

If you're flying a drone in a public place like a park, you're going to get some looks. While consumer drones are becoming more widely available and more popular, they're still novel to most consumers. Until recently, most drones were too big and conspicuous to comfortably take anywhere, not to mention the hundreds to thousands of dollars you'd have to spend to get one.

But drone technology is improving fast, and DJI is rolling along with it. Its Mavic Pro drone was praised for its small size and reasonable price when it first came out at the end of 2016, and less than a year later, we now have the Spark. This $499 drone is incredibly small, doesn't break the bank, and has a bunch of exciting features designed for anyone to use.

The fact that DJI debuted the Spark so quickly after the Mavic Pro is an accomplishment in itself, but even better is that the Spark is built for first-time pilots. It's small size will likely put novices like me at ease, as will controlling it with the "virtual joysticks" in DJI's app on your smartphone. While most of the Spark's key features scream "easy" and "convenient" on paper, that doesn't eliminate the learning curve entirely. Gesture control, in which you can control the tiny flier with your palm, is incredibly cool but can be finicky. QuickShots, or automated video recording modes, make it simple to shoot smooth video at unearthly aerial angles—but you still need to be careful about where you fly if you don't want to experience the internal (and external) dread of an unexpected crash.

I spent some time with the DJI Spark, and while it didn't convince me that I need a drone, it did make me want one.