Anyone here who flew the Spark first (or still flies the Spark also)?

[4thdpi]

Am considering moving up to a Mavic 2 Pro. My main concern is that with my current Spark I can only get around 600 feet in most places here (have to get outside even the burbs to get further) due to the interference. San Antonio, Texas for reference. While I know I'd get better quality footage, is the controller link better/stronger to where I should get more range as well? Or do I need to just be content with better quality?

I have one. Its fun. No performance tho. Maybe 15 min batts. But if u want babe on video. She will never know. What do u the pic or video. Get the real thing.

 

[Patrick T.]

I can’t speak for the Mavic 2, but the Mavic pro platinum has a stronger signal than my P4P and even much stronger than my spark ever had.

My first drone was the spark I up graded to the phantom 4pro v2.0 and the Mavic 2 Pro so I passed the spark to my girlfriend so she can enjoy flying also I’ve had the spark about a year and a half never to this day have I had any problems with it the furthest I’ve flew was about 8500 feet and still had signal she doesn’t very high or far just keeps it vlos but it’s been a good drone

 

[scubaddictions]

I'm also in the same boat, started with a Spark, then after about 6 months upgraded to a Mavic 2 Pro. Sweet Baby Jesus, such an improvement. In literally almost every single way. I told myself that I'd still fly the Spark every now and then but it gets farther and farther between flights.....with a few exceptions. Currently I'm on vacation in Lembeh/Sulawesi, Indonesia and I didn't feel comfortable taking my spendy M2P with me. (Which turned out to be a good choice when I had to send it through checked luggage under extreme protest on a quick stop-over in Narita airport, Japan, see my other recent post regarding that debacle)

Sometimes when I go out exploring the wild areas around home I'll bring both drones, send up the Spark in certain areas just to see if it's worth burning one of my limited M2P batteries in a given area.

Anyways, I've been flying the Spark a lot here on this trip, very rural environment, right on the water (Lembeh Strait), beautiful hills, sunsets, etc. Once again reminded of many of the limitations of the Spark and pining for my M2P but I'm making due and getting some surprisingly good stuff with it. A lot of learning what the Spark's limitations are and how to get around those limitations. For pictures, it's all about shooting AEB (auto-exposure bracketing) and merging them down into HDR images. For me, I take that a step further and shoot multiple AEB groups and merging them into panoramas, and even two-row panoramas.

For video, I've got the Polarpro neutral density/polarizing filters to get the frame rate down and improve the color. Beyond that, remember that Sport mode is useless for video unless you're flying in a straight line (forward or backward). Any sideways motion and the gimbal fails to stabilize and the video is junk. Forward motion only works if the subject is captured while the gimbal is tilted down a bit, otherwise when you hit the throttle the gimbal will drop on its own and that can mess up the video.

The range is FAAAAR better on the M2P compared to the Spark, especially for the video feed. Recently (and intermittently) the Spark's video feed gets choppy when I'm only a few hundred feet out, and this is in direct line of site/urban (low radio interference) with more than adequate altitude. Frustrating. From what I gather it's an entirely different technology used between the controllers and those two different drones.

Generally, when people ask me what I think of the Spark I tell them it's been fun but if they're thinking of getting their own first drone I steer them towards the Mavic Air instead.

Some recent shots from the Spark (after the AEB/Pano merges):

 

[W2csa]

Started with the spark (it was a present) then quickly got my 107 and a Mavic zoom. I still fly the spark, it’s quick to get up in the air.

 

[silverdragon]

Just to let you know, the Spark was my second purchase. The 1st was the Mavic Pro Platinum. I learned right away that the MPP blew the Spark away in many different areas BUT, the Spark blew the Mavic away in it's own different area also.. I will one day Post the difference but I can say there 1 area the Spark Shinze~in.....it is FUN to fly....oh...
It can take nice photos.....

 

[Shuggins]

scubbaddictions- WOW. That first pic you posted up above in unreal. It's excellent. I need to learn your technique!