GoPro Karma Drone

Amp34

Amp34

Amp34

Caporegime
Joined
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Canada
Is it worth it?

I have a Hero 5 and we were just going to get the stabilizer and grip but the Karma kit with the Hero 6, stabilizer and carry case is currently on sale for ~£600 (about £150 cheaper thank the Mavic Pro on its own).

I know they’ve stopped making them now and it’s a couple of years old. Is it still worth it over the other newer/smaller offerings from the likes of DJI? It’s tempting as I’ve always wanted a drone for photography work, but not sure if it’s worth the hassle with the laws surrounding them or whether it’s a bit dated now?

Anyone use one for photography/videography?
 
That response seems to be consistent with others I’ve seen online, although the reviews aren’t as pessimistic but generally consider the Mavic Pro better.

Any recommendations on a GoPro stabilizer better than the official one too?

As the bundle includes both the 6 black camera and stabilizer/Gimble the actual drone works out at around £100 over buying them separately, which is why I’m entertaining it.
 
Decided to get it as while it’s not great compared to the competition it’s not bad on its own according to the reviews.

As we were planning on getting another GoPro and the gimble it works out as $100 for a reasonably capable drone. If I like the end result I may spend $1500 on a Mavic Pro or similar in future, but at the moment it’s a cheap way of seeing it it’s worth spending that kind of money.:)
 
Raymond Lin said:
Noooooooooooo

It’s not £150 saved vs Mavic Pro. It’s £600 thing that can’t fly.

Long distant reg, return it.

Then get the Mavic Air.
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No, the gimble and GoPro which we are buying anyway are $900, the kit including the gimble and GoPro is $1000. So $100 extra for a drone (£60).

And the reviews don’t suggest it’s as bad as you make out, especially with the updates. Any particular reasons you suggest it “can’t fly”?*

* I was hoping to get some more constructive comments before I said I’d bought it. :p
 
Amp34 said:
No, the gimble and GoPro which we are buying anyway are $900, the kit including the gimble and GoPro is $1000. So $100 extra for a drone (£60).

And the reviews don’t suggest it’s as bad as you make out, especially with the updates. Any particular reasons you suggest it “can’t fly”?*

* I was hoping to get some more constructive comments before I said I’d bought it. :p
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It's physically lacking some sensors found in the Mavic and there are plenty reports of it just dropping out of the sky.

They might have made some changes but it's big and clunky, it's a first gen product from them and i think it shows.
 
Raymond Lin said:
It's physically lacking some sensors found in the Mavic and there are plenty reports of it just dropping out of the sky.

They might have made some changes but it's big and clunky, it's a first gen product from them and i think it shows.
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As far as I’m aware that was fixed after a recall at the beginning of 2017 (loose battery issue).

It’s certainly not the best one on the market I agree, but it should give me an idea if it’s worth buying a Mavic Pro, especially as the closest place I can fly one is an hour away. The size means we’ll only be flying it from near a vehicle, but then again the places I can fly it legally are accessible by vehicle anyway so that’s not an issue.

Honestly I’ll probably use it twice and never use it again, so I’d rather spend £60 to see if it’s worth it.

It’s probably worth mentioning that drone laws are significantly more restrictive than the UK, no flying in national or local parks, anywhere in the city I live so you’re restricted to private farmland or a couple of relatively small public use areas in the middle of nowhere. Theres also soon going to be a requirement for public liability insurance, which currently no one knows the price of, so until that’s known it’s not worth spending too much on something as it may cost £100 a year to insure...
 
Amp34 said:
As far as I’m aware that was fixed after a recall at the beginning of 2017 (loose battery issue).

It’s certainly not the best one on the market I agree, but it should give me an idea if it’s worth buying a Mavic Pro, especially as the closest place I can fly one is an hour away. The size means we’ll only be flying it from near a vehicle, but then again the places I can fly it legally are accessible by vehicle anyway so that’s not an issue.

Honestly I’ll probably use it twice and never use it again, so I’d rather spend £60 to see if it’s worth it.

It’s probably worth mentioning that drone laws are significantly more restrictive than the UK, no flying in national or local parks, anywhere in the city I live so you’re restricted to private farmland or a couple of relatively small public use areas in the middle of nowhere. Theres also soon going to be a requirement for public liability insurance, which currently no one knows the price of, so until that’s known it’s not worth spending too much on something as it may cost £100 a year to insure...
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Fair enough….but to point out what I mean about the Karma…watch this video, about 6min 20 seconds in….


Burnnnnnnnnn
 
Not sure what your point is? Someone made a joke about the battery connection issue that was fixed?

At least that confirms how much weight I should give your argument. :p
 
Amp34 said:
Not sure what your point is? Someone made a joke about the battery connection issue that was fixed?

At least that confirms how much weight I should give your argument. :p
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My point is that the Karma is so bad, it's become a joke. It's not about battery connection, it's about bad quality, it's about crashes often, "it crashed against my house, twice". Joke about it being so bad, we should show it to aliens when they arrive. etc.

It's not really my argument, to be honest, my opinion holds no water, I don't have one, it is the opinion of the drone community (the 2 people on that video flies a lot of drones). I am just telling you from the people who has tried them, they do not recommend it.
 
I get that impression when looking on DJI forums. With this thread I was hoping to see if there was anyone that had actually tried one (rather than third hand information) and whether it was worth buying for what is essentially £60.

I spent a couple of days looking at comments from people that actually have and/or had the drone before making a decision. The general consensus being it’s not a patch on the Mavics, but with the 2.0 it’s reasonable, which is why I ignored your advice. I don’t care if DJI fans think it’s a joke tbh, and as I said before if I decide aerial videography is worthy pursuing I’ll sell the core and battery for a couple of hundred (keeping the camera and gimble) and get a Mavic Pro or similar device and hope that doesn’t fall out of the sky as well... ;)

I actually took it out yesterday and had a first flight. Easy to control and simple to use. Whether I use it much remains to be seen as the area I can fly it only has a few small clearings in a forest of trees and videography will be very samey after a few flights. It could however be useful for occasional flights when I travel (up in Northern Canada, or down in the US), but it remains to be seen if I use the gimble more out of the drone than in.
 
Just don't forget that if it crashes then it's not just the £60 that you lose! It's a bit akin to strapping your child via a brand new iso-fix seat into a 1976 Ford Pinto... that only cost £60.
 
I’m well aware of that, but that’s the risk faced with any drone. There are dozens of examples of Mavics falling out of the sky for example, and the Spark seems to have a bit of a flyaway issue.

Despite the inauspicious start there doesn’t appear to be any more of an issue with these post recall than any other drone.
 
Amp34 said:
I’m well aware of that, but that’s the risk faced with any drone. There are dozens of examples of Mavics falling out of the sky for example, and the Spark seems to have a bit of a flyaway issue.

Despite the inauspicious start there doesn’t appear to be any more of an issue with these post recall than any other drone.
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That is just the point, the risk is much higher since the product was flawed and thus discontinued.
 
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