimped compared to the Mavic's version with no LED screen whatsoever. If vital stats cannot be read, what is the point of the controller you are still going to need to hook it up to a tablet or phone and use the app?!

And after you tack on the controller, the price skyrockets up to $699. This thing is slower than the Mavic, infact more than 25% slower, it's flight time is a measly 16 minutes theoretical max, but realistically it probably more like 13 minutes. The camera is a lot worse. There is no RAW option. Who in their right mind if they already have a Mavic is going to pay another $699 for a Spark? Those who are new to droning might as well pay a little more and get a Mavic, and those that only want selfie capabilities and complete ease of use, should go for a much cheaper drone, plenty of those on the market and a lot of those have 4k cameras already.

To top it off, you really have to essentially use a controller if you are going to use the Goggles with the Spark. And while I believe the Googles are interchangeable and compatible with the Spark/Mavic/etc it is come out that the controller isn't.

All in overall, I can't help but feel that DJI really shot themselves in the foot with this one.

Going from the Mavic to the Spark is like flying a Cessna after you've flow the F-22

 

[CashCache]

I have a couple of thoughts about the Spark.

1. This is truly a selfie drone aimed at people that really only want to fly it in their house, in their yards, at parties, special occasions, etc. I believe a market does exist for this segment of the population - although you won't see them posting on forums, searching for mods, or going to meet-ups.

2. DJI sees the writing on the wall. Drones will be all but outlawed soon and they are looking to create a new "casual" drone industry where the regs are much easier to work with and the potential market share is huge! Think of it like cell phones back in the early 90's. When they first came out, only the rich or important types had one. Over time they were targeted to the masses even though the masses really had no use for them.

Maybe a combination of both?

 

[adiru]

I have a couple of thoughts about the Spark.

1. This is truly a selfie drone aimed at people that really only want to fly it in their house, in their yards, at parties, special occasions, etc. I believe a market does exist for this segment of the population - although you won't see them posting on forums, searching for mods, or going to meet-ups.

2. DJI sees the writing on the wall. Drones will be all but outlawed soon and they are looking to create a new "casual" drone industry where the regs are much easier to work with and the potential market share is huge! Think of it like cell phones back in the early 90's. When they first came out, only the rich or important types had one. Over time they were targeted to the masses even though the masses really had no use for them.

Maybe a combination of both?

But price point is the issue here. DJI is trying to pitch to the mass public the idea of a premium casual drone. I'm not sure that will work.
It would be like as if Apple was trying to sell a disposable phone at iPhone prices.

 

[Capra Vecinului]

I don't know, just sayin' but it would be interesting to study first the market segment they are entering, meaning to see how the Yuneec Breeze, Dobby or the "Tickle her Pink with Elfie" sold since launch days.

 

[adiru]

I don't know, just sayin' but it would be interesting to study first the market segment they are entering, meaning to see how the Yuneec Breeze, Dobby or the "Tickle her Pink with Elfie" sold since launch days.

It seems to me DJI is hoping that by down-selling and then up-selling its existing base (sell them a less capable drone that is much more expensive than it should be) that it will be enough to carry it through to reach penetration of the truly casual mass public and help create a new segment, one that didn't exists before, at least not to that extent.
I don't see it working.

 

[CashCache]

I don't know, just sayin' but it would be interesting to study first the market segment they are entering, meaning to see how the Yuneec Breeze, Dobby or the "Tickle her Pink with Elfie" sold since launch days.

I have to be honest, when I saw the description in the link combined with my initial interpretation of the image at that link, "drone" was NOT what I was thinking

 

[rydfree]

I seriously don't know why so many ever thought the Spark was going to be anything more than a selfie drone . From the first leaked pics that's all I ever thought it would be . People try to read so much into things it gets ridiculous . Same thing with this app update frenzy going on . It's all going to be a simple new log in procedure and that's it ,lol .

 

[Ozzie]

I honestly don't see the value of the Spark. OK you're selling as a selfie drone, but then it only has a battery life of 16 mins on paper (that's with optimal weather conditions), but we all know that the battery life is never what they say on paper, so we are really looking at 12-14 mins.

So let's say you take it on a trip just for selfies and group pics, each time you take it out to take the pic it will probably take 2-3 mins, so you're only going to be able to use 5 times before it dies. So I reeeeally don't see how that is worth 500 dollars.

And to top it all off, with all the regulations where you can fly around a group of people or in large events, I don't know what exactly it will be used for.

I think the idea is was good, but people are crazy to compare this to the Mavic (which can be used as an actual photography equipment).

 

[8BitMavics]

It's a complement to the MP I surmise. For example, if I'm at home I would take the Mavic or perhaps my old HPI Savage out to play. If I'm heading out to a colleague, friend or other casual event, I'd take the LaTrax Teton or Mini E-Revo VXL. For flight, I'd usually have a "non-threatening nano quad", but now it would be the Spark. Same thing with action cams. If I'm doing airsoft, mud hero or something intense, I'd take the GoPro Hero 4, but if I'm just going for a bike ride, the old GoPro Session will do.

In the end, it reminds me of the other "who's buying" thread and the comment about people buying for "funsies". I think the Spark is just for funsies and unlikely to rack up any major flight time compared to a typical MP owner.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Jase1125]

I would like to have one. Just a quick toss up in the air for clips of the family, etc. AFAIK, none of the other selfie drones have the in flight stability and gesture controls of the spark. Many times, I don't want to deal with the Mavic or Phantom. With the spark, I have no desire to fly to the top of the Empire State Building or travel to the next state over. Just quick fun clips. My Mavic and Phantom for more serious stuff

 

[Neilk]

I've been promising myself a drone for the last 5 years; and finally bit the bullet and placed an order for the Spark. Why? Well, I thought it would make an ideal travel companion to Fuerteventura this July. It's the right size, seems to offer flying modes most suited to simple use and is relatively cheap. However; having added the fly longer pack and warranty, I'm now at £750. That's a big jump from £519 ... and having looked at the laws re flying in Spain, and contemplating flying it in and around Nottingham, I have wondered if it'll be a worthwhile purchase. I then thought about the flying time and wondered if it would really be enough, would I not prefer 4K video (of course I would) ... but am I prepared to nearly double that £750? Lots of questions and now the chance it'll take more than the quoted 30 days to arrive (in which case I'll cancel the order).

 

[yendor]

So when it was still during rumor mill phases, lots of folks were almost certain that the Spark contained a 4k camera, or at the very least a 2.7k-ish camera. No one seriously thought that it would end up being only a 1080p and only at 30fps at that.

In fact during the speculation stage, the stage were people voiced their ideal expectations, the YouTube video of that "Billy here..." guy he speculated that although it appeared to be a two axis gimbal that in fact it very well could end up being a true 3 axis gimbal with the third axis actually housed inside of it all.

Turns out that wasn't true and didn't pan out either, Spark is only a two axis gimbal, a 1080p 30fps 2-axis gimbal at that.

Here is the problem though, by default it doesn't come with the remote controller. Without the remote controller, the range is effectively just only about 100m, or about the length of a football field. So remember those videos of Copter dude chasing cruise ships out in the open seas? Well that ain't gonna happen with the Spark, esp given that the Allure and Harmony of the Seas themselves are many many times longer than Spark's max range. In fact Spark could barely fly the length of one end of even a Boeing 777X to the other end without hitting that max. How did we go from 4.7 miles in the Mavic to less than the Wright brothers 12 seconds at the Kitty Hawk?

Seriously though unless you are planning on ONLY using it as a basic selfie-drone, the Spark without a controller is all but useless. The average consumer on the lookout for a selfie drone is not gonna spend $500+ when they could spend far less and get a 4k selfie drone these days, that isn't GEO locked.

The controller itself is gimped compared to the Mavic's version with no LED screen whatsoever. If vital stats cannot be read, what is the point of the controller you are still going to need to hook it up to a tablet or phone and use the app?!

And after you tack on the controller, the price skyrockets up to $699. This thing is slower than the Mavic, infact more than 25% slower, it's flight time is a measly 16 minutes theoretical max, but realistically it probably more like 13 minutes. The camera is a lot worse. There is no RAW option. Who in their right mind if they already have a Mavic is going to pay another $699 for a Spark? Those who are new to droning might as well pay a little more and get a Mavic, and those that only want selfie capabilities and complete ease of use, should go for a much cheaper drone, plenty of those on the market and a lot of those have 4k cameras already.

To top it off, you really have to essentially use a controller if you are going to use the Goggles with the Spark. And while I believe the Googles are interchangeable and compatible with the Spark/Mavic/etc it is come out that the controller isn't.

All in overall, I can't help but feel that DJI really shot themselves in the foot with this one.

Going from the Mavic to the Spark is like flying a Cessna after you've flow the F-22

DJI is going to sell every one of these drones. Most consumers don't care about the 4K option or the range that the Mavic has. I own a mavic and think it is the best drone around. However, I bought the Spark because it is smaller and many times I don't need the capabilities of the Mavic to film my kid at the park from the air. I work with a lot of people who are always asking me about my Mavic and for some reason all of the features that I believe are selling points really kind of turn them off. "You can fly it several miles away?" Not interested. "It has Raw? What is that.?" What I believe most consumers want is a small drone with at least ten minutes of battery life to take with them on a trip to the park or on vacation. They don't care about range, Raw options, height ceiling, or many of the things that a forum user would use to justify a purchase. If you subscribe to this forum or use a drone already the Spark is not being marketed to us. The Mavic is the drone that we should be using or planning to get. If you use your phone to take important photos and or capture moments with then the Spark is being marketed towards use. As time goes by the industry will no doubt keep shrking the size of drones. The mavic will get smaller and the battery life will increase. But I am willing to be that 90% of spark users will be okay with the features that are being offered and they will see the craft as a good value for their money.

 

[Islandguy27]

So to answer your question about who's going to buy it. A whole hell of a lot of people already have and a whole hell of a lot of people are going to.

 

[namja]

I think the selfie market will be the bulk of the market. But in addition, off the top of my head, I can think of 3 commercial scenarios where the Spark would be great. I've interacted with these folks in the past six months.

1. Wedding videographers. I know about half dozen wedding videographers, and at least in their cases, they typically only need a drone for about 5 minutes for aerial footage. Less than 15 seconds of the aerial shots actually make it to the final video.

2. People making real estate videos. More and more house listings show some aerial videos.

3. Contractors. Many roof subcontractor use drones to check on the work. Safer than climbing up the ladder. Obviously some things require you to go up to the roof to check, but many things can be done with the drone.

In these scenarios, the 16 minute battery life is a nonissue.

I don't see me buying a Spark as I love my MP. But ... maybe. If I have $500 burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[Kilrah]

But price point is the issue here. DJI is trying to pitch to the mass public the idea of a premium casual drone. I'm not sure that will work.
It would be like as if Apple was trying to sell a disposable phone at iPhone prices.

Of course it will work. Same as Apple stuff does, devices that are kinda restricted and only do a limited set of things but they're those that Joe Bloggs needs and it does them well, people are happy to pay lots for that.
Remember the first few generations of iPhones, they sold like hot cakes even when they couldn't do a fraction of what any other cheapo phone could, but what they did they did well.