DJI's Spark is, hands down, one of the best compact drones you can buy.

Tons of intelligent flight modes; Obstacle avoidance; Two-axis gimbal stabilization; Ultracompact form factor; Excellent flight performance

No 4K camera; Average flight time

The DJI Spark delivers one of the best technological parlor tricks I've ever seen. Launching out of your hand and controlling a drone with a wave of your hand is a lot of fun. But when you dive deeper, some issues become apparent.

Small; Supports gesture controls; Smartphone-controlled flight; Automated shots; Subject tracking; Forward obstacle avoidance; GPS stabilization; Safety features, including return-to-home

Battery nets about 12 minutes of flight time; Limited range and speed when controlling with phone; Video limited to 1080p; No support for 24fps or high frame rate capture; App and video editing features could be easier to use; Dedicated remote control is a pricey add-on

You know how Apple sometimes seems to be behind its competition in performance, design or features, only to eventually leapfrog them and take the lead? That's what DJI did with the Spark.

The DJI Spark delivers a tiny, lightweight design; excellent mechanically stabilized camera; USB charging and advanced features like gesture controls and obstacle detection. It travels well and is great for aerial photos and video

Flight time can be as short as 10 to 14 minutes; The app can be frustrating to use, especially on smaller screens; And you should expect to buy batteries and possibly the optional controller

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of small drones capable of recording video, so what makes the DJI Spark so different? For one, it's the company's first real attempt at a mass market drone - that is, if the masses have $500 to drop on what's essentially a toy.

Small and portable; Easy to fly; Stable; clear video; Autonomous flight modes

Still expensive for most; Gesture controls not always recognized; No 4K video

This is a tiny drone. It's basically the size of an iPhone 7 Plus or portable external hard drive-it's pretty remarkable. On top of that, it's smart as heck and is a lot of fun to fly, but it's not perfect.

The Spark is small; affordable; and portable yet impressively capable; ActiveTrack and QuickShots are really neat + video quality is pretty good at 1080p30; Easy to use with plenty of obstacle avoidance features + Return-to-Home; Can fly drone only using gesture controls

Short battery life at ~15 minutes on a single charge; Gimbal is only 2-axis; whereas more expensive drones like the MAVIC Pro use a 3-axis stabilizer; Would love to have 1080p60 for fast-moving subjects; Does not handle winds well; Does not come with a remote controller…you have to use gesture...

There is not much more to say about this new drone, at least on the surface of it all. We have plenty more coverage on the way, further exploration into what makes the DJI Spark great, or where we see room for improvement. Stay tuned for that.

The Spark is a bit of a mishmash. On the one hand, it's a highly capable drone capable of capturing top-quality aerial video and photos. It flies well, it's packed with features and it's incredibly compact for a drone that packs in so many serious features.

The way the drone handles it is really easy for a beginner like me to take great video footage.

Easy to fly

Not to easy to connect with remote

overall this is a very good drone replaces my parriot drone i had which is double the size almost.

small; light; propeller wings snap on; wings can fold together to save a liitle room; easy to control & can do some jedi palm control thing; without using your cell or touch pad

I wish it came with a controller to fly it more than 120 ft & a extra battery 1 is not enough

Great drone for the price. Got it on sale and even better. I used it with phone only but I highly recommend the controller. Get to know the drone and see all the do's and don'ts on YouTube. Buy propeller protection. I scraped on the wall from flying indoors.