GoPro Karma to be Re-Released This Summer

[Syphon]

So, the GoPro Karma issues were figured out and the drone will be released in the summer.

GoPro will relaunch the Karma drone later this year

The news does not really state if they will be doing anything else to upgrade the drone, but, I have to ask, with the Mavic Pro, will GoPro really sell many units of this? Besides it falling out of the sky, it seemed in the video reviews (the ones where a GoPro rep was not standing next to the YouTuber), it had many other issues. Add to that the battery life that is less than the Mavic Pro, the fact it does not really fold up as well as the Mavic Pro and the fact that it is being released so late.

Love to have a discussion on this. Not bashing GoPro, as a matter of fact I love my Hero 4, I just think this drone may be a huge bust for them.

 

[halley]

I have been a big fan of the GoPro company, and was cheering on the release of the Karma. I have not always been impressed with DJI as a company nor as a technology (except for their video downlinks which I see as a phenomenal step up from other tech).

That said, GoPro took a beating on their stock for the last 18 months for not keeping up and innovating. The Karma was a massively costly "hail mary" and everything was looking really good for their company revival until the DJI announcement. And then the flight issues.

From looking at the Mavic I thought it was gonna be underpowered due to its size and flight time stats, or fragile due to its light weight. Neither were true-- the body of the Mavic is way tougher than I imagined and the motor power is intense. I am really glad I gave DJI a try. The only areas I think is are under-performing on the Mavic in general are its camera and gimbal. They're "good enough" but not stellar.

Unfortunately, GoPro's fifth-gen cameras are (surprisingly) not better than the Mavic. I think this is telling. GoPro will likely die sooner rather than later. Glad to see they will re-release Karma. Doubt it will be enough.

 

[Jixxer]

I hope GoPro survives. I have all of there cameras. Use them for diving . Karma will sell again but I'm sure people will be patient to see if the issues were actually fixed. PS. Sold my GoPro stock on the high end. ; )

 

[Syphon]

Yeah, I love my GoPro cameras, I think they are amazing. I have the Hero 4's but the Hero 5 looks pretty solid, just don't feel the need to upgrade.

With the Karma, I think it was a great effort, but, I think DJI got the upper hand. The Mavic seems to out perform the GoPro Karma on all levels, and is priced very competitively. I think where GoPro may be hurting is their cameras are hitting what happened to computers and cellphones. There is only so much new innovation that can happen, but, they are an amazing piece of tech that server their purpose, action cameras. The problem is, they are so durable, most don't need to buy a new one. I have two GoPro Hero 4's and don't see a point in going to the Hero 5 as these do their job well and have survived what I have put them through (attached to the RC Cars). I know lots who have GoPros and love them, but none of them ran out to buy the Hero 5 because their current GoPro works perfectly fine for now.

Moving into the drone market was risky, but would have worked if a leader in the industry, DJI, didn't come out with one right after (or before if you consider the re release) with a smaller, more able, and frankly better drone. I worry for the company and hope they make it past all this.

And yes, dumped GoPro stock as did everyone else I know before all this. I kicked myself when they announced the Karma, but then with the Mavic was announced a week later I smiled.

 

[GerdS]

I don't think that they will sell lots of Karmas when restarting the old design in summer. DJI is then close to releasing a Mavic 2 already and the Karma is more than just outdated. Except for the folding and the hand-herld gimbal the Karma has no eye-catching features against other outdated competitors such as Solo.

And I also belief that for new competitors there is no way around integration of camera and drone for advanced features such as Active Track. Will be difficult for GoPro with their actual standalone camera design.

 

[LakeTravis]

I too have been a fan of GoPro, after all, it was THE solution to aerial video with the original Phantom and Phantom 2, albeit (in retrospect, a rather clumsy one) and does some things very well. However, I was more than a little surprised to hear that the Karma is returning. I almost had coffee spewing out of my nose (at least once) when watching this interview of Nick Woodman by James Trew of Endgadget when James says "we all know that you've had some challenges with that" (referring to Karma). If you watch the video, notice that James goes on to ask Nick to explain "what the challenges were, what you've discovered, what you've learned" to which Woodman launches into a predictable marketing spiel. I, too, was fortunate enough to dump a bunch of GoPro stock somewhere near $16 a share, which I doubt it will ever see again. The Karma is kinda cool for an "all-in-one" solution, but I love my Osmo, we all love the Mavic and I don't think the Karma can ever compete.

GoPro CEO: Karma returning as the 'ultimate GoPro'

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I talked with the GoPro "Drone Guy" at CES and he said in mid-February they will announce exactly when the re-release will be. He also "off the record" confirmed that it was a battery disconnection issue.... and that it took many hundreds of tests to replicate and that in fact only a handful of cases were actually verified.

I have a love/hate relationship with GoPro... I use their cameras for other things, but I do not feel they have listened to the general public on what they should be building into their future cameras. Unfortunately for me the Karma is way off base. I can have my Mavic AND a hand held gimbal with GoPro in a smaller case than that of the Karma in it's "compact backpack case".

I fear the company may be headed for hard times... It takes other companies and competition to keep innovation going at it's peak. With that said I am sure DJI was well aware of what they were developing and thus made a point to make a far superior product... of which we all benefit.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

... also, GoPro will have to really... REALLY think outside the box in terms of different task app modes or whatever to get back into the market.. there were so many other nice quads, folding and non-folding at CES it is hard to think they will make something now that will be above and beyond what is already out there or already in the works...

 

[scott rand]

The Mavic was gonna outsell the Karma, even when everybody thought there were no issues. But really, the Karma is so far behind the Mavic technology wise, I can't imagine anyone wanting it over the Mavic. I could only imagine HUGE Gopro fans who don't know much about drones, buying the Karma instead of the Mavic.

 

[J-Dub]

No Avoidance Sensors, No Karma For Me. I too was a day away from pre-ordering the Karma, then Mavic showed its awesomeness, and Karma purchase went bye bye

 

[TriggurHappyNorCal]

A recent interview with GoPro at CES suggests that they aren't done with drones after their soon to be re-release is finalized, and they may even be making a Karma 2!<<Yes, a karma 2!

Does it include a helmet for everyone around when it takes flight?

Sent from my SM-G935V using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[tommyrich]

Check out this guy on YouTube he goes bye iphonedo. He did comparisons of the karma and Mavic he pretty much said that the karma was the worst drone he has ever used. Go pro is a great company for action cameras but for drones not so much. Maybe in a couple years yes they will be good but for now I would steer clear.

Sent from my SM-N910V using MavicPilots mobile app