Afraid to fly...

Sniperboy360 · Dec 15, 2017

Bought Karma in June and flew with NO issues until it dropped from the sky one day in early November while flying along the coast north of Cayucos. Opened case with GoPro and had drone, camera, and stabilizer replaced within 3 weeks. They determined no fault of mine and no environmental issues and sent me the replacement parts.

I installed all updates and I've taken the replacement equipment out twice now and I'm experiencing trouble getting the compass to calibrate (takes 4-6 tries). Once I get it in the air (keeping it within a 50 yd radius and 50ft up) it loses compass and GPS every single time. Came close to crashing a couple of times but managed to get some control and land it without damage...rough landings though.

But after the gut wrenching experience of watching it drop out of the sky, I'm hesitant to fly it like I used to, especially given the compass and GPS issues. Never really worried before.

These things seem to be common in this forum. Maybe I should have read the forum before purchasing. But I really like the Karma/GoPro package. I want it to be good! Maybe I'll wait for the next update to see if it fixes things...

Back for more · Dec 16, 2017

I understand completely. I had one before the recall and absolutely loved it. Now I'm ready to get a "new and improved" Karma and I hear about so many problems that I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on it. I too am hoping they fix the issue soon, I'm watching and waiting.

In your shoes, I'd just wait and see, I wouldn't be able to give it up without an immediate replacement.

ExploringNewAvenues · Dec 16, 2017

I'm sorry to hear that... I have a brand new Karma with Hero 6 and I have about 20 flights and my belt with it with no problems. Most common thing I see when calibrating the compass is people not doing it right, I wasn't even doing it right the first couple of times. The calibration system is very sensitive. When I was doing it incorrectly I was rotating while moving instead of spinning in place causing the calibration to not be completed. Make sure you are staying in the exact same spot for both calibrations (horizontal and vertical).

If that is not the problem I would def trying getting ahold of GoPro and convince them you have a 'lemon drone'

Parapraxis · Dec 17, 2017

I feel your pain!

I have had this problem recently with both of my Karma dones. This morning it happened again and when trying to land manually, Karma stayed 10mm above the ground and wouldn't shut down.

I did have an initial compass calibration problem, taking two attempts but did get the ready to take off message.

I suspected the landing gear (aerial) initially but not now, since it has happened with both of my Karmas.

JCLs · Dec 17, 2017

If you keep loosing compass and GPS you may be flying in a location with a lot of interference. If it happens when your in a new out in the country/open kind of place then something is probably wrong with drone.

If Karma locks at an altitude look at screen and if an X on left side touch it to clear it and land. Happened to me flying back with low battery. Sometimes one of safety modes may have turned on.

I would like to know if antenna in landing gear. There is a pair of wires coming from gear but gear has a detection for being fully down and I thought that might be what wires for but I don’t know.

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gm82au · Dec 17, 2017

For those of you considering purchasing a Karma, but holding out in case there are issues, my advice is this: just do it.

I've owned a Karma since they've been available in Australia (April 2017), and I also owned a pre-recall model shipped (then returned) from the States. My experience has been that the product is solid and for the most part performs as advertised. The only bugs I've noticed have been eliminated or improved by firmware updates.

Like many of you, I've read the stories describing the issues people have had, but my Karma has never skipped a beat. If connection is lost it returns home every time. I've never had a GPS loss (though I've deliberately flown without GPS once while under a forest canopy at the base of a waterfall, and it performed admirably). I've never had a crash or hard landing.

I can only guess what is happening to others is a result of poor choices in where people choose to fly. If you fly it next to your house where GPS is obscured, you should expect it to drift (potentially into the side of the house). If you fly over other people's houses where WiFi signals are abundant, you should expect interference. If you fly under a metal bridge...

Buy it if you want it, and then take the time to really learn how to use it in an open space. Don't just learn to fly it; learn how to pilot it. Land it manually. Practice returning home as quickly as possible. Practice using the various auto-shot paths (cable cam, orbit, etc.). Practice manually tracking a moving subject. Keep it within your line-of-sight at all times. Don't use it in urban areas where interference is likely to be an issue. But most of all, just get out there and use it, and learn it's capabilities and limitations. What I've learned is that when the opportunity to film something awesome comes along, you don't get much time to set up the shot - you just have to do it. Knowing how to get the bird in the air and set up for the shot as quickly as possible is important. Given that battery life is not it's greatest feature, you'll also find yourself pushing the limits and trying to fly for longer - knowing how to get it back home and on the ground ASAP is vital (return-to-home and auto-land is just too slow and uses too much battery power). We've been on trips where we wanted to film a flight through a canyon but couldn't find a suitable launch site, so we launched from under trees and my wife caught it for landing - we have that level of confidence in it now to be able to take risks, and it's never let us down.

This is a capable device. It's not as advanced as other drone offerings, sure, but nothing else offers you a film-making-kit-in-a-bag like the Karma system does. Ours comes with us on every camping trip or hike that we do as a family, and the videos we've made using it are now priceless. If you keep holding out for something better, you'll keep missing out on recording those events.

JCLs · Dec 17, 2017

gm82au,

Excellent response.

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Sniperboy360 · Dec 17, 2017

JCLs said:
If you keep loosing compass and GPS you may be flying in a location with a lot of interference. If it happens when your in a new out in the country/open kind of place then something is probably wrong with drone.

If Karma locks at an altitude look at screen and if an X on left side touch it to clear it and land. Happened to me flying back with low battery. Sometimes one of safety modes may have turned on.

I would like to know if antenna in landing gear. There is a pair of wires coming from gear but gear has a detection for being fully down and I thought that might be what wires for but I don’t know.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Crazy thing is that I'm flying the replacement drone in the same location I used to fly my old Karma. Never had issues with the old one in this particular area. I'll try a few more flights in a different area next weekend and see what comes of it. Thanks for the reply and suggestions.