Guide me in buying a karma.

[HayyanYAN]

Hello users , this would be my first drone buying experience.
I saw karma and it seems to be the whole package but many online pages do not recommend buying it , they prefer DJI mavic pro on the other hand.
I see karma as a better investment because it comes with the whole deal but i'm still confused
Guide me fellow droners

 

[wcardozo99]

Hello HeyyanYAN.

I bought my karma a month ago. After I told my colleagues at work that I was a proud owner of a karma drone, I discovered that two of my colleagues were drone enthusiasts, Both were owners of the Mavic Pro.
They told me that the Mavic was superior, and that I purchased the wrong drone...
We flown together in two occasions, and I'm not regret my decision about the karma.
Let me try to explain why...
The Mavic Ppro, as the name implies, is for professional people. The Mavic is very complex, in my opinion is not a good drone to a beginner. The karma is for begineers, easy to use, easy to fly.
The Karma is sold as a complete solution. The camera gimbal can be detached from the drone and used during a hike with the karma grip, for example. You can't do that with the Mavic. The camera is not removable from the drone. Yes, the Mavic is so small that you can use it as a camera, but the Karma Grip can be attached in the same places that a GoPro camera is attached.
Another thing to consider: you need a pretty good cell phone to fly the Mavic.
Maybe in the future I will buy a Mavic, but right now, I'm pretty happy with the Karma Drone.

[]'s
wcardozo99

 

[kabonski]

I own both the Karma and the Mavic and I like them both. The above user is correct, the Mavic has a ton of bells and whistles that are nice but not necessary for a beginner. I also find the user interface on DJI drones to be unfriendly in many cases and there is to much going on for a small screen like a cell phone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great little drone as well and I actually use it a bit more than my Karma because of its compact size. Another thing to note about the Mavic is that in many cases the videos need some editing and color grading to look nice.

On the flip side the video from the GoPro on the Karma usually looks great right off the bat and not much editing is needed. I would also argue that the Karma has the most stable gimble out there. It’s so good that it looks fake to me sometimes. The Karma is also more rugged. I throw mine in the back of my kayak all the time without a case. I wouldn’t do that with my Mavic. The controller is also very nice and I really like that I don’t need a phone to fly it. And like you said, having a Drone and a handheld gimble that take one camera is a nice feature to have!

You will miss out on some functions with the Karma such as follow me mode and multi point cable cam. You will also not get the range you get with the Mavic. But in reality you loose sight of your drone at about 1500’ and it’s illegal to fly out of sight so sometimes range is a mute point.

I don’t think you can go wrong either way but I’ve been really happy with my Karma and I’ve learned to work around it’s shortcomings.

Good luck on your decision!


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[HayyanYAN]

One more thing I'm concerned about. You see mavic pro beats Karma in terms of Flight time , Compactness , range and safety(sensors).
Do you guys have any idea that if the karma will be upgraded to a better version?. GoPro plans to launch the Hero 6 by the end of this year.
Is it worth waiting for the next karma ?

 

[kabonski]

I’ve heard rumors of a Karma 2 so I’m sure if you can wait it will be a better Drone. Not sure it will have everything the Mavic has but I would expect to see some new features.


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[Lon Denard]

I also own both drones and I have to agree that the Karma seems to be a better "package" but the Mavic is a way better drone. I'm not Karma bashing here but I've experienced loss of signal and loss of gps over and over again. It made me nervous to fly it, to be honest. The hand held gimbal is a cool feature but...I never use it. The image stabilization on the Hero 5 is usually good enough. Besides the one time I tried wearing the gimbal on the backpack, it didn't work really well and I felt like a dork! Hahaha! I bought the extension cable and tried mounting it on my motorcycle but it wasn't up to the challenge. Apparently, it's only good up to around 100 mph...so I went back to just mounting my Hero 5 Black directly.

On the positive side, I completely agree that the Hero 5 takes better video and that the gimbal is WAY tougher! The built in controller screen and quick set up time is also a plus. When everything is working, the unit is very stable and I also agree that while the longer range is nice to have, I rarely fly beyond a thousand feet away. I also believe that the Karma handles wind better. I'm an old drone guy so I'm not into the automatic flight modes and tend to always fly manual anyway. It doesn't hurt that the camera is water proof as well. Oh and Go Pros video editing app is very user friendly.

I do disagree that the Mavic is a bad beginner drone because even though there's a lot going on the screen, you don't have to use it. It's very autonomous and as far as take off and landing goes, when I did use them, my Mavic landed 2" away from where it took off! I measured it. You're not going to get that with the Karma, believe me. Also, the Mavic can be flown with just your phone if you want to get a quick, short range shot of something. Like a selfie. It even has gesture modes to take pics hands free. Of course, it has follow me mode with terrain follow and obstacle avoidance.

There are several other benefits to the Mavic over the Karma, dual gps, positioning sensors, obstacle avoidance, replay, tap fly, much longer flight time, it records video to your phone or tablet, extensive flight records, you can use a second remote/screen, etc. The good thing about using a phone is that maps are always there and you can live stream your flights if you want. Oh and I've never had to field calibrate my Mavic, my Karma on the other hand, forced me to do the hokey pokey every other flight.

I agree the Karma may be a bit easier on the beginner in some ways, the Mavic will give you something to grow into as you learn.

 

[chrismatthewssr]

DONT BUY A KARMA

 

[Lon Denard]

DONT BUY A KARMA

Gee whiz, why not? Hahaha!

 

[chrismatthewssr]

I own a Karma I’ve had nothing but problems, I’m sure you’ll read all the other complaints and it’s just a matter of time before Go Pro is sold and then all bets are off, I don’t the new owners will keep the Drone program

 

[chrismatthewssr]

I’ve heard rumors of a Karma 2 so I’m sure if you can wait it will be a better Drone. Not sure it will have everything the Mavic has but I would expect to see some new features.


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There want be a Karma 2, Go Pro is getting out of the drone world

 

[chrismatthewssr]

I kept having problems with my Karma, took it out for a flight a couple of weeks back and gps told me to land no GPS signal so it crashed before I could get it to land, well I down loaded my data to Go Pro and looked everything over and told me there was a problem with my Karma and agreed to send me a new core bird so I'm now waiting for for Fed X to Pick my bird at there warehouse in Ky. and send it to me. my thanks goes to GoPro for doing the right thing.

 

[foggyhub]

One more thing I'm concerned about. You see mavic pro beats Karma in terms of Flight time , Compactness , range and safety(sensors).
Do you guys have any idea that if the karma will be upgraded to a better version?. GoPro plans to launch the Hero 6 by the end of this year.
Is it worth waiting for the next karma ?

I think it worth to wait for karma upgrade model. Go pro hero 6 is really a worth of money. But there is not upgrade in the battery, battery is still same. I got much best knowledge about drone buying guide from webbywebb. Read it may help you finding a better than kerma

 

[Dropi57]

I think it worth to wait for karma upgrade model. Go pro hero 6 is really a worth of money. But there is not upgrade in the battery, battery is still same. I got much best knowledge about drone buying guide from webbywebb. Read it may help you finding a better than kerma

Do you guys know something other people here do not? To the best of my knowledge the latest news was early in January this year. And that said GoPro have dropped their drone line. So, why do you say “it worth to wait for karma upgrade model”?


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[Shon]

Do you guys know something other people here do not? To the best of my knowledge the latest news was early in January this year. And that said GoPro have dropped their drone line. So, why do you say “it worth to wait for karma upgrade model”?


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My understanding is the same as yours. They were likely responding to an earlier post that was made prior to the news about Gopro shuttering the Karma drone, and don't follow the news as close as we do.

That said, there are talks about the possibility of Xiaomi purchasing GoPro. They already make drones, cameras, cellphones etc, so it is at least feasible that they could one day make a Karma successor.

I'm personally not holding my breath for a Karma successor any time soon!

 

[Karmaxtrix]

Also Karma now has follow me mode and multipoint cable cam capabilities. Looks like these are old posts initially. Latest firmware updates will enable these modes. Either way a Karma to Mavic Pro comparison is pretty much like the old adage "Apples to Oranges".

 

[foggyhub]

Do you guys know something other people here do not? To the best of my knowledge the latest news was early in January this year. And that said GoPro have dropped their drone line. So, why do you say “it worth to wait for karma upgrade model”?


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Thanks dear for such a help

 

[Lon Denard]

Also Karma now has follow me mode and multipoint cable cam capabilities. Looks like these are old posts initially. Latest firmware updates will enable these modes. Either way a Karma to Mavic Pro comparison is pretty much like the old adage "Apples to Oranges".

I think it's a fair comparison. They are (were) in the same price range. Both are folding drones. Have similar camera capabilities annnndddd were compared to each other by the brands themselves. What makes them a bad comparison is that the Karma isn't half the unit that the Mavic is. Heck, the Mavic Air is a better drone. It's too bad because I really had high hopes for the Karma. I got in several heated arguments with DJI fanboys and now find that I am one! Hahaha! Almost 200 flights and not a single problem. Never lost GPS, signal, ect. Have never had to calibrate. Same batteries, same props, same everything. It's just better period.

 

[Karmaxtrix]

Yeah I'm probably getting a Mavic in the near future.... Still gonna keep Karma though... But I'm like that I'll always find a use for something I just work towards an item's strengths. With Karma I would say that is the Camera and gimbal and the fact that Karma is easy to fly.