Thinking about treating myself to a drone. The Mavic being twice the price of the Spark, makes the Spark the obvious option. But will I regret not stumping up for the Mavic.
Thanks

Interested too. Particularly if it can keep up with a rider heading downhill at reasonable speeds.

I have a spark

As a basic drone that you can fly and take good pics its fine. Its also really stable in the air even in wind.

But..and its a big but..When you buy it you expect it to be able to lots of things, follow a rider down a trail, go more than 50 yards without disconnecting with the optional controller etc etc

It does none of these things consistently

maybe mine is a dud, but I’ve been very disappointed with it and wouldn’t buy again

I was chatting to a guy on an uplift who does a lot of drone flying and he thought the Mavic is the only serious choice

I have a spark with controller. It’s a pain to fly with just s mobile so factor that into the cost.

No issues with tracking or disconnecting.

Super stable to fly but don’t expect to get it in the air without much reading and setting up.

More than one battery is essential.
Around 12 mins per cell.

Only negative is that the battery’s contain a lot of the flight controls so all have to be updated when a software release is available.

Interesting to hear.

How far can you go with yours? Mine has a range of around 100 meters even with the controller. A couple of times it’s just lost connection and didn’t return home. First time I lost it in a field and eventually had it found by the farmer, second time I had it was only 30 yards away and despite saying no connection and no video stream I still managed to pilot it back to me. Think mine might be a dud then.

How do you find the follow me tracking. Mine can’t seem to follow me for my than about 30 meters. And even them it takes about 3 attempts to lock on to me.. Meaning by the time I actually start the run half the battery is dead!

I bottled it at a mile. Best thing to do is buy a cable from your controller to whatever mobile you’re using. Solid connection as you bypass the WiFi.

It’s impossible for the signal to be dropped and I’m much more confident in no fly always. Sounds like you don’t trust it so lost interest. I get that, these things are complicated devices and not toys.

Tracking. Rock solid once it connects. Can sometimes take a couple of try’s. I’ve ridden on the beach – launched the spark, set tracking and put the controller away until I heard the beep to notify the battery at 30%.

Edit – have you set any limits in the settings? You can effectively limit flight in any direction in the set up.
Easy to resolve.

I bought a Mavic but sold it when the Spark came out. I’ve had my Spark out to about 250-300m and you can’t see it at that point so you’re technically breaking drone rules at that point. I prefer the Spark for pure simplicity and size. I film my family a bit and it just doesn’t scare me as much as a Mavic. I wouldn’t want to get hit by a Mavic but don’t fear the Spark. I’d recommend a Spark, unless you really want the best cinematic footage. I treat it as a nice addition to the GoPro and camera. The Mavic is a more serious beast. I also had a gimbal problem on the Mavic so had to return one, the gimbal although only 2 axis feels stronger on the Spark.

It’s not that it won’t go any further and stops, it’s that the feed gets intermittent and the connection patchy.. That’s only when it’s 100 yards away. I can’t believe you get a mile out of it. I barely notice a difference in range than when I used it with the phone alone.

If it worked it would be a great little bit of kit.. It’s unbelievably stable in winds of 20 plus mph. If it did what it’s meant to I’d unit all the time

I think I’ll send my flight reports to the support guys and hopefully I’ll get a replacement. You are right.. I don’t trust it, especially having already lost it once.

The cable is a worthwhile purchase. You can get them for under a tenner.

There was a spark thread around August. I can’t find it but a few added details of range etc.

One thing I would add.. Whilst the footage is rock solid when it’s flying normally, when you flick it to turbo mode the gimble struggles a bit, especially if not going in a straight line and trying to manually follow an object.

And as mentioned you definitely need the controller. What isn’t made clear when you buy it is that the follow me mode is limited to 100 yards without it..thats not 100 yards of you as you would think, but 100 yards of where you set off from. Which means you will need to bring the controller out with you as well if you want to use it to track you down a trail. That is a real pain is the ass and means it’s not as compact as you think. Dc rainmaker explains this in his review.

Strange one. Are you pointing the two antennas forward, that makes a HUGE difference.

So assuming I bought the fly more bundle, how would I get it to follow me on a shortish section of nice downhill? Do I just set it to Active Track, put the controller in my bag and off I go?

In theory yes.. But first you need to lock it on to you.

I’m reality I found I locked it on, then put it in my pack, started cycling, realised it was not following me. Stopped, repeated.. Usually a couple of times until it did. Then I’d set off and after 30 yards it would lose me again. Then the battery would die and I’d have to use the spare.

Basically it ended up ruining any ride I brought it on!

If you want something cheaper, look at the Phantom 3 SE. Its available for about £400 from China. It is a better camera than the Spark, and better battery life and range. Though it is a lot bigger, not very convenient to carry for cycling etc.

The cheaper P3 models use WiFi between the drone and controller, which isn’t as robust as the system used on the P3A and P3P.
I have to use a pretty large rucksack to carry my P3A on my bike.
The Mavic wasn’t available when I got mine, but it’s what I’d get if buying now.

Tpbiker . Your experience isn’t the norm and is hugely different to mine and many others online.
I’d suggest you contact dji and get it sorted so you can enjo6 it again. They’re great if working correctly.

Mine has a range of around 100 meters even with the controller.

Something not right there tpbiker. Have a look on YouTube, lots of range tests on there getting close to a mile.

This guy gets to 4800ft before it auto-returns to him.

[video]https://youtu.be/2hYV8xfrWdU[/video]

I think the official range for the Euro Spark is 500m. Elsewhere in the world the range will be greater, as it uses WiFi, and we have European restrictions on the permitted power output.

I have a P3S, and find that range is heavily dependent on line of sight- if the controller can ‘see’ the bird, things operate much more effectively.

The nominal UK/Euro range on the P3S is also 500m incidentally, although I’m using aftermarket directional antenna which are taking me up to about 2kms if the conditions are right.

Thinking of getting a mavic, but I would like to also use it in the woods, is the anti collision really that good, especially when following a bike?

Mavic and spark collision avoidance work differently so I’d look as YouTube vids for details.
There are so many vids out there that it will help you more than a paragraph on here.

The cheaper P3 models use WiFi between the drone and controller, which isn’t as robust as the system used on the P3A and P3P.

The Phantom 3 SE is a new model, improved over the P3 Standard. Seems its more similar to the P3A or P3P, so should be much better range.

The tracking mode is everything the Lily should have been. Such a shame they pulled the plug on it.

The Phantom 3 SE is a new model, improved over the P3 Standard. Seems its more similar to the P3A or P3P, so should be much better range.

It’s ‘improved’ but still Wifi, so may be more prone to interference compared to Lightbridge. The longer range isn’t available for CE marked kit (available in Europe).

I bought a Mavic back in April, i used it all of 3 times, realised the riding me and my riding mates do is 100% non-gnarrrrrr and that it looked utterly boring, regardless of how many cuts and soundtracks i put over it. Beyond that i did a couple of Dales scenery type videos, which are OK, but ultimately not very exciting. Once i accepted that it was far more wonderful to watch others videos and be in them, as opposed to videoing other people having fun, i sold it. Its also a total faff carrying at around and setting it up to get shots etc. So i sold it for as much as i’d paid for it. The Spark would be far better for this if ONLY the props and arms would fold away. Then i’d be tempted again. Perhaps.

DP Review Drone Buyers Guide

SmE as smogmonster for me. My riding is hard to justify a GoPro let alone a drone, but some of the country videos look very impressive. I’d love to do aerial shots of the oxford. Olleges. All far too illegal though. 🙁

FYI.. Someone is selling a mavic plus spare batteries/ charger /spare props and an I pad to use it with in the classifieds for 850 quid.