Best DJI Spark Drone Travel Accessories For 2018
Whether you’re heading off on an adventure of a lifetime or just a sunny family vacation in the south, our list of the Best DJI Spark travel accessories has the top Spark gear to get the most out of your travel.
Extra Spark Intelligent Flight Batteries
This goes without saying, but it’s always a great idea to have an extra battery or two (or three!). The Spark Pro Fly More Combo comes with 2 batteries, as well as the 3 battery Spark Charging Hub. So it just makes sense to maximize your charging ability by filling all three slots on the charger. But since you can also charge a battery while it’s in the Spark drone using a micro USB cable, that takes you up to 4 batteris.
Many drone owners are unaware that the Lithium Polymer batteries that power their drones are considered hazardous materials by airlines. LiPo batteries should never be put into your checked bags. Ever. And some airlines have restrictions on how many LiPo’s each passenger may carry with them in the cabin.
But aside from that, you also want to transport your batteries in the safest way possible, which means LiPo safes. The DJI ones are sized specifically for your drone and they’re super inexpensive as well.
Best Portable Hard Drive for Travel
You can buy any portable hard drive to back up your PC or videos, but we think the Western Digital My Passport Wireless PRO is the only portable drive for travelling drone pilots and photographers. It only costs a few dollars more than your basic hard drive, but it comes with some really necessary features for travel.
First it has it’s own built-in 6400 mAh power bank that you can use to charge other devices or backup an SD card without needing to tether it to a laptop or PC. Second the Wireless PRO lets you insert an SD card into it and transfer your files to the hard drive without a PC. Thirdly, the Wireless PRO is also a wireless access point, which means you can access the devices control panel using your smartphone, tablet or computer wirelessly to manage files transfers.
The Western Digital My Passport Wireless PRO comes in 1 to 4 TB sizes, all of which are priced under $200 with FREE Prime Shipping.
Sandisk Extreme microSD Card 64GB
DJI Recommends the SanDisk Extreme 64GB microSD card in the specs for the Spark drone. We’ve seen enough chatter in the forums to know that some drone pilots are using 128GB and 256GB as well. But considering that a 256GB microSD card holds almost 21 hours of 1080p video footage we think sticking with a medium sized storage card is best for a couple of reasons: First if the card is damaged or corrupted the lost images and video is limited to about 5 hours of video. Second, for almost the same reason, we think you’ll be overwhelmed dealing with almost 21 hours of footage in post-processing. And this card is a steal, less than $35 with PRIME free shipping.
Unlike the Mavic Pro, which folds up into a convenient size for packing, the Spark’s fixed arms make it a challenge to fit safely into a bag.
With your Spark nicely protected in the Polar Pro Spark Case, you can basically use any backpack or shoulder bag to transport your Spark while travelling.
If you’re looking for a backpack that’s the ideal companion for the Polar Pro Spark Case, then look no further than the Manfrotto Advanced Gear backpack found on both DJI.com and Amazon.
The slim front pocket is ideal for the Polar Pro Spark Case, leaving the large main pocket wide open to be customized for your Spark accessories.
And the great thing for travel is the Manfrotto Advanced Gear Backpack has an integrated weather-proof cover that protects your bag and contents from rain.
DJI Spark Neutral Density Filters
One of the main reasons people pick the DJI Spark is for the small size and affordability. With the low price comes a trade-off: you can only record in 1080p. So to get the absolute highest quality from your video capture you must use some of your savings and invest in a set of ND filters. We won’t go into what ND filters do (you can read about that here and here) but if you’re serious about video quality then filming with ND filters is a must. And considering that this is an article for travel, there’s a high probability you’re heading somewhere bright and sunny…which is the ideal use for ND filters.
The filters above are DJI’s own offering of 4/8/16 ND filters designed specifically for the Mavic. At $59 they’re fairly priced and do exactly what they’re designed to do: slow your framerate to capture buttery smooth cinematic video.
This is one of those stealthy little devices that are a travel hack all to themselves. First off, don’t accidentlaly buy the identical looking “Spark Portable Charging Station”. Unlike the Power Bank, it doesn’t have it’s own built in battery for off-grid charging in the field.
The Spark Portable Power Pack is designed to wirelessly charge up to three Spark Intelligent Flight Batteries on the go. Safe and intelligent with it’s own built-in 5000 mAh battery, the Power Pack charges up to three Spark batteries in 2.5 hours when fully charged. It also provides power to mobile devices via its USB port, and the Power Pack itself charges in just 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Once you use the Spark Power Pack, you’ll never go back!
Okay, so the Osmo Mobile isn’t really a Mavic Pro accessory. But it’s so inexpensive, and so practical for travel and capturing all of your ground based photos and videos that we had to include it.
The Osmo Mobile is a 3-axis smartphone gimbal designed (along with the DJI GO app) to help you
take your smartphone cinematography to the next level. And as an added bonus, you don’t even have to use your smartphone.
With battery life up to 4 hours on a single charge, and built-in image modes like motion time lapse and slow motion video, you’ll be blown away at what you can capture with the Osmo Mobile.
Inexpensive adapters (right) are also available on Amazon that let you use your GoPro HERO camera (because we all have a couple of those lying around) for capturing video that may be better than your smartphone. Note: there is no app for capturing the GoPro video via the Osmo Mobile so you’re just using it as a gimbal.
This is by no means a complete list of all the travel accessories you buy that would streamline or enhance your travel experience. New products seem to come out every day.
If you have a Mavic Pro accessory that is ideal for travel, let us know in the comments!
