DJI Spark: A little drone with a little price tag

From The Aranda Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search


DJI Spark: A little drone with a little price tag

mqdefault.jpg
Episode Information
Date of upload June 19, 2018
Duration 2:14
Credits
Abi Rein
Narration, Script Supervisor
Logan George
Editing, Filming, Writing
Todd Williams
Executive Producer
Michael Aranda
Music, Graphics


Transcript[edit | edit source]

The DJI Spark: It claims to be “a mini drone that features all of DJI’s signature technologies.”

There’s two options for buying the spark. The standard option for $400, or the “Fly More Combo” for $550. The basic option comes with a micro USB cable, a controller, a micro SD Card, and a storage case. The Fly More Combo comes with a carrying case, a second battery, propeller guards and a dock capable of charging up to 3 batteries at once.

The body of the Spark is small and rigid. It weighs a little over half a pound and fits easily in the hand. And while it does look less industrial than DJI’s other offerings, it’s definitely well built.

There’s a built-in 12-megapixel camera that captures footage in 1080p at 30 frames per second and the mechanical gimbal can rotate both side to side and up and down. But compared to more expensive drones, the footage looks muddy, and the colors aren’t very vibrant.

The drone and remote use an “amplified WiFi signal transmission system.” And while the controller stayed responsive as long as we were flying the drone, we started to see pretty extreme lag in the video feed when the drone got more than a few hundred yards far away.

DJI boasts about the different smart flying features available on the Spark. Quickshots are options for making the drone fly preset maneuvers around a subject, and there’s a hand gesture mode where you can control the drone with just your hands. But the most useful feature was the ability to have the Spark take-off or land from your palm.

DJI has made sure to build the same safety features into the Spark that are standard on their other drone models. When we were testing out the object tracking, the drone automatically stopped itself before hitting a tree branch, and when you fly it too close to an obstacle, it lets out loud warning beeps.

When you’re flying the drone, there is a bar across the top of the video feed that represents your battery life. If the battery life gets too low or the drone loses its connection with the controller, it will use GPS to fly back to the point it took off from.

It’s clear from the bright colors and smart functionality of the Spark that this drone is marketed more as a fun gadget than a cinematic tool. Despite sitting a few hundred dollars below DJI’s next cheapest offering, the Spark is definitely well built and a good option for someone who is primarily interested in the fun of flying rather getting the sharpest image quality.

Our verdict?

Get it!

Thank you for watching, and don’t forget to like, comment, and–

Shut up and cut to the tech!